[CALIBK12] HIT: Online facilities scheduler / calendar

[Carol Bly]

FYI - I have a Treo, sold by Verizon, and can see our GroupWise calendar
very well; as can the rest of my staff who use Blackberries, etc. Thus,
we just use the District's Groupwise calendar to schedule facilities.
The cost (nothing more than what we were already paying) was just right
for us.
Sheila Simmons, or Director of Media Tech can give you details. Her
number is 530.672.4805.
Regards,
c


Dr. Carol Bly,
Superintendent,
Rescue Union School District
2390 Bass Lake Rd.
Rescue, CA 95672
Office: (530) 672-4810
Fax (530) 672-0719
www.rescue.k12.ca.us 
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>>> "Emily Milla" <emilla at euhsd.k12.ca.us> 6/9/2008 10:45 AM >>>
Several people expressed interest, so here's the hit list on the
Facility scheduler / calendar. A little more background... Several
different groups in the district have been using Calendars.net for a
while, but it is very slow and can be unreliable. District Admin
tested
Google calendars earler in the year, but thought it was too complex to
get everyone on board with it. They also do not want to use our
internal
email/calendar system (Groupwise) because it is apparently difficult
to
view Groupwise calendar(s) online via Palm Pilot. At this point, they
are evaluating 30boxes and pedesigns. 
 
Thanks for all of your input!
Emily Milla
 
 
List of all calendars recommended and/or mentioned:
 
Summary:
Use own internal email/calendar system...
   Outlook (3)
   FirstClass
   Groupwise
30boxes
Google Calendars (2)
Calgoo
Bravenet
Calendars.net
OfficeTracker.com 
pedesigns.com
Supercalendar.com
iCal/iCalendar
Dynix Horizon
hCalendar Creator http://microformats.org/code/hcalendar/creator 
 
Comments:
 
We do this with Microsoft Outlook.  All of our computer labs, the gym,
and meeting rooms are schedule-able.  It asks for start and stop times
and requests set up instructions, if any.  Everyone (all
teachers/admin/staff) has access and is able to schedule.  Of course,
someone might be bumped if they are outranked, but it doesn’t often
happen.

We use the calendar function in Outlook and it gives everyone access
through the Web.
Well, except for the form capability, this sounds awful similar to
Google Calendars….
 
I use 30boxes thru my wiki.  You can check it at
http://clintonms.pbwiki.com/   It's password protected so the
students can't mess around with it.  I use it for multiple rooms (my
LMC, the lab attached, and a 2nd computer lab on campus), 
 
You can also try google calendar that everyone can link to, but it's a
little less flexible... or bravenet, we have a free version for our
school computer, however only I can edit it, you can see it at
http://pub16.bravenet.com/calendar/show.php?usernum=1321714418 
 
I like to try stuff out, so I have some experience with those.  I like
30boxes for the library.  It's much more flexible than the others, but
I
admit I don't need the mail-out feature, so that's not a priority with
me.
 
Your posting was quite timely for me.  If you receive any replies,
could you forward them to me or else post them on the list?  I looked
in
to Google calendar and 30 Boxes but they don't meet our needs.  Some
library systems have "media room" schedulers, (I know Dynix Horizon
has
one) but they aren't that great.
Often your email program lets you do all of that -- you may only need
an in-service.

The last place I worked used Outlook --- and all that co
uld be done
with the Outlook program.
I use the calendar system within my district's e-mail program.  It
works nicely because my staff already uses the mail system regularly. 
They don't need to remember a new password.  They log into the system
regularly.  It is fairly transparent for them.  That said, we use
FirstClass.  I understand that your district uses GroupWise as its
e-mail system.  Within GroupWise, there is also a calendaring option. 
It may be an additional cost, but I like the synergy of e-mail and
calendaring within one program.  
 
Within our calendar program, any user can create a calendar and then
share it with others, giving other people permission to add, view,
delete, or not as we see fit.  So I have a calendar for the library. 
A
computer teacher has set-up a calendar for the computer lab.  Someone
at
the district office has set up a calendar with staff trainings on it. 
You see the pattern.  These all appear on each teacher's desktop when
they open their e-mail account.  
 
I am guessing that you don't need to pay for any new software, just
explore all the options available within the software you have.   


>>> Emily Milla 5/28/2008 2:34 PM >>>
Oh wise ones, 
 
Our district is looking for an online facilities scheduler / calendar
(free or subscription.) I know that I have seen similar posts in the
past, but we weren't in the market then, and our needs/desires are
pretty specific. Some of the features we are envisioning are probably
pipe dreams, but if you have anything you use and like, forward it on.
If there is interest, I will post a hit. Here are the specifics of
what
our district is looking for:
 
It must: 
 
Allow for multiple rooms/labs to be scheduled (unlimited if
possible...
would be used to schedule everything from District office board room &
conference room down to school libraries, computer labs, gyms and
theaters.)
 
Require password(s) to administer the calendar (prefer multiple levels
of passwords for different groups, but would be OK if everyone can add
events, but only those with password can modify/delete to prevent
people
from stepping on each other's toes)
 
 
May be a pipe dream, but maybe there is something out there... or
someone with programming ability who could make a fortune off of the
idea: 
 
The scheduling form would have a section for "Facility set up" where,
if users require special set up, they could enter the specifics in,
and
the request would automatically forward either an email to Custodians,
or, better, post to an online "Custodial Facility Setup" calendar that
they could print out as needed.
 
Ditto above for Technology requests (LCD projector, laptops, etc.),
and
possibly for Student Nutrition/catering
 
When an event is added to a facility, users could check boxes
indicating various calendars that the event should appear on... say
the
District office has "New Teacher Training" scheduled... they could
automatically add the event on the calendar for "All schools" with
just
a few extra clicks... 
 
Thank you all for any input!