Staff Email - Scheduling a Meeting

Staff using the College's Exchange email service may use the scheduling assistant to schedule a meeting of several College staff. Amongst other benefts, this facility allows you to:

• Check other staff members' availability and meeting room availability
• Select from a list of suggested meeting times based on attendees' availability, or suggest a specified period
• Circulate a meeting request to all proposed attendees via email, to which they can respond to indicate acceptance, inability to attend or tentative acceptance
• Automatically update of all of the attendees' calendars with the meeting details and any changes to the arrangements
• Dynamically carry out these tasks via certain mobile devices and smartphones whilst on the move (e.g. iPhone)
• Delegate these tasks to another staff member of your choice

What follows are brief step-by-step instructions for scheduling a meeting, and the options available. Please choose the appropriate application from the list below.

• Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 (PC)
• Outlook Web Access (OWA)
• Outlook 2011 (Mac)
• Entourage 2008 (Mac)

Scheduling a Meeting in Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 (PC)

You may find it useful to print these instructions before proceeding

1. From the main toolbar in Outlook click the drop-down arrow beside the New button and choose Meeting Request
   
   
   
   
2. From the list of options on the Meeting tab click the Scheduling Assistant button
   
   
   
   
3. Click the Add Attendees button, located at the bottom left
   
   
   
   
4. From the subsequent window ensure that More columns is selected beside Search: and that the Global Address List is selected under Address Book
5. Enter the invitee's name or College username in the box below Search: and click the Go button. Double-click on the name to add it. Repeat for each invitee. Click OK when done.
   
   
   
   In the Scheduling Assistant window you will now be able to see the attendees' availability. If you have been given appropriate permissions you will be able to see the exact entries for those staff. Otherwise you will only have an indication of when they are unavailable, represented by the blue bars, as below. You can scroll across to the day of the proposed meeting.
   
   
   
   
6. To the right will be listed a set of suggested times based on when all attendees are available. You may select one of these to populate the Start time: fields at the bottom of the window, or you may manually select a Start time:. You should then manually select an End time:.
   
   
   
   
7. Where resource calendars have been setup, and should you wish to book a resource such as a meeting room, you should click Add Rooms... towards the bottom left. Search for the appropriate room or resource and double-click it to add it to the list. Click OK when done.
   
   
8. When you are happy that all attendees and resources have been specified and that the Start time and End time are correct then hit the Send button towards the top left to send an invitation email to all attendees. The meeting will be entered into their Personal Calendar.
   
   
   
   
9. The invitation email is sent to all attendees who will then be asked to respond by choosing the appriate option between Accept, Tentative and Decline.
   
   
   
   The attendees get the option to send an email indicating their response.
   
   
10. Should you wish to amend the meeting details at a later point then access your Personal Calendar and locate the meeting entry. Double click on it and make the proposed changes. You can then send the amended arrangements to all attendees who will again have the option to indicate their response.

Scheduling a Meeting in Outlook 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.

Scheduling a Meeting in Outlook Web Access (OWA)

You may find it useful to print these instructions before proceeding

1. After logging into OWA click the drop-down arrow beside New and select Meeting Request
   
   
   
   
2. Choose the Scheduling Assistant tab, located towards the top left
   
   
3. Under Select Attendees on the left, click where it says Add a name and enter the College username or full name of the attendee. Repeat to add further attendees.
   
   
   
   
4. After specifying each attendee you will be able to see their Personal Calendar entries to the right of their name. You will see the exact details of each entry, if you have been given permissions, or you will see a set of blue bars indicating when they are not available. You can scroll across to the day of the proposed meeting.
   
   Towards the right of the screen you will see a list of Suggested Times based on when all attendees are available. Based on this you can then specify the Start: and End: times for the proposed meeting, towards the top of the screen.
   
   
   
   
5. Where resource calendars have been setup, and should you wish to book a resource such as a meeting room, you should click Add a room under Select Rooms towards the bottom left. Enter the name of the resource and choose from the list of available options.
   
   
6. When you are happy that all attendees and resources have been specified and that the Start time and End time are correct then hit the Send button towards the top left to send an invitation email to all attendees. The meeting will be entered into their Personal Calendar.
   
   
7. The invitation email is sent to all attendees who will then be asked to respond by choosing the appriate option between Accept, Tentative and Decline.
   
   
   
   The attendees get the option to send an email indicating their response.
   
   
8. Should you wish to amend the meeting details at a later point then access your Personal Calendar and locate the meeting entry. Double click on it and make the proposed changes. You can then send the amended arrangements to all attendees who will again have the option to indicate their response.

Scheduling a Meeting in Entourage 2008

You may find it useful to print these instructions before proceeding

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. Add the usernames of the staff you wish to invite in the To field. Where resource calendars have been setup, and should you wish to book a resource such as a meeting room, you should also enter the 'username' of the resource calendar.
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.
10. The invitation email is sent to all attendees who will then be asked to respond by choosing the appriate option between Accept, Tentative and Decline. The attendees get the option to send an email indicating their response.
    
11. Should you wish to amend the meeting details at a later point then access your Personal Calendar and locate the meeting entry. Double click on it and make the proposed changes. You can then send the amended arrangements to all attendees who will again have the option to indicate their response.