Tech Forum

Has there been a change to the new calendar in the ability to schedule resources using a private calendar? In our stake we have our building schedulers set up with private calendars that are used for recording special events such as weddings and reunions etc. We were able to choose building resources like any other event but now that functionality seems to have gone away and there is no option for choosing a resource for such events. This is consistent using other logins as well.

Anyone have any input?

I've seen messages saying private calendar can't reserve resources for some time. If that was ever a feature, I don't remember it.

In the past, we have had those events show on a stake master event or some other public calendar so members could see what was going on.

ericwest wrote:Has there been a change to the new calendar in the ability to schedule resources using a private calendar? In our stake we have our building schedulers set up with private calendars that are used for recording special events such as weddings and reunions etc. We were able to choose building resources like any other event but now that functionality seems to have gone away and there is no option for choosing a resource for such events. This is consistent using other logins as well.

Anyone have any input?

It has never been possible to schedule resources on a private calendar. So I think your memory is not quite correct. There have been indications that this will be possible in some future release.

However, our stake does this on a public calendar. It's named "Resource Only" so that most people won't be tempted to subscribe to it. But doing it that way gives helpful information to people who are trying to schedule an event and see a conflict. They will see the name of the event and who scheduled it so that they can work out conflicts.

Thanks to everyone for your responses. We had only recently switched to the new calendar and I had thought we were able to do this when we first created these "Other Events" calendars but apparently I was mistaken. We have now made the calendars public calendars so we can schedule the resources necessary and hope that not everyone will subscribe to them and busy up their calendars. I hope this is addressed in the next release.

ericwest wrote:In our stake we have our building schedulers set up with private calendars that are used for recording special events such as weddings and reunions etc.

ericwest wrote:We have now made the calendars public calendars so we can schedule the resources necessary and hope that not everyone will subscribe to them and busy up their calendars. I hope this is addressed in the next release.

It is not necessary to make calendars for private events publicly viewable by the ward/branch. A building scheduler can "block" resources just for this purpose. Essentially the building scheduler uses the block procedure to prevent anyone but a buiding scheduler for that location from reserving resources for an event. The "Other Events" calendar can still be used as a private calendar to track the events for the blocks.

For example, a wedding reception is planned for Saturday (any date) from 2pm to 7pm. The building scheduler uses the procedures in Reserve a Location for a Ward or Stake to block the resource(s) needed for the reception from being scheduled by anyone else. The building scheduler can then schedule the event in the private calendar "Other Events". The event on the "Other Events" calendar will not have a resource because the calendar is private but no one will be able to schedule the resources blocked for the reception.

jdlessley wrote:It is not necessary to make calendars for private events publicly viewable by the ward/branch. A building scheduler can "block" resources just for this purpose. Essentially the building scheduler uses the block procedure to prevent anyone but a buiding scheduler for that location from reserving resources for an event. The "Other Events" calendar can still be used as a private calendar to track the events for the blocks.

For example, a wedding reception is planned for Saturday (any date) from 2pm to 7pm. The building scheduler uses the procedures in Reserve a Location for a Ward or Stake to block the resource(s) needed for the reception from being scheduled by anyone else. The building scheduler can then schedule the event in the private calendar "Other Events". The event on the "Other Events" calendar will not have a resource because the calendar is private but no one will be able to schedule the resources blocked for the reception.

Although this approach is possible, it has some risks you should be aware of:

1. It doesn't stop any building scheduler, including the one who placed the block, from scheduling an event for that time and resource. So your statement that "no one will be able to schedule the resources blocked for the reception" is not really true. Private calendar events don't show up on the list of potential conflicts, so if a building scheduler schedules an event for that time and resource, he'll be able to do so with no hint of a conflict. If there are multiple schedulers for a building, separate notification of this usage of the Block feature will be required.
2. The Manage Resource Assignments page is not really designed for single events. Every assignment is a recurring weekly or monthly assignment. So every use of the assignment feature in the way you suggest will require manually selecting a recurrence end date equal to the event date. Hopefully schedulers would always remember to do that.

Personally, I think the Resource Assignment is not an adequate substitute for an actual event that reserves a resource. But as long as you are aware of all the issues, other creative techniques may work for some stakes.

aebrown wrote:It doesn't stop any building scheduler, including the one who placed the block, from scheduling an event for that time and resource. So your statement that "no one will be able to schedule the resources blocked for the reception" is not really true.

This is true. However, I was recommending an alternative to a public calendar. If there is only one building scheduler who set this up and remembers to review the private "Other Events" calendar before scheduling events on public calendars there should be no problem. If there is more than one building scheduler they would all need to agree on the procedure to check the "Other Events" calender before scheduling an event on a public calendar. This procedure would require both using the blocking of resources and the private "Other Events" calendar. Hopefully this would only need to be an interim work-around until an upgrade addressing this issue was released.

aebrown wrote:Private calendar events don't show up on the list of potential conflicts, so if a building scheduler schedules an event for that time and resource, he'll be able to do so with no hint of a conflict. If there are multiple schedulers for a building, separate notification of this usage of the Block feature will be required.

As I discussed above it would be no issue for a single building scheduler. For a location with multiple building schedulers, all would have to agree to and use the private "Other Events" calendar before scheduling events using their super powers. It does add more work but hopefully it is only a short term work-around.

aebrown wrote:The Manage Resource Assignments page is not really designed for single events. Every assignment is a recurring weekly or monthly assignment. So every use of the assignment feature in the way you suggest will require manually selecting a recurrence end date equal to the event date. Hopefully schedulers would always remember to do that.

In the six years I was the building scheduling coordinator for a stake center that was home to three tenant wards there really weren't that many private events. For multi-unit locations the opportunities for private events would be low with the number of ward and organization activities taking priority. It might be higher for a single ward or two ward location.

I merely offered this approach as an alternative for consideration.