How to schedule a private or family event

I give up. I am the stake clerk assigned to help others with their calendars. I watched the training video, read through all of the FAQ, read everything else I could find and still failed a simple task today. The building scheduler in the building I attend said he had been having problems with a something and asked if I could help. I thought I could, but failed. I need someone to lead me through the steps that a building scheduler would follow for the the following request....a family wants to schedule the cultural hall and the kitchen for a family gathering. Seems simple, but we spent an hour trying to follow the instructions, but couldn’t make it work. We can place the family in the building but could not assign the resources they needed,the kitchen and cultural hall... If someone could help...in plain English....we would be very grateful... You can do this in a private message or on the forum.

zaneclark wrote:I give up. I am the stake clerk assigned to help others with their calendars. I watched the training video, read through all of the FAQ, read everything else I could find and still failed a simple task today. The building scheduler in the building I attend said he had been having problems with a something and asked if I could help. I thought I could, but failed. I need someone to lead me through the steps that a building scheduler would follow for the the following request....a family wants to schedule the cultural hall and the kitchen for a family gathering. Seems simple, but we spent an hour trying to follow the instructions, but couldn’t make it work. We can place the family in the building but could not assign the resources they needed,the kitchen and cultural hall... If someone could help...in plain English....we would be very grateful... You can do this in a private message or on the forum.

From all I've read about how the new calendar works, I've drawn the conclusion that building scheduler should not be scheduling events. A building scheduler should be making reservations, which are typically repeating, but not actually making events. No resource is truly booked until an event is created for it. Therefore all events should be created by a ward administrator or editor for ward events, or a stake administrator or editor for stake events. Of course, a building scheduler may have other roles -- I was speaking only of the building scheduler role. Some stakes may well choose to have the building scheduler be a calendar editor for at least one calendar, or perhaps even a stake calendar administrator, but that is a separate role.

Even private events should follow that rule. It's convenient for the stake and/or wards to have a calendar designed for these events so that they don't clutter more general calendars.

So with that background, here's my process for your request: "a family wants to schedule the cultural hall and the kitchen for a family gathering"

1. Building scheduler tells the requesting family that we have a new system and they need to contact a calendar administrator or editor in their ward.
2. The ward administrator or editor creates an event (preferably on a calendar called "Resource Only" or "Family Events" or something that would help members know they may not want to subscribe to that calendar). That even specifies the location and specific rooms. If you need help with this procedure, see Schedule an event in the help system.

If that was difficult for you, I'm guessing that the reason is that you (or the building scheduler) were trying to put an event on a calendar you weren't an editor for. Which further reinforces the point I made at the beginning.

aebrown wrote:From all I've read about how the new calendar works, I've drawn the conclusion that building scheduler should not be scheduling events.

Maybe not Church events, but I don't see a problem in this case.

Here's what I'd do: if there is no suitable calendar, create a new one and call it "private events". Make sure the building scheduler has editor rights to it. You may want to make it private. Then schedule the event with the resources requested.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see the point of bothering any one else or using other calendars for private family events.

aebrown wrote:
If that was difficult for you, I'm guessing that the reason is that you (or the building scheduler) were trying to put an event on a calendar you weren't an editor for. Which further reinforces the point I made at the beginning.

Thank you for the answer. I will try it again, but the building scheduler is the ex sec in the ward and I am an assistant ward clerk, in addition to my stake assignment, so I would guess that this would make us both editors.....

RussellHltn wrote:Maybe not Church events, but I don't see a problem in this case.

Here's what I'd do: if there is no suitable calendar, create a new one and call it "private events". Make sure the building scheduler has editor rights to it. You may want to make it private. Then schedule the event with the resources requested.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see the point of bothering any one else or using other calendars for private family events.

But you're suggesting things that a building scheduler can't do. A building scheduler has no ability to create a calendar (aside from the ability any member has to propose a new calendar), and a building scheduler has no ability to add events to any calendar (unless he is also a calendar editor).

Now it's possible that a stake may choose to give the person who is a building scheduler additional roles -- I explicitly mentioned that in my post, and that's all you are suggesting. But a person who is only a building scheduler can't do those things.

I still think scheduling should be a ward or stake function. You say there's no reason to bother anyone besides the building scheduler for private family events. I say there's no reason to bother anyone besides a ward administrator for such events. I know it's a big change from the traditional way of doing things, but it really does work well in our stake to just let the wards schedule events -- public or private.

aebrown wrote:You say there's no reason to bother anyone besides the building scheduler for private family events. I say there's no reason to bother anyone besides a ward administrator for such events. I know it's a big change from the traditional way of doing things, but it really does work well in our stake to just let the wards schedule events -- public or private.

In our case there's a need to make sure other Stake policies are complied with. Once set up, I think the private events calendar will work well.

Perhaps some of the confusion comes from the terminology on these web pages: https://lds.org/church-calendar/help/en ... m#3246.htm (this is help page information that you go to when selecting HELP from the calendar.)

The calendar does not offer a "Submit Event" button because in the new model, everyone can potentially be a calendar editor with publish rights (alternatively, members can contact the building scheduler to schedule events).

Or: https://lds.org/church-calendar/help/en ... m#3268.htm In a few cases, such as wedding receptions, funerals, and private parties, some non-editor members will need to submit event requests. In these cases, they should contact the ward website administrator or building scheduler to check availability and schedule the event.

Aebrown points out below that a "building scheduler" is not a "calendar editor" -- and cannot enter events on the calendar, despite the text in the Help pages. (Though I imagine that most "building schedulers" also end up as Calendar Editors or Administrators.)

zaneclark wrote:Thank you for the answer. I will try it again, but the building scheduler is the ex sec in the ward and I am an assistant ward clerk, in addition to my stake assignment, so I would guess that this would make us both editors.....

Currently you would not be a default editor derived from the default administrator rights of an assistant ward clerk. There is a limitation identified for those with more than one calling. If one calling is a ward calling with default administrator rights and the other is a stake calling with default administrator rights the stake calling overrides the ward calling. It is not in conjunction with it. The programmers have logged this as an issue. You could be added as editor by calling or by name.

mwgbell wrote:Perhaps some of the confusion comes from the terminology on these web pages:

That's a good point. With v1, building schedulers could add events to ward and stake calendars, so the documentation was accurate then, but that capability was intentionally taken away (the reason being that the previous capability was accidental). So the documentation needs to be updated.

But although I am arguing that building schedulers should not be scheduling events, I must admit that it is odd to have a role with the title "building scheduler" and then say they shouldn't be scheduling events. They can, of course, still create reservations (they are the only ones who can do that), which is certainly in the realm of scheduling.

aebrown wrote:That's a good point. With v1, building schedulers could add events to ward and stake calendars, so the documentation was accurate then, but that capability was intentionally taken away (the reason being that the previous capability was accidental). So the documentation needs to be updated.

The original documentation outlined the rights a building scheduler had in v1. That documentation stated that a building scheduler was a default editor for all the building scheduler's home ward public calendars but could not add events to any other ward calendars at that location. Then there was an update to v1, v1.x.x, that accidentally gave building schedulers edit rights to all public calendars at their location and public stake calendars. Then with v2 the original building scheduler rights were restored. I haven't been able to confirm this, but if the original rights were restored, then a building scheduler should be able to add events to any public home ward calendar.

aebrown wrote:But although I am arguing that building schedulers should not be scheduling events, I must admit that it is odd to have a role with the title "building scheduler" and then say they shouldn't be scheduling events. They can, of course, still create reservations (they are the only ones who can do that), which is certainly in the realm of scheduling.

I think what you're trying to say is that granting Building Scheduler privileges only grants rights to set reservations. It doesn't give calendar editor rights.

Different units may have different approaches, but I think most are going to roll the Building Scheduler into some other responsibilities. In our case, the Stake Building Scheduler is also the Stake Executive Secretary who takes care of some of the Stake calendars.

jdlessley wrote:I haven't been able to confirm this, but if the original rights were restored, then a building scheduler should be able to add events to any public home ward calendar.

It doesn't work for me. When I go to create a event, all I see in the drop down lists is Stake Calendars (I'm both a Building Scheduler and default Stake Admin).

RussellHltn wrote:It doesn't work for me. When I go to create a event, all I see in the drop down lists is Stake Calendars (I'm both a Building Scheduler and default Stake Admin).

That could possibly be for a similar reason I stated in post #8. Your default stake administrator rights may be overriding the building scheduler rights in regards to adding calendar events. It would be nice to hear from someone who is only a building scheduler without additional default calendar rights from some other calling.

The current calendar help lacks the clear description of rights and roles provided previously in the v1 calendar help.

jdlessley wrote:Currently you would not be a default editor derived from the default administrator rights of an assistant ward clerk. There is a limitation identified for those with more than one calling. If one calling is a ward calling with default administrator rights and the other is a stake calling with default administrator rights the stake calling overrides the ward calling. It is not in conjunction with it. The programmers have logged this as an issue. You could be added as editor by calling or by name.

I believe that was only in the Clerk Resources, not in the calendar.

jdlessley wrote:That could possibly be for a similar reason I stated in post #8. Your default stake administrator rights may be overriding the building scheduler rights in regards to adding calendar events. It would be nice to hear from someone who is only a building scheduler without additional default calendar rights from some other calling.

For the purposes of the test, I set my wife's account up as a building scheduler for the building in which we meet. (She is the ward Organist, so has no "special" calendar access.) I logged on as her; and confirmed that her account can enter Reservations. However, she is unable to enter any calendar events of any kind.

jdlessley wrote:That could possibly be for a similar reason I stated in post #8. Your default stake administrator rights may be overriding the building scheduler rights in regards to adding calendar events. .

The reported problem had to do with two callings bubbling up from MLS. The Building Scheduler is assigned from within the calendar system. It seems unlikely it would be hit by the same bug.

RussellHltn wrote:Maybe not Church events, but I don't see a problem in this case.

Here's what I'd do: if there is no suitable calendar, create a new one and call it "private events". Make sure the building scheduler has editor rights to it. You may want to make it private. Then schedule the event with the resources requested.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see the point of bothering any one else or using other calendars for private family events.

Making a calendar for "non-ward" events, and giving the building scheduler edit rights, of course, makes the building scheduler a calendar editor with rights to create events now that schedule a resource, augmenting his ability to make reservations. I also like the "private" calendar for the building scheduler so a family dinner on thanksgiving day doesn't show on the ward calendars.

If the stake wants a little more control, (because stake admins can't see ward calendars) and there may be policies to enforce or watch, stake calendars could be made for "Private Events" calendars one for each building in the stake, and make each building scheduler the editor. In this way, stake admins could be made editors or viewers, to have oversight of the calendars when needed.

Making the "private events" calendar a stake calendar would also allow the calendar to persist through multiple years with building schedulers from each ward sharing a building. This might be very helpful for a training period each December to have the old scheduler from one ward and the new scheduler from the next ward have simultaneous edit rights. This wouldn't be possible if the building scheduler calendar was made as a ward calendar in the schedulers ward.

jdlessley wrote:That could possibly be for a similar reason I stated in post #8. Your default stake administrator rights may be overriding the building scheduler rights in regards to adding calendar events. It would be nice to hear from someone who is only a building scheduler without additional default calendar rights from some other calling.

The current calendar help lacks the clear description of rights and roles provided previously in the v1 calendar help.

Has anyone answered this yet, as to whether being an administrator overrides the scheduler rights, or vice versa? If there is an override, this may explain some of my problems....

zaneclark wrote:Has anyone answered this yet, as to whether being an administrator overrides the scheduler rights, or vice versa? If there is an override, this may explain some of my problems....

RussellHltn gave his theory here. But what RussellHltn reported in the post that started this little side discussion is not a problem at all -- that's exactly how the system is supposed to work. A building scheduler can't add to any calendars because of that role. If he is also a stake calendar administrator or editor, he'll be able to add to those calendars he has permission for; if he is also a ward calendar administrator or editor, the same for the ward level.

I really doubt that any problems you are experiencing are related to jdlessley's speculation. I have experience with building schedulers who are stake administrators, schedulers who are ward administrators, schedulers who are not any kind of administrator but are editors, and I have tested schedulers who are neither administrators or editors. In none of these cases has there been any hint of building scheduler permissions being affected by any other role. So although your combination of callings (both stake and ward administrator) is not a particular combination I've tested, that other experience leads me to doubt that those calling are affecting building scheduler tasks in any way.

I wish we had one of you guys...like aebrown....down here in our stake for a day..... I will keep trying but even with all the help screens and this forum, I am still struggling...