Getting Started with the LBTO Web Calendar

The LBTO Web Calendar is a full-featured calendaring system for tracking time, scheduling appointments, and scheduling resources. The software is open source from k5n.us. It is managed at LBTO by AlexLovellTroy.

Overview

The calendaring system treats each person or resource to be scheduled as in individual calendar. This means that scheduling four people for a meeting in a conference room is really adding the same appointment to five calendars. This is true for meeting rooms, LBTO vehicles, sleeping quarters at the site, and potentially any other resource that needs to be accounted for and scheduled.

Another key concept to managing a calender with this system, is the idea of CalendarViews. A view is really just a collection of calendars. One view is that of the bedrooms at LBTO. (Bedroom Schedule) In this view, each bedroom has a row with days listed as columns and the names of the occupants where they should be.

The only other brief concept to consider before getting started is conflict management. This calendaring system will tell you about any overlapping meetings or overutilized resources. It will not enforce that only one thing can happen at one time for one calendar. The rationale behind this policy is that humans are smarter than software and generally make better choices. For instance, I know that there is no conflict between being scheduled for a mountain trip and a video conference with the MPIA. But, if software tried to manage that apparent conflict, one would have to be cancelled or just not recorded. The bottom line is that you are in control of your calendar even if you choose to overcommit yourself.

For a more detailed look at how to go manage your calendar and others, check out the Wiki topics AccessAndNavigation, AddAnEntry, ViewOtherCalendars, ImportAndExport? , and ApproveEvents.

-- AlexLovellTroy - 06 Aug 2006