Here at the NIH we have a central MS Exchange server with "Public Folders". I am
using this for scheduling resources in my facility. Users can sign up through MS
Outlook or MS Schedule. The permissions are set in a way that individual users
can modify only their own entries but not those of other users. Advantage: it
happens in real time and I do not have to administer anything!

Although there is a web interface for the MS Exchange server and also a
Macintosh Outlook client version, both do NOT work correctly with public
calendar resources!  So this solution is currently viable only in a Microsoft PC
environment.

Shortly before I left US Berkeley the IT department there was setting up a
central calendaring server (see http://calagenda.berkeley.edu/ for their
implementation) based on Corporate Time (http://www.cst.ca/). This is a true
multiplatform calendaring solution (Unix, PC, Mac) with a functional web
interface. The functionality exceeds by far what is necessary for simple
resource scheduling but might be worth a look.

I'd  suggest that you talk to your local IT people to see if they have plans for
a central calendaring solution. In the long term, I guess, institute/company
wide calendaring will become a service similar to centrally administered email.

Good luck,
Tilmann

Tilmann M. Brotz, Ph.D.
Head, Microscopy and Digital Imaging Facility

mailto:[log in to unmask]
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National Institutes of Health
National Cancer Institute
Experimental Immunology Branch
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