Announcing the In/Out Schedule Board Solution Accelerator -- Now it Doesn't Matter that I Don't Know Where Anyone is :

The Bamboo Solutions Galactic Headquarters, here in Reston, aren't gigantic, but they're big enough to lose someone in. And every once in a while, I have an instant message conversation that looks something like this :

(screen names have been changed, to protect the innocent)

COWORKER12 : hey
NATESULLIVAN : yo
COWORKER12 : is Fred around?
NATESULLIVAN : i dunno
COWORKER12 : can u check?
NATESULLIVAN : check what?
COWORKER12 : check his desk
NATESULLIVAN : ok, hold on

(long pause)

NATESULLIVAN : no
COWORKER12 : is he in the kitchen?
NATESULLIVAN : i dunno
COWORKER12 : can u check?
NATESULLIVAN : ()^*()%^*(%&*(^*()
COWORKER12 : come on, it's important
NATESULLIVAN : hold on

(longer pause)

COWORKER12 : well?
NATESULLIVAN : what?
COWORKER12 : is fred in the kitchen?

(pause)

NATESULLIVAN : oops, i forgot to look. there's chicken in there, though.
COWORKER12 : u r useless

If you can't tell already, this is a stupid and unproductive conversation, and one that we have all the time here at Bamboo, for a couple of reasons. First of all, a lot of our people work remotely -- that means we can only accomplish certain things on the days when the right people are around. We also have a pretty flexible schedule; people leave to have doctor's appointments, pick up kids, and the like. In other words, everyone has a pretty good idea where THEY will be, but no idea where anyone else is. Frankly, it can get a little confusing.

You can take care of some of this with Outlook by scheduling meetings and appointments, and then sharing your calendar, but it's far from perfect, and worst of all, there's no central board for quickly reviewing people's status. And, of course, it's not a Web Part.

Well, now it is.

The Bamboo SharePoint In/Out Schedule Board is, above all else, a direct, self contained solution to this exact problem. We've put together three different Web Parts, and built them into an easy to use site template that stores both a contact list and schedule information, and maps them onto an easy to review "whiteboard" style Scheduling interface. You can sort, group, and filter through huge teams, examining at a glance not only status, but optional metadata including location, return time, and free form comments. Heck, you can even display pictures along with status, in case you can't remember the name of that dude from Accounting you're looking for -- Bob, or Rob, or whatever his name is. I just remember he had a beard.

The functionality of a scheduling whiteboard, even a digital one, isn't that complicated. The real challenge is (A) setting it up to include everyone and (B) keeping it up to date. Most digital whiteboards struggle with the former, because you've got to enter a bunch of data (users, contact info) needed to set the thing up, and most physical whiteboards fail because it's annoying to update them unless they're in a central, easy to access place.

We've addressed these problems in two ways.

First of all, you can create a Schedule Board site with one of two site templates -- one, based on a Contacts list you fill in manually, and a second, based on the existing SharePoint User Info List. If you only have a couple of users, or want to leverage data from another list, use the Contacts list. If you don't want to manually enter data, use the SharePoint User Info list; everyone with a SharePoint login is already in there, and since that's what's used to associate status changing events with specific people, you're good to go. Between that and the use of a site template, getting things up and running only takes a minute.

What about the centrality problem? Well, the In/Out Schedule Board Solution Accelerator includes what we call the My Status Web Part, a little widget you can add to other SharePoint sites that ties into the existing Schedule Board, and allows users to view and update their status from just about anywhere. Imagine if people could change the whiteboard from anywhere in the office, and you'll have some idea of how much better this is. Just replace "in the office" with "on the portal".

As you'd probably expect, we've tried to include all the usual UI candy for working with large amounts of data -- from different run-time filters and customized department filters, to Word and Excel export, to the same grouping and sorting tools included with our Data-Viewer web part. Whether you want to see a lot of people's current status, or just a few people's statuses for the next month, the In/Out Schedule Board Accelerator includes the tools to do it, with a simple setup that lets you dive right in.

You know the Bamboo drill -- we've got a full trial download available on our online storefront. Considering how little is required to get started, you owe it to yourself -- and that stupid whiteboard in the kitchen that still says "Happy Holidays 2005" on it -- to see if a SharePoint based schedule board works for you.

As for me, I'm just going to he--- wait, hold on a second.

... sorry, I have to go see if Fred's back yet. Maybe we should install this thing.