Choice of Calendar

With the advent of the new LDS.ORG web site, members have been introduced to a collection of improved features. The site itself, in my opinion, is quite attractive.

However, our stake is having problems getting the members to continue using the older LUWS calendar and ward/stake web sites. Members who are looking for the web sites continue to use http://www.lds.org as their home page. It's been quite natural for members to sign-in and then click on "Tools/Calendar", and end up using the new calendar.

We're continuing to pass around flyers and information to instruct our members towards the older LUWS sites and calendars, but the progress is quite slow.

Suggestion: Since we are advised to continue using the older LUWS calendar for the year 2011, how about adding a question asking the member which calendar they want to view when they click on "Tools/Calendar"?

Although this wouldn't be a 100% cure, but it might provide enough of a pause for the member to recall which calendar they should be using as the official one.

techgy wrote:With the advent of the new LDS.ORG web site, members have been introduced to a collection of improved features. The site itself, in my opinion, is quite attractive.

However, our stake is having problems getting the members to continue using the older LUWS calendar and ward/stake web sites. Members who are looking for the web sites continue to use http://www.lds.org as their home page. It's been quite natural for members to sign-in and then click on "Tools/Calendar", and end up using the new calendar.

We're continuing to pass around flyers and information to instruct our members towards the older LUWS sites and calendars, but the progress is quite slow.

Suggestion: Since we are advised to continue using the older LUWS calendar for the year 2011, how about adding a question asking the member which calendar they want to view when they click on "Tools/Calendar"?

Although this wouldn't be a 100% cure, but it might provide enough of a pause for the member to recall which calendar they should be using as the official one.

That suggestion might help people if it is implemented, but you can do things with the current system to direct people where they should go.

Our stake has switched to the new calendar. So I went into the old LUWS calendar and created a recurring event on every Sunday that says something like "Use the new calendar on LDS.org". We also deleted all the old events. That way if anyone goes to the old calendar, they will have a pretty strong reminder that this is not what they are looking for.

You can do the reverse in your case, adding a recurring event to the new calendar, directing them back to the LUWS calendar.

Can you put in html code in a calendar event to link to the other calendar?

tortdog wrote:Can you put in html code in a calendar event to link to the other calendar?

yes- it can be done

techgy wrote:Suggestion: Since we are advised to continue using the older LUWS calendar for the year 2011, how about adding a question asking the member which calendar they want to view when they click on "Tools/Calendar"?

Although this wouldn't be a 100% cure, but it might provide enough of a pause for the member to recall which calendar they should be using as the official one.

Of course, this may help those stakes/wards still using "classic," but for those who have "accepted" the invitation to use the new calendar, the one they see when they click on "Tools/Calendar" IS the official one.

techgy wrote:Since we are advised to continue using the older LUWS calendar for the year 2011...

I would note that this statement is obsolete. Although that was the advice for a little while, it is not the current statement. The Introduction to the Calendar says:

Wards and stakes are invited to begin using the new calendar. However, note that the calendar is still under development and will continue to mature through early 2011.

aebrown wrote:I would note that this statement is obsolete. Although that was the advice for a little while, it is not the current statement. The Introduction to the Calendar says:

I stand corrected - thanks. However, I would add that using a Beta comes with a degree of risk.

tortdog wrote:Can you put in html code in a calendar event to link to the other calendar?

I haven't seen this work as yet. I've placed an html string into a calendar date and it was simply displayed as a text string.
This would be helpful though.

It seems to me that when the new calendar is finally declared "complete" the old one won't disappear immediately. So there would have to be some kind of overlap period, even if we dislike the idea of maintaining two calendars. Are you hoping to use the old calendar throughout all of 2011 and only switch to the new one on January first of 2012? By the end of 2011 I would hope that there would be an all-new Ward Web Site design. As a result, the old calendar will seem painfully outdated by then (for lack of a better term).

In my case, I've decided to have the overlap period happen right now and then, perhaps by the middle of this year, start spreading the word that the old one won't be updated anymore. In any case, as a user I find the new calendar to be far more attractive and I think other people in my ward will agree. So I expect them to naturally stop using the old calendar soon, even without prompting. So, while both calendars are pretty-much synchronized now, I'm probably just going to put the major events on the old calendar but fill the new one with the nitty-gritty details.

It's one thing for the Stake leadership to declare which calendar should be used but it would be very interesting to track the pressure coming from the end user. Which calendar does the end user truly prefer?

mrrad wrote:It seems to me that when the new calendar is finally declared "complete" the old one won't disappear immediately. So there would have to be some kind of overlap period, even if we dislike the idea of maintaining two calendars. Are you hoping to use the old calendar throughout all of 2011 and only switch to the new one on January first of 2012? By the end of 2011 I would hope that there would be an all-new Ward Web Site design. As a result, the old calendar will seem painfully outdated by then (for lack of a better term).

In my case, I've decided to have the overlap period happen right now and then, perhaps by the middle of this year, start spreading the word that the old one won't be updated anymore. In any case, as a user I find the new calendar to be far more attractive and I think other people in my ward will agree. So I expect them to naturally stop using the old calendar soon, even without prompting. So, while both calendars are pretty-much synchronized now, I'm probably just going to put the major events on the old calendar but fill the new one with the nitty-gritty details.

It's one thing for the Stake leadership to declare which calendar should be used but it would be very interesting to track the pressure coming from the end user. Which calendar does the end user truly prefer?

As we discussed this issue in our stake, we decided that it was awkward to have two event calendards, but completely unworkable to have two systems of record for event scheduling. So we had a very brief overlap period -- just one month to give me time to enter every 2011 stake event on the new calendar -- and then we officially announced that only building reservations on the new calendar would be honored.

So although I think your suggestion of having people gradually move over to the new calendar without prompting is interesting, I don't see how it can work with building scheduling. There has to be an official declaration by the leadership that as of D-Day, the new calendar is the system of record for resource reservations. Otherwise it seems that there is a high probablility that you will end up with two people thinking they have a building reserved at the same time, since they reserved it on two different "official" systems.

aebrown wrote:
.... So although I think your suggestion of having people gradually move over to the new calendar without prompting is interesting, I don't see how it can work with building scheduling. There has to be an official declaration by the leadership that as of D-Day, the new calendar is the system of record for resource reservations. Otherwise it seems that there is a high probablility that you will end up with two people thinking they have a building reserved at the same time, since they reserved it on two different "official" systems.

At the Stake level, we have moved over to the new calendar but continue to require the old Resource calender to be used to reserve the buildings. Resource reservations are disabled on the new calendar until we determine the best method to Manage Resource Locations & Assignments.

So for now I have unchecked "Allow new events to be scheduled at this location" checkbox. And then included in the Location Name something like: "Stake Center Building Scheduler: Brother Adams 801-555-1234 or submit a request on the Resource Calendar". Still not the best answer but at least it will stop any duplicate reservations.

A training/implementation plan is being put together to bring the clerks and web administrators up to speed with the new features on the new site. Also, will be working with the building schedulers to move forward in using the scheduling features on the new calendar. Having the event calendar and the resource calendar combined is something I have been looking for since 2006. Slow to come but will be a big help. Especially when you have two weddings scheduled on the same day.

I have collected some material to be used for training but not certain how far I should go. I have read that a major calendar release/update is suppose to take place sometime in February.

In our case, the resource section of the old calendar has never been used. I don't think anyone ever understood it's purpose. The only way to officially schedule a resource has been to contact the person who was officially called as the "building scheduler" (a member of the agent ward for that building). I don't know how many "building schedulers" realize how the new calendar might undermine their calling.

My personal view is that the new calendar mostly eliminates the need for a building scheduler. The quorum/aux presidents set up their events and schedule the resource themselves, in mind of conflicts. Resources for regular events are scheduled far in advance. The new calendar takes out all the problems of juggling limited resources.

The only reason I'd see a need for a building schedule is when two groups are trying to get the same resource. But that's rarely been the case for us in the last two months that we've used the new calendar. The events themselves are already correlated, and the parties know what they need far in advance anyway.

mrrad wrote:I don't know how many "building schedulers" realize how the new calendar might undermine their calling.

tortdog wrote:My personal view is that the new calendar mostly eliminates the need for a building scheduler.
...
The only reason I'd see a need for a building schedule is when two groups are trying to get the same resource. But that's rarely been the case for us in the last two months that we've used the new calendar. The events themselves are already correlated, and the parties know what they need far in advance anyway.

The new calendar does make a huge change in the role of a building scheduler. But there are some very important (new) roles to be on top of. The building scheduler resolves conflicts, as was mentioned. This may involve actually changing the resources assigned to an event. We've certainly had to do that when someone "overschedules" a building, often because they inadvertently leave the "Use entire location for this event" check box checked.

The building scheduler also does the Maintain Assignments feature, where blocks of time are reserved for specific wards for specific resources. This is very important for buildings that are shared among wards.

And the scheduler can also adjust the list of resources assigned to a location. Rarely will the default list of rooms work out of the box for a building, and we are seeing that we need to refine that list of resources as we go along.

aebrown wrote:The new calendar does make a huge change in the role of a building scheduler. But there are some very important (new) roles to be on top of.

Of course, the building scheduler is still the Scheduler for any activity that needs resources, but isn't appropriate to schedule (show) on any ward or stake general membership or leadership calendar (a private family reunion in the cultural hall, for example.)

kisaac wrote:Of course, the building scheduler is still the Scheduler for any activity that needs resources, but isn't appropriate to schedule (show) on any ward or stake general membership or leadership calendar (a private family reunion in the cultural hall, for example.)

Although that can be possible, I certainly wouldn't say "of course." If there is a private family reunion in the cultural hall, it's certainly plausible that a calendar editor in that family's ward would simply schedule the event. There's no reason the building scheduler would need to be involved at all.

The role of building scheduler actually doesn't have editor rights to any calendar -- the scheduler can change location and resource usage for existing events, or even add events, but only events that use the building he/she schedules. That can be a bit confusing, since the scheduler can only see calendars that are subscribed.

A stake could create a "Resource Only" calendar and give the building scheduler rights to edit that calendar (and I think that's a good idea), but it doesn't come automatically with the role of building scheduler. And each ward could have such a calendar as well, which would facilitate reservation of resources for events that are not on a regular event calendar.

tortdog wrote:My personal view is that the new calendar mostly eliminates the need for a building scheduler.

My wife was recently released from being a building scheduler after many years of service. I can see the new calendar eliminating many of the phone calls we used to get, but there are times when a real person is essential. For example, funeral services usually come unexpectedly and will take precedence over other previously scheduled activities in the building. Many phone calls later, she would finally get everyone involved rescheduled to their satisfaction. I remember it was events like that where she really earned her blessings.