Google Calendar-based Event Management

Google Calendar-based Event Management

 

Proposed Problem:

25Live, the system for managing events and spaces used by the College for many years, is not meeting our needs as well as a new system might.  25Live is not sufficiently user-friendly; it has a slow response time; and technical support from the vendor is poor.  Workflow in 25Live is also problematic (e.g., changes to non-space related information about an event requires manual intervention). Other commercially available events management systems appear to have equivalent disadvantages to 25Live.

 

Under Investigation <September 2013>: 

We believe we can replicate and eventually improve the functionality of 25Live with a new system based on Google Calendar’s ability to schedule resources (i.e., rooms), as well as the creation of web forms and interfaces for administrative functions and reporting. This system will also be able to integrate with Drupal (our web content management system), TMA (the facilities work order system), and Banner (for classroom schedules).

A system based on Google Calendar should be notably easier and faster for users. With proper planning, it will not be difficult to design forms, workflows, and reports with standard software frameworks that support the needs of both event creators as well as administrators.

 

Tabled <January 2015>:

After considerable investigation into both the needs of the Wellesley community and the solutions we could provide in Google, we decided to table our efforts to create a new events system in Google Calendar. Instead, we are working to make changes to our 25Live implementation which will result in important performance improvements.

 

Project Sponsors: Finance and Administration, Special Events, Physical Plant Administration, Office of Student Involvement, Public Affairs

LTS Contact: Kenny Freundlich