Anyone who has been around Exchange or been a corporate user in an Exchange environment should be somewhat familiar with the concept of Resources. Resources are still alive and well in the newest version of Exchange and are actually improved over previous versions. A Resource in Exchange 2007 is identified as either a room (like a Conference Room) or equipment (like a projector). Each of these types of Resources has special attributes that identify which type they are and how they are handled in terms or scheduling. Each type of resource is specially marked in the Address Book so they can be browsed separately and given custom permissions and properties.

Exchange 2007 introduces a new feature for managing Resources called the Resource Booking Attendant. This feature helps to manage the resources by limiting who can book resources, gives conflict information for meetings that are declined, schedules meetings during working hours only, enforces maximum meeting duration and sends an “out of policy” request to delegates for approval. The attendant can auto-accept requests if the invitee is available and also decline an invitation with details if the invitee is unavailable. Resource policies can be set by an administrator which can include scheduling permissions and available hours for the resource. The administrator can also create a resource calendar which will show what availability a resource has prior to a user booking it. Even if a resource is unavailable, a user can submit a request for manual approval. This will allow the administrator to decide whether or not to rebook a meeting to accommodate the new meeting request.

The Resource Booking Attendant is just one of many new features that help manage the Resources in Exchange 2007. It is part of the Calendar Concierge group of features that also include Calendar Attendant, Scheduling Assistant and Availability Web Service. All of these new calendaring features are designed to provide a better end-user experience regarding booking meetings and equipment in a corporate Exchange environment.

Jason