Shared calendars in Outlook

[gavcradd]

I want to look into shared calendars for the staff at my school (11 - 16 high school, approx 100 staff). The idea would be that one central calendar could be created by the office, with things such as holidays, report deadlines, etc that apply to everyone and then this could be shared with all staff. If possible, I'd also like departments to be able to add their own little bits on, so perhaps the Head of Maths could add in something for other Maths teachers to see, but no one else would get this.

 

We already use Outlook and we have an Exchange 2003 server hosted internally. Could I do this? If so, are there any "getting started" guides anywhere?

 

If this is not possible with Exchange 2003, would an upgrade to Exchange 2010 do this? I've heard this mentioned by various people but I've been bitten before my spending money that's not needed. Is there any other solution?

 

Thanks for your help, I'm a teacher by the way (Subject Leader for ICT/Computing), not a techie!!

[X-13]

We already use Outlook and we have an Exchange 2003 server hosted internally. Could I do this? If so, are there any "getting started" guides anywhere?

 

Boom.

 

And thus, you are enlightened.

 

I do this as well, for our laptop booking. Although, I have it set that only I can add things. It's mainly to check when they're free.

[psydii]

To answer the second element of your question: Yes you should upgrade. However, it is a Migration not an upgrade (i.e. quite a lot more complex than sticking in a CD and clicking install. In fact, assume two weeks training, two week development and testing as an absolute minimum, with further planning and sign off that all functionality required is accounted for, and that is assuming a high level of baseline competency within the technical staff already). Outlook 2010 is a huge step forward over 2003 and much of its awesomeness requires Exchange 2010.

 

That said, for a user subscribing to 3+ multiple calendars, much of that awesomeness goes away and you have to do it the exchange 2003 way (which is absolutely fine). Though a more competent Exchang Admin than I might be ale to solve that problem.

 

 

Exchange 2003 is very old and will cease to be in its Extended Support phase (it left mainstream support five years ago) by Microsoft in April 2014. How would you feel if you were the one to ignore that date, and have to answer to your colleagues and possibly governors when the server crashes badly (bad power, admin mistake, virus etc) and cannot be fixed?

 

"At the end of the Extended Support phase, Business & Developer products are no longer publicly supported. This means that there is no more paid support, no support assistance and no further security updates. Customers are highly encouraged to move a supported product as soon as possible."

 

References:

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An explanation of the Extended Support phase for Business & Developer products - Microsoft Support Lifecycle blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs