Shared Auto Syncing Calendars

I have been assigned the task of finding a low cost shared calendar that can be auto synced across a network of somewhere between twenty to thirty users. The application will be used to set appointments for our match support specialists and sometimes multiple people will be setting appointments simultaneously. I have looked at the free online calendars like google calendar but the free ones tend not to fit our needs and the organization is currently using shared Outlook calendars or Excel based spreadsheets with less than stellar results.

What are you guys using to set your appointments?

How much does the service cost, if anything?

Are there any products you would NOT recommend?

Are you currently using Exchange to share the Outlook calendars?

It sounds from your description you are more in need of appointment scheduling software as opposed to the traditional calendar,  especially if Exchange isn't doing it for you.

I have not found the right appointment scheduler either, and what I've found varies all over the board from free to $30 per month per user.  Appointment scheduling crosses between Doctors, Barbers, Fitness Trainers and Social workers, and often is bundled in another package for billing and insurance filing.

Dave

Thank you for answering me. Yes, we are currently using Exchange to share the Outlook Calendars but we are still having sync issues.

I agree, I think we need an appointment scheduler but the people who will be using the scheduler wish to have the scheduler in the form of a calender that all appointment making staff can see and edit. In addition to that, today I was told we also need a Calendar that everyone can see and use for meetings, events, etc. That problem I think I can solve pretty easily, but finding an appointment scheduler is tough. I am running into the same issues looking for a scheduler. Most of what I have found is much more expensive and just looking at the monthly fees is getting me down.

What do you mean when you say "we are still having synch issues"? Are people getting double booked because the schedulers are not seeing free/busy info updates?

It sounds like the people scheduling the appointments are not the people taking those appointments - are the people who take the appointment Outlook/Exchange users as well?

Take a look at the frequency of Free/Busy updates and see if that solves your problem. In Outlook 2003, it's at Tools -> Options -> Preferences tab -> Calendar Options... -> Free/Busy Options. You could have everybody drop that value down and that might help. Not sure what it would do to server load; obviously it would increase, but you'd have to experiment to find the sweet spot of accurate data vs. server capacity.

 

There are no free/busy updates. The people who are scheduling the appointments are scheduling appointments for each other. Everyone is on Outlook/Exchange. What is happening is when people make changes to the calendars, the changes update but you may have two people updating the calendar at the same time and one of the changes is ignored or not recorded. The ones that are recorded are placed at the same time and appointments are double booked as a result. I will look into setting up the Free/Busy to see if it helps.

I agree that your Exchange should be working this for you. I think you have an update delay issue as the previous person suggested. However, if you are attempting to use Excel, more than one user cannot edit the document at a time which should fix the overwriting issue, but creates a productivity issue as persons must wait to use the document. I would opt for MS Access over Excel which will provide record locking during edits yet allow multi user capability. This application would include a simple table, form and report. But if you have never, ever used Access it could be a daunting task, anyone in your office proficient with Access?

Take a look at Appointment Manager 4.0 by Atlas Business Solutions. Unfortunately, it is not offered at a discount as some other ABS softwares. But the price can be affordable at $295.

http://www.abs-usa.com/solutions/appointment_scheduling_software/cam/default.aspx?WT.mc_id=SA

 

 

 

Access was originally my first thought. But an Access database is not an ideal solution. Eventually the same limitations for accessing and updating the spreadsheet would drive people nuts on the database.Right now we are testing a new solution using the Outlook Calendars. The Outlook calendars are being consolidated. One of the problems was the existence of several shared calendars. There were simply too many of them. Some people had multiple calendars that shared similar names and functions with others. Exchange was doing the job correctly. People were getting confused filling in the Calendars and remembering which ones were shared.

Can you be more specific with the reasons why Google Calendar and similar options will not work? It seems to do exactly what you need, and it's free, online, always available. If there are particular requirements it doesn't fulfill, knowing them will help in recommending alternatives.

 

Regards,

Oshyan Greene
Assistant Director
Bauman College