Meetings FAQ

Q. What is a meeting?

A. Like an appointment, a meeting is an event that has a specific start and end time. A meeting, however, has the added elements of a specific location where it will take place and a list of people who will attend it. For example, a meeting is used when you want to schedule a block of time with your co-workers to discuss your work. When you create the meeting, you will specify the time, location, and attendees.

Q. How do I schedule a meeting?

A. On the calendar page, click any Schedule Meeting icon. This will open the Schedule Meeting screen on which you will enter the specifics of the meeting. If you click the icon corresponding to the date on which you want the meeting to occur, the correct start date will be filled in for you. If you click the icon on another date then you will need to specify the starting date manually. You will also need to specify whether you want the calendar event to be public or private û that is, whether everyone with read-access to you calendar will be able to see it or only those that are designated as Meeting Attendees û the starting and ending time, include a description of the meeting, select a meeting location, and select the individuals that should attend it.

Q. What happens if I schedule a meeting at a certain time and one or more attendees is busy during that time?

A. That depends on whether or not you clicked the checkbox labeled ôIt's okay to schedule this meeting at the first free opportunityö when you scheduled the meeting. Clicking this checkbox enables Auto-scheduling, which will cause the Schedule Meeting screen to be refreshed with new start and end times when a scheduling conflict is encountered. You can then resubmit the meeting with the new time values or cancel it altogether. If you do not use the Auto-scheduling option when creating your meeting, and a conflict is encountered, then an error message will pop up telling you that the meeting could only be ôpartially scheduledö. The meeting information email that you receive will tell you specifically which attendeesÆ had scheduling conflicts and will therefore not be able to attend.

Q. How does Auto-scheduling work?

A. When you create a meeting, you can select the ôIt's ok to schedule this meeting at the first free opportunityö checkbox to enable Auto-scheduling. If you click this checkbox then the calendaring system will verify that each person invited to attend the meeting is actually free to do so. If one or more persons are not free then the system will attempt to find the first free block of time in which everyone is free. You can then decide whether the new time block is appropriate before scheduling the meeting.

Q. What is a ôpartially scheduledö meeting?

A. A partially scheduled meeting is a meeting in which one or more of the attendees specified when the meeting was created cannot participate because of prior commitments on their calendar. Partially scheduled meetings are still valid because the meeting is created and added to the calendars of all those who are free to attend. To avoid partially scheduled meetings click the ôItÆs okay to schedule this meeting at the first free opportunityö checkbox when you are creating the meeting. This will enable the Auto-scheduling feature, which will attempt to resolve schedule conflicts by giving you the option to choose an alternate time-slot.

Q. How are attendees informed about meetings?

A. When a meeting is created, a meeting event is placed on each attendeeÆs calendar that has an opening during the meetingÆs scheduled timeslot. In addition, an email will be sent to each attendee informing them that a meeting has been scheduled and placed on their calendar. It will also list the meetingÆs location and the people who were scheduled to attend. When a meeting can only be partially scheduled because one or more of the designated attendees have a conflicting schedule, those people will be sent an email message telling them that the meeting was scheduled and they were invited, but their calendar could not be updated due to a scheduling conflict. Finally, the person who scheduled the meeting will receive an email message summarizing all of the meetingÆs information, and which lists all those who can and cannot attend due to scheduling conflicts.

Q. Must I specify a location for my meeting?

A. Yes, you must specify a location for a meeting. This allows everyone attending the meeting to know where it is to take place.

Q. What happens if the location I have specified for my meeting is already occupied?

A. If the meeting location is already reserved during the time-slot you have chosen, an error message will pop up to inform you so that you can designate a new meeting location or choose a different time-slot.

Q. If an appropriate location for my meeting is not listed in the drop-down list, how do I create a new one?

A. Simply type a new location into the text box provided to the left of the Select Location drop-down list. The calendar system will remember the new location and even add it to the predefined list the next time that the Schedule Meeting screen is opened.

Q. Who gets to see the locations for my meetings?

A. Meeting locations are stored for each domain name (for example, altn.com, example.com and so on). Only locations created by someone in your domain are listed in the drop-down list when you schedule a meeting.

Q. How do I cancel a meeting?

A. You can cancel a meeting from the calendar of any one of the meetingÆs attendees. If you scheduled the meeting, you will be able to access it from any attendeeÆs calendar. Click the date of the meeting and then click the Delete link to the right of the meeting event. This deletes the meeting from each attendeeÆs calendar and sends them each an email letting them know that the meeting has been canceled. It also frees up the location to allow others to schedule meetings during the previously occupied time-slot.