Resource Calendar
Within courses and media of the type "Event", resources can be planned. Resources include classrooms and devices, but also tutors or catering, for instance. Resource planning occurs directly upon creating or editing objects.
The resource calendar provides an overview of resource planning across all courses or media, for instance, to plan resources with varying availability simultaneously.
Upon opening a page, it can be selected which resources are to be viewed in which time period, and with which status. The selection can be modified at any time during the editing process.
Functions of the Resource Calendar
Display
For each resource, an entry comprising multiple lines is displayed. It lists the general availability of the resource as defined upon creation (e.g. "Tutors Mon-Fri 8:00-16:00"), time periods that are already taken for courses or media and independently planned time periods.
There is an option to zoom in or out by intervals, i.e. from weekly view to monthly view, or vice versa. Another zoom function available for each resource booking shows an automatically optimised view of the time period in which a booking was already made in a given line. (Example: The calendar shows a week in February, but in a line displayed as empty, a booking would apply to the whole month of August. In this case, the view jumps to August and displays the monthly view.)
Individual colours are used for the individual booking statuses ("booked", "pre-booked", "planned"). Depending on this, multiple options are available upon clicking on the bar in the calendar, such as "Cancel" or "E-mail to booking manager".
View
The viewing options define the displayed resources, resource statuses, and the date and time periods for the resource-calendar display.
Planning
The "Planning" function permits the booking and pre-booking of resources.
Multiple interval options are available: "No interval”, "daily interval" ("workdays," "all weekdays from ... to ... ") or "Weekly interval" ("Every Monday and Wednesday from ... to ... ").
A length of time which indicates how many hours a resource is effectively in use within a booking period can be determined.
Sample application: A computer room is booked for a course. The computers can be booked freely by participants. They are booked continuously for two months, but each user can only use them for two hours per day.
Available booking statuses:
Booked: The resource is being used and is no longer available for other bookings.
Pre-booked: The resource is to be used, but has not been booked yet (e.g. to postpone anticipated booking fees). The resource is no longer available for other bookings.
Planned: The status serves long-term planning and includes the simulation of the resource capacity and generation of media and courses from planned resources. The resources are still available for other bookings.
In the resource calendar, resource planning can be conducted independently from courses and media. To permit assignments to contact individuals, the contact individuals are indicated upon planning. the number of participants can also be entered, e.g. to indicate to other planners the capacity utilisation of a room, so as to facilitate the search for alternatives, should resource requirements collide.
Downtimes
The general availability is affected by so-called downtimes (e.g. maintenance periods, illness, or tutor vacations).
Downtimes can be edited in the resource calendar.
Multiple interval options are available: "No interval", "Daily interval" ("Workdays", "All weekdays from ... to ..."), or "Weekly interval" (Every Monday and Wednesday from ... to ...").
A downtime type (configurable) can be indicated.
Create Course/Medium
From bookings with the status "Planned", media and courses can be created directly from the calendar. Through planning, resource availabilities can be used efficiently by adjusting the planning periods in any way required to reach maximum efficiency. Courses/media are created via a multi-level wizard, for each selected planning that is to be adopted into new courses/media as a result. The wizard inquires ...
if a course or a medium is to be created
if the target status is to be "booked" or "pre-booked",
which course template or media type is desired,
as well as the same course or media specifics as upon creating a course or medium. If a respective entry field is required, the start and end date of the course or medium will be filled in automatically with the dates of the earliest and latest possible planning.
Class Schedule/Checklist
The class schedule displays the bookings of selected resources in a weekly view. It can be limited to resource bookings with a specific status and within a specific time period and can be printed.
The checklist is available for location resources. If further course/media resources were added to a location upon booking in the course or medium (e.g. a video-projector in a classroom), an overview will be displayed.
The list can be printed and serves to check the assignments at the beginning of an appointment.