Example dCal policy for a department

Departments may wish to use this document as a template when devising and publicizing their dCal policies and guidelines. Particular attention should be given to statements in italics, which require local policy decisions. For the sake of illustration, we will be using the (non-existent) Duke Astrology department in our examples.

dCal policy for Duke Astrology

The dCal Coordinator for Duke Astrology is John Smith.

All Duke Astrology staff are registered to use dCal. We encourage the use of dCal as a collaborative scheduling tool, which requires that we approach the use of dCal consistently. This document outlines that consistent approach.

"Collaborative scheduling" means giving other dCal users the ability to view your availability and place proposed meetings on your Agenda. Departmental policies and guidelines for some key calendaring topics are provided below.

When you adopt these guidelines, notify the colleagues with whom you schedule meetings that you are a dCal user.

Blocking time in your dCal Agenda

Use dCal's options to set your normal work hours and any extended hours. When other dCal users view your Agenda or search for a meeting time, these settings will be reflected, advising them of when you are available for meetings.

Block time in your Agenda when you are not available for meetings. To do so, create meetings in your Agenda with an Access Level that grants others to View times only (at a minimum). Unavailable times may include:

Viewing rights

Your dCal account is initially set up to allow other dCal users to view times for your Agenda entries, but not entry details.

For effective scheduling collaboration, we recommend a minimum Viewing Right of View times only. This setting allows other dCal users to see times when you are not available, but does not allow viewing of entry details (meeting location, attendees, etc.).

As much as possible, avoid setting up meetings that have No viewing rights. If you use this setting, users will not see the meeting time as "busy," and may invite you to a meeting during the meeting time. Even for personal meetings, we recommend that you allow View times only, since users will not see any details about the meeting.

Scheduling rights

Your dCal account is initially set up with the default being that any dCal user can invite you to their Agenda entries (that is, they can propose entries to your Agenda).

For effective collaboration, do not change the default Scheduling Rights unless you have good reason to do so (for instance, if an administrative assistant enters all your meetings into your Agenda, if your Agenda is very inaccurate, or if your unavailable time is not indicated).

Your dCal account is initially set up so that no users have Designate Rights to your Agenda (that is, no one can manage your Agenda on your behalf). If you would like another user to manage your Agenda for you, grant them Designate Rights.

If you are a designate for another user, be aware of and comply with the wishes of that individual regarding your designate privileges when working in their Agenda.

Agenda etiquette

Accessing a user's dCal Agenda is only proper for the purpose of determining their availability. Browsing a user's Agenda for any other reason is considered misuse.

Inviting a user to a meeting creates a proposed Agenda item; the user may accept or reject the proposal, or request that another you propose another time. Any of these responses is considered appropriate.

Do not propose meetings during lunch or outside of normal hours without first consulting the invitees.

Consider sending e-mail to meeting invitees advising them of the meeting. If you do not know an invitee, or if you are not sure an invitee uses dCal, contact the invitee first to advise them that you will use dCal to send them the invitation. Invitees without dCal accounts will receive meeting invitations via e-mail.

When you create an Agenda entry, you are the entry "owner," and are the only one who can alter it once it is saved (unless you have given other users access rights). To assist the meeting invitees, do the following:

To ensure consistency in meeting invitations, use the guidelines below when filling out the following fields:

Title
Include the topic of the meeting followed by the type of meeting. For example: Update, Discussion, Information, Decision-Making, Followup, Presentation, Conference, or Tentative (when holding a meeting time until it is confirmed). Example: Weekly Project Status Report (Informational) Note: When indicating that a meeting is tentative, select the Tentative check box in the meeting window. Doing so displays the meeting in the Agenda in a color different from confirmed meetings. Once the meeting is confirmed, clear the Tentative check box and edit the meeting type in the title.
Details
Include any details available, including the agenda, goals and objectives, intended outcomes, and/or notes pertaining to the meeting. Example: Collectively review weekly project status reports, answer questions and determine what if any additional tasks need to be completed to address issues. Note: Attachments cannot be included in meeting invitations.
Reply/Notes
Use for notes to yourself, meeting to-do's or detailed reminders. This field is not visible to others. If the meeting owner removes the meeting, your notes will be lost.

For more information about scheduling meetings in dCal, see the Oracle Calendar Client help files.