Charles,
To add to your collection of nmr scheduling, web based software. We have
just started using a commercial 100% web based nmr scheduler called "Book
King Scheduling Software" here at UBC. It is a general scheduler software
that has been modified to fit our nmr purposes. It has the following
characteristics.
- Ability to allow self-serve bookings by students/clients based on assigned
user permissions
- Technician/Administrator bookings ability with fee assignment and invoice
generation
- Set time slot intervals from 5 minutes and up (in 5 minute increments of
what ever you require)
- Block Time search method
- Calendar search method
- Cross Midnight Hour Booking ability
- Assign past and/or future booking limits
- Usage and Revenue Reports
- ASP (hosted) or Licensed Software (run on your server) purchase options
We have only been using it for about a month. We presently have five
spectrometers on the scheduler and expect to add two more in a few months.
We are pleased with the billing/accounting features but the grad student
users have only just started using it this past week. More info can be
obtained from
http://www.bookking.ca
Cheers,
Nick
Nick Burlinson PhD
Manager NMR Facility
Chemistry Dept
University of British Columbia
Vancouver BC Canada
604-822-6956 tel
nick_at_interchange.ubc.ca
----- Original Message -----
> From: "Charles G. Fry" <fry_at_chem.wisc.edu>
> To: <ammrl_at_chemnmr.colorado.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 8:29 PM
> Subject: Re: scheduling software - SUMMARY
> Hello AMMRL'ers,
>
> My apologize for the delay in getting this summary out. I have been busy
learning and working on this issue, and can now discuss what I am doing more
concretely than possible even a short time ago.
>
> First, let me state once again what a great group this is! A number of
our members are willing to offer assistance on this issue, some by providing
complete solutions, some offering limited tailoring, some offering source
code, etc.
>
> There are many ways to implement calendaring systems via the web. Eleven
solutions, all different, are listed below! The last describes how I am
proceeding; I have surprised myself by choosing to not follow in the
footsteps of others. A combination of local training and programming
assistance, and our facility's complex requirements for sign-ups lead me
astray.
>
> All responses to my initial email are summarized below. Please contact
the individual directly for questions about their respective systems. I
provide some detail about how I am proceeding at the end.
>
>
> >At 02:34 PM 7/30/2003 -0500, you wrote:
> >Hi all:
> >
> >We are finally looking into getting web-based scheduling implemented in
our facility. It appears that we need more flexibility than FACES provides.
We need to implement a well-defined set of sign-up rules that, as one
example, will allow students the flexibility of deleting other users'
sign-ups (a student can sign-up "illegally;" another student can remove that
sign-up, but only if they will use the time; this rule does increase usage
on the spectrometers). Another example is adding the capability of charging
a fee--smaller than the actual usage fee--for sign-ups that are removed too
close to the use time.
> >
> >We are looking into the Calcium program as one possibility for doing what
we need.
> >
> >Summaries of scheduling software that I can find on the AMMRL archives
are now four years old or older.
> >
> >If you are using some other kind of software for scheduling, and it is
available for use to others, I would appreciate hearing back from you. I
will provide a summary of the responses.
> >
> >Cheers,
> >Charlie
>
>
>
> **1** Jeff Simpson <jeff.simpson_at_unh.edu> has written a FORTRAN-based
calendaring system called res1. It is currently in use at UMass/Amherst,
MIT, and UNH. Jeff is interested in refining res1 so it may better serve
others. It runs stand-alone on Sun, SGI, or RedHat platforms. res1 is not
a point-and-click system, but that keeps the bandwidth extremely small by
today's standards.
>
> **2** Dave Scott <scott_at_iastate.edu> has home-grown perl scripts
comprising a system viewable at:
http://cif.chem.iastate.edu/NMR/pages/schedules/frame.html. Dave is willing
to provide source code (which he describes as pre-beta :). This is a very
tailorable, straight-forward system that runs under IRIX and Linux.
>
> **3** Pierre Audet <Pierre.Audet_at_chm.ulaval.ca> has written tcl/tk scripts
running on an Apache server to manage their reservation list. The code
generates its own database, but currently does not provide accounting
features. The user calendar tools are simple to use, and nicely laid out.
Pierre likely is willing to share his code with others interested in doing
their own modifications.
>
> **4** Ronald F. Federspiel <federspi_at_chuma1.cas.usf.edu> has a system
based on MS Outlook. Students can view instrument schedules via this
system, and make new reservations (appointments). Ronald says the system
has worked well for them.
>
> **5** Shaoxiong Wu <swu_at_emory.edu> is using a system based on a Win2000
server, Cold Fusion, and an Oracle database. This is a very configurable,
"modern" system. The first page can be viewed at
http://www.emory.edu/NMR/.
Shaoxiong hired a programmer to write their system.
>
> **6** Bruce Lix <bruce.lix_at_ualberta.ca> has a system based on php, an
open-source technology similar to what I've decided to use (see 11 below).
Schedules can be viewed at
http://www.nanuc.ca/nmr/schedules.php, but
because of NANUC's charter, time has to be requested via a separate form.
The calendars and time requests are therefore not dynamically linked.
>
> **7** NMRFAM also has complete scheduling (Sundial) and time request
(Sand) modules in their Sesame Project. These javascript-based modules are
very configurable. Contact Zsolt Zolnai <zsolt_at_nmrfam.wisc.edu> for more
information.
>
> **8** The FACES system from CCRC is a system available for general use for
scheduling, and has an advantage that CCRC provides the server (and thus,
security) for the system. See
http://www.ccrc.uga.edu/web/facilities/facilityframe.html for more
information.
>
> **9** The Calcium software (see http://www.brownbearsw.com/) is being used
in various places, including Northwestern. Contact Yuyang Wu
<wu_at_chem.northwestern.edu> for questions about their implementation.
>
> **10** Chris Rithner <cdr_at_colostate.edu> informed me about a system
available from John Hazelrigg <hazelrigg_at_uh.edu>.
> * Program: nmr_resv.c - UH Chem. Dept. version 1.2 *
> * resv_01.c - Distribution copy of nmr_resv.c *
>
> **11** Last, and certainly at this time, least, is the system I am
developing. I decided, following discussions with many of the kind folks
listed above (thanks in particular to Jeff, Dave, Pierre and Chris in really
going out their way to assist), sifting through their source code, playing
with FACES and Calcium, etc., and thinking hard about the rather weird and
more-complex-than-common sign-up requirements in our lab, that I needed to
write my own calendaring system. A class I took two weeks ago here at the
UW in Active Server Pages (ASP) got me jump-started, and the instructor has
been invaluable as a resource.
>
> ASP uses any of a number of programming languages, but most commonly
Visual Basic, written within and around HTML code to make dynamic web pages.
ASP links to MS Access or Oracle databases via SQL. I've found that ASP is
simple to learn, and am making good progress in writing an application that
is quite general, and has excellent flexibility. Security features appear
to be strong. ASP is very common on all brands of web servers, easing
server issues. I will use our departmental server (no changes needed, and
no problems with its administrator), thus avoiding having to install and
administer a server myself. In addition, it is simple to setup a desktop PC
as a test-bed, allowing development/trouble-shooting outside the primary
server.
>
> The primary negative with ASP is that it is Microsoft's way of doing
dynamic data-driven web pages. PHP is an open source alternative that I
would have preferred if our computer department had provided training and
support for it rather, or in addition to, ASP. ColdFusion is a solid,
Macromedia-provided, alternative to ASP and PHP.
>
> When I finish, I will update this group again as to how it all _really_
went: seems easy so far, but I'm probably only ~10% of the way to having a
complete application. Continued discussion from any of you on this topic is
likely to be welcomed by AMMRL as interest is clearly high within the
community.
>
> Cheers,
> Charlie
>
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Charles G. Fry, Ph.D. Tel: (608)262-3182
> Director, MR Facility Fax: (608)262-0381
> Chem. Dept., 1101 University Ave, Univ. Wisconsin-Madison
> Madison, WI 53706 USA email: fry_at_chem.wisc.edu
>
>
Received on Mon Sep 08 2003 - 14:36:46 MST