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How to Find and Book an Available Meeting Room

How to Find and Book an Available Meeting Room

Posted on by • Posted in Outlook •

A list of available meeting and drop-in spaces can be found here.

Drop-In Spaces & Reservations – Home (sharepoint.com)

You may have noticed that the “Room Finder” feature in the Scheduling Assistant doesn’t show any building lists or rooms at UW.  This feature is currently unsupported.

Find a room by adding them as Optional Attendees in Scheduling Assistant.

There are a few ways to find available meeting spaces, but using the Scheduling Assistant is the most versatile, especially when considering multiple spaces, multiple attendees,  recurring events, etc.

  1. Bring up the event details, by clicking on “More options” when creating an event.
  2. Click on the “Scheduling assistant” tab as shown on the image on the right.
  3. Click on “Add Optional Attendee” in the left pane in Scheduling Assistant.
  4. Type the building name or room number to search for the desired meeting room.
  5. Select one or more rooms from the drop-down list.

This method allows you to identify one or more rooms available at the same time as your meeting attendees.

Using the Scheduling Assistant to find meeting rooms.

Notes:

  • The semi-opaque window shows your meeting time and it overlaps over all attendees.
  • A red window shows a conflict, either in your calendar, one of the other attendees, or the room.
  • A green window therefore means everyone and the room are available.
  • For recurring events – Sorry but the Scheduling Assistant will show a time as available –  even if there is a conflict on a different day. You have to manually check all the recurring dates. (See the section on Confirming your reservation below).

Important Reminder – Once you find a room that works for you, remove all other rooms from the optional attendee list. 

Failing to do so will likely result in you reserving multiple spaces for the same event.  

Bonus-Room Reservation

Adding a room as an optional attendee also reserves it for your meeting. Provided you have the authority to reserve the room, and it is available, you will receive an email confirming your reservation.

Confirming your reservation

Sometimes, you just need to be sure that you did reserve a room and/or that your reservation was actually accepted. This is especially true of recurring reservations, where a conflict might be far in the future and easy to miss.

An event appearing on your calendar doesn’t guarantee the meeting room is reserved for you. 

For recurring events, if there is a conflict on any date, the entire reservation is declined.

Ways to confirm your reservation:

  1. Pay attention to your email: Confirm that you got an email saying, “Your meeting request was accepted.”-If you are making multiple reservations at the same time, pay attention to the date and location in the email.
  2. Check the event details:  On your calendar, make sure the room is listed as an attendee AND is shown as either attending the meeting or accepting your meeting invitation.-If it states that the room has not yet responded, check again after a few more minutes. This process can take five or more minutes for your mail client to receive the email and integrate the response into your calendar.
  3. When you need to be 100% certain: Check the room calendar, not your calendar. Use the “Add Calendar” button in the calendar view in Outlook and search for and add the room calendar to your list of calendars. Then actually view and check the room calendar to confirm that your event is listed in the room’s calendar.

If something does not look right, email ihelp@uw.edu with your reservation questions, and we’ll assist.

Group Ownership for Persistent Microsoft Forms

Posted on by • Posted in Microsoft 365 Software •

Jump to…

– The issue with Individually owned Microsoft Forms

– Considerations before you request a Microsoft 365 Group

– Creating and setting up a Microsoft 365 Group for form ownership

–Microsoft 365 Groups and Forms FAQs

– How to manage your Microsoft 365 Group Membership

– Being Notified of form submissions in your personal Inbox.

– Differences between Group Owners and Group Members

– How to Identify all the groups I am a member or owner off

– Why create a Microsoft 365 Group and not a Teams (which utilizes a MS 365 group)?

 

The issue with Individually owned Microsoft Forms

If you wish to leverage Microsoft Forms to collect data for your unit, here are the following issues you may need to contend with:

  • Continuity of Access: Forms created using personal accounts may become inaccessible if the creator leaves the organization. Forms that are associated with a group will mitigate this risk.
  • Ownership and Data Accessibility: In cases where forms include uploads, only the primary owner can access these uploads. Multiple ownership does not extend to these elements. Forms that are associated with a group will grant all members of the group access to the uploads.
To mitigate the above issues, forms that are to be accessed by multiple people and require uninterrupted access to data and upload even if someone leaves the team should be owned by a Microsoft 365 Group instead of an individual.

Considerations before you request a Microsoft 365 Group

There is, however, significant overhead in creating Microsoft 365 Groups, managing Microsoft 365 Groups, and dealing with the life cycle of these groups to ensure they are not orphaned and appropriately deleted when no longer needed.

Before you request a new Microsoft 365 group consider the following:

  • Will this form need longevity past your tenure? If the life of this form will conclude within your tenure (A form for persons to select meal preferences for an upcoming conference for example), then it is both appropriate and recommended that simply use your personal account to create and publish this form.
  • Can you leverage an existing Microsoft 365 Group for this project?  Do not use a separate Microsoft 365 Group for each form. A Microsoft 365 Group – as its name implies – should be associated with a group of people working on this and other similar forms.
  • Is Microsoft Forms the Right Tool for the Job? If your form does not have an upload component, for long-term surveys and forms, Qualtrics might be a better solution, it allows for easy transferring of ownership of surveys and results.

Creating and setting up a Microsoft 365 Group for form ownership

Important Note: Do not create the group directly through UW IT. This approach does not address the issue of business continuity should you leave the iSchool and leaves no mechanism for transferring ownership of the orphaned group to others.
  1. Identify a suitable group name: 
    1. Choose a name that reflects the job function related to the forms your group will manage.
    2. We recommend that you use the suffix forms in your group name to clearly indicate the group’s focus – see below.
    3. The total length of the group name (without the suffix) is 40 characters long.
    Too Vague:      ‘finance forms’ – Describes neither the form nor the group working on the form.

    Too Specific:   ‘finance winter conference travel reimbursement forms‘ – Focuses more on the form than the group.

    Just Right:     ‘finance reimbursement forms’ – Concisely describes the group’s function and area of focus.
  2. Request a Microsoft 365 Group be created:
    • Email ihelp@uw.edu – Request a Microsoft 365 Group be created for your team’s forms.
    • Email Content – Include the following pieces of information in your email:
      1. The name of your group with the forms suffix.
      2. The iSchool unit that is using these forms (finance, HR, etc).
      3. One or more primary contact persons – who we can contact should questions arise about these forms.
      4. A brief summary of the form types you plan to create and the rationale for group ownership.
    • You will be notified by ihelp once the group has been created and configured.
  3. Email Receipt Configuration: – This step is optional but required if you wish to receive a notification when the form has a submission.Configure the Microsoft 365 group to receive emails from outside the organization.
    Navigate to the group you wish to manage.

    Navigate to the group you wish to manage.

     

    Click on the group name at the top of the main group window to display the group details.

    Click on the group name at the top of the main group window to display the group details.

     

    Click Edit Group at the bottom of the dialog to edit the group's settings.

    Click Edit Group at the bottom of the dialog to edit the group’s settings.

     

    Under the About Tab, select “Let people outside the organization email this group.”

    Under the About Tab, select “Let people outside the organization email this group.”

     

  4. Create and Test Your Form:
    • Create the form, ensuring it meets the intended requirements. Test the form (FYI: Forms can be Hosted on SharePoint).
  5. Ownership Transfer:
    • When ready to be deployed, change the ownership of the form to the group.
  6. Email Notification Setup:
    • Enable the option “get email notification of each response” if immediate updates on responses are required.
  7. Manage Group Membership as shown below.

Microsoft 365 Groups and Forms FAQs

– How to manage your Microsoft 365 Group Membership

– Being Notified of form submissions in your personal Inbox.

– Differences between Group Owners and Group Members

– How to Identify all the groups I am a member or owner off

– Why create a Microsoft 365 Group and not a Teams (which utilizes a MS 365 group)?

 

How to manage your Microsoft 365 Group Membership

Important Note: Do not remove the ischool-teams-admin account as an owner. This is the account that will be used to recover ownership and troubleshoot the Microsoft 365 Group as necessary.

Navigate to the group you with to manage: In the navigation pane on the left-hand side, find “Groups”. Click on the arrow on the left to expand the groups and select the specific Microsoft 365 Group you want to manage.

Click on the Group name to bring up the Group Details.

Click on the Group name to bring up the Group Details.

 

Click on the Edit Group button on the bottom.

Click on the Edit Group button on the bottom.

 

Click on the Members tab and then on the ‘Add members’ link.

Click on the Members tab and then on the ‘Add members’ link.

 

How to get notified for form submissions in your personal inbox

Navigate to the group you want to get emails for: In the navigation pane on the left-hand side, find “Groups”. Click on the arrow on the left to expand the groups and select the specific Microsoft 365 Group you want to manage.

Click on the Group name to bring up the Group Details.

Click on the Group name to bring up the Group Details.

 

Click on the three dots in group details and select “Follow in inbox.”

Click on the three dots in group details and select “Follow in inbox.”

 

This will ensure that your personal inbox is notified when there are new form submissions. If you wish to unsubscribe from this forwarding, and not get emails in your inbox anymore, follow the same steps and the option will say “Unfollow” or “Stop Following” instead of “Follow”. If you select that, you will no longer get notified by form submissions.

Differences between Group Owners and Group Members

Group Owners

  • Full Control: Owners have full control over the form and the group settings. This includes creating, editing, and deleting forms within the group.
  • Management Capabilities: They can manage membership of the group, including adding or removing members, and changing other members to owners.
  • Access Settings: Owners can adjust settings related to sharing and permissions for the form, deciding how the form is shared outside the group or organization.
  • Form Deletion: Only owners have the ability to delete a form. This is an important distinction because deleting a form removes all associated data and responses.

Group Members

  • View and Edit: Members can view and edit forms owned by the group, which allows for collaborative editing and management of the form content.
  • Response Access: They can access and analyze the responses to the form. This is crucial for collaborative review and decision-making processes.
  • Can choose to Follow the group: If a group member follows a group, they will have a copy of the group notifications when someone has completed the survey sent to their personal Inbox.

How to Identify all the Microsoft 365 Groups I am a member or owner off

All groups you are a member or owner of will appear in Outlook under Groups in your Outlook Mailbox Navigation pane.

NOTE: You might see Microsoft Teams you are a member or owner of listed here as well. By default, Microsoft Teams have their group mailbox option disabled and will thus not be listed here. When the team is being created, it is possible to request that you make your Team’s associated Microsoft 365 Group visible in Outlook, this will allow members to interact in Outlook through a shared Inbox and will thus be listed here.

Why create a Microsoft 365 Group and not a Teams (which utilizes a MS 365 group)?

Since forms can be shared with Teams and MS 365 Groups, so why not use Teams?  A Teams group is likely too broad. Further one will need to be an owner of a team to be notified of new form submissions.  For most use cases, creating a group for this purpose will help target the purpose of the form: who needs access to the form and its data, who needs to be notified of new form submissions, and who needs to take over to ensure business continuity.

Accessing SharePoint Documents Through OneDrive

Accessing SharePoint Documents Through OneDrive

Posted on by • Posted in Cloud & Hosting Services, OneDrive, SharePoint •

This document is intended for iSchool endpoints, such as Windows or macOS laptops that are owned and managed by the iSchool. We do not recommend storing work-related files on personal devices. Should you need to work on a work-related file on a personal device, we always suggest you do so on the cloud, via a browser.

Should be have an iSchool managed device, this document serves as a guide for using SharePoint through OneDrive by creating shortcuts in OneDrive to your SharePoint folders. It outlines the processes for setting up Shortcuts, discusses best practices, and addresses common issues when using OneDrive to access SharePoint.

SharePoint on the Web v.s. SharePoint via OneDrive

Using a web browser to create, edit, and manage SharePoint files in the cloud works most of the time (and is recommended whenever it works) but sometimes you need to use the more advanced features of apps like Excel (Pivot Tables, etc.) or Word (Tables, etc.) that are not supported in the online versions. Or you might have a workflow that requires your files to be local instead of in the cloud.

OneDrive – which is available for both Windows and macOS – lets you create shortcuts to your SharePoint Document Libraries, enabling you to access and work with your SharePoint files easily. Follow these instructions to get set up:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-shortcuts-to-shared-folders-in-onedrive-for-work-or-school-d66b1347-99b7-4470-9360-ffc048d35a33

Once a shortcut has been created, the  “Files On-Demand” feature in OneDrive also lets you keep all your files in the cloud where they are accessible securely from anywhere in the world, even from your mobile device. Click this to learn more:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/sync-files-with-files-on-demand-88d0ebed-bbd7-4d00-8c1c-0d18a5543b43

NOTE – you will need a recent version of OneDrive. If your iSchool issued computer has not been imaged in over a year and/or you have never used OneDrive, please update it first. This can be done by downloading the latest version via the link below and then logging in to the client with your UW email address.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/onedrive/download

 

Best Practices

— Please read below to understand the following issues you will no doubt encounter. —

  1. Organizing and managing your SharePoint Shortcuts: When you add shortcuts to OneDrive of SharePoint folders, these folders often end up with identical or similar names, such as “budget,” “budget 1,” and “budget 2.” This similarity arises because the original structural context of SharePoint—the site and library where each folder is located—is not retained in the shortcuts that are created in your OneDrive folder. Suppose you need to upload a file to the budget folder on the MSIM SharePoint site. Which ‘budget’ one do you choose? Even if you don’t have multiple folders named “budget,” it’s easy to lose track of the original SharePoint structure of the folder or the person who shared it with you. Where do these folders come from? Who shared them with you?
      1. Consolidate Shortcuts: Move all SharePoint shortcuts to a folder named “SharePoint Shortcuts” and all OneDrive shortcuts to “OneDrive Shares.” This will instantly help you know when you are working on documents from SharePoint vs your personal OneDrive
      2. .Mirror SharePoint Structure: Organize your shortcuts in the “SharePoint Shortcuts” folder to reflect their structure on the SharePoint site. For example, make subfolders and place the “budget” folder from the MSIM SharePoint into “SharePoint Shortcuts/MSIM/Finance.”
      3. Organize OneDrive Shares: Group OneDrive shares by the person who shared the shortcut with you, and the relevant project in subfolders, making them easier to navigate
      4. Unlink unused Shortcuts: To keep your space organized, unlink unnecessary shortcuts. To do so, right-click a shortcut and choose ‘Remove Shortcut‘ from the OneDrive menu. This also helps manage local disk space and prevents your system from being bogged down, as described in the next section.
  2. Manage Your Local OneDrive Storage:
When syncing multiple large SharePoint document libraries with OneDrive, you might notice your hard drive filling up or your system performance slowing down due to high CPU usage. 

It’s advisable to avoid setting shortcuts linked from SharePoint folders to “Always keep on this device.” This setting will result in continuous synchronization and can consume a lot of disk space and CPU resources.  This is especially true if you choose to “Always keep on this device” for entire SharePoint Document Libraires instead of selected folders.

Use “Always keep on this device” sparingly: Only enable this option for folders you need offline. If there are specific documents you will need even without internet connectivity, only then does it make sense to selectively pre-download folders you are working on and will need. 

Keep in mind that any document you open will automatically download to your device the first time you access it, potentially accumulating a large number of files over time.

Manage your storage effectively:  Periodically review your OneDrive folder. For files that don’t need to be stored locally use the “Free up space” option on the folder. This action removes local copies while keeping the files accessible in the cloud, freeing up disk space and improving system performance.

Potential Issues

  1. Nested Sharing from SharePoint is not allowed. Nested sharing from SharePoint is not permitted. If a top-level folder has been linked, SharePoint does not allow the creation of individual OneDrive shortcuts for its subfolders. This restriction also applies in reverse. For instance, if a subfolder has already been linked, SharePoint will not permit the creation of a OneDrive shortcut for the parent folder. However, it does allow you to replace the shortcut of the child folder with a shortcut to the parent folder.
  2. Monitor OneDrive for Errors
As you come to rely on OneDrive to access your SharePoint files, you should get in the habit of monitoring OneDrive on your system tray in Windows or the similar OneDrive icons on the menu bar on MacOS. Errors in OneDrive are more common than one might think. Failure to address them could mean that your files are not being synchronized. 

The cloud icon used by OneDrive is usually grayed out if OneDrive is unable to log in or needs you to re-login. Similarly, you might see a red X if OneDrive is having issues synchronizing certain files.  Synchronization issues can happen if there are filenames with unsupported characters, or if a file was altered in multiple locations simultaneously and OneDrive is unable to determine the authoritative version of this file.

Storage and Colloboration: SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Attachments

Posted on by • Posted in OneDrive, SharePoint •

This document provides a quick overview of the commonly used solutions for storing and sharing documents at the iSchool. It is not an exhaustive guide to all storage technologies available at UW but serves as a staff reference for the various sharing and document storage options. Faculty and students may also find it somewhat useful.

Matrix of Storage & Sharing solution and features

Restricted SharePoint Users SharePoint Project SharePoint OneDrive Google Drive Email attachment
Suitable for Sensitive Data[1] Yes No No No No No
Allows External Sharing No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Anonymous access link No No Yes No Yes No
Access Controls Managed by iSchool IT Owner Owner Owner Owner N/A
Intended for use by Staff Faculty, Staff Faculty, Staff Faculty, Staff, Students Faculty, Staff, Students Faculty, Staff, Students
Provisioned by iSchool IT iSchool IT iSchool IT self-service self-service N/A
Storage permanence when you depart UW Yes Yes Yes No No No
[1] – This does not indicate whether the storage is approved for FERPA data, etc., but rather reflects internal iSchool business practices on where sensitive and private data should be stored.

Restricted SharePoint Site

Our restricted SharePoint site is designed primarily for iSchool staff and serves as the ideal platform for most staff functions. It provides secure storage suitable for sensitive or private data as required by your job function. To ensure security, access controls are managed by the iSchool IT team. Access permissions are generally set at the document library level, to maintain consistency. Each document library functions as a team workspace, allowing documents to be moved within the library without concerns about who has access when documents are relocated between folders.

During staff onboarding, your supervisor or IT will be walk you through how to navigate and use the document libraries within our restricted SharePoint site.

One common issue our staff encounter is the need to share a document from our restricted SharePoint site with someone outside their team. Depending on the nature of the data in these documents, the simplest solution might be to send the document as an email attachment. If the person should be a member of the team associated with the document library, IT can adjust their access accordingly. In other cases, please consult with IT to explore whether one of the storage options described below might better suit your workflow and use case.

More Information: email ihelp@uw.edu

Users SharePoint Site

Our Users SharePoint sites are provisioned by iSchool IT but are managed by the individual to whom the site is assigned. Unlike our restricted SharePoint site, Users SharePoint sites allow for broader collaboration, including sharing with external partners who do not have a UW NetID. Please note that these sites are not intended for storing sensitive information.1

More Information: email ihelp@uw.edu

Project SharePoint Site

Our project SharePoint sites are similar to our Users sites. They are provisioned by iSchool IT but are managed by the individual to whom the site is assigned. These sites allow for broader collaboration, including sharing with external partners who do not have a UW NetID. Further the Project sites allow for sharing using Anonymous Links where content owners can share links which grant access to anyone with the link. Again like the Users sites, these sites are not intended for storing sensitive information.1

More Information: email ihelp@uw.edu

OneDrive for Business

OneDrive for Business is ideal for personal data storage and ad hoc collaborations within the UW community. It is easy to use and best suited for working on daily documents or sharing files with other UW members. OneDrive is available as part of your provisioned Microsoft 365 account. Please note that OneDrive is restricted to users with a UW NetID and is not intended for storing sensitive information1. Additionally, when you are no longer associated with UW, your OneDrive account and all its contents will be deleted.

More Information: https://itconnect.uw.edu/tools-services-support/software-computers/productivity-platforms/microsoft-productivity-platform/onedrive-for-business/

Google Drive

Google Drive offers flexible collaboration options, allowing you to share documents with both UW members and external collaborators. Like Project SharePoint, Google Drive is not intended for storing sensitive data1. While it is a convenient tool for broad access and real-time collaboration, keep in mind that your Google Drive account and all its contents will be deleted when you leave UW.

More information: https://itconnect.uw.edu/tools-services-support/software-computers/productivity-platforms/google-productivity-platform/google-drive/

Sharing as an Email Attachment

While not a storage technology, sending a copy of a file as an email attachment remains a useful sharing solution. This method does not require recipients to have an account or special access permissions. However, it does not support real-time collaboration as the above technologies do.