Master Calendar - Is there an easy way to setup? 2

[michigan]

Hello everyone -

Is there an easy way to setup a master calendar?

Here's the situation:

Site has approx., 25 users that would like to be able to update their appoints., in/out of office, basically anything that other staff need to be aware of.

Currently, all staff email their upcoming week(s)s schedule to the exec assistant. She then creates this in MS Word doc, prints it off, and puts it in everyones mailboxes (physical mailboxes). - This is a weekly calendar.

Quick thought was to simply give the exec assistant proxy access to everyones calendar. But that really may take just as long as receiving the email. I guess she would still have to make a master calendar in Word doing it that way.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. It seems like an easy answer that I may just be Waaaaayyyy overlooking.

Goal: One place the exec. secretary can look to view everyone's schedule at once (and print).

Thanks in advance everyone.

 

[stars]

A simple solution would be to create a resource in GroupWise and give everyone access to the calendar rights that need it and make your executive assistant the owner. That way instead emailing their schedules, they go in and update the master calendar whenever they need to, away from the office via web access (6.0 version), or in the office on their windows client.

Works for us!

Regards,
Stars

 

[1oldfoxman]

If continued printing of a "master" calendar is the goal, you can use the multi-user calendaring in GW5.5 (or greater). This can be set to view multiple calendars in one persons calendar view or set from Print Calendar to print multi-user calendar formats which are quite useable. The sec. will need to have proxy access to each persons calendar, but need only set up the multiuser view and/or print calendar definition once.

If you're using an earlier version, see above.

 

[michigan]

Thanks for the fast replies.

I believe part of the main goal will be to still print this calendar - some people in the office still love having calendars they can touch, and hang up on their cube walls.

I really like both of these options provided by 'stars' and '1oldfoxman'. I will start poking around with each of these and see which will work out best for us.

One question for 'stars' suggestion: Is there a main reason why the exec. assistant should be owner of the resource (vs leaving me the owner once created)? Will it allow more features/options for her?

Thanks again. I'll follow up with the outcome.

 

[michigan]

ok -

I created the resource under GroupWise as Master Calendar. I made the exec assistant the owner. Under NDSRights -> Everyone (as Trustee) I granted Read/Write/Compare/Add Self.

When I attempt to proxy into this, I recieve "denied." What do you mean denied? I can get everywhere! Heck. . . I'm the admin.

What am I missing here? Be kind, and don't laugh if it's something super-simple!

Thanks.

 

[1oldfoxman]

Mich-
You have to login to the resource owner account, then use the proxy button to go to the resource's account, then Tools/Options/Security and give yourself access from there. The NDS rights assignment is not necessary.....

Grant proxy priveleges to anyone who needs to put their calendar entries in the resource calendar. We usually grant Read/Write for appts only for resources to users.

 

[michigan]

Hello -

1oldfoxman - I'm getting closer (I think) - thanks for the info. I've granted the access. Works great. As a test, I've used a couple users, entered appointments. Lists all just fine. However, when I print the calendar (tried different versions) it doesn't list who entered the appointment.

So for example, my "Friday" listed several appointments, but no idea who put it there. As such, I now assume that each entry must start their appointment with their name. Otherwise, no idea who's doing what.

Is that a correct assumption?

Our current Word.doc calendar has staff names listed down the left side - (landscape) and Mon - Fri across the top. Perhaps GWCalendar isn't a good option for us in this situation. Maybe keeping a master calendar word doc on the network, and having people responsible for entering their appointments would be best??

Again, thanks for all the suggestions/directions.

 

[stars]

I guess it would help to know what version of GroupWise you are running. 6.0 offers more ways to set up calendars for printing.

Also, are you using a regular "meeting" appointment or "posted" appointment? We use the posted format for some resources and meeting appointments for others. The user places their name in the subject line, i.e., "Sally J-client meeting",in their message. That way, even if you view the calendar, you will see the user's name.

We were using a network word processing document 2 years ago for our IT department to schedule conference rooms. With 150+ users and people making errors or forgetting to save the document, you can imagine the problems! Finally the document became so corrupt, it was unuseable...solution, I created a resource for each conference room, granted rights and we haven't had a problem since.

I can't speak highly enough of the flexibility that we have found in using GroupWise resources to schedule all of our conference rooms, projectors and the ability of each individual department to set up a resource calendar to track their employees' vacations, doctor appointments, etc. On top of this 6.0 web access allows our users to edit the calendar even if they're not in the office. It's been such a help compared to other tracking methods we have used.

Regards,
Stars

 

[1oldfoxman]

Mich-
Not sure which track you're on, but here's some thoughts on both alternatives.

If you're using the Master Calendar (Stars's suggestion), then as people place entries in that calendar, they will need to put their name in the Subject line of the appt. We do this in my own dept for a master vacaction schedule. I don't think it will ever print in a format that is satisfactory to you and your users because it will always print ALL the entries in a given date/time slot together, side by side or one after the other(depending on print format you choose.)

The multi-user calendar view function will come closer I believe to what you want. PRINT CALENDAR using a multiuser view will produce a printed calendar for up to 10 users with their names across the top and time slots down the left hand side. 25 users means multiple pages (actually a multiuser view with only a few users can result in multiple pages "long" if there are enough long subject lines in their calendar entries).

We have a situation somewhat similar to yours where an executive sec. produces a weekly schedule of multiple conference rooms (GW resources) by printing to a file and then cutting and pasting from that file to a Word document template for more aesthetic paper publication. Not ideal, but it works.

 

[michigan]

- stars - 1oldfoxman -

Thank you much for your replies. I'm still tossing this around. I've tried multiple ways (proxy/multiview) - (proxy/MasterCalendar/owner).

One way makes more work for some users. When presented to some they asked, "...you mean I have to click something else?" And, when presented to others, "...oh, that just don't look right."

((Grrr))

I'm still working with different settings, views, layouts, etc.... It's gonna take some time for me to find the "perfect balance" for these people!

Thanks again for the suggestions!

 

[ideasworking]

Hello,

I'm just starting to use the Groupwise 6 multiuser calendar. So far the common questions are...

Can we see more than a single day? People would like to see a weekly and monthly view.

Can we post an out of office appointment that spans multiple days? We have people out of the office for a week at a time on a regular basis.

TIA
Lou

 

[1oldfoxman]

These are different than the original topic, but....

1. To my knowledge there is not a way to get a weekly/monthly view in a multiuser calendar. It would be, even conceptually, somewhat difficult to lay out (three dimensional, really)

2. You can post multiple day appointments quite easily - while creating a new appt, click on Actions/Auto-date and use any of the three methods available. (In order of ease of use: Dates, Example, Formula.)

Hope this helps.

 

[stars]

No, the multiuser calendar is set up on daily views only.

However, if you are using the multiuser calendar, you are obviously using "proxy access". If you want a weekly or monthly view of someone's calendar, just click on the monthly or weekly view in their calendar.

You can use a "recurring" posted appointment in GroupWise to indicate days or weeks someone will be gone. (A posted appointment, not a meeting appointment should be used.) Another tip for you - when someone is out of the office indicate the appointment to "show as" "out of office" on their calendar. This is especially helpful if your company is using the "busy search" feature.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Stars