RESERVING A COMPUTER LAB

You should use GroupWise for reserving computer rooms. Before you can view a computer lab schedule, or reserve a lab, you must have access to the calendar for that room. (To create initial access to a computer lab schedule, which you need only do once, follow the steps in the how-to entitled Create Initial Access to Multi-User Calendars.) To view a computer lab schedule or reserve a lab, follow the steps below. (NOTE: This how-to uses Room 12 as an example; other computer labs would be analogously viewed and reserved.)

Log into a computer, then start GroupWise.
Left-click "Calendar" in the list in the left-hand window.
From the "calendar view" icons near the upper right part of your screen, select Multi-User.

You should then see, in columns, all of the calendars to which you have acquired access. If the computer lab you are interested in is not shown, you may need to create access to that lab using the procedure described in the how-to entitled Create Initial Access to Multi-User Calendars. If you can see a calendar column for the lab you are interested in, proceed to the next steps.

NOTE: You can view and reserve a lab's calendar in one of two ways:

1. You can view the lab's calendar one day at a time within the matrix of your multi-user calendar, or

2. You can "Proxy" into the lab's calendar, then use any of the GroupWise "calendar views" (1-day, 7-day, 1-month, or 1-year) to view and schedule lab usage. (These views are advantageous in that they allow you to see lab usage over larger time-blocks.)

Both methods of viewing and reserving labs are described below. If fact, the actual reservation process is virtually identical no matter what the calendar view, as described at the end of this page.

Before proceeding, it is important to understand the "calendar navigation" icons and the "calendar view" icons that appear toward the top left and right (respectively) of the GroupWise screen.

The navigation buttons advance or regress the "date being viewed" by the clicked-on amount of time.

The calender view buttons show a calendar for the day, week, month, year, or for all multi-users, depending on the button selected. Note that the multi-user view shows multi-users in a 1-day columnar format, while the day, week, month, and year views show those amounts of time for the current user only. (If you wish to use the week, month, or year view for another user, such as to view the computer lab schedule for a week or month, you must first "proxy" into that user, as described below.)

If you are using only your own multi-user view, then you can skip over the following "proxy" steps to the step describing the actual room reservation.

The advantage of proxying to another user, is that you can see that user's calendar in the week and month view (you could also see the year view, but it's not a very useful view). Thus, in this case, you could view Room 12 use for weeks or months, rather than just day-by-day, as would be dictated in multi-user view.

To proxy to Room 12, click the word Online near the top of the left window frame, then select Room 12 from the menu of Proxy options that should drop down. That area of the screen should now look like the second image to the right. You have now "become" Room 12, and the calendar views will now apply to the user Room 12.

Whether you are in your own multi-user view, or have proxied into the Room 12 calendar, you should use the navigation buttons to view dates on which you are potentially interested in reserving the lab. (If you are proxied, you will probably find it easier to view the Room 12 calendar in week or month view,using the calendar view buttons.)

When you can see the day you wish to schedule, within that day's schedule, right-click on the time-slot closest to the time you would like to begin your lab usage. (In month view, hourly slots are not visible, so you should right-click on the day of use if you are in month view.)

From the menus that appear, left-click on New, then Appointment. The Appointment creation dialog box appears, as shown to the right. The important areas to verify are the Start date (if that's incorrect, you've clicked into the wrong date on the calendar, so cancel and start again). Also, edit the start time and the duration to be exactly correct. What you enter into the Subject field is what will appear in the calendar schedule.

If you would like the "appointment" to appear on your own calendar as well as on the room's calendar, you should CC yourself, as shown to the right.

To conclude and enter the scheduled item, click the Send button. The "appointment" should appear on the Room schedule.

If you make a mistake, you can delete the appointment by right-clicking on the appointment within the calendar, then selecting "Delete."