Conference 7.286::digital

    Such a service is already running in MK and ZK that I know of. 
    Possibly other places as well.
    
    Regards,
    
    Owen

DECplan, currently in field test but due to be released soon, is wonderful for
scheduling resources, including rooms.  The features of each room (has slide
projector, twelve chairs, etc.) can also be stored.

Maybe there could be a coporate-wide DECplan server to handle such a system.

Paul

    re: .0
    
    Why do we want a company-wide conference room scheduler?  It doesn't
    seem to make any sense to allow me to schedule a conference room in
    Reading, England from Dallas, Texas.
    
    That said, there is some kind of layered product for ALL-IN-1 that does
    just what you want.  I don't remember whether it is an Asset or not.
    
    Bob

    At the European HQ, our ALL-IN-1 mail system includes conference room
    scheduling for all the buildings (used to be four, now two).  We've had
    this for the past few years, and it has been of great use.
    
    David

The technology (VTX, DECPlan, ALL-IN-1, CONF, whatever) is probably the easiest
part of the task. We could quite easily build something to manage the chore. The
real difficulty is very few people regard conference rooms as Corporate
resources. In several sites, you have to supply your DTN or badge number to the
system to prove that you're authorized to reserve a room. In order to schedule
a meeting convenient to people from MRO, ZKO, and MLO, for example, you must
have a friend in the Littleton area.

Solve the ownership problem and the development of a scheduling tool will be a
walk in the park.

	I think people are missing the point of the original request.
	It seems to me that if I've got to schedule a room for a 
	meeting in the Greater Maynard area, then I should have a 
	way of looking at ALL conference rooms irregardless of the
	location.  I know that when we try to book for our quarterly
	SIG meetings, the chairpeople go thru a lot of grief to find
	locations, and rooms both available and large enough to meet
	the needs...

	What I've read so far is, yes we can do it, but only for our
	site..  Sorry, that doesn't always fit the bill..  If person
	X is gathering people from a vast group, and instead of 1 or 
	2 having to travel a lot of miles, we now make 6,7, or whatever
	travel many miles to come to the hosting center, because...

	'This is the only place that I have access to...'

	To answer the original question..  Joanne, try submitting this
	idea to DELTA..  Send a memo to CAPNET::DELTA_IDEAS asking for
	a submittal form..  I've done this before with very good success
	from the Delta people..

	Thanks
	Charlie

    Absolutely.  People DO have need to access conference room availability
    in various locations-- not just their own.  I had a major task trying
    to book a room in one location off 495 just this past week.  It took
    more phone calls than it was worth-- and unless you have a good network
    of people that you know in various facilities, then it is going to
    involve a long series of calls. 
    
    The point that conference rooms are a Corporate Resource is right on. 
    We should all be able to access the information and if one or two rooms
    in a building are kept off the system to keep them "private" - that's
    something that could be lived with, too.
    
    I believe Joanne has tried DELTA and as of yet, has not had any luck.
    A server that could reach all locations is certainly desirable.  User
    friendly, non-complex... no badge number or purpose of meeting field...
    a simple, easy-to-use system would be best.
    
    Best of luck to you, Joanne.  This is a wonderful idea, and I believe
    that VTX is a good place to put this.
    
    Just imagine the time and frustration the VTX CONF feature could save
    for people!
    
    Rgds,
    marcia

    	So, you want to manage the reservation of all DEC conference
    rooms from anywhere on the network eh?  Someone could probably
    solve this problem with a DECmcc (DEC management control system)
    conference room Access Module (AM).

    	The motto here in DECmcc-land (LKG2) is "I never met an entity
    I couldn't manage" (this appears on a coffee mug with the picture
    of some guy staring a giant monster in the face).  DECmcc is primarily
    designed to manage networks and network devices, but it has also 
    been used to manage everything from sysuaf.dat files, to fire alarms,
    and rumor has it that it has even been used to manage a toaster.
    Why not conference rooms too?

    				   -davo
			(DECmcc DECnet AMs Developer)

Although someone said "DEC owns the conference rooms", that's not
completely true.  Each site plans and budgets space including a
certain number of conference rooms.

Some controls need to be put on who uses the conference rooms at a
particular site.

For example, it is completely reasonable for a facility to require
that at least one meeting attendee be from the site hosting the meeting.

Otherwise, conference rooms at sites which are easily reached, have
nice conference rooms, and a good cafeteria may get used up by outsiders,
leaving the local site residents with no place to go for meetings that
need to be scheduled on short notice.

/john

    >For example, it is completely reasonable for a facility to require
    >that at least one meeting attendee be from the site hosting the
    >meeting.
    
    Sorry John, I don't agree.  When I am scheduling a meeting for someone
    (high level, if that makes a differece-- and it shouldn't make a
    difference, really), and some attendees are from Mass., some are from
    N.H., I prefer to compromise by scheduling it at a site which is
    equidistant for all parties involved.
    
    The only CRs which should have strict control are those which are
    "customer" conference rooms.  Obviously, customer meetings take
    priority over internal meetings at any time.
    
    I don't believe that a group which is primarily located at XYZ is going
    to travel to QQQ for a meeting because the cafeteria is better.
    
    Just my opinion...

It's hard enough to be able to get a conference room in LKG even when you
work there.  If people in MKO, ZKO, MLO, MRO, etc. could reserve conference
rooms, local folks would hardly ever be able to hold onsite meetings.

LKG is the specific example I was referring to.

It is conveniently located between MKO, ZKO, MLO, and MRO.

It is a nice facility.

It has one of the best cafeterias in the U.S.

And it has had serious problems in the past with all conference rooms
being full because of its popularity as a meeting site.

It is unreasonable for people in LKG to be unable to use a conference
room that THEIR facility pays for because it's filled up with people
who have no connection with LKG.

/john

    Now there's a use for all those plants DEC is closing: convert 'em to
    "conference facilities".  Bet we'd never run out of conference rooms
    *then*!
    
    Ken

Hmmmn...maybe we need an AI application that knows where all conference rooms
are, takes a list of meeting attendees and computes the optimal room in terms
of size, total mileage money spent, etc., vs. all other possible meetings.;-)

								paul

    Not to worry.  Within a few months, the number of conference rooms per
    DEC employee ratio will double.

    Notes 6 and 10 have good points.  
    
    It will take an act of God to make the individual facilities realize
    that they are working for DEC and not themselves.  DEC owns the
    space like they own everything else.  Sites don't quibble about
    sharing Payroll with other parts of DEC, so why do they go ape when
    sharing a little conference room space?
    
    A few times I have had to reschedule meetings because a room was
    not to be had anywhere, holding up the process of the work in the
    meantime.  THATS RIDICULOUS! 
    
    Set aside one or two rooms for outside use only and when not in
    use make them available to the host site.  Equality would be if
    it were mandatory for each site.
    
                                                      
    Best of luck!!!!!!

    I suggest eliminating conference rooms completely.  Reducing the
    opportunities for meetings would greatly speed the decision-making
    process within Digital ;^)
    
    -dave

    No, No, No!  Don't eliminate 'em!  Charge for 'em!
    
    Anyone offsite who wants/needs to schedule a meeting at _my_ location
    should pay rent (cash, to keep the financial overhead low) to _me_!  Just
    consider it another way to simplify things!  :-)
    
    (at the rate we have meetings, this could be more profitable than a
    buyout)  :-)  :-)  :-)
    
    Dick

    	We also have an on-line system here in Colorado Springs--
    OSCR--On-line Scheduler for Conference rooms.
    
    	The difficult part in the original suggestion is drawing
    the right size "circle" to define local conference rooms.  Even
    inside a large facility, we have the same problem.  What isn't on 
    system is a way to tell the scheduler to "start here, and then move
    outward in ever-increasing circles, up to a certain point".
    
    	We have occasionally had outside groups abuse the scheduling
    a bit--they're prone to schedule, then no-show because they locate
    a more convenient place, and forget to cancel the original room.
    
    	

    Our conference room scheduling program here in HLO could use some work
    (I don't know who wrote it or maintains it, if anyone is maintaining
    it).  If you need to schedule a one-shot meeting here, good luck!  Most
    of the conference rooms are unoccupied most of the time, but almost all
    of them are fully booked in the scheduling system every day.  And the
    system doesn't tell you who booked the room you would prefer, so that
    you can ask if it will actually be in use.  So, you end up with "the
    only available room", at the far end of the other building, even though
    the nearby rooms of the same size are unoccupied as you hike past all
    of them on your way to "your" room.  Part of the problem seems to be
    that some groups routinely book all of the rooms near their offices for
    8-6 every day, so that those rooms will always be available to them.
    The scheduling system doesn't tell you that, though, but you sometimes
    find out if you track down some group secretary to see if (s)he knows if
    a room is actually free after all.
    
    /Charlotte

    It's unfortunate but there will always be someone who knows how to
    abuse a system.  Perhaps a monthly printout could be monitored by a
    responsible individual-- perhaps in Facilities?

    Here in APO we have a pretty good VTX-based conference room scheduler.
    You tell it what date, the timeframe and the number of attendees and it
    will give you a list of unscheduled rooms that will hold at least the
    number of attendees. You can also query who has booked what rooms so
    you can contact them if you need to. We've been using it for years with
    very few complaints. The only limitation is that you must be known to
    the system to book a room. This was a feature that the secretaries
    wanted when we went looking for a scheduling system. I'm sure this
    could be changed to capture the nodename::username of the 'booker'.

        I really  amused  by  the number of SITE-SPECIFIC conference-room
        booking programs floating  around  this  company!   It seems that
        some sites have generated  their own, probably cranked out during
        a few lunch breaks by  some  wizard,  while  others have borrowed
        the programs produced by the wizards of other sites!
        
        My first comment is the following  --- if you _have_ a conference
        room program (here at ACO it is "conf") BE THANKFUL!  A few years
        ago at MOO they _tried_ to bring it on line, but many secretaries
        and  managers  when  bezerk  trying  to  transfer  their  regular
        meetings (at MOO managers love to  book out, say, _six_months_ in
        advance) from the paper books to the  system,  while  other folks
        were booking to get work done.  Sadly, the  powers that be wimped
        out  and  bagged  the effort.  Bookings at MOO are still done  in
        paper  books,  and you must walk to the guard's desk to see if  a
        room is available.
        
        I  think  a CENTRALIZED  SYSTEM  is  called  for.    People  have
        expressed concern that such a  system  would  be abused --- I can
        appreciate their concern, and in some  situations  I'm  convinced
        that abuse has taken place (ie:   LKG),  but  I  believe the vast
        majority of inter-site bookings are warrented. 
        
        I  can  think of a number of instances  at  which  _I_  called  a
        meeting,  but  the  majority of attendees were from ANOTHER SITE.
        It was appropriate for _me_ to book a room at _their_  site,  but
        the easiest way to do it was to get one of themto  grab the room.
        That's not only inconvenient for me, it's a rude imposition!
        
        Someone jokingly  referred to "CHARGING" for rooms.  I know of at
        least one site where this is in fact the practice --- in the case
        of CRs "owned" by a training organization.  The reason --- to pay
        for "overhead." Since training in CRs is the break-and-butter  of
        training groups, I believe scheduled courses _must_ have priority
        access to rooms.  But  if  training  courses  are not in session,
        those rooms should be available, to _anybody_, at zero "cost." 
        
        Dealing with CR ABUSE is a toughie.  I know of a few instances in
        which several managers booked rooms for an  extended period, with
        _no_intention_ of using the room --- it was  a  safety valve just
        in case a "Friday Meeting" might happen.  It was a  joke!    If I
        ever  had  to  have  a  project-related  meeting  I  knew I could
        schedule it  for that time, because I knew that the management in
        question would never  show.    I  must note that I have adopted a
        more orderly approach --- if I suspect a room is regularly unused
        by a certain party, I approach them and ask what their intentions
        are.  In more than one case they have realized  that an oversight
        had occurred and  they  have  withdrawn their reservations.  That
        was at ACO, by the way...
        
        I apologize for the  rambling.    I'm just another worker bee who
        hopes that we can figure  out  an intelligent solution to this CR
        booking mess!
        
        Have a GREAT one!
        
        John

>        I  think  a CENTRALIZED  SYSTEM  is  called  for.    People  have
>        expressed concern that such a  system  would  be abused --- I can
>        appreciate their concern, and in some  situations  I'm  convinced
>        that abuse has taken place (ie:   LKG),  but  I  believe the vast
>        majority of inter-site bookings are warrented. 

   	I work at LKG, and believe me, there are so many meetings constantly
    going on around here that you'd think you were at DECworld or something!
    Not only is it impossible to "grab a room for a quick project meeting",
    but it is also extremely hard to get a decent parking space when these
    intersite meetings take place.
    
>        Someone jokingly  referred to "CHARGING" for rooms.

    	Sorry, but I don't get the joke.  This sounds perfectly reasonable
    to me (especially in these days of charging other groups for everything
    else under the sun).  I say let free market forces of supply and demand
    control the problem (only give local groups a discount to discourage
    time wasted "bargain hunting" for a cheap room).  I realize that such
    a policy might hurt groups which are more spread out than others, but
    maybe they shouldn't be so spread out in the first place (why pollute
    the environment by forcing everyone to commute all over the place).

    				   -davo

    DEC Secretaries have addressed this problem on their own in the
    conference BUGSEY::DEC_SECRETARY [press KP7 to add it to your
    notebook].  Topic #300 of DEC_SECRETARY is entitled "Contacts for
    Rooms" and is an informal listing of who-to-call for a conference room
    at various sites.
    
    -Lynn Terashita

    
> Each site plans and budgets space including a certain number of 
> conference rooms.
    
    About a year ago, the <unnamed> Sales Account team had their annual
    planning meeting here in the Fort Lauderdale office's main conference
    room. 
    
    There is no <unnamed> account in this territory -- they all flew
    in for the meeting! 
    
    They conformed to the letter of the law -- no off-site meetings!
    
    
>For example, it is completely reasonable for a facility to require
>that at least one meeting attendee be from the site hosting the meeting.
    
    This is now our rule here in Ft. Lauderdale.