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Staff Email - Resource Calendars

For those using the MS Exchange email service for staff a non-personal Resource Calendar may be setup to manage a shared resource such as a meeting room, allowing the nominated 'approvers' to accept, decline or amend booking requests that other staff will be able to send via the Resource Calendar facility. This service is appropriate where the resource can only be booked by one person/group at a time. Please choose from the list of links below for further details on setting up, managing and using a Resource Calendar.

Requesting the Creation of a Resource Calendar

If you would like to have a new Resource Calendar created then the Authorised Party, who is your Head of Department or School Administrator, must submit a Resource Calendar request via our online form.

Connecting to the Resource Calendar

In order to assist with making appointments, it is possible to view a Resource Calendar using any of the supported applications.

Using OWA to View a Resource Calendar

It is possible to use OWA to view other calendars that you have been given access to. Note that you must use Outlook or Entourage in order to create or edit calendar entries however should you have the appropriate permissions. To view the calendar you must manually enter the URL (web address) for the particular calendar. Once you have done this you can bookmark it or add it to your favourites so you can access it quickly the next time.

  1. To view the monthly view enter the following URL, replacing 'username' with the username of the calendar you wish to access. The IS Services Helpdesk can provide you with the 'username' for the calendar:
    https://go.tcd.ie/exchange/username/Calendar/?cmd=Contents&view=monthly
  2. To view the daily view enter the URL below, again replacing 'username' with the appropriate username:
    https://go.tcd.ie/exchange/username/Calendar/?cmd=Contents
  3. To view the weekly view enter the URL below and again replace 'username' as appropriate:
    https://go.tcd.ie/exchange/username/Calendar/?cmd=Contents&view=weekly

Connecting to a Resource Calendar using Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 (PC)

  1. Launch Outlook
  2. Choose Go - Calendar from the main menu or choose Calendar from the bottom left
  3. In Outlook 2007 under the list of calendars on the left choose Open a Shared Calendar...
    In Outlook 2011 choose Open Calendar - Open Shared Calendar... from the main menu at the top of the screen

    Open a Shared Calendar

  4. Enter the 'username' for the Resource Calendar you wish to access. If you do not know this 'username' then click on 'Name...' and you will be asked to search for the calendar. Click the down arrow under the 'Address Book' field and choose 'All Rooms' under 'All Address Lists'. This will display the list of Resource Calendars you can choose from in the left-hand window pane.

    All Rooms

  5. Double-click on the appropriate resource listed. Click OK when done.
  6. Once the connection has been established the calendar should be visible in Outlook by choosing Calendar at the bottom left or Go - Calendar from the main menu, and choosing the appropriate calendar from the list on the left.

Connecting to a Resource Calendar using Outlook 2011 (Mac)

  1. Launch Outlook
  2. Choose Calendar on the list of options towards the bottom left, as below

    Calendar

  3. Choose the Home tab at the top and then Open Calendar button, as below

    Open Calendar

  4. For User enter the College username of the person whose calendar you wish to connect to. Alternatively click the address book icon to the right and search for the person. Note that this person must have already shared out their calendar to you.

    Enter User

  5. The shared calendar will appear on the right side of your screen under Shared Calendars. You can click the name of the calendar and view its content.

Connecting to a Resource Calendar using Entourage 2008 (Mac)

  1. Launch Entourage
  2. Click on the 'Calendar' option beside the 'Inbox' option to switch to the Calendar view
  3. From the main menu choose File - Open Other User’s folder
  4. Enter the 'username' of the Resource Calendar. Alternatively, click on the 'People' button beside the 'User' field and type in what you think the name of the Resource Calendar might be and click 'Find'.
  5. Choose the appropriate name from the list and click OK, then choose the type of resource you want to access in the 'Type' field, in this case the 'Calendar' resource. The calendar will be displayed in the left hand pane.

Making a Resource Calendar Booking

Please select the appropriate link below depending on which of the supported email applications you are using. Please note that this functionality is not available if using OWA Light in web browsers other than Internet Explorer.

Making a Resource Calendar Booking via Outlook Web Access (OWA) using Internet Explorer

The Scheduling Assistant in OWA allows you to view availability and also to request a Resource Calendar booking. Checking availability of the room resource can be carried out as follows:

  1. Login to OWA
  2. Click the drop down arrow to the right of the 'New' button and select 'Meeting request'. This will open either a new tab or a new window.

    Meeting Request

  3. Click on the 'Scheduling Assistant' tab near the top.

    Scheduling Assistant

  4. Click the drop down arrow to the right of 'Select Rooms' towards the bottom left. If no rooms show up by default, choose 'More' and the 'Address Book' window opens.

    Select Rooms

  5. In the Address Book window select 'All Rooms' on the left to see a list of Resource Calendars available to you.
  6. Click on the appropriate Resource Calendar to select it.
  7. Click the 'Rooms' button at the bottom left of the Address Book window and then click OK. The Resource Calendar you selected will show up now under the 'Select Rooms' section. You can now see both the room Resource Calendar and your own personal calendar
  8. Choose a date and time from the available free slots of the room Resource Calendar. A blue bar line across time periods in the room Resource Calendar means it is already booked.
  9. Fill in the purpose of your meeting in the 'Subject' field
  10. Click the 'Send' button at the top left to send your request to your Resource Calendar Approver(s).

After you have sent the request you will receive a tentative acceptance email pending approval. It is then necessary for the Resource Calendar Approver(s) to accept, decline or alter your request. If approved then you will receive an acceptance email. If the Approver declines your request you will receive an email confirming this rejection - you will have to remove the entry from your personal calendar in this case. Alternatively the approver may suggest a different date and time for the booking and in that case you will receive an email with the suggested new time for your acceptance. Should you accept the new arrangements then the new booking request is sent back to the Approver(s) and the approval process starts once more.

Making a Resource Calendar Booking via Outlook 2007 or 2010 (PC)

  1. Launch Outlook
  2. Choose Go - Calendar from the main menu or choose Calendars from the list at the bottom left
  3. Ensure you are viewing your personal calendar, listed under My Calendars on the left
  4. In Outlook 2007 click on the arrow beside the New button at the top left and choose Meeting Request
    In Outlook 2010 choose the New Meeting button at the top left
  5. An 'Untitled - Meeting' window opens. Initially the 'Appointment' dialogue is displayed. Click on the 'Scheduling Assistant' button, adjacent to the 'Appointment' button.

    Scheduling Assistant

  6. You will see by default that you are selected as an Attendee under the 'All Attendees' section. You can choose to add other attendees using the 'Add Attendees' button.
  7. Now add the room/resource you want to book by clicking the 'Add Rooms…' button located at the bottom left
  8. The 'Select Rooms' window opens. Beside 'Search' choose 'Name only' if this is not already selected.
  9. Click the down arrow under the 'Address Book' field and choose 'All Rooms' under 'All Address Lists'. This will display the list of Resource Calendars you can choose from in the left-hand window pane.

    All Rooms

  10. Choose the room/Resource Calendar you want to book and click the 'Rooms ->' button towards the bottom of the screen. Click OK
  11. The 'Free/Busy' information is then displayed. A meeting date and time can be selected by first scrolling across the bottom of the window and then double-clicking on the time selected. You can then position the green and red vertical bars to the start and end time of the meeting request respectively. Alternatively you can enter the date and time using the drop down text boxes at the bottom of the window.
  12. You can choose the 'Recurrence' button if you want the meeting request to repeat itself each week or month for example
  13. The suggested times can help to compare your own personal shared calendar with the meeting room Resource Calendar. You can also see where the Resource Calendar is not available - in the calendar view where a blue bar line is covering a time period this means the room is already booked
  14. Choose 'Appointment', adjacent to the 'Scheduling Assistant' button near the top left
  15. Fill in the 'Subject' field outlining the purpose of the meeting.  You will be prompted to enter the Subject if you omit it
  16. Click the 'Send' button on the left to send the meeting request to the nominated Resource Calendar Approver(s).

After you have sent the request you will receive a tentative acceptance email pending approval. It is then necessary for the nominated Resource Calendar Approver(s) to accept, decline or alter your request. If approved then you will receive an acceptance email. If the Approver declines your request you will receive an email confirming this rejection - you will have to remove the entry from your personal calendar in this case. Alternatively the approver may suggest a different date and time for the booking and in that case you will receive an email with the suggested new time for your acceptance. Should you accept the new arrangements then the new booking request is sent back to the Approver(s) and the approval process starts once more.

Making a Resource Calendar Booking via Outook 2011 (Mac)

  1. Open Outlook
  2. Click the Calendar button on the navigation pane
  3. Click the New Appointment icon
  4. Enter in the details for your event. Put in the Start time and End time that you would prefer
  5. In the To field, enter the names of those you wish to send invitations to. To schedule a resource, enter its name in the To field you need to know the name of the resource to add it in. You will receive an email based on its availability.
  6. You can also add attendees or resources by clicking the Add New... button beneath a name already present, and entering another name or resource. You can then adjust the meeting time if needed.
  7. When you are ready to send your invitation, click the Send button.
  8. Your meeting is scheduled and now appears on your calendar. Invitees will receive an invitation in their mailbox.

After you have sent the request you will receive a tentative acceptance email pending approval. It is then necessary for the nominated Resource Calendar Approver(s) to accept, decline or alter your request. If approved then you will receive an acceptance email. If the Approver declines your request you will receive an email confirming this rejection - you will have to remove the entry from your personal calendar in this case. Alternatively the approver may suggest a different date and time for the booking and in that case you will receive an email with the suggested new time for your acceptance. Should you accept the new arrangements then the new booking request is sent back to the Approver(s) and the approval process starts once more.

Making a Resource Calendar Booking via Entourage 2008 (Mac)

  1. Launch Entourage
  2. From the main menu choose File - New and then 'Calendar Event'. The 'Untitled Calendar' window is displayed.
  3. Enter the booking subject into the 'Subject' field.
  4. Enter the booking location into the 'Location' field
  5. Choose 'Invite'
  6. To make a Resource Calendar booking enter the 'username' of the Resource Calendar in the 'To' field. If you do not know the 'username' of the Resource Calendar then enter the first few characters of what you think it is and a list of names should come up from which you can select the appropriate Resource Calendar. You can also add the usernames of people you wish to invite.
  7. Click on the grey box on the top left hand side of the window to exit the invite window.
  8. Click the 'Scheduling' tab. You can now see the free/busy times for each person and resource. You can change the Start and End dates and times in their respective boxes or simply scroll to look for a free slot for all calendars.
  9. Click on the 'Appointment' tab again and click the 'Send' button.

After you have sent the request you will receive a tentative acceptance email pending approval. It is then necessary for the nominated Resource Calendar Approver(s) to accept, decline or alter your request. If approved then you will receive an acceptance email. If the Approver declines your request you will receive an email confirming this rejection - you will have to remove the entry from your personal calendar in this case. Alternatively the Approver may suggest a different date and time for the booking and in that case you will receive an email with the suggested new time for your acceptance. Should you accept the new arrangements then the new booking request is sent back to the Approver(s) and the approval process starts once more.

Modifying a Resource Calendar Booking

To modify a Resource Calendar booking that you created you must first connect to the Resource Calendar as outlined above. You can then browse to it, double-click on the appropriate calendar entry and make the modification.

Deleting a Resource Calendar Booking

To delete a Resource Calendar booking that you created first browse to your personal calendar. Select the appropriate calendar entry and hit the 'Delete' key on the keyboard. The room booking will be deleted from the room Resource Calendar and your personal calendar.

Approvers - How the Approval Process Work

  1. Once someone makes a Resource Calendar booking a request for approval will appear as an email in the Inbox of all Approvers. These approval requests will have a slightly different icon beside them than a normal email. Other than they they look quite similar in that the sender's name and the subject will be listed. If there are multiple Approvers then some local agreement should be reached on who is responsible for handling requests at any point in time. For example, one Approver could be nominated to be the primary Approver who will deal with all requests unless absent. A backup Approver should then be nomiated also etc.
  2. Double-click on the subject to open the request.
  3. After opening the request the options appear as below. Approvers can choose ‘Calendar’ first to check the booking and then choose ‘Accept’, ‘Tentative’, ‘Decline’ or ‘Propose New Time’ as appropriate. The request is then automatically moved to the Deleted Items folder. Further below is a description of how each response works.

    Approve Deny

    Accept: The approver gets an option to send an email response to the requester, and the booking is added to the calendar.

    Tentative: The approver gets an option to send an email response to the requester and the booking is added to the calendar, awaiting further action from the approver to either Accept, Decline or Propose New Time.

    Decline: The approver gets an option to send an email response to the requester, and the booking is removed from the Resource Calendar. The requester will have to manually remove the proposed item from their personal calendar.

    Propose New Time: From the drop-down menu there are options to mark as tentative or to decline before proposing new time. After selecting ‘Propose New Time’ the approver gets options to choose a new time to propose – the approver can see the requester’s availability. The approver can then send an email response with the proposed new time. The original requester is then prompted to send a response in turn – they must first choose ‘Accept’ and then choose ‘Send Update’. The approver will then once again have the original options to Accept, Decline, mark as Tentative or to Propose New Time once more. If Accepted the rescheduled item is automatically updated in the original requester’s calendar.

Owners - How to Specify Who Can Make Booking Requests

After IS Services have created the Resource Calendar the nominated Owner has the ability to specify the list of Requesters who may submit a booking request to the Approver(s). Note that the instructions that follow are only appropriate to the nominated Resource Calendar Owner.

  1. Launch a web browser and browse to Outlook Web Access (OWA)
  2. Log in, making sure to use the username of the nominated Resource Calendar Owner
  3. Beside the 'Options' button towards the top right you will see the name of the Owner. Click on this and the 'Open Other Mailbox' prompt is shown.
  4. Enter the Resource Calendar name, which IS Services created for you, and click 'Open...'
  5. The Resource Calendar mailbox will launch in a new browser window or tab - make sure to select this new window or tab.
  6. Click 'Options' towards the top right.
  7. From the list of options on the left choose 'Resource Settings'. The 'Resource Scheduling Options' window will display.
  8. Scroll down to the 'Resource Scheduling Permissions' section and decide on the permissions you want for each of the three options listed.
    1. Under the section 'These users can schedule automatically if the resource is available' you can add usernames that you want to be able to automatically book the resource without the need for approval.
    2. Under the section 'These users can submit a request for manual approval if the resource is available' you can add usernames that you want to be able to submit booking requests that will need approval
    3. Under the section 'These users can schedule automatically if the resource is available and can submit a request for manual approval if the resource is unavailable' you can add usernames that you want to be able to submit booking requests that need approval if the resource is unavailable, but be able to make a booking without approval if the resource is available.
  9. Click 'Save' towards the top left to save your settings. You should get a response stating 'Saved successfully'.

Last updated 6 May 2011 Website Comments and Feedback (Email).

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