Question about scheduling software

[Gil R.]

Perhaps one of you (or more than one) will have some ideas about this...

My academic association is living in the pre-computer age, and a friend and I are trying to jolt the jobs placement service into the modern world by finding software that can save time and money for scheduling job interviews (something right now handled by a staffer who uses slips of paper on her kitchen table and fiercely defends her turf because she realizes that technology has made her job partly obsolete). The system we would like to set up should work as follows:
* Grad students and current faculty who have enrolled with the placement service would be given a code number;
* By a specific deadline each job candidate would go onto a part of the association's website, log in, and be given a calendar for the three days of our annual conference, and then would have to "check" the half-hour periods when he or she is available for job interviews;
* The search committees interviewing job candidates would have to do the same thing, entering their code and indicating when the committee members wish to conduct interviews, and also indicating whether they wish to conduct 30-min. or 60-min interviews;
* The rooms set aside by the conference hotel for interviews would need to be entered, and a blank schedule of half-hour interview slots be created for each;
* At a specific deadline someone would tell the program to figure out everyone's schedule (by clicking a button or two), and it would then determine when each search committee was interviewing each candidate and in which room, and e-mail this information to all parties;
* At any time after that deadline, a candidate or committee could go online and try to change the time of an interview, which would work so long as there was a time that worked for both parties, and in the event of a change new e-mails would go out.

I have to think that this is quite easy to do. A Google search shows a lot of conference-scheduling software, but this is a bit different from that. Does anyone out there have thoughts on the best way to go about doing this? Thanks.

[wworld7]

My advice is find a place that uses such software and ask them what they use.

[leastonh1]

I'm guessing here, but the first thing that came to my mind would be some flavour of CMS (Content Management System). They can be set to run locally on a LAN (using something like XAMPP - which takes 5 minutes to set up in Windows) or easily added to hosted webspace. Most CMS's are free and there are hundreds of them out there, all with plugins for forums, sheduling, emailing etc. I'd probably recommend Joomla for ease of setup, maturity and number of available plugins. Oh, and it's all free too (apart from hosting, obviously).

For XAMPP, go here: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/index.html - Brilliant package, fast, free and very easy to set up.
For Joomla, go here: http://www.joomla.org/

I say it's dead easy to set this lot up because I work in IT and understand that not everyone will agree. The thing is, you would need someone with reasonable IT skills to set it all up, but even a novice can edit Joomla content once the initial setup is done. It's designed to be easy to use and requires no technical knowledge.

Hope that helps.

[Phatguy]

Luddite Alert !! Luddite Alert !!

Slips of paper are the future...but take that with the knowledge that I do not own a cellphone......Uh oh !! Emobama is gonna get me now for sure ![/align]

[leastonh1]

ORIGINAL: apathetic lurker
Luddite Alert !! Luddite Alert !!

Slips of paper are the future...but take that with the knowledge that I do not own a cellphone......Uh oh !! Emobama is gonna get me now for sure ![/align]

I'm surprised you even have a PC. Get back to the stone age, where you belong! [:'(]

Cue Emobama.......

[GoodGuy]

ORIGINAL: Jim_H

I'm guessing here, but the first thing that came to my mind would be some flavour of CMS (Content Management System).

Yep, but that would also require a server (and maybe even changes of the code in the CMS software) and a server-connection to manage the notification E-Mails and settings/database. It might also take quite some time to find such a CMS. Too much hassle, imho.

I suggest to have a secure (SSL) form (+ a tiny script) on a webpage that posts and sends the info entered by the candidates to a Lotus Notes (called Domino nowadays) E-Mail account, or create a Lotus Notes document (NDL-extension) right away (on post) and have this sent either to the server (with no further human interaction required) holding the Notes database or to a selected user (to import the info manually).
The committee could just use a Notes client as well, connect to the Notes server and use a similar Notes template/app. The files with the data are usually plain-text files stored in a file with the NDL-extension, where the structure may resemble a XML file.

There are templates included in Lotus where you can reserve rooms, cars or devices (for conferences for example), and associate time, duration and date with each reservation, and you can even adjust these templates to your needs in no time, so there's no need to either reinvent the wheel or do endless research until you stumble over a CMS that actually has all the features you need. Notes will then also send notifications, and, even better, if the different search committees are using Notes as well, they will have all vital infos once they fire up their Notes client (Notes could even print out schedules (say for the next week, or XY days before the scheduled interviews) automatically, as reminder or timetable for the upcoming week, for example.

Its database can be managed both from a webpage or from a regular Lotus client. The Lotus Notes (Domino) Designer allows you to develop or edit such applications, and all changes will be saved in a central database that can (and will) be accessed by all users.
Since Lotus Notes Client and Server will handshake with password request AND valid certificate request, and since the database itself can be encrypted, this system is easy to maintain and still secure.

If you run this as a CMS on your own server it might get hacked or screwed, if you don't put up a tight/reliable PHP server/security system (which requires programming knowledge or a 3rd party service).
A Notes-solution could run fully automatic, a CMS/PHP solution would require maintenance and/or extra security/time.

[leastonh1]

Whether you need a server depends on the number of users. XAMPP and Joomla generate little traffic and almost no overhead. I've had them running on a normal (Dual core, 2Gb RAM) PC servicing 30 users quite happily with forums and flash games. But, from the OP there is mention of an existing website, so I assume the hosting and webspace is in place already. It wouldn't take much to get a decent CMS running for free and with little techie knowledge needed. If they don't have Lotus software already, it's going to be a big outlay financially. I'm not saying Lotus isn't a good solution (I've never used it), but why spend money when there are lots of free alternatives out there?

[Gil R.]

Thank you for all the feedback. I had a hunch that some of you would have experience in this area.

I suspected that at some point my friend and I would need to approach the I.T. people at the university where the association is based, and this gives us an idea of how to steer the conversation.

I'd welcome any further thoughts, if there are other ideas to be had. Thanks again!