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Oracle Calendar

Introduction

Welcome to the Oracle Calendar Tutorial! Oracle Calendar is a scheduler that looks and acts like a standard daily planner, but it has much more to offer. With a Oracle Calendar account, you can:

  • Schedule individuals, groups, and resources (for example, a conference room or an overhead projector)
  • View schedules of others University-wide, singly or in groups
  • Make your own schedule as secured (non-viewable to others) as you need
  • Track project status
  • Print out calendars in pre-set and customizable formats
  • Designate an individual to work on your agenda

To supplement this document, an on-line help feature can be found in the Help menu and contextual help is available throughout the program. This "Getting Started" document will cover the basics of Oracle Calendar.

 


Signing in and Changing Your Password

To Sign In Using the Oracle Program: 

  1. Go to Start > All Programs > Oracle Calendar and select the Oracle Calendar icon.

    Note:     First-time start-up of Oracle Calendar automatically downloads CTime files to your desktop machine. If you are the sole user of your machine, these files will be rewritten to this location at future startups and when you request downloads. If multiple users plan to run Oracle Calendar from the same desktop, please see the section on Multiple Users .

  2. Sign in using your ID, your assigned default password, and then click Sign-in.
  3. After signing in for the first time, if you wish, you can change your default password.
    • Click on the Tools menu and select Change Password.
    • Enter your assigned password, then your new password. When prompted, reenter your new password.

To Sign In Online:

  1. Open a web browser and navigate to https://calendar.whitman.edu/ocas-bin/ocas.fcgi?sub=web
  2. Use your ID and default password to sign in. 

Your In-tray

  Oracle Calendar uses the metaphor of an In-tray for receiving and managing meetings.

  1. Click on the In-tray button to open the In-tray window. You will see four folders in your In-tray:
    • New Entries
    • Entries you've accepted
    • Entries you've sent out
    • Entries you've refused

 

To Reply to a New Entry in Your In-Tray:

 

Once your In-tray is visible, there are several ways to reply to items in the New Entries folder.

 

Method One: View Entry Details

  1. Double-click on a new entry.
  2. You will see a list of everyone invited and their responses: a green check for those who have accepted, a red "X" for those who have declined, and a blue question mark for those who have not replied. Your name is in bold.
  3. Double-click on your name to bring up the View Entry dialog box.
  4. The dialog box will open to the Reply tab, where you choose your reply ( I will attend, I will not attend, or I will respond later).
  5. If you want to include an E-mail message along with your response, click Tools then click Send Message. You can then choose to send your reply to everyone on the list, or just to certain people.

  6. Once you respond to a message, it will automatically move into the appropriate folder. At this point, you can still change your reply by clicking on the message in the folder.

    Note: Click on the other tabs in the dialog box before choosing your reply to see General information (attendees, time, location), Details, Linked Tasks, or to set Reminders.

Method Two: Drag the New Entry into the Accepted or Refused folder.

  1. Select the new entry by clicking on it once.
  2. Drag the entry into the appropriate folder ( Entries you've accepted or Entries you've refused). Your reply is now reflected in the meeting details, and the entry will remain in the folder where you placed it. At this point, you can still change your reply by clicking on the message in the folder where you placed it.

Method Three: Right Click the New Entry

  1. Select the new entry by clicking on it once.
  2. Right-click on the entry to bring up an abbreviated menu, and click on your reply option. Your reply is now reflected in the meeting details, and the entry will remain in the folder where you placed it. At this point, you can still change your reply by clicking on the message in the folder where you placed it.

Right click on the In-Tray entry to bring up an abbreviated window listing reply options

Note: In order to be notified of incoming New entries, your In-tray must be open or open and minimized. You will be notified by an icon with a red exclamation point New In-Tray entry icon at the bottom of your Oracle Calendar window.

The default for the In-tray to open each time you start up Oracle Calendar.

You may choose to leave the In-tray closed on startup. To set your preference for In-tray startup, select Tools > Options > General > Startup.


Select your choice from:

  • Open In-tray (default)
  • Do not open In-tray
  • Open In-tray if it was open at last exit.
Note: If you have decided to have your In-tray closed on startup, the New Entry icon will not appear when you have new entries. To update new entries, select Refresh All from the View menu.
 

Changing Views In Your Agenda

Oracle Calendar opens two windows for you on your first login: the In-tray and your agenda. You will want to minimize the In-tray. There are several ways to view your agenda. The daily view is the default. You can easily change your view by choosing one of the three view buttons from the toolbar (top row, below). Within the agenda window, the navigation toolbar has arrows for scrolling, a calendar to choose specific dates, and a Today button for quickly returning to the agenda containing today's date.

 

 

 

Daily view

 

 

Weekly view

 

 

Monthly view

Back a week button

Back a week

Back a month

Back 6 months

Back a day button

Back a day

Back a week

Back a month

Forward a day button

Forward a day

Forward a week

Forward a month

Forward a week button

Forward a week

Forward a month

Forward 6 months


 

To Examine Different Agenda Views:

 

  1. Click the weekly view icon to change from the default daily view to the weekly view.
    • Notice that you can now see your schedule for the current week.
  2. Click the monthly view icon to change to the monthly view.
    • Notice that you can now see your schedule for the current month.
  3. Switch back to the daily view by clicking the daily view icon .
    • Navigate to previous and upcoming days by using the forward Forward a day button and back Back a day button buttons.
    • Try the fast forward Forward a week button and rewind Back a week button buttons. Notice that you move by week instead of by day with these buttons.
  4. Switch to weekly and monthly views and experiment with the forward, back, fast forward, and rewind buttons in those views. Refer to the chart above for a breakdown of how each button works in each view.

Adding an Agenda Entry

There are several ways to add a new agenda entry. You can block time for yourself on your own agenda, or you can create entries for yourself and others (including resources) which contain more detailed information.

Note: The features below apply only if you have created the entry; you may not modify an entry created by someone else.

 

To Create a Simple Agenda Entry for Yourself:

 

  1. Click on a time slot and type the entry name/information. Press Enter.
  2. To edit the entry, click on it again. Your cursor will become crossed, double-headed arrows Crossed, double-headed arrow cursor.
    • Click once again to change the entry to a text field. You can now modify the text.
    • When you are finished modifying the text, press Enter again.
  3. To extend (or reduce) the time, click on the entry once.
    • Move your mouse over the upper or lower highlighted border until the cursor becomes a vertical double-headed arrow Vertical double-headed arrow cursor.
    • Click and drag up or down to change the length of time.
  4. To move the entry to an entirely different time, click on the entry and the cursor becomes .
    • Click and drag the entry to another time and/or day.

Create a New Detailed Entry or Add Details to an Agenda Entry

If your entry requires more details, this second method of adding an entry allows you to access some of the power of Oracle Calendar, including the ability to set up repeating meetings with one entry.

  • To create a new, detailed entry, click on the New Entry button on the toolbar to bring up the New Meeting dialog box.
  • To add details to an existing entry, double click on the entry to bring up the New Meeting dialog box.

Name the meeting and set the date, time, and duration. Schedule both people and resources for your meeting.

  • Use the magnifying glass Magnifying Glass button, use to search for colleagues or resources to search for colleagues or rooms and equipment to add to your meeting.
  • Click the Check Conflicts button to have Oracle Calendar check for any potential conflicts.
  • Importance Levels let you set the importance of an event: Normal (default), High, Highest, Low, and Lowest. For more information on how importance levels can affect the display colors of your events, see the section on Other Features .
  • Access Levels let you determine who can see an event: Normal (default), Personal, Confidential, and Public. For more information on the default settings for access levels and how to change them, see the section on Access Rights.

Repeating

Create a new detailed entry, then set up the pattern for a recurring meeting. You can choose to have it repeat every day, week, month (by date or day) or year.

  • Set specific start and end dates for the series or choose a block of time.
  • Click the List Dates button after selecting criteria and add or delete dates from the sequence.

 

Details Tab

 

Add a description of the meeting or other information pertinent to the meeting. A pencil icon is displayed on agenda entries containing details. Oracle Calendar allows you to attach a file to an agenda entry. This file can be an agenda for the meeting or other brief documentation but attachments are restricted to 40K.

 

Reminders

 

Oracle Calendar can automatically remind you of an upcoming meeting or task at a specified time prior to the event (minutes, hours, days, weeks, etc.). A bell icon will be added to this entry in the agenda view to signify that you have set a reminder for this event. You may set reminders only for yourself, not others that you have invited to your meetings. Note: You must have Oracle Calendar open in order to get reminders.

 

Attachments

 

You can add attachments to your meeting requests. 

 

To Complete Your Detailed Entry:

 

  • When you are finished setting the details for your entry, click OK.

Deleting Entries

You may delete entries you have created by any of three methods:

 

To Delete an Entry:

 

  • Select the event by clicking on it, then press the Delete key.

Or

  • Select the event by clicking on it, then choose Delete Meeting from the Edit menu.

Or

  • Right click on the event and choose Delete Meeting from the resulting pop-up menu.

Note: If you scheduled repeating instances of the meeting, Oracle Calendar will ask if you want to delete just the instance you selected, multiple instances, or all of the instances.


Creating Daily Notes

A Daily Note is an individual reminder that is for a specific day, but not a specific time. You can create Daily Notes for yourself, send Daily Notes to others, set up repeating Daily Notes and create reminders for upcoming Daily Notes. An example of a Daily Note might be: "Make an appointment with Dr. Smith." The procedure is very similar to adding an agenda Entry outlined in the previous section. Daily Notes will appear as a purple pushpin at the bottom of the window in the daily and weekly views, and following a day’s events in the monthly view.

 

To Add a New Daily Note:

 

  1. Click on the Daily Note button on the toolbar to create a new Daily Note.
  2. In the resulting Daily Note dialog box, give the note a title, adjust the date, add attendees, and set your preferences for access level, repeating, and reminders.


Creating Day Events

In addition to Daily Notes, you can create Day Events. The difference between the two is that Day Events are used for events that occur all day long. An example of a Day Event might be: "Office Technology Conference today." You can create Day Events for yourself, send them to others, set up repeating Day Events and create reminders for upcoming Day Events. The procedure is very similar to adding an agenda Entry outlined in the previous section. Day Events will appear as a yellow flag at the bottom of the window in the daily and weekly views, and following a day’s events in the monthly view.

Note: A Day Event does not create any scheduling conflict for the day it appears. If time should be blocked, you must create a new Agenda Entry to cover the blocked time.

 

To Add a New Day Event:

 

  1. Click on the Day Event button on the toolbar to create a new Day Event.
  2. In the resulting Day Event dialog box, give the event a title, adjust the date, add attendees, and set your preferences for access level, repeating, and reminders.

Holidays

Holiday iconHolidays are like Day Events, except that they are centrally distributed (and reflect official UVa holidays). You cannot change or delete holidays, but, like Day Events, they create a reminder, not a scheduling conflict, for the days they appear.


Creating Tasks

One final way to organize your agenda is to create Task lists. Tasks can help you manage your projects by noting start and/or end dates, tracking percentage complete, and assigning priority levels. Tasks will appear on the right side of your daily agenda view. Tasks cannot be viewed from the weekly or monthly views but a Task window can be one of your six Oracle Calendar open windows.

 

To Add a Task:

 

  1. Click on the New Task button
  2. In the resulting New Task dialog box, give the task a title, adjust the start date, assign a due date, and and set your preferences for priority, access level, and reminders. You may also add details or attachments under the Details tab.

Meeting Colors

Oracle Calendar has a setting which allows you to modify your agenda color preferences. You can code your entries by Attendance Status (the default), Entry Ownership, or Importance Level. This setting applies to your entire agenda, and cannot be set differently for individual meetings.

 

To Change Meeting Colors:

 

  1. Click on the Tools > Options > Agenda > Colors.
  2. Select the color scheme of your choice by clicking on the colored boxes:
Attendance Status
 
   
     
Entry Ownership
 
 
 
Importance Level
 
 

 

 

Viewing Other Agendas

One of the most powerful features of Oracle Calendar is the ability to view the agendas of colleagues and resources, either singly or in groups. You can look at single or group agendas to determine availability for events you want to schedule, and you can schedule meetings on those agendas. Note that you will only be able to see events which the agenda owners have given others access to view. See the section on Access Rights for more information.

 

To View Another Person's Agenda:

 

  1. Click on the File > Open > Agenda.
  2. Type the last name of the person or resource whose agenda you want to view into the resulting Open Agenda dialog box, then click OK or hit Enter. If there is more than one person or resource with a similar name, Oracle Calendar will ask you to choose the correct name from a resulting list.
  3. Click OK to open the agenda.
  4. Add events to the agenda just as you would add them to your own. See the section on Adding an Agenda Entry for details.

Enter the last name of the person's agenda you want to view

 

Searching for Another Agenda:

 

If you are not sure of the spelling of the person's or resource's name, you can use the Search feature in the Open Agenda dialog box.

  1. Click on the File > Open > Agenda.
  2. Click the magnifying glass icon Magnifying Glass (search) button in the Open Agenda dialog box to perform a search.
  3. Click on the People or Resources tab, enter the search criteria, and click the Search button. Oracle Calendar will generate a list of people or resources which match your criteria.
  4. Select the person or resource you want, then click OK twice to open the agenda.
  5. Add events to the agenda just as you would add them to your own. See the section on Adding an Agenda Entry for instructions.

    Note: Events you add to the agendas of others will appear in their In-trays, just as events others add to your agenda appear in your In-tray. See the section on Your In-tray for more detail.

 

To View a Group Agenda:

 

  1. Click on the File > Open > Group Agenda.
  2. Type the last name of the first person or resource whose agenda you want to view into Add field of the Open Group View dialog box, then click the check mark icon or hit the <Enter> key to add the agenda to the group view.
  3. Repeat step 2 for all of the people or resources you want to see in a group view. You can use the magnifying glass icon to search for people or resources, just as you did for individual agendas.
  4. When you are finished adding people and resources, click OK to open the group agenda view.
  5. Add events to the group agenda just as you would add them to your own. See the section on Adding an Agenda Entry for details.

    Note: Group agendas can only be viewed in Daily view. The Combined column on the left of the group view shows free or booked time for all group members. To book an event for all group members, create the event in the Combined column.

    Sample Group Agenda View


    New Group View Options in Oracle Calendar 5.1:  
    Check boxes beside the name of group agenda members allow you to exclude a person or resource from a group agenda entry by unchecking the box beside the name. The unchecked member's schedule then shows in gray.

    Group Agenda in CorporateTime 5.1 allows people or resources to be excluded from group agenda scheduling by checking the box beside the name

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Managing Groups

A convenient feature of Oracle Calendar is the ability to create groups of individuals and resources, a particularly useful feature if you routinely schedule groups of the same people and/or resources. There are three different types available for managed, or standing, groups:

Public Groups: can be viewed and used by everyone with a Oracle Calendar account at the University. Examples of groups you might set as public: a department or the occupants of a building.

Private Groups: can be viewed and used only by the person who created the group. Set groups as private that only you use, as others will not be able to view or use them.

Members Only Groups: can be viewed and used only by people who belong to the group. Examples of groups you might set as members only: a committee, a working group.

 

To Create a New Group:

 

  1. Click the Tools menu, then select Manage Groups.
  2. In the resulting Manage Groups dialog box, click the New button to create a new group.
  3. In the resulting Edit Group dialog box, enter a Group Name, and select a Group Type. Type the name of the first person or resource you want to add to the group in the Add Member box, then hit Enter or the check button to add the member. Note: click the Magnifying Glass to search for a person or resource if you are not sure of the spelling or exact name.
  4. Repeat step 3 until you have added all of the group members you wish, then click OK twice.



To Schedule a Managed Group:

  1. Click on the Open Group Agenda icon , or click on the File menu, then select Open, then Group Agenda.
  2. If your group doesn't appear on the resulting list, click on the Group icon in the resulting Open Group Agenda dialog box to search for groups.
  3. The Directory Search dialog box appears. Select the Group tab and search for your desired group. Use the check boxes to view just Public groups, Private groups, Members Only Groups.
  4. Schedule events for the group just as you would for any group agenda. See the sections on Adding an Agenda Entry and Viewing Other Agendas for more details.



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Access Rights

You can control how other people view your calendar and schedule you for events by setting Access Rights. ( Tools > Access Rights). By default, Oracle Calendar allows everyone to view your calendar and to schedule you for events. Changing your access rights allows you to have both detailed and global control over who can view your schedule and invite you to events. The exercise below allows you to see the default settings and understand the changes you can make to them.

 

To View and Change Access Rights Settings:

 

  1. Click on Tools > Access Rights.
  2. Click on the Viewing tab. Select Default: Any unlisted person.
  3. By default, the boxes indicating View Times Only are checked, showing anyone who views your schedule only the times of your entries, whether normal, confidential, or personal. Checking the boxes beside View Entries will allow any unlisted person to see the details of your entries, not just blocked out time. (An unlisted person is anyone you have not specifically listed as having certain access rights to your account).
  4. Click on the Scheduling tab.
  5. By default, the box indicating Can Invite You to Entries is checked. Scheduling Rights are different from Viewing Rights. If you give other users Scheduling Rights but no Viewing Rights to your agenda, they will not be able to check for conflicts when scheduling you for a meeting.
  6. Click the Cancel button to cancel any changes you have made to Access Rights during this session. In practice, you would click OK to keep the changes.
  7. In order to give specific people Access Rights to your calendar, add them to the list at the bottom of the Access Rights window. When that person is highlighted, any change you make to the Access Rights will be specific to that person.


Note: To deny all access to your calendar, go to the Viewing tab and check the No viewing rights box. This setting prevents anyone not given specific viewing rights to your calendar from checking for conflicts when scheduling a meeting with you. If you wish to deny people access to scheduling you for events, go to the Scheduling tab and check the box Can Invite You to Entries. By turning off both Viewing Rights and Scheduling Rights for any unlisted person, anyone not listed as your designate will not be able to see your calendar entries, nor will they be able to invite you to events.

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Designates

Oracle Calendar allows you to assign Designate Rights to your agenda entries, day events, daily notes, and tasks. You can assign any listed person Full Designate Rights to your schedule, which allows that person to view and modify any element of your schedule (even entries marked Confidential or Personal). Or, you can assign specific rights to a designate to modify, view, or not view each element of your schedule (agenda entries, day events, daily notes, and tasks).

 

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Working Offline

Oracle Calendar provides you with the option to work offline if you do not have a regular connection to a network or modem (such as when you are traveling or paying for access time). You may work offline as often as you like, however you must work online the first time to setup your account.

 

To Work Offline:

 

  1. Click on the File menu and select Work Offline. If this is the first time you have worked offline on your current computer, Oracle Calendar will prompt you to download your agenda into the local directory of your choice.
  2. When working off-line you will not have access to everyone else’s agendas, but you can make as many changes as you would like to your own agenda.
  3. When you are ready to go back on-line, select Work Online from the File menu. Any changes you made will be automatically updated.
    Note: make sure you are connected through a network or modem line before selecting Work Online.

To Set Offline Preferences:

You can set your offline preferences while still online by going to the Options menu and choosing Offline. This will open the Offline Preferences dialog box.


Location Tab:

 

  1. Select a directory on your hard drive to store the information from your agenda.
  2. You may use the Browse button to search for a directory that already exists, or type in a new directory name and check the box for Create directory if none exists.

Download tab:

 

   

  1. Select which entries you wish to download onto your hard drive. It is recommended that you download only the time period that you will be using. Downloading all of your agenda entries will require a lot of space on your hard drive.
  2. You may also select whether or not you want to download your agenda every time you exit an online session. The options are:
    • Always Download: your agenda will automatically be downloaded when you exit your online agenda.
    • Prompt before Download: you will be asked if you want to download your offline agenda when you exit your online agenda.
    • Never Download: your agenda will not be downloaded unless you choose to do so using the Download To Local File... in the File menu.
It is recommended that you always download your agenda after working on-line. Then you will have a current copy on your hard drive.

Note: Each time you download a copy, it replaces any older copy on your hard drive.

People/Resources tab:
You may choose to download other users’ agendas while you work offline. You will only be able to view those entries to which you have been given access rights or designate rights. These agendas will always download with your agenda. Please note that you will not be able to view other users’ modifications while you are working offline. All entries will be updated the next time you work online.

Note: The more data you download, the larger the file becomes on your hard drive.

Groups tab:
If you use certain group lists in your online agenda, you may choose to download these when working off-line.

You have several options:

 

  • No Groups: no group lists will be downloaded.
  • All Groups: all group lists that you have access to will be downloaded (public and private).
  • Select Groups: You can choose which group lists you want to download: Public, Private, or both. Select the appropriate check boxes, then click on Load. A list of available groups will be displayed, then you can delete the ones you do not want to download.
    Note: This does not download the group member’s agendas, just the group list.

Reconciliation tab:
You may automate the way in which your offline agenda will be uploaded to your online agenda. You can decide on a case-by-case situation, or let your agenda upload automatically.

 

 

When an entry has been deleted in the offline agenda but still exists in the online agenda, the agenda can either: 

  • Show Reconcile Dialog: you will be able to view the change before it is made in your online agenda.
  • Delete Online Entry: the entry will automatically be deleted from the online agenda without asking you first.

When an entry has been modified in both the offline and the online agenda, the agenda can either: 
  • Show Reconcile Dialog box: you will be able to view the change before it is made in your online agenda.
  • Update Online Agenda: the entry will automatically be updated from the on-line agenda without asking you first.

You may also choose to check for conflicts or ignore conflicts when uploading your off-line agenda.

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Text Searching

Oracle has the ability to search Agendas for a string of words or attendees within a date range you specify. The Search feature is accessible in the Agenda View via Tools > Search Agenda.

 

  1. To perform an agenda search, you will be asked to specify your search parameters in the Search dialog box.

Search Criteria Tab

 

  • If you are searching for a string of words, as in a meeting title, enter them in the Search for field. If you are searching for attendees, leave this field blank.
  • In the Attendees tab, type in the attendee's name, or click the directory search (magnifying glass) button to search the directory. If you wish to add one or more users from a group, click the group tab.
  • The results of your search will contain the Entries to which any of the attendees listed in the Search Attendees list edit box are invited.
  • Modify the period you want to search by typing in the date, clicking the arrows to the right of the date box to scroll the date up or down or by clicking.

Search Options Tab

  • Select the types of Entries and the fields you want to search.

Agenda of:

 

  • This section displays the name of the person whose agenda will be searched.
  • To select a name for the Agenda of edit box, type the name directly into the box or click the directory search (magnifying glass) button to find the person or resource you are looking for.

 

  1. When you have entered all of the necessary options, click Search.
  2. View an entry by highlighting it and clicking the Show button or double-clicking it. View the next and previous set of results for the search by using the previous and next buttons, if they are enabled.

If you are not able to see all of the relevant results for your search request:

Each request will be interrupted when any of the server-side limits are reached. If the server finds more than the maximum number of Entries that it allows, as many of them as possible will be displayed in the Search results list box and the button will be enabled to allow you to look at other results.

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Other Features

Oracle Calendar has many additional features. Some of the features are: 

  • Changing the hours displayed in your agenda
    (click on the Tools > Options > Agenda > Display)
  • Printing your agenda in a variety of formats including many of the standard Day-Timer, Day Runner, Franklin Day Planner, and Time System formats.
    (click on the File menu, then select Print. Adjust print settings in the Print dialog box)

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Exiting Oracle Calendar

To exit Oracle Calendar:

  • Click on the File menu and select Exit.

By using the Exit menu option rather than closing individual windows to end your session, Oracle Calendar retains the layout you were using when you start your next session. If you had multiple windows open, those same windows will open automatically for your next session.

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Multiple Users

When a second user attempts to log on to Oracle Calendar, a dialog box is displayed prompting the user to select another location for his/her offline agenda. The original user's offline files are stored in C:Windows. The four files are Xtmlocal.dat, Xtmlocal.ndx, Xtmparam, and Xtmzone.

The second and subsequent users can create a folder for their files in C:Windows. All users will need to remember the path to their offline files. The original user can maintain his/her files in C:Windows or create a folder for them.

If you are logging on to Oracle Calendar following another user, you will be prompted to create or identify your location for offline files. If only one person uses Oracle Calendar on a machine, there are no prompts for a storage location. The files will always be rewritten to C:Windows.

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Questions?

If you have questions about Oracle Calendar, there are several resources available to you:

 

  • Oracle Calendar has excellent on-line help located in the help menu, and task specific help is available in most dialog boxes.

 

  • The WCTS Help Desk can be reached at (509)527-4976 Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., College Holidays excepted.

 

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