Who can access the system?

Anyone with an id in the University's Raven system can login but access to different bits of the system is then further controlled, e.g.: only members of the Engineering Department can currently access the meeting rooms and only administrators can access the admin functions. The message You do not have access rights to modify this item will be displayed if you don't have access to something. The system expects to be able to send mail to you at your_raven_id@cam.ac.uk.

Why can't I delete/alter a meeting?

In order to delete or alter a meeting, you must be logged in as the same person that made the meeting. Contact one of the meeting room administrators or the person who initially made the meeting to have it deleted or changed.

How do I make a recurring meeting?

Clicking on the desired time brings you into the booking screen. Select the appropriate Repeat Type. The room will be scheduled at the same time, until the Repeat End Date, on the days determined by the Repeat Type.

• A Daily repeat schedules every day.
• A Weekly repeat schedules those days of the week that you check under Repeat Day. For example, use Weekly repeat to schedule the room every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday; check those days under Repeat Day. If you check no days under Repeat Day, the schedule will repeat on the same day of each week as the first scheduled day.
• A Monthly repeat schedules the same day of each month, for example the 15th of the month.
• A Yearly repeat schedules the same month and day of the month, for example every March 15th.
• Finally, a Monthly, corresponding day repeat schedules one day each month, the same weekday and ordinal position within the month. Use this repeat type to schedule the first Monday, second Tuesday, or fourth Friday of each month, for example. Do not use this repeat type after the 28th day of the month.

How do I delete one instance of a recurring meeting?

Select the day/room/time that you want to delete and select Delete Entry.

How do I schedule rooms at different sites?

You don't. Presently the system cannot book two different rooms simultaneously. You must schedule each one separately. Make sure that the time you want is available at both sites before making a booking. To switch between Lecture Room and Meeting Room bookings, go via the top level page which is also linked via the Room Booking System link in the title bar on each page.

My meeting failed to be created because of too many entries!

No meeting can create more than 365 entries. This seems more than enough for a single booking and you can always split a larger booking into a number of bookings within this limit.

What happens if multiple people try to schedule the same meeting?

The first person to click on the Submit button wins! This can obviously cause problems if someone already has verbal agreement from a room administrator to make a booking but someone else then requests a clashing booking for something else. In cases like this, contact the room administrator to agree what to do.

How do I enter hours and minutes for a meeting length?

You can't! You either have to enter the duration in hours or minutes but you can enter fractions of an hour; e.g. to enter 1 hour 15 mins, use either 1.25 hours or 75 minutes.

How do I tell if a room is going to be suitable?

There is a separate page detailing venues and facilities (Raven login required). This covers aspects like disabled access, special facilities, times of day when access to the room will not be possible for security reasons, etc. Please check this before requesting a booking as it will greatly speed things up if you can avoid trying to book an unsuitable room.

What is the difference between the types of meeting?

MRBS defines a number of meeting types. As configured here, when a meeting is originally booked its type is set as Unconfirmed - this is the only type an ordinary user can enter. When an administrator confirms a booking, they will assign an appropriate type to it and this will be notified to the booker by email. Meetings are highlighted in the main calendar view with a colour corresponding to their type, and a colour key of all defined types is shown at the bottom of the main calendar view.

How much did the system cost?

Nothing. See the next section for more information.

How does the system work and who wrote it?

The Meeting Room Booking System is open source software that is distributed under the Gnu Public License(GPL). This means that software is free to use, distribute, and modify.

The system is written mostly in PHP, which is an open source programming language that can be embedded in web pages similar in concept to Microsoft active server pages. PHP is especially good at accessing databases.

The database used for the system is either MySQL or PostgreSQL. MySQL is a very fast, multi-threaded, multi-user and robust SQL (Structured Query Language) database server that is also GPL. PostgreSQL is a full-featured multi-user open source Object Relational SQL database server.

The system will run on multiple platforms, including the PC architecture using the Linux operating system. Linux, is a free, open source, unix-like operating system.

The web server being used is yet another piece of free, open source software. The Apache web server is the world's most popular web server.

The bottom line is: every piece of this system, from the operating system to the application, is completely free - source code and all.