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10 Minute Guide to Microsoft Exchange 5.0

- Lesson 18 -
Setting Up Meetings with Schedule+

 

In this lesson, you learn how to use the Schedule+ software to schedule meetings with other people in your organization.

Scheduling a meeting involves quite a few steps:

  • You have to decide who should be there

  • You have to find out when those people are available

  • You have to select a meeting time that's convenient for all attendees

  • You have to decide on a place for the meeting

  • You have to notify all the attendees of the meeting's time and place

  • You have to track the responses so you know how many (and which) attendees will be at your meeting

Whew! That's a lot of work. You won't have time to get much else done. Luckily, there are two features available in Microsoft Exchange Client that can make all of this faster and easier: the Microsoft Exchange Server Free/Busy folder and the Microsoft Exchange Client Meeting Wizard.


Free/Busy Microsoft Exchange Server has a container stored on the server called the Schedule+ Free/Busy folder. All users attached to that server have their Schedule+ meetings synchronized to this folder. The folder is replicated to other servers in the organization (and those servers also replicate their Free/Busy folders) so that it's possible to learn the free and busy times in every user's schedule.

Using the Meeting Wizard

The Meeting Wizard is a Microsoft Exchange Client feature that walks you through all the steps it takes to set up a meeting with other users. To use the Meeting Wizard, follow these steps:

1. Click the Meeting Wizard button on the toolbar. The meeting wizard opens, as shown in Figure 18.1.

Figure 18.1 Specify the type of attendees and resources you'll need for this meeting.

2. In the first dialog box (see Figure 18.1), select the options you need for this meeting. Then choose Next.

3.
In the next dialog box, click Pick Attendees to see a list of all users. Select the required attendees and choose Next.

4.
If you specified a need for optional attendees, enter those names on this page. Then choose Next.

5.
To enter the location you want to use for your meeting, choose Pick Locations and select a location from the Global Address List (double-click the location to select it and click OK). Choose Next.

6.
(Optional) You can enter more than one location and let the Wizard determine which to use (based
on availability). Choose Next.

7.
(Optional) If you chose the option to schedule resources (such as computers or A/V equipment) in the opening Wizard dialog box (refer to Figure 18.1), you will also have to select those resources here. The resource dialog box follows the location dialog box.


Locations and Resources It's important that companies create users and mailboxes for shared locations and resources. These facilities are used for meeting arrangements, and schedules must be kept for them. Locations are also for sending e-mail. For example, the research library or the audio-visual room might want to send mail to users about new equipment, or users might want to send mail to a location requesting information about facilities. If your organization maintains conference rooms, equipment, or similar facilities and they're not listed in the Global Address List, ask your administrator to remedy that.

8. Enter the expected duration of the meeting and the travel time to the meeting. Then choose Next.

9.
Enter the acceptable times and days for this meeting (see Figure 18.2). This information will be matched against the free and busy times of the attendees. Choose Next.

10.
(Optional) If there were optional attendees specified for this meeting (refer to Figure 18.1), the Wizard asks if their free/busy schedules should be checked. If you're listing them because you merely want them to know that the meeting is taking place, answer No. If you want them to attend (if they're free), answer Yes. This affects the Wizard's determination of a good meeting time.

Figure 18.2 Specify a range for the start and end times and select the acceptable days for your meeting.


Entering Non-Existent Names If you enter a location or a resource that isn't listed in an address list, you can use the Check Names button. This button is used to check typed entries against existing entries. If your entry isn't listed, you are given the opportunity to add it to the address list. If you add the location or the resource to the address list but don't use the Check Names button, you'll have to do it later. The Wizard won't complete the scheduling process and issue the invitations with any information that can't be confirmed against the users and locations known to your Microsoft Exchange Server system.



Travel Time The travel time is important. If you are holding the meeting outside of the office, give the attendees an indication of how long it will take to get to the meeting place so that when attendees' schedules are checked, the travel time can be factored into the decision about each person's availability.

Now that you've entered all the information, the Wizard takes over. The entities involved in your meeting plan (attendees, locations, and resources) are checked for free and busy times. If any entity has not been diligent about keeping a schedule, the Wizard will report that fact. Figure 18.3 shows a report on a problem location, and Figure 18.4 reports a problem with an attendee. Click OK on any of these informational dialog boxes.

Figure 18.3 The people in charge of the conference room haven't made a schedule, so the server's free/busy folder has no information.



Figure 18.4 Users who don't keep schedules make it difficult to schedule meetings.

Using the Wizard's Results

When all the Free/Busy schedules have been checked, the Meeting Wizard displays the information it has gathered (see Figure 18.5).

Most of the time, unless all the attendees you selected are incredibly busy people, the Meeting Wizard offers you a choice of meeting times. The original Wizard report displays the next available time at which all the criteria you set for attendees and resources are met.

Figure 18.5 The Meeting Wizard shows free and busy times and suggests a meeting time.

You can look at another possible meeting time by choosing Pick Next Time. Additional meeting dates are then displayed, in chronological order. If you want to go back to the original meeting date, click the left arrow at the top of the calendar that displays the free/busy times. The next available time that's displayed will back up to match the calendar section you click on.


Do It Yourself In case you don't like any of the times the Wizard picked, you can view the free/busy information for all the attendees and resources. There's a color code key on the dialog box, so you can decide which attendee or which resource you want to give up to have the meeting on a date that doesn't match all the schedules. To schedule this meeting, however, you'll have to issue the invitation messages manually.

When you have selected one of the Wizard's proposed dates, choose Next. The last Meeting Wizard dialog box appears, announcing that the Wizard has done its job and telling you that the next step is to issue the invitations to all attendees. Choose Finish.

Sending the Invitations

The Meeting Request form automatically appears when the Meeting Wizard finishes (see Figure 18.6). All the information necessary to notify the attendees is already filled in (optional attendees are in the Cc box). If you want to, you can add a note to the text. When you're satisfied with the information, click the Send button to send the meeting notice. The meeting is then added to your schedule.

Figure 18.6 All the necessary information is already filled in when the Meeting Request form appears.

In this lesson, you learned how to use the Meeting Wizard to set up a meeting based on the attendees' free and busy times. In the next lesson, you'll learn how to manage tasks using Schedule+.

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