You can invite other people to a meeting, and/or book resources for the meeting. DeskNow can automatically display the availability of the attendees/resources, and track the replies from other attendees.
To assign a task, simply create a new task and then click on the Assignees tab.
In this window you can add an attendee by looking up his/her address (using the Pick button, or typing directly the attendee's email address). Click the Add button to add the attendee(s) to the list of attendees.
Below the Add and Pick buttons, on the left you will see the names of all the attendees.
By clicking on the relative icon, you can change:
the delivery mode. This defines if and how an invitation is sent to this attendee:
invite via email with iCal. This is the default, and will send the invitation using an internet standard. The event will appear in the attendee's calendar. This can be used with other DeskNow users, or users that use a standards compliant calendaring application (Outlook and Notes - not Outlook Express).
invite via email with plain text. Use this option if the attendee does not have an iCal client. DeskNow will send a plaintext email. Replies from the attendee will not be tracked
do not send invitation
Tip: you can set what is the preferred delivery mode of an attendee by editing its contact details in your contacts.
the attendance level:
required attendee
optional attendee
In this pane an icon will also display the attendee response:
accepted
declined
delegated
waiting for reply
tentatively accepted
unknown (this is typical of attendees not invited using iCal)
When an attendee replies to an iCal invitation, you will receive a notification email, and the status of the meeting will be updated.
DeskNow will automatically reply on behalf of resources, based on their availability.
On the right-hand side you will see the availability table. This table shows, for every attendee/resource, its availability throughout the day. Every time slot is coloured depending on the availability. See the colour table below for the meaning of the single colours (Free, Busy, Tentative, Out of office, Unknown). These codes are set by the attendee when creating a new event in his/her calendar.
A vertical white stripe bounded by a green and a red line marks the event's duration. To move it, simply change the event's begin and end times using the controls at the bottom.
To view availabilities for a different day, use the Prev and Next buttons.
To see the availability for all the hours in the day (early morning and late night), select the Show full day option.