Understanding reservations and ward events

I am trying to understand the way reservations and events work together, which is not easy since I do not have access to the reservation calendar. But I've been asked to train our building schedulers on best practices for scheduling the buildings.

I think the best practice for a ward event is something like this:
1) Ward member calls building scheduler (who may be in another ward) and explains request for building usage.
2) Building scheduler reserves the building.
3) If the ward member is an admin, they can schedule the event on a specific calendar.
but...
3) If the ward member is not an admin, the scheduler creates the event by clicking on the reservation, then "Schedule Event" and then "Update Event." The scheduler then sees both the reservation and the event, side by side. Back in the calendar, both show up in the building view.

However, when looking at the ward calendar, the event does not show up. Actually, we aren't sure which calendar this event would show up in. So here's my question:

When a scheduler creates a reservation, and then an event, what calendar is that event assigned to? The scheduler says she cannot select which calendar it goes to.

I'm also wondering if we are going down the right path- is this the recommended best practice for scheduling events at a multi-ward building?

Building schedulers don't necessarily have the right to create events in calendars. If they do, they may not have the rights in the correct calendar.

Building schedulers don't necessarily have the right to create events in calendars. If they do, they may not have the rights in the correct calendar.

I think the best practice for an event is something like this:

For Church events:
1) Ward leader schedules the event on their calendar and selects the resources (rooms) need.
2) If there is no conflict, then that's the end.
3) If there is a conflict, the leader tries another time slot or contacts the Building Scheduler to resolve the conflict.

For Private events:
1) Ward member calls building scheduler (who may be in another ward) and explains request for building usage.
2) Building scheduler places the event on his "Private Events" calendar, which may or may not be seen by anyone else. But it will "book" the room so no one else can use it.

Russell- thank you for the response. I didn't think they'd have access, but the scheduler tried this today, reserving events for two different wards (her own and another one). She was then able to schedule an event for both (surprised me), but isn't able to specify which calendar the events are associated with. So maybe she's not really creating an event on any real calendar?

The process you describe is ideal- assuming that each ward has an admin who uses the calendar. I think in our stake that would default to a bishopric member in every ward.

So if a ward member wants to schedule a ward event (like a ward party, for example) and is not the ward admin, they call the ward admin to schedule the building, and not the building scheduler? Is that working in your stake?

sumrunner wrote:Russell- thank you for the response. I didn't think they'd have access, but the scheduler tried this today, reserving events for two different wards (her own and another one). She was then able to schedule an event for both (surprised me), but isn't able to specify which calendar the events are associated with. So maybe she's not really creating an event on any real calendar?

She may be confusing "Reservation" with "Event". I think she Reserved it. Either that, or she plunked the event it into someone else's calendar.

sumrunner wrote:The process you describe is ideal- assuming that each ward has an admin who uses the calendar. I think in our stake that would default to a bishopric member in every ward.

So if a ward member wants to schedule a ward event (like a ward party, for example) and is not the ward admin, they call the ward admin to schedule the building, and not the building scheduler? Is that working in your stake?

It depends on how the calendars are set up. The member doing the party would have to contact the appropriate calendar editor. Any member of the Bishopric could do it. But as an example,control could well be given to the Relief Society President for the RS calendar. If every auxiliary has their own calender, the party organizer may not have to go very far to find the editor.

Yes, under the new system, there really isn't a need to involve the Building Scheduler except when there's a conflict. For Private Family events, it seems like the Building Scheduler would be a logical point of contract, but it depends on how your ward/stake wants to set that up.

Oh- I had forgotten that each calendar has its own admin. I'll give this some more thought. Thanks again!

sumrunner wrote:Oh- I had forgotten that each calendar has its own admin. I'll give this some more thought. Thanks again!

All ward administrators can edit any public ward calendar (meaning add, update, or delete events). In addition, each calendar may have 0 or more editors. For example, a Young Women calendar may have as its editors all 4 members of the YW presidency, including secretary (more could be added if desired, but let's stick with those 4 for this example). Those 4 women, plus any of the ward admins (bishopric, clerks, executive secretary, ward website administrator) can make modifications to that calendar.

Consider that as you think about how wards administer calendars. You also may want to read the Distributed scheduling section of the Calendar help.

The link above for distributed scheduling did not work. In my stake all requests for "private events as so defined by the stake" go to the building scheduler. Building scheduler then emails requests form and guidelines for activity to requesting member. Building scheduler then emails into to all bishops in the building for their approval as well as a cc to the stake webmaster high councilman. A "pending approval" restriction is
place on the calendar during process. After all bishops reply the member is then notified and building scheduler places on calendar, if approved.
Has worked very well for us. We have a busy stake center and have even split the cultural hall in half for reservation purposes.

casper684 wrote:The link above for distributed scheduling did not work.

Things change in 7 years.

The process you describe is fine for private events. Church events are best scheduled by the units themselves. The current calendar help pages explain this more clearly then before.