"master calendar" idea on beta calendar- revisited
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 2:05 am
While we are in the beta testing phase on beta calendar, (www.beta.lds.org under "tools," select "calendar")...
Suggestion for discussion:
I would like to see a "master calendar" on the ward level at least, that contains the data from all the other calendars created, without the need for double entry. (I don't claim this as my idea) This "master calendar" would be more an admin and leader tool for controlling all ward events and minimize chaos from conflicting events, not to be confused with building a "ward calendar" for the general ward membership to view.
Basic Problem:
We've already discussed "de-conflicting" events as an issue when you have multiple people from your ward organizations scheduling and maintaining their own calendars.
The old way, with LUWS: Anything on the calendar is submitted, and then approved, and during this process, the approver could check for conflicts and not approve the conflicting event. Works well.
With beta calendar, we are encouraging our organizations to maintain their own calandars, and make them useful for their own organization. But, in doing so, we lose the "de-conflicting events" ability as each organization schedules their own calendar, and certainly WILL NOT check all other calandars. They don't check our LUWS calandar now, for example, as any LUWS admin will tell you as he constantly finds conflicts.
Solutions?
If we have a master calendar that "collects" every event automatically from each "non-private" calendar on the ward level, perhaps called a 'conflict checking calendar,' then all the data from all the ward calendars is in one place-easy to check.
possible discussions:
1) Organizations could be "required" to check this first before scheduling an event. (It won't really happen as discussed above, however, but you could assign an assistant clerk to oversee this.)
2) Better still, Calandaring App could automatically check for possible conflicts on the "master calendar" and give a "possible conflict" message to the scheduler who is scheduling an event on their organizational calendar at a time when another event is already scheduled
3) would this suggest a hierarchical relationship, a "master" (ward, or parent) and a "Sub" (organizational, child) calendar?
4) Brainstorming here: There are many ward events where a conflict is alright, even expected. However, some events take priority, like the mid-week relief society, and scheduling other organizations events should be discouraged during this event.
Could this "master calendar" contain an admin functionionality, so that already scheduled events could be approved, or Locked, or prioritized, and as each subsequent calandaring item is added that conflicts, perhaps a special conflicting meassge could be automatically generated, or even not allowed to be added without admin approval? Could an admin designate special times on the master calendar, so that as events are trying to be added on organizational calendars they get a special message automatically?
Examples: Your event is being scheduled on "family night," is this your intent?" or "your event is being scheduled during a previously scheduled event: Relief Society: which ward leadership has decided should take precedence over other ward events: Continue scheduling your event?"
Any other ideas?
Suggestion for discussion:
I would like to see a "master calendar" on the ward level at least, that contains the data from all the other calendars created, without the need for double entry. (I don't claim this as my idea) This "master calendar" would be more an admin and leader tool for controlling all ward events and minimize chaos from conflicting events, not to be confused with building a "ward calendar" for the general ward membership to view.
Basic Problem:
We've already discussed "de-conflicting" events as an issue when you have multiple people from your ward organizations scheduling and maintaining their own calendars.
The old way, with LUWS: Anything on the calendar is submitted, and then approved, and during this process, the approver could check for conflicts and not approve the conflicting event. Works well.
With beta calendar, we are encouraging our organizations to maintain their own calandars, and make them useful for their own organization. But, in doing so, we lose the "de-conflicting events" ability as each organization schedules their own calendar, and certainly WILL NOT check all other calandars. They don't check our LUWS calandar now, for example, as any LUWS admin will tell you as he constantly finds conflicts.
Solutions?
If we have a master calendar that "collects" every event automatically from each "non-private" calendar on the ward level, perhaps called a 'conflict checking calendar,' then all the data from all the ward calendars is in one place-easy to check.
possible discussions:
1) Organizations could be "required" to check this first before scheduling an event. (It won't really happen as discussed above, however, but you could assign an assistant clerk to oversee this.)
2) Better still, Calandaring App could automatically check for possible conflicts on the "master calendar" and give a "possible conflict" message to the scheduler who is scheduling an event on their organizational calendar at a time when another event is already scheduled
3) would this suggest a hierarchical relationship, a "master" (ward, or parent) and a "Sub" (organizational, child) calendar?
4) Brainstorming here: There are many ward events where a conflict is alright, even expected. However, some events take priority, like the mid-week relief society, and scheduling other organizations events should be discouraged during this event.
Could this "master calendar" contain an admin functionionality, so that already scheduled events could be approved, or Locked, or prioritized, and as each subsequent calandaring item is added that conflicts, perhaps a special conflicting meassge could be automatically generated, or even not allowed to be added without admin approval? Could an admin designate special times on the master calendar, so that as events are trying to be added on organizational calendars they get a special message automatically?
Examples: Your event is being scheduled on "family night," is this your intent?" or "your event is being scheduled during a previously scheduled event: Relief Society: which ward leadership has decided should take precedence over other ward events: Continue scheduling your event?"
Any other ideas?