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Dear Andrea,
on the first issue, does your scheduling calendar allow users to
alert others via email when they cancel?
Regards,
Glen
On Jan 20, 2006, at 8:50 AM, Dr. Andrea J. Elberger wrote:
> Search the CONFOCAL archive at
> http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal
>
> CONFOCALISTS - This is not a Confocal question, but is a facilities
> management issue. I have been dealing with this problem since I set
> up our facility in 1993, but I thought I would see if someone has
> some creative solutions.
>
> We have a heavily used shared facility. We were the first, and now
> one of two, on our Health Science campus. For various reasons, we
> continue to get the bulk of the users coming to us.
>
> Several scheduling problems continue to plague us.
>
> 1) We continue to have people sign up in advance for large blocks
> of time, usually towards the end of the week so that their tissue
> can undergo a procedure that involves several days of preparation.
> Fairly frequently, something with the preparation goes wrong, and
> they wind up canceling their time, often right before they are
> ready to start using the system - but sometimes an hour or two
> after their time started. In a last-minute situation, we rarely can
> find someone who is flexible enough to drop what they are doing and
> come on in and use the time. Thus, we wind up with a lot of last-
> minute free time, yet users are anxious to work on the system.
>
> 2) We continue to have people sign up for blocks of time and fail
> to show up without canceling, even at the last minute. We have not
> charged for this time. Do other facilities charge if there is no
> cancellation? Do they charge the full rate, or a partial rate?
>
> Any creative solutions out there? Do punitive solutions work? Does
> peer pressure work on repeat offenders? Or is this just a
> necessary evil?
>
> ANDREA ELBERGER
>
> --
> Dr. Andrea J. Elberger
> Professor, Anatomy and Neurobiology
> Director, Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope Facility
> The University of Tennessee, Memphis
> 855 Monroe Avenue
> Memphis, TN 38163 U.S.A.
> tel: 901-448-4101
> FAX: 901-448-7193
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
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