| Sewanee Oracle Calendar |
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| Welcome to the Sewanee Oracle Calendar support page. This page is intended to describe briefly the features of the Oracle Calendar for Sewanee faculty and staff. It also serves as a spring-board for additional locally-installed resources. Every effort will be made to keep acronyms to a minimum as I am running out of meaningful 3-4 letter combinations and growing tired of geek-speak. So let's jump right in! |
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| Background : |
The Oracle Calendar was acquired in the fall if 2007 and installed in Jan. 2008. The system was rigorously tested by the Computing & Network Services staff (CNS). It was later implemented in a phased roll-out to all of Information Technology Services (ITS), Executive Staff and any faculty or staff member who requested an account. |
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| General Info : |
The Oracle Calendar is a time management resource which allows you to view the schedules of colleagues, plan meetings, invite attendees and relax. The calendar takes care of all the underlying email communication, allows others to accept, decline, or propose another time, and tracks the status of RSVPs. |
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| Agenda : |
The Oracle Calendar changed my conception of viewing an appointment calendar in terms of personal agendas. You have an agenda, I have an agenda. There are times when these may overlap; other times they are independent of one another. This may seem elementary, but it changed my thought process on scheduling and time management. A calendar was no longer a flat, lifeless, object, but a 3-dimensional view into the times each of us share.
You will see that, even when viewing groups or departments in Oracle, you are viewing the agendas of each individual person. A combined column is also present to determine available time slots for the group. I cannot overstate the value of this feature, as it facilitates true planning, and virtually eliminates the need for rescheduling. |
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| Access Rights : |
The Oracle Calendar allows you to control "who sees what" in your schedule. You can give others rights to view details of certain meetings, or give an individual the right to act as a "designate" or proxy on your behalf. If you never set specific access rights, the only thing anyone will ever see is a time "blocked out" on your schedule. This too can be turned off with a few simple clicks. This is covered in-depth in the online tutorial, and also in personal or departmental training sessions provided by CNS upon request. |
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| Getting Started : |
There are 4 ways to interact with your agenda in the Oracle Calendar. You may use any or all depending on your needs and preferrences. The Oracle Calendar is "server-based" so information entered or changed using either of these ways will automatically synchronize. They are described in greater detail in the next section
1. Oracle Calendar Desktop Client
2. Oracle Connector for Microsoft Outlook
3. Secure Web Client
4. PDA, iPhone, BlackBerry, etc. |
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| 1. |
The Oracle Calendar Desktop Client is an on-campus client for PC, Mac OSX, or Linux. It can be downloaded and installed from https://uoscal.sewanee.edu/ under Downloads > Oracle Desktop Access Page. This tool contains every feature available in the Oracle Calendar. The "Check Conflicts" button allows you to check any conflicts in the attendee's schedules without prior viewing of those schedules. The other tools have similar functionality, but require you to view the schedules in a grid view and choose a suitable time slot. This tool is the preferred method for most Mac users on campus. |
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| 2. |
The Oracle Connector for Microsoft Outlook is an on-campus plug-in which places your Oracle Calendar agenda inside Outlook. If you use Outlook for email, this is the "tool of choice". You simply click your "Calendar" bar in Outlook, and your Oracle Calendar agenda is available in a familiar interface. If you have used the calendar feature in Outlook, then you have very little else to learn. It is recommended that this tool be installed by CNS. The install and subsequent training usually take about an hour and we can almost always get to your request in a week or less. |
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| 3. |
The Secure Web Client is available on or off-campus from anywhere in the world with internet access. It can be accessed via a web browser (Internet Explorer, FireFox, Safari). Just go to https://uoscal.sewanee.edu/ , click the "Oracle Calendar" link, and sign in with your username and password (these are the same as email / webmail in most cases). You can make appointments and do anything needed for "day to day" in the secure web client. |
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| Tutorial : |
The interactive tutorial is available online at https://uoscal.sewanee.edu/ along with instructions on how to use it. The lessons are didvided into "bite-size" chunks, each taking about 10-15 minutes depending on your interaction. |
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| Training : |
There are 2 ways to request individual or group training sessions. They are explained in greater detail below.
1. Make a direct request to CNS via phone or email.
2. Self-Schedule a training session when it is convenient for you.
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| 1. |
Individual or group training sessions are available upon request from the HelpDesk x1369 helpdesk@sewanee.edu , or Joe Stoker x1830 jdstoker@sewanee.edu . |
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| 2. |
The preferred method for setting up your training session(s):
Go to https://uoscal.sewanee.edu and login as per Secure Web Client instructions above, then click the icon which resembles a calendar with a little person in the foreground. This is the "View Agendas" icon.
This will open another screen asking whose agenda you wish to see. Type in "Joe Stoker"(without quotes), click the "Find" button. This should bring my name into a window at the bottom. Click the "View" button beside this window. You should now be viewing my agenda/calendar.
You can use the buttons at the top left to switch between Day / Week / Month views. You can also use the buttons to the left and right of "Today" toward the top-center to toggle to the next week, month etc.
Once you find a free time slot in my agenda which works for you; click the "+" in that slot. This will open a meeting request (you could also use the icon at the top which resembles a clock). In the title line type "Oracle training for John D Rockefeller" (actually, your name would be better), type a location such as "My Office 202 Gailor" or "Joe's Office" (or anywhere you wish to meet).
If you click on the "People & Resources" tab, you will notice that both our names are in the box as attendees. Click the "Create" button. This will place the meeting in both our agendas and send me an email asking for a response.
Congratulations! You have just used many of the features of the Oracle Calendar! I encourage you to navigate around and experiment with all the buttons and links. Don't be afraid to break it, we can fix it. You can quote me on that. Have fun!
If you have any questions or problems, just let me know.
Thanks,
Joe
x1830
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