Guidelines for using myCalendar
Although it may be possible to carry out certain procedures or work in different ways with myCalendar, it is desirable to maintain a consistent approach within the University. The following approved guidelines set out the common approach to be taken when using myCalendar.
Booking meetings
- As a courtesy, when creating a meeting you should send an email to the proposed attendees informing them of the meeting details. There is an automatic option to do this from the client version of myCalendar service (the client software is called Oracle Calendar).
- Creating a meeting in someone else's agenda is merely a proposal, which they can confirm or reject. It is perfectly acceptable to decline attendance of a meeting, or request that another time be proposed.
Access Rights
In all cases, the minimum level of Viewing Access Privilege must be View times only. This allows other people to see that time is blocked out in your agenda, but gives no further details, and allows them to arrange meetings during your free periods.
- In general, the default Viewing Access Privileges should be retained.
- It is not acceptable for anyone to set Access Rights to No viewing rights.
- Some individuals may need to alter Viewing Access Rights for reasons of privacy due to the nature of their work.
- Your department may have a separately defined policy setting out the level of Access Privileges, but this must adhere to the University minimum level.
Confidential meetings
When creating an agenda item (meetings, etc) you must consider the sensibilities of the people you invite. They may feel sensitive about particular appointments and want them kept private. Therefore, social meetings should normally be marked Personal so that although the time is blocked out other details are not available to third parties.
- The person who creates an agenda item sets the Access level.
- Only that creator has the rights to change this Access level.
- The Access level is an attribute of the agenda item.
- Agenda items with Normal Access Rights (see Note below) will be fully visible to all users.
Checking access rights
When changing Access Rights due to departmental policy, or when creating a sensitive Personal or Confidential meeting, it is advisable to ask a colleague to view your agenda from their myCalendar to check that the Viewing Privileges are set as you expected and so ensuring that only the people you require to see agenda entry details can actually do so. You need only perform this check once.
Can invite you to entries
Unless it is your secretary or PA who enters all meetings into your agenda, you must have the Can invite you to Entries ticked to allow others to invite you to meetings.
Annual Leave
- Annual leave should be marked in your agenda using the title Annual Leave to allow consistency when agenda searching.
- It must be booked as a meeting otherwise time is not blocked out in your agenda. Leave of more than one day can be set up using a repeating meeting.
- The access level for annual leave should be set to Normal (see Note below) unless stated otherwise by your head of department.
- If the access level used is Normal (see Note below), it is advised not to put any further details about your possible whereabouts for reasons of home security. If you use myCalendar as a self reminder of your intended whereabouts, it is advised you place a daily note set to confidential Access level with full details, in addition to the annual leave meeting entry as described above.
Keep Free
To deter others from booking meetings in your agenda during periods when you will be busy, it is advised that you block the time off by creating a meeting marked Keep Free or with the name of the work task you are undertaking.
It is also advisable to block off time when you might be travelling between sites, or returning from meetings external to the University.
Accessing another person's agenda
- This is only proper for the purposes of determining their availability. Browsing someone else's agenda for any other purpose is a misuse of the system.
- Usage logs of myCalendar are recorded, and can be accessed by authorised personnel if a complaint is made - in harassment cases, for example.
Please Note:
It is assumed that Normal has not been redefined for Default: Any unlisted
person.