University Systems help centre
Resource calendars are a great way for UVic faculty and staff to manage their department's shared rooms or equipment. They make it easier for your department to check availability and reserve rooms and resources.
Examples include:
- meeting rooms
- shared office space
- research lab equipment
- vehicles
- department loaner computers
What's the difference between a resource calendar and a role-based email?
Resource calendars should be used for booking shared rooms or equipment.
Role-based email addresses should be used for shared email accounts or position specific email accounts.
Who can use a resource calendar?
All UVic employees with a faculty or staff Exchange account can use resource calendars.
How do I request a new resource calendar?
You can contact the Computer Help Desk to request a new resource calendar. Here's what we'll need to know to create your resource calendar:
- your department name
- is it a room or equipment calendar?
proposed display name of the calendar (example: Jamie Cassels Centre Room 123) - do you want reservations to auto-accept or do you want to manually approve all booking requests?
- the manual option will require the NetLinkIDs of staff members delegated to accept or decline booking requests
How do I use a resource calendar?
You can easily reserve the room or piece of equipment by adding the resource calendar in a meeting request as a required attendee. You can check availability using the Scheduling Assistant in your Outlook meeting.
For detailed instructions on how to use resource calendars, see Microsoft Support article: Use room and equipment mailboxes.
Tips for using a resource calendar
Resource calendars can be configured in a variety of ways, but here are some recommendations:
- Resource calendars have a mailbox attached to them for manually accepting booking requests. Don't send emails from this account, just use it to Accept or Decline meeting invites. Calendars set to auto-accept don't use this feature.
- If you have a room resource, don't book your meetings directly in the calendar. Add it as a meeting attendee instead. If you book directly in the calendar then everyone with access to the room resource will be able to read your meeting information.