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If you use the calendar form to schedule a meeting and want to make a reservation for a room or resource you will end up having 2 limited ways to do so:
1. You click on the blue link left of the field (Rooms: / Resources:)
2. You clikc on the button right of the field (Find Rooms... / Find Ressources...)
Lets further assume you want to reserve a room that is restricted to a list of people you don't belong to.
1.
You will get a dialog that allows you to select a room that has booking restrictions (marked with a "do not pass" sign. However, you only could get a idea, what kind of restriction it has by clicking details button in the dialog.
2.
You will get a dialog that doesn't show you the room because it is restricted to other people only. You will have no way to see the persons who may book the room.
Suggestions:
A: Don't have 2 ways doing the same thing. Combine option 1 and 2 and redesign to something my boss would understand (see link)
B: Always provide possibilities to fetch information while doing my work. Give me the most important details about the selected room including possible booking restrictions when selected. Provide detail button for rest (a detail button that one would not miss to see.)
C: Display restricted rooms / resources in separate fields but DO display them if they are available at the given time. Separate them maybe with color icon or new icon to make visible which one are restricted to specific groups I'm not in (red) and which one would need permission first (yellow). Sorting them according to "easy to get" so the yellow ones would be on top of the red ones.
D: Check if I'm in a group that might book a restricted room. If I'm eligible deal with the rooms as if they were unrestricted.
Cheers
Jens
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1) Bruce Kahn149 (24 Feb 2012)
A few tidibts to consider:
1: The 'hotspots' on the left are intended for users to select a _specific_ room or resource they want. The meeting date/time are flexible but the room requirement is not. Users are expected to use the scheduler UI to confirm availability of the room.
2: The Find buttons on the right are intended for users to _search_ for any available room or resource. The meeting date/time is typically fixed but the room requirement is flexible.
3: We used to provide both actions from the Action bar as separate actions ("Find a room" and "Select a room" I think) but they got pulled out and reworked as part of some UX work.
4: As of 8.52 the mail template will double check the R&R availability when Save and Send is clicked so you do not waste time trying to book a busy room or one that will immediately Decline your request!.
5: The room restriction info _is_ in the NAB. It is just not displayed it seems if you access the record in the NAB directly or use the Details button on the botton left corner of the 'hotspot' dialog. Feel free to tweak your NAB design to show the AutoprocessUserList item value if its there and that will show you who can book it.
6: The "Do not enter" icon is too overloaded. It is meant to convey "restrictions exist". I agree that it would be better if we had unique icons for different kinds of restrictions. Unfortunately we are limited in the available icons. If someone would like to provide some design changes to differentiate "Owner only" from "Specific Users", etc then great! (Color coding alone does not cut the mustard due to accessibility concerns.)
7: As of 8.52 or maybe 8.53, if you are not on the "allow" list for a room, you will not be given that as a choice when you search for a room. Any rooms that appear as "Info Restricted" will not be offered as a room suggestion. Couple that with the busytime check added during Save & Send which will tell you that your room choice is not available to you, you should have a very clear picture that the room you chose is not available to you.
If you have not tried the usability improvements in 8.52 and 8.53, you really should. Of course we are always interested in hearing how to make it better and easier so keep the ideas flowing.
Bruce
1: The 'hotspots' on the left are intended for users to select a _specific_ room or resource they want. The meeting date/time are flexible but the room requirement is not. Users are expected to use the scheduler UI to confirm availability of the room.
2: The Find buttons on the right are intended for users to _search_ for any available room or resource. The meeting date/time is typically fixed but the room requirement is flexible.
3: We used to provide both actions from the Action bar as separate actions ("Find a room" and "Select a room" I think) but they got pulled out and reworked as part of some UX work.
4: As of 8.52 the mail template will double check the R&R availability when Save and Send is clicked so you do not waste time trying to book a busy room or one that will immediately Decline your request!.
5: The room restriction info _is_ in the NAB. It is just not displayed it seems if you access the record in the NAB directly or use the Details button on the botton left corner of the 'hotspot' dialog. Feel free to tweak your NAB design to show the AutoprocessUserList item value if its there and that will show you who can book it.
6: The "Do not enter" icon is too overloaded. It is meant to convey "restrictions exist". I agree that it would be better if we had unique icons for different kinds of restrictions. Unfortunately we are limited in the available icons. If someone would like to provide some design changes to differentiate "Owner only" from "Specific Users", etc then great! (Color coding alone does not cut the mustard due to accessibility concerns.)
7: As of 8.52 or maybe 8.53, if you are not on the "allow" list for a room, you will not be given that as a choice when you search for a room. Any rooms that appear as "Info Restricted" will not be offered as a room suggestion. Couple that with the busytime check added during Save & Send which will tell you that your room choice is not available to you, you should have a very clear picture that the room you chose is not available to you.
If you have not tried the usability improvements in 8.52 and 8.53, you really should. Of course we are always interested in hearing how to make it better and easier so keep the ideas flowing.
Bruce
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