Double-booking Hazard if "Blocked" was used on "Resource Assignment" Screen

Is anyone else experiencing this? Do you have any work arounds?

I am the StakeWeb Admin. We are trying to use the reservation system on the new calendar pages but the "Resource Assignment" calendar that the building schedulers are using is not interfacing/talking with the regular calendar where the auxiliary leaders can reserve rooms. This is an intermittent problem. When a building scheduler sets a certain room as "Blocked" (for a funeral, wedding, etc) it should prevent anyone else from scheduling that room. However, it is not always preventing this. In my testing on Sunday, the system was allowing auxiliary leaders to book a room that was assigned to "blocked"...huge problem.

Because of the potential disasters with this double-booking glitch, we are unable to let our auxiliary leaders/calendar editors reserve rooms online. They have to go through the buildingschedulers still. This is very inconvenient and deters auxiliaries from even bothering to use the website for calendaring.

Possible work around: If private calendars are going to be able to reserve rooms soon (as recent pop-ups on the site suggest), then Iwould just have my building schedulers use a private calendar to reserve rooms for all of the events that would normally be entered on the "Resource Assignments" screen. (When testing, I also try to force conflicts on the main calendar page. The conflict box correctly appears with the correct conflict information as long as it is on the main calendar page -NOT the "Resource Assignments".)

jbb89777 wrote:the "Resource Assignment" calendar that the building schedulers are using is not interfacing/talking with the regular calendar where the auxiliary leaders can reserve rooms. This is an intermittent problem. When a building scheduler sets a certain room as "Blocked" (for a funeral, wedding, etc) it should prevent anyone else from scheduling that room. However, it is not always preventing this. In my testing on Sunday, the system was allowing auxiliary leaders to book a room that was assigned to "blocked"...huge problem.

I have never seen this problem, and am unable to duplicate it in my testing. Some things to check (some of these may seem obvious, but every detail needs to be checked):

1. Is the resource that is blocked on the Resource Assignments page the exact same resource that an auxiliary leader is attempting to schedule?
2. Is the time the exact same (or overlapping) time?
3. Does the person who is attempting to schedule have Building Scheduler permissions? (if so, they can indeed schedule an event with no conflict)
4. What do you mean by "intermittent"? Does it affect some people, but not others? Or can a particular calendar editor try to schedule a blocked resource and be told there is a conflict, but try the exact same operation at a later time and be allowed to schedule it?

jbb89777 wrote:Possible work around: If private calendars are going to be able to reserve rooms soon (as recent pop-ups on the site suggest), then Iwould just have my building schedulers use a private calendar to reserve rooms for all of the events that would normally be entered on the "Resource Assignments" screen.

I suppose that might be possible, but if this really is a bug, I would certainly hope that it would be fixed no later than the ability is added to reserve resources on private calendars. That would make the work around unnecessary. And there really is no need for a private calendar (although it would be a little less obvious) -- if you want to do this workaround, you could do it right now with a public calendar that you create for just this purpose.

jbb89777 wrote:(When testing, I also try to force conflicts on the main calendar page. The conflict box correctly appears with the correct conflict information as long as it is on the main calendar page -NOT the "Resource Assignments".)

This parenthetical comment makes me wonder if we have all the facts. Why do you say that you "also try to force conflicts on the main calendar page"? That's the only place that really makes sense -- the building scheduler blocks out a time on the Resource Assignments page, and so that when calendar editors try to schedule events on the main calendar page, they are told there is a conflict. In the original scenario, you said that auxiliary leaders are sometimes able to schedule blocked resources with no conflicts. But auxiliary leaders should only have access to the main calendar page; if they have access to the Resource Assignments page, then that is clearly the source of the problem -- they have too many permissions to be blocked.

I'm not sure of the problem, but I do see a terminology issue here.

In the calendar system, a "reservation" simply reserves a resource for a particular unit. It only blocks attempts to schedule it by other units. It does not "block" the resource from being scheduled by the unit it's reserved for, or from other building schedulers.

If you're trying to "block" the room by using the "reservation" function, that's the problem. In order to "block" a room, you will have to enter an event on a public calendar.


You can read more about how it's designed to work here.

jbb89777 wrote: Possible work around: If private calendars are going to be able to reserve rooms soon (as recent pop-ups on the site suggest)...

Editors of private calendars should not be able to reserve resources. If they can this is a bug. This would not be a good idea since private calendars are just that - private. Not even approvers nor the building scheduler can view or edit private calendars unless they have been added by the calendar creator as an editor or viewer. If a building scheduler can not view or edit a private calendar and resources can be reserved from within a private calendar then the building scheduler will have their hands tied in resolving conflicts or even managing the location resources.

jdlessley wrote:Editors of private calendars should not be able to reserve resources.

Welllll, there does need to be a better way of handing private events. By default members are subscribed to all public calendars. But they don't need to see privately scheduled events such as weddings, family parties, etc.

What's needed is a semi-private calendar that's visible to leadership and building schedulers and can reserve resources.

Edit: It appears this can be done on the resource calendar itself.

jdlessley wrote:Editors of private calendars should not be able to reserve resources. If they can this is a bug. This would not be a good idea since private calendars are just that - private. Not even approvers nor the building scheduler can view or edit private calendars unless they have been added by the calendar creator as an editor or viewer. If a building scheduler can not view or edit a private calendar and resources can be reserved from within a private calendar then the building scheduler will have their hands tied in resolving conflicts or even managing the location resources.

It's true that private calendars don't currently allow resources to be reserved. But it's also true that the popup displayed upon login to the calendar did say at one point that reserving resources on private calendars was a feature that would be coming at some point. It is certainly not inconceivable that a feature could be designed to allow resources to be tied to private calendar events, but still preserve privacy. Yes there would be challenges to working out conflicts while preserving privacy, but it's a significant problem to prohibit resource reservation for private calendars, too.

In any case, that is a side issue from the topic of this thread. I see no reason to even consider private calendars as a workaround for the issue that is the topic of this thread -- if the reported problem truly exists, let's narrow it down, get it reported, and hope it gets fixed soon. That's much better than discussing a hypothetical workaround.

RussellHltn wrote:In the calendar system, a "reservation" simply reserves a resource for a particular unit.

I think you are referring to an assignment. There are three terms used in managing resources - reserve, assign, and block. Sometimes those terms are interchangeably used even at the calendar help site.

A reservation is made when a calendar event is made and resources are selected for a location. This assumes that the location and resources selected are not reserved through another event reservation, assignment to another unit, or blocked as described below.

An assignment is made when the building scheduler assigns a location or resource(s) to a unit for a specified time period. The editors of the unit for which the location or resources have been assigned are the ones who can then schedule events using that location or resources. All others will get a conflict notice when attempting to reserve that location or resources.

A building scheduler can block a location or resource for a specific location or resources for a specified time. This prevents anyone other than the building scheduler from scheduling that location or resource.

In helping the OP with the issue described I think we need to make sure the correct definitions are being used.

RussellHltn wrote:If you're trying to "block" the room by using the "reservation" function, that's the problem. In order to "block" a room, you will have to enter an event on a public calendar.

That's not true. The Resource Assignments page does allow the building scheduler to assign a resource to a particular unit so that only that unit can schedule an event that uses that resource at that time. But it also has a status of "Blocked" that prevents any unit from scheduling an event that uses that resource at that time.

It is this feature that is being discussed. It allows blocking without scheduling an event on a public calendar. Only a building scheduler can schedule an event for the blocked resource during the specified time.

Yup. Terminology problem - mine. I removed the erroneous post.

Thank you for the responses. Let me emphasize that I am in the testing phase and as the stake web admin I am charged with figuring out this new calendar - all the pros and cons - and teaching it to our stake. I have been testing the site by putting dummy 'Blocked" assignments on the building schedulers "Resource Assignments" screen. Then I go in to the main calendar and put an event in the same resource at the same date & time. In the past, the system has caught the potential double-booking and sent the conflict message saying I could not save the event because the resource I wanted was assigned to "blocked". I got this correct message as of last Friday.

On Sunday, I was testing it one last time before I presented the info to stake and ward leaders and the calendar was NOT sending a conflict message when I tried to double-book something. For teaching purposes during my presentation, I was going to create an event in the regular calendar that I knew would conflict with a resource that was already assigned to "blocked". That way everyone would see the message that is generated by the site when the building has been assigned for a funeral, wedding, etc. I tested this on several "blocked" assignments...meaning I tried to schedule events as a regular calendar editor would and every time I entered an event on a calendar that I knew would conflict with a "blocked" assignment, the system would let me schedule the event. If this happened in reality, I would have a disaster on my hands because a resource assigned to "blocked" would not prevent anyone from scheduling the same resource for the same date & time.

I just tried again to schedule an event on a regular auxiliary calendar that I know conflicts with a resource that is assigned to "blocked" on the "Resource Assignments" screen and it is letting me double-book the resource.

Can anyone else duplicate this?
Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Here are the steps:
1. Go to "Options" and "Manage Resource Assignments"
2. Make an assignment for something like a wedding by clicking "Create New Assignment".
3. Assign it to blocked and check the box to use the entire location.
4. Go back to the main calendar.
5. Click "Create Event"
6. Create an event on a regular auxiliary calendar like a Primary Activity on the Stake Primary calendar.
7. Select just the cultural hall and kitchen for this event and make sure the same date and time are chosen as the wedding you just entered.

A conflicting message should appear when you click "Check for conflicts". You should not be able to save the event.
As of Sunday, this is no longer the result I get. My testing results in a double booking of the resource.

jbb89777 wrote:I just tried again to schedule an event on a regular auxiliary calendar that I know conflicts with a resource that is assigned to "blocked" on the "Resource Assignments" screen and it is letting me double-book the resource.

Now that is clear what you are doing, you can rest assured that the system is working properly, and there is no double booking occurring. The only problem is that your testing is based on an incorrect assumption. I can't explain why you may have seen different results in the past, but the system is working correctly right now.

When a building scheduler uses Resource Assignments to "block" a resource for a particular time, that means that no one except a building scheduler may schedule an event that uses that resource at that time. Setting a "block" on a particular time is not an event and thus is not a "booking" as you call it. It simply denies anyone other than a building scheduler the ability to make an event for that resource.

The problem with your testing is that you are a building scheduler. Thus you are the one person (aside from another building scheduler -- there can be more than one) who can schedule an event using that resource during that time. If you have anyone else try to schedule the resource at that time, they will indeed get a conflict message and be unable to save their event.

You need to keep the two concepts distinct in your mind: using the Resource Assignments page, whether to give a resource for a chunk of time to a ward or the stake, or to "block" a chunk of time, is simply a means of denying regular calendar editors the ability to schedule an event using that resource. In the case of a unit assignment, it denies scheduling privileges to anyone outside the ward, and in the case of "blocking" it denies scheduling privileges to everyone. But in both cases, a building scheduler can always schedule an event for that chunk of time, because he has great powers.

A building scheduler will get a conflict message and be unable to schedule the resource only if someone has actually scheduled an event for that resource for that time. Only scheduling an event for the resource truly books the resource.

The situation has been properly explained by aebrown. To give training on how the system works you cannot use your credentials because you have the super powers of a building scheduler. Have someone else with editor privileges logon to the calendar. Then you will be able to demonstration what happens when a location or resource is blocked. Someone with editor privileges from a unit to which a location or resource has not been assigned will have to logon to the calendar to demonstrate what happens when resources are assigned.

When I was training a building scheduler I first had them logon to the calendar and make assignments and block a resource for a specified period for one of the other wards in the meetinghouse. The building scheduler logged off and I as an approver logged on and I demonstrated the approver privileges. I was also able to demonstrate what happens for an assignment and a block since I was not a member of the ward with the assigned resources. The block worked as advertised also. I then logged off and the building scheduler logged on to see that the blocked resources could be scheduled, but only using their credentials.

I have a location that we want only the stake to be able to reserve, 365 days per year. I read the help, and it talked about setting up a recurring event. Do I need to make a year long, all day event in order to block it all the time?

jcevans wrote:I have a location that we want only the stake to be able to reserve, 365 days per year. I read the help, and it talked about setting up a recurring event. Do I need to make a year long, all day event in order to block it all the time?

You could select the dates from 1 January to 31 December and check All Day and Repeats. Then select Daily, All Days, Recurs every 1 days, and No End.

If the location is assigned to the stake following the procedures in Reserve a Location for a Ward or Stakeany stake leader with calendar editor rights will be able to schedule an event with resources at the location. However if the location is blocked then only the building scheduler, or schedulers since there can be more than one, will be able to schedule events with resources. A building scheduler can be assigned to any stake resource or location whether it is a ball field, building, or anything else.

jdlessley wrote:You could select the dates from 1 January to 31 December and check All Day and Repeats. Then select Daily, All Days, Recurs every 1 days, and No End.

That's not how recurring assignments work in the Manage Resource Assignments page. There is no Daily option -- only weekly or monthly. The easiest way to block all days is to choose All Day (there is no Repeats check box here), and in the Start date field you should select the date you want to start the reservation. The End date field won't matter here, but it's simplest to leave it matching the Start date. The default Weekly recurrence is good, and leave it at Recurs every 1 week. Check each day of the week. The default of "No End" is good.

Thanks for the feedback. Remember, my objective is NOT to have an event that last a year, but to limit access to who can schedule events. Both of these suggestions sound like they center on creating a long running recurring event. Am i missing something? Can i just set it up so this location (recreational Facility) can only be scheduled by the stake? It would be good if only the stake building schedulers could access it, we would NOT need all stake officers to do it. Also, everytime i have tried this, i get an error message about a DB error, no assignment made. I will walk through it and try it again (for the umteenth time!) Thanks much!

jcevans wrote:Thanks for the feedback. Remember, my objective is NOT to have an event that last a year, but to limit access to who can schedule events. Both of these suggestions sound like they center on creating a long running recurring event. Am i missing something?

The procedure to assign a resource or location as well as to block a resource or location involves creating an "event" or "events". These "events" are not actually events since they will not appear on any displayed calendar but rather it allows a building scheduler to make the resource/location assignment or to block a resource/location.

jcevans wrote:Can i just set it up so this location (recreational Facility) can only be scheduled by the stake? It would be good if only the stake building schedulers could access it, we would NOT need all stake officers to do it.

The location can have one or multiple building schedulers assigned. Since you only want building schedulers to be able to schedule events for this recreational facility then the block procedure should be used.

Once the location is blocked for the entire year using a recurring blocking event the building schedulers can then create "real events" to be displayed on a calendar. These real events can be created only by the location's assigned building schedulers. These real events will not be affected by the blocking event. That blocking event is only there to prevent everyone other than the location's assigned building schedulers from scheduling an event with resources at that location. Note that events can be scheduled by calendar editors as long as no resources are used.

jcevans wrote:Remember, my objective is NOT to have an event that last a year, but to limit access to who can schedule events.

We understand. You may wish to review Reserve a Location for a Ward or Stake and the follow-up Block the Ability to Schedule Events. I think that's exactly what you're looking for.

"When you reserve a location or resource for a ward at a specific calendar time slot, only the designated unit can schedule that resource."

jcevans wrote:Remember, my objective is NOT to have an event that last a year, but to limit access to who can schedule events. Both of these suggestions sound like they center on creating a long running recurring event. Am i missing something?

I think the confusion is between the term "event" and "assignment". It's that same confusion that the original poster on this thread had. On the Manager Resource Assignments page you only create "assignments" -- not "events." I've edited my post to make that distinction clear. Read the help pages that others have linked to, but the crux of the matter is that an assignment denies others the ability to schedule an event for a particular resource; it does not schedule an event.

jcevans wrote:Can i just set it up so this location (recreational Facility) can only be scheduled by the stake?

Yes, if you make the assignment for the stake unit, then you are denying everyone but a stake calendar editor or administrator from scheduling an event that uses that resource.

jcevans wrote:It would be good if only the stake building schedulers could access it, we would NOT need all stake officers to do it.

This is the even more restrictive assignment called "Blocked", which denies everyone the ability to schedule an event, except for building schedulers assigned to that location. Depending on who you may have assigned as building schedulers for the location in question, that may be subtly different from what you said. There is really no such thing as a "stake building scheduler"; there are only building schedulers assigned to a location. You may assign only a stake officer of some sort to schedule the stake center, in which case that distinction disappears, but many stakes choose to have the agent ward be in charge of scheduling each building, including the stake center. That's a choice the stake president needs to make.

jcevans wrote:Also, everytime i have tried this, i get an error message about a DB error, no assignment made.

If you are actually getting a DB error, then you may be having troubles that are causing confusion beyond the way the system is supposed to work. Until you get the DB error corrected, you are likely to be frustrated. You should probably start with Local Unit Support to try to get that problem corrected.

Thanks guys, I'll keep working on it. From the beginning, 'Blocked' is what I have envisioned was needed. I just didn't want to lock the conversation in any specific direction. I have read, and re-read the articles listed and will read them again, probably a couple more times. Also, I have found others talking about the same DB error message I have been receiving - some said IE9 solved it - my company will not let me install IE9 on my company laptop! I'll get there! Thanks.