Introduction to ScheduleOnce

What is ScheduleOnce?   How does ScheduleOnce work?   How is my privacy protected when I use ScheduleOnce?   I use my calendar to schedule meetings - why do I need ScheduleOnce?   How does ScheduleOnce integrate with Google Calendar?   How does ScheduleOnce connect with other calendars?   What type of meetings should I schedule with ScheduleOnce?   What are the benefits of using ScheduleOnce?   Does it cost me anything to use ScheduleOnce?   How do you protect the security of my Google login information?   Which calendar data is used by ScheduleOnce when my calendar is connected?   Is any information from my calendar saved on the ScheduleOnce servers?   Can I delete my ScheduleOnce data?   What is the Private Edition and what are its benefits?   What are the system requirements for using ScheduleOnce?       What is ScheduleOnce?   ScheduleOnce is an online service that adds more scheduling power to your Google Calendar. With ScheduleOnce all attendees provide their tentative availability for the meeting while in the background, real-time calendar synchronization guarantees the accuracy of their availability at any point in time. This process allows the organizer the select a meeting time that works for all with no chance of double booking. ScheduleOnce is also the inventor of a patent-pending method for ensuring absolute scheduling accuracy across any combination of time zones and daylight saving changes. When scheduling meetings with ScheduleOnce you can rest assured that all invitees receive the correct time, anytime in the year and anywhere on the globe. Regardless of the calendar system you use, ScheduleOnce can make your meetings quick and easy to schedule. Check out the Quick Tour to learn how ScheduleOnce works.   How does ScheduleOnce work?   Finding a common time for a meeting with ScheduleOnce is a very simple process: 1. The organizer sets tentative availability for the meeting 2. Invitees reply with their tentative availability 3. The organizer evaluates invitee replies and schedules the meeting ScheduleOnce was specifically designed to integrate with Google calendar, and can be used directly from Google Calendar. Once your Google Calendar is connected, your busy time is constantly synchronized with ScheduleOnce so you don’t have to worry about double-booking. Check out the Quick Tour to learn more.   How is my privacy protected when I use ScheduleOnce?   ScheduleOnce has a strict privacy policy that adheres to the following principles:: • We do not know your Google login information, it is passed directly to Google and is not stored on our servers • We do not store your free/busy data on our servers-we read it from Google Calendar in real time • The only information we have about you is your email which is your unique identifier. We take extra care to safeguard your email and   o We will never sell/rent your email address   o We will not bother you with newsletters and offers   o We will never initiate contact with people you invite to your meetings If we do ever contact you, it will be for a good reason.   I use my calendar to schedule meetings - why do I need ScheduleOnce?   Calendars were designed for managing a schedule (noun) and not for managing the scheduling (verb) process. The simple meeting invitation feature in calendars can only support the scheduling process in a narrow set of cases. ScheduleOnce complements calendars by providing full support for the scheduling process, acting as a coordinator and mediator between the different calendars. When you use your calendar for scheduling meetings you have no visibility into the availability of your attendees. Some calendaring systems allow you to see free/busy information which is very helpful. However, not all attendees may be on the same calendaring system and even if you see that an attendee is available it does not necessarily mean that they would like to attend your meeting at that time. With ScheduleOnce each attendee provides their tentative availability for the specific meeting that you are scheduling. This enables you to accurately see the availability of your attendees regardless of the calendaring system they use. In addition, attendee availability is provided for the purpose of participating in your meeting, ensuring that attendees are indeed available to meet with you during the times they proposed. ScheduleOnce can also synchronize with attendee calendars, ensuring that the availability they provide is always kept up to date with their schedules. ScheduleOnce was designed to accelerate the scheduling process and save you time. Give it a try.   How does ScheduleOnce integrate with Google Calendar?   ScheduleOnce does not know your Google account login – Authentication is done directly against Google which then grants ScheduleOnce permission to access your calendar via their API. To use ScheduleOnce directly from Google Calendar, you can download an add-on.   How does ScheduleOnce connect with other calendars?   ScheduleOnce has selected Google Calendar as its calendar platform and connects to Google Calendar via the Google Calendar Web API. ScheduleOnce has found this method to be very efficient and one that provides excellent performance without the need to download any software. In order to integrate with desktop calendars such as Microsoft’s Outlook there is a need to download a small applet that communicates between the desktop calendar and the underlying web system. Google has already developed this applet to communicate between the desktop calendar and Google Calendar: http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=98563 In our view, the best solution is to use the Google Calendar Sync program even if you are not actively using Google Calendar to manage your Schedule. When you download the Google Calendar Sync program simply choose the two-way Sync option between your desktop calendar and your Google Calendar. This option will expose your busy time to ScheduleOnce and will automatically create a calendar entry in your desktop calendar when the meeting is scheduled. All this will be done without creating any extra overhead on your system or work processes. More information on syncing your desktop calendar with Google Calendar can be found on: http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/topic.py?topic=15305 Note that even if you don’t have a Google Calendar account, you can open one just for the sake of connecting with ScheduleOnce. There is no need to actively use it in order to benefit from its synchronization capabilities.   What type of meetings should I schedule with ScheduleOnce?   ScheduleOnce can handle any type of meeting, from the simplest to the most complex, from group meetings to conference calls, face-to-face meetings, and events with many invitees; all across any number of time zones and daylight saving changes.   What are the benefits of using ScheduleOnce?   • Add more scheduling power to your Google Calendar: ScheduleOnce allows Google Calendar users to use a free\busy interface and see the availability of invitees who use other calendaring systems. • Schedule your meetings faster: ScheduleOnce takes away the email and phone-tag and frees you to do your real job. • Avoid double-booking: Real-time calendar synchronization ensures constant accuracy of all attendee availability. • Schedule your meetings earlier: Increase the chances of scheduling the meeting as early as possible by suggesting as many times as you like with no additional overhead. • Ensure absolute scheduling accuracy across any number of time-zones: ScheduleOnce uses a patent-pending scheduling engine that takes into account both time zones and daylight saving changes across any number of geopolitical regions. All times in ScheduleOnce are always absolutely accurate across all geopolitical regions anytime in the year! Check out the Quick Tour to learn more.   Does it cost me anything to use ScheduleOnce?   The public ScheduleOnce Service is absolutely free. We make money from selling the private edition.   How do you protect the security of my Google login information?   ScheduleOnce does not know your Google account login – Authentication is done directly against Google which then grants ScheduleOnce permission to access your calendar via their API.   Which calendar data is used by ScheduleOnce when my calendar is connected?   The only data used by ScheduleOnce is the free/busy information from your Google Calendar.   Is any information from my calendar saved on the ScheduleOnce servers?   Your Google Calendar data is read by ScheduleOnce in real time via the Google Calendar API and hence your private data is not saved on the ScheduleOnce servers. ScheduleOnce communicates with the Google Calendar API using a token that is generated by Google and therefore your Google user name and password is never known to ScheduleOnce and is not saved on our servers. The only data that is saved on the ScheduleOnce servers is your email address. You can find out more in our privacy policy.   Can I delete my ScheduleOnce data?   You can delete your meeting and disconnect your calendar at any time. The only information we’re saving about meetings is aggregated data for statistical purposes. You can find out more in our privacy policy.   What is the Private Edition and what are its benefits?   ScheduleOnce offers private-label editions of its product that can be customized and integrated into your existing application environment. The benefits of choosing a private edition are: • Customization – have your company’s “look and feel” • Possibility to add customized features to the application • Ability to integrate with other systems • Option to use ScheduleOnce inside the organization’s firewall • Administrator interfaces Learn more about the private edition   What are the system requirements for using ScheduleOnce?   • Internet Explorer 6.X, 7.x, and 8.X • Firefox 2.X and 3.X • Safari 4.x • Google Chrome 1.x, 2.x, and 3.x   Got more questions? Feel free to contact us