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<i><u><b>Sent on behalf of IT: Zimbra Calendar Update</b></u></i><br>
<br>
On Tuesday, the lab moved to a new calendar system, replacing the
Oracle Calendar. This is a significant transition, moving away from
an older centralized calendar to one more distributed, using a
modern “Microsoft Outlook” model of managing meetings via e-mail
messages.<br>
<br>
<b>Dedicated help</b><br>
<br>
We have people dedicated to help with any issues at the help desk
this week. Please call x7155 or e-mail <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:helpdesk@jlab.org">helpdesk@jlab.org</a>.<br>
<br>
<b>Why did we transition?</b><br>
<br>
The new software will enhance productivity at the lab. At the core
of the transition was the fact that the Oracle Calendar is no longer
being supported, no longer works on some operating systems and will
fail to function at some point. In evaluating the options, we found
that Zimbra was most beneficial due to its low cost, widespread use,
integrated mail/calendar, integration with Microsoft Exchange
protocols, and enhanced support for mobile devices and other
clients.<br>
<b><br>
What are the biggest changes?</b><br>
<br>
Zimbra Calendar is fundamentally a different product than the old
Oracle Calendar so that modern protocols can be used. Even the
basic language and colors used in the application may be unfamiliar
or unexpected.<br>
<br>
* Folders: In Zimbra, folders are storage containers, and everything
is stored in a folder. Under the hood, even your calendar events are
stored in a folder called “/calendar”.<br>
<br>
* Shares: In Zimbra, the way to view others’ calendars (and let
others view your calendar) is via “Shares”. Like folders, these are
the objects in which calendar events are stored, and you can
customize permissions to each calendar that you have. For most
people, a single Calendar (called “Calendar” by default) is
sufficient. For tips on how to share your calendar, visit the <a
href="https://cc.jlab.org/zimbra/calendarFAQ">Calendar FAQ</a>. (<a
href="https://cc.jlab.org/zimbra/calendarFAQ">https://cc.jlab.org/zimbra/calendarFAQ</a>)<br>
<br>
* Appointments: Meetings are managed via e-mail. This is very
useful, especially if you are trying to collaborate with people
outside of the lab. But it can be confusing. If you want to invite
someone to a meeting you have created, you must “Send” and not just
“Save,” because the invitation must be delivered to the invitee via
e-mail. Invitation replies are also sent via e-mail, which means
that if you are not using the Zimbra web client, which performs some
filtering, then you will get unexpected e-mail messages in reply to
invitation requests.<br>
<br>
* Appointment color-scheme: It’s a small detail, but important
because it is counter-intuitive to those who have used Oracle
Calendar. Whereas in Oracle Calendar, the color red signified
“declined”, the Zimbra web client uses this color to signify
meetings invitations that you have not responded to. Blue is used to
signify meetings that you have accepted, and when you decline a
meeting, it shows up semi-transparent. Similarly, for daily notes,
if the “Free-Busy” status is “free,” the color shows up
semi-transparent, and if that status is “Busy,” the color will be
solid.<br>
<br>
* Reminders/Notifications: The reminder scheme has changed in Zimbra
from Oracle Calendar, giving users a more limited list of options.
You can choose from a drop-down list of options for how many
minutes/hours/etc. in advance of a meeting that you want to be
reminded, and you can also type in an arbitrary number as well. In
addition, you can send a notification to your e-mail address – if
you have a pager and would like to be paged, you can use your JLab
pager address <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:username-page@jlab.org">username-page@jlab.org</a>, or any paging e-mail address
from your mobile phone provider. Also, if you are sitting at your
desktop, the reminder does not pop up a window to notify you, as it
did in Oracle Calendar. The Zimbra web page will sound an audible
alarm and pop-up a reminder within the page, but if you are on
another active open tab or window, you might not see a notification.
If you have a mobile device, you can configure it to remind you as
well.<br>
<br>
<b>Is the migration of meetings completed?</b><br>
<br>
The migration was almost entirely complete by Tuesday morning. In a
few cases (resources “Bldg 35” and “CC L102”, as well as a handful
of other resources and users) the meetings did not get migrated
until Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. Also, we made a change
to the “Free-Busy” status of daily notes mid-morning on Tuesday,
which you might have noticed if you tried to schedule someone for a
meeting and they appeared to be busy. <br>
<br>
At this point, all data has been migrated. If you notice that you
are missing meetings, or that your meetings are missing attendees,
let us know as soon as possible so that we can resolve any issues.<br>
<br>
In migrating the data, we made some design choices that might not be
clear. Multi-day meetings were not moved over as a series, but as
individual meetings. All meetings were migrated as private, so
although by default you can view migrated meetings on another
person’s calendar share, you will not be able to see details. We
also moved over group calendars as “resources” in Zimbra, and
meeting rooms were set to not share details of meetings, (although
this is being changed so that meeting room appointment details will
be viewable by all Zimbra users).<br>
<br>
<b>Items under development:</b><br>
<br>
* Printable calendars: A few users and groups onsite use printable
calendars for easy access to their schedules. The Oracle Calendar
provided an easy-to-use tool for printing calendars for this
purpose. We hope to have a replacement solution in place in the next
day or so.<br>
<br>
* Tasks: A few users have asked that their tasks be migrated from
Oracle Calendar to Zimbra. We are currently developing the process
to do this, and expect to be able to start migrating in the next
couple of days. If you would like your tasks migrated, please let us
know by submitting a CCPR or contacting the Helpdesk (please specify
how far back you want to go). <br>
<br>
* Reminders: We did not migrate any reminder data from Oracle
Calendar. Reminder settings in Zimbra will depend on the defaults
set up by organizers and attendees.<br>
<br>
* Notifications: We are looking into additional options for desktop
notification, to make it more obvious than the current sound and
subtle visual notification of a flashing tab in the web browser.<br>
<br>
* Offsite calendars: The option of integration with certain offsite
calendars is being investigated.<br>
<br>
We realize that the transition has been involved for some users due
to the complex ways they used the old Oracle Calendar, and we expect
that things will improve soon, as we implement new solutions and as
the new software becomes more familiar. We want to hear your
feedback – please send us any comments and questions you might have
to: Andy Kowalski: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:kowalski@jlab.org">kowalski@jlab.org</a> and Kari Heffner:
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:heffner@jlab.org">heffner@jlab.org</a>.<br>
<br>
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