Resource Calendar – prevent direct booking

[kericson]

We use Exchange 2003 and Outlook 2003 SP3. We set up our conference rooms as
Resource accounts and have restricted use to an Active Directory permission
group that has Author permissions on the calendars. The problem we have is
that while every user in that permission group has attended training, some
persist in typing entries directly into the room calendars, wreaking havoc. I
realize this is a user training problem and we are going to take away those
folks’ permissions and make them go to training again, but in the meantime,
is there a way to allow the users in the permission group to send meeting
requests to the Resource and at the same time prevent them from typing
entries directly into the calendars? I have been playing around with the
permissions and learned that if I edit the Author permissions, the incoming
meeting requests that have the room correctly designated as a Resource don’t
come in. Thank you.

 

[Nikki Peterson]

It would appear that you use the "Direct Booking" method for your
resources. I would recommend that you use the Auto-Accept.

- A person or Group that physically checks the Resource Mailbox
- Auto-Accept
- Direct Booking

However, since you use Exchange Server I would suggest the use
of the AutoAccept Agent. We use this with great success.

Exchange 2003 Auto Accept Agent vs. direct booking
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...70-699B-495A-A920-82403305226B&displaylang=en

James Chong (MVP) offered up a great article explaining:
Exchange 2003 Auto Accept Agent vs. direct booking
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/02/22/420275.aspx

Nikki Peterson

We use Exchange 2003 and Outlook 2003 SP3. We set up our conference rooms as
Resource accounts and have restricted use to an Active Directory permission
group that has Author permissions on the calendars. The problem we have is
that while every user in that permission group has attended training, some
persist in typing entries directly into the room calendars, wreaking havoc.
I
realize this is a user training problem and we are going to take away those
folks’ permissions and make them go to training again, but in the meantime,
is there a way to allow the users in the permission group to send meeting
requests to the Resource and at the same time prevent them from typing
entries directly into the calendars? I have been playing around with the
permissions and learned that if I edit the Author permissions, the incoming
meeting requests that have the room correctly designated as a Resource don’t
come in. Thank you.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

what are you change in permissions?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/

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[kericson]

Thank you, Nikki. I was reading up on that earlier today and it sounds like a
potential solution. We will review it carefully.
We are upgrading to Exchange 2007 in a few months and I did not find an AAA
for Exchange 2007 on the site. Is it called something else?

 

[Nikki Peterson]

Exchange 2007 has what is called the "Calendar Concierge".
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2007/evaluation/features/calendarconcierge.mspx

The introduction to this suite of calendar improvements was
great for us Admins that in the past had to provide these
services through 3rd party and add-on stuff. We would either set
up the Auto Accept Agent or use the "Direct Booking" method.
Now it is built in to the Exchange Server and adds the benefit of
being able to book using Outlook Web Access (OWA) for our
clients. Clients use automation to "Make a Meeting".

Nikki

Thank you, Nikki. I was reading up on that earlier today and it sounds like
a
potential solution. We will review it carefully.
We are upgrading to Exchange 2007 in a few months and I did not find an AAA
for Exchange 2007 on the site. Is it called something else?

 

[kericson]

One last question I don't see addressed in my research. -- Our calendars are
set up for direct booking now. If we implement AAA, will existing meetings
remain in those calendars? Thanks much.

 

[Nikki Peterson]

You can always move the mailbox (if necessary) to the Exchange
Server running the scripting stuff. When you read up on the Auto-
Accept you will see that the Mailboxes need to reside on the same
Server as the Auto-Accept scripting.

Nikki

One last question I don't see addressed in my research. -- Our calendars are
set up for direct booking now. If we implement AAA, will existing meetings
remain in those calendars? Thanks much.

 

[kericson]

I removed the "Write" permission and realized that wouldn't work, as our
permission group needs to be able to write to the resource calendar.

what are you change in permissions?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/

Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:
(e-mail address removed)




You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

We use Exchange 2003 and Outlook 2003 SP3. We set up our conference rooms
as
Resource accounts and have restricted use to an Active Directory
permission
group that has Author permissions on the calendars. The problem we have is
that while every user in that permission group has attended training, some
persist in typing entries directly into the room calendars, wreaking
havoc. I
realize this is a user training problem and we are going to take away
those
folksâ?T permissions and make them go to training again, but in the
meantime,
is there a way to allow the users in the permission group to send meeting
requests to the Resource and at the same time prevent them from typing
entries directly into the calendars? I have been playing around with the
permissions and learned that if I edit the Author permissions, the
incoming
meeting requests that have the room correctly designated as a Resource
donâ?Tt
come in. Thank you.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Correct, you need that. I played around with it - it would make sense to
remove the folder visible (if they can't see it they can't make an
appointment in it) but then free/busy wont work.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
mailto:[email protected]

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
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newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

I removed the "Write" permission and realized that wouldn't work, as our
permission group needs to be able to write to the resource calendar.

what are you change in permissions?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/

Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:
(e-mail address removed)




You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point
your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

We use Exchange 2003 and Outlook 2003 SP3. We set up our conference
rooms
as
Resource accounts and have restricted use to an Active Directory
permission
group that has Author permissions on the calendars. The problem we have
is
that while every user in that permission group has attended training,
some
persist in typing entries directly into the room calendars, wreaking
havoc. I
realize this is a user training problem and we are going to take away
those
folksâ?T permissions and make them go to training again, but in the
meantime,
is there a way to allow the users in the permission group to send
meeting
requests to the Resource and at the same time prevent them from typing
entries directly into the calendars? I have been playing around with
the
permissions and learned that if I edit the Author permissions, the
incoming
meeting requests that have the room correctly designated as a Resource
donâ?Tt
come in. Thank you.

 

[ngan]

I have Auto-Accept set up and it works great. However, users still want to
do File | Open | Other User's folder and choose the room's calendar to see
upcoming events in a "calendar" format. When you do a meeting request, the
dates are linear so you don't see the whole picture.

Is there a way to allow the users to view the room's calendar via the above
option, but once they are in the calendar view, they have only read only
access? If they need to book, they have to do the meeting request.

Currently, I have people doing direct booking. With the auto-request
setting, that prevents it. But I know users will ask for the calendar view
option.

I went to the exchange management shell and typed in:

Add-MailboxPermission -Identity "Room 2nd Floor" -User rmbookers
-Accessright ReadPermission

user rmbookers is actually a security group - global in AD. When I did
that, the person in that group still did not have access to view the calendar.

Please help!

 

[ngan]

I open the room's profile, go to Tools | Options | Delegates

I choose the group and only allow read permission for the Calendars. That
gives them read only permission to the calendar view, but allow them to send
meeting requests and get an auto reply.