Booking a Cisco TelePresence Conference Room
By default, Microsoft Outlook Conference Room Calendars display free/busy information for two months (see Determining Attendee Availability (Free/Busy Time). However, you may book a conference room more than two months in advance. To view the availability of a conference room for a period that exceeds this two month window, follow the instructions on Opening a Conference Room Calendar.
Additionally, do not book an All Day Event in a conference room. All Day Events will book the room for the entire 24 hours on the day of the meeting. Instead, create the meeting with start and end times for the hours you will actually be in the room.
Tip Remember that a Cisco TelePresence meeting requires a minimum of two room locations.
When creating an appointment or new meeting request, you can book a conference room at the same time. To book a conference room in Microsoft Outlook:
Step 1 Select File > New > Meeting Request.
Step 2 To add a conference room to your request click the To button (Figure 5-1), which opens the Select Attendees and Resources pop-up dialog box (Figure 5-2).
Figure 5-1 Untitled Meeting - To
Step 3 Enter the campus building ID in the Type Name or Select From List field, as shown in Figure 5-2. If you enter a conference room name only, the room will not appear in the list.
Figure 5-2 Type Name or Select From List
Step 4 Highlight your preferred conference room from the list and click the Resources button, as shown in Figure 5-3. The room name is displayed in the Resources field and in the To... field from Step 2.
Tip You must add the conference room as a resource; otherwise, the booking will not be accepted by the room.
Figure 5-3 Select Attendees and Resources
Tip Conference rooms that are marked as (Offline) are owned by a proxy. These rooms cannot be automatically booked, and the request will be accepted or rejected by the proxy owner for each room.
Step 5 Click Untitled - Meeting > Scheduling to verify that the conference room is available for the preferred meeting time, as shown in Figure 5-4.
Figure 5-4 Untitled - Meeting Scheduling Tab
Step 6 Set the Show time as: option to Busy, as shown in Figure 5-5. In addition to setting the attendees’ schedules to Busy, this setting also sets the conference room’s schedule to Busy; thus ensuring other users do not “double book” the room for the same day and time.
Figure 5-5 Show Time As - Busy
Step 7 Set additional meeting scheduling options per these best practices:
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Requesting Responses—Choose not to receive email notifications that inform you of the attendees’ approval/decline/tentative status and control whether attendees can propose new meeting times.
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Setting Recurrence—Schedule recurring appointments, meetings, all-day events, conference room or video bridge bookings.
Step 8 After sending the meeting request, you will receive an Accept or Decline Booking Confirmation via email. See the following sections:
Conference Room Booking Confirmation (Auto Accept / Decline)
Exchange will automatically process your request to book online conference rooms. You will receive an Accept or Decline email confirmation from the conference room you attempt to book. The confirmation email is the same email you receive when a meeting attendee accepts or declines your meeting proposal.
In the example in Figure 5-6, Exchange accepted the HRN-W-1-MILLENIUM 1 &2 (0) booking for the requested time and date requested.
Figure 5-6 Accepted Conference Room Booking
If you receive a meeting declined email, you must select a different time, date or conference room for your meeting. If you receive a meeting declined email for an entire meeting series, because one or more of the dates requested were unavailable, all invitations in the series are declined. Your options are:
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Select a different conference room for the entire series.
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Set the recurring series’ end date before the room’s first unavailable date displayed in the email.
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Split the series into multiple recurring meetings and use a different conference room per series.
Tip Follow These Guidelines
—Always view the scheduling tab of your meeting request to see if the conference room is free prior to sending the meeting request.
—Create a group schedule if you have a list of conference rooms that you frequently use and want to have an easy way to see when they are available.
—Open conference room calendars in the side-by-side calendar view in Outlook 2003.
—Search for a conference room by clicking the Advanced button and selecting Find from the pop-up menu.
—If you add a conference room that is marked as (Offline) you will be unable to view any bookings for this room.
Determining Attendee Availability (Free/Busy Time)
To determine attendee availability:
Step 1 Select the Scheduling tab of the meeting to check if an attendee is available for the proposed time of the meeting. (This is also referred to as Free/Busy time.)
Step 2 Attendees already invited to attend the meeting are listed below All Attendees. You may add attendees by entering their name in the blank field below the invited attendees that contains the text Click here to add a name.
Step 3 Refer to the legend below the Free/Busy time chart to determine whether an attendee:
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Is Tentative
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Is Busy
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Is Out of Office
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Has No Information
Figure 5-7 Attendee Availability (Free/Busy)
Step 4 Set additional meeting scheduling options using these best practices:
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Requesting Responses—Choose to NOT receive email notifications that inform you of the attendees’ approval/decline/tentative status and control whether attendees can propose new meeting times.
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Setting Recurrence—Schedule recurring appointments, meetings, all-day events, conference room or video bridge bookings.
Keeping an Appointment or Meeting Private
An appointment or meeting can also be marked private. This applies if you have delegates who contribute to your calendar.
If you want to keep the details of an appointment or meeting confidential, select the Private box in the bottom right-hand corner of your appointment or meeting request, as shown in Figure 5-8.
Figure 5-8 Private Meeting
Once checked, your delegates will see that you have an appointment or meeting at that time, but detailed information is not displayed. A key icon at the top of the scheduled meeting or appointment indicates that you have marked this meeting as private.
Creating Roomless Meetings
To create a new roomless meeting request in Microsoft Outlook:
Step 1 From the Outlook Calendar view select File > New > Meeting Request from the menu bar, as shown in Figure 5-9.
Figure 5-9 Meeting Request
Step 2 An Untitled Meeting window appears, as shown in Figure 5-10.
Figure 5-10 Untitled Meeting
Step 3 To invite attendees to the meeting, click the To button, and browse the Global Address List to find their names, as shown in Figure 5-11. Then click one of the following buttons to invite them to the meeting:
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Required—Advises an attendee that their presence is required at the meeting.
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Optional—Advises an attendee that they are not required to attend, but are invited to participate, for example, to gather information.
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Resources—(Not used for Attendees)
Figure 5-11 Meeting Resources
Step 4 Alternately, if you enter the attendee’s name in the To field of the Untitled Meeting window, click the Check Names button at the top of the window to validate their name against the Global Address List (GAL), as shown in Figure 5-12.
Figure 5-12 Global Address List
Step 5 Optionally, for instructions on scheduling recurring appointments, meetings, all-day events, conference room or video bridge bookings, refer to the Setting Recurrence best practice.
Setting Recurrence
To set recurrence (frequency) of an appointment, meeting, all-day event, or to book a conference room or video bridge:
Step 1 From an appointment or meeting request window, click the Recurrence button, as shown in Figure 5-13.
Figure 5-13 Appointment Recurrence
Step 2 Use the Appointment Recurrence pop-up window to set the recurring details, as shown in Figure 5-14:
a. Set the Start and End Time as well as the meeting duration.
b. Set the recurrence pattern:
– Select daily, weekly, monthly or yearly.
– Change the number of occurrences.
– Set the days on which the meeting is to occur.
– Set the range of occurrences including start and end date.
– Set the range of the recurrence; choose a fixed end date or set a specific number of recurrences.
Figure 5-14 Appointment Recurrence Window
Step 3 Click the OK button to save the recurrence details.
Opening a Conference Room Calendar
While opening a shared calendar requires that a user to first give you permission to view their calendar, this is not necessary for conference rooms. Before booking a conference, verify its availability by checking the Conference Room Status (Online vs. Offline). Only proxy owners can open conference rooms classified as “private.”
To add conference room calendars to Outlook's Other Calendars:
Step 1 Click Other Calendars > Open a Shared Calendar, as shown in Figure 5-15.
Figure 5-15 Open Shared Calendar
Step 2 In the Open a Shared Calendar dialog box, click the Name button to view the Global Address List (GAL), as shown in Figure 5-16.
Tip You must select the user’s name from the GAL. Entering the user’s full name or user ID and clicking the OK button will not open the user’s calendar.
Figure 5-16 Global Access List Name
Step 3 In the Select Name window, enter the user’s full name in the Show Names from the: field, as shown in Figure 5-17.
Step 4 Select Conference Rooms from the pull-down menu.
Figure 5-17 Select Name Window
Step 5 Locate a specific conference room by typing either the full name or part of the name using the conference room naming conventions in the Type Name or Select from List: field, as shown in Figure 5-18.
Figure 5-18 Type Name or Select From List
Step 6 Select your preferred room, and click the OK button to populate the conference room name in the Open a Shared Calendar dialog box, as shown in Figure 5-19.
Figure 5-19 Open Shared Calendar
Scheduling a Cisco TelePresence Meeting
This section contains the following meeting scheduling details:
Scheduling a Meeting
To schedule Cisco TelePresence conference rooms on a first-come, first-served basis through Microsoft Outlook:
Step 1 Go to Cisco TelePresence Rooms > Global Address List.
Step 2 Locate at least two available rooms, as shown in Figure 5-20.
Figure 5-20 Cisco TelePresence Rooms
Step 3 Go to New > Meeting Request.
Step 4 Click the Scheduling tab.
Step 5 Click Add Others > Add From Address Book. The Select Attendees and Resources window appears.
Step 6 Use the search tools to locate conference rooms. Add two or more rooms as resources by clicking the Resources button (or by double-clicking on the highlighted room name). The conference rooms are added to the Resources field, as shown in Figure 5-21.
Step 7 Click OK.
Figure 5-21 Resources Window
Step 8 If the resource is available, Outlook will automatically accept the rooms you selected, as shown in Figure 5-22.
Figure 5-22 Room Automatically Accepted
Step 9 Set the meeting start and end times or use the Autopick button to choose compatible times for all resources.
Step 10 Click Send. You will receive an Outlook acceptance message for each room that you selected. When scheduling a Multipoint meeting, you will receive an Outlook acceptance message for each additional room.
You will also receive a confirmation from the automated Cisco TelePresence Manager. (This message will contain CONFIRMATION in the subject line). See Chapter 6, “Using Cisco TelePresence Manager” for more information about CTS-Manager.
Save the Confirmation Email
Save the confirmation email. Do not delete it until after your meeting has occurred. The second link listed in the e-mail confirmation message is very important because it allows you to verify that your meeting is confirmed.
If you do not receive this confirmation, or if you receive a message with ACTION REQUIRED in the subject, try the following:
1. Add an additional Cisco TelePresence Room, if one room was selected in Outlook.
2. Add a phone number of a room in the Number to Dial field, as shown in Figure 5-23.
3. Contact the Live Desk if you experience any difficulty.
Figure 5-23 Number to Dial
Modifying Meeting Details
Modify the following details of your Cisco TelePresence session up to five minutes before the start of your meeting:
Privacy Preference
This option allows you to hide the meeting subject on the phone display in the TelePresence Room, as shown in Figure 5-24.
Figure 5-24 Privacy Preference
Switching Mode
This option allows you to change the switching policy for a scheduled multipoint meeting. Auto-Assign is the default mode and utilizes segment switching, as shown in Figure 5-25. You also have the ability to change the switching mode while the meeting is in session using the View Control softkey on the CTS Cisco Unified IP phone.
Figure 5-25 Switching Mode
Tip Use your Active Directory password, typically the password used when booting up your Windows-based computer.
Do not invite attendees yet. Your Cisco TelePresence session is confirmed only upon receipt of the confirmation from the automated Cisco TelePresence Manager. CTS Manager confirms the Cisco TelePresence meeting, and Outlook confirms the room reservations only. Rooms are considered temporarily reserved (so that others cannot use them) until you receive the email confirmation from CTS-Manager.
Inviting Attendees
Once you receive confirmation from CTS-Manager, you can invite attendees. Then you need only to show up at the appropriate time for your session and follow the instructions on the Cisco TelePresence display screen and CTS Cisco Unified IP phone to start your meeting.
Options for Limited Room Availability
When one or more Cisco TelePresence rooms are not available for the full duration of a meeting, users can reserve rooms by creating two separate Outlook meeting invitations.
For example, a person in San Jose wants to book a one hour meeting with Cisco TelePresence sites in New York (NYC), San Jose (SJ) and Research Triangle Park (RTP) in the following rooms:
Unfortunately, the RTP room is only available for the second half of the meeting time. Using Outlook, the user schedules two meeting proposals:
1. Between the NYC and SJ Cisco TelePresence rooms only for the first 30 minutes of the meeting.
2. Between all three locations for the last 30 minutes of the meeting.
3. If Cisco WebEx conferencing is being used, create a separate bridge for each meeting proposal.
All participants in the first Cisco TelePresence session are required to end the first call and use One-Button-to-Push to start the second meeting.
Tip If Cisco WebEx conferencing is being used, users should log out of the first bridge and log in to the second. At the beginning of each Cisco TelePresence session, one of the Cisco TelePresence rooms will have to dial into the Cisco WebEx bridge.
See Chapter7, “Using Cisco WebEx Conferencing”
Confirming Your Cisco TelePresence Room Reservations
To confirm your meeting you need two types of email confirmation:
1. Room acceptance emails from each room in your invitation. Look for emails that are sent from the actual Cisco TelePresence scheduling room name in Outlook.
2. An email from the CTS Manager containing all booked rooms in one email. In the body of the confirmation message from the automated Cisco TelePresence Manager, locate the second link. See Chapter 6, “Using Cisco TelePresence Manager” for examples of the expected emails.
Procedure
To confirm your room reservations in your email server:
Step 1 Use your Active Directory / Exchange email credentials to log in.
Step 2 Scroll to the bottom of the screen and check the Status field.
Step 3 If the Status field is Scheduled, your meeting is confirmed.
Note Due to room entitlement priorities, your meeting can still be declined even after you have received confirmation.
Completing the Entitlement Web Form
To facilitate the collection of your entitlement information, your CONFIRMATION email message will contain the URL for the Web form questionnaire, which asks for the following:
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Meeting logistics
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Meeting purpose
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Meeting benefits
Tip Always complete and submit the Web form. This ensures that rooms are reserved according to the rules of entitlement priority. For assistance in completing this form, please follow the instructions for opening a case via the Web on the Cisco TelePresence Support page on Cisco.com.
This completes your reservation of the Cisco TelePresence Room.
Adding a Caller
To add a caller to your meeting manually using the phone:
Step 1 Dial the desired room extension. (Example: 8 424-9XXX);
Step 2 Touch the Dial softkey.
Note Unscheduled Cisco TelePresence meetings are not supported.