FAQ

1. Version history
2. Product Roadmap
3. Next release enhancements and those under review
4. Create a Repeat Appointment Group
5. Create a Meeting Request Group
6. Daily Repeat Groups
7. Weekly Repeat Groups
8. Monthly/Yearly Repeat Groups
9. Update an existing Repeat Appointment Group
10. Creating Repeat Appointments in named Calendar folders
11. Repeat Groups and Recurrence
12. Repeat Appointments and Journal files
13. Deleting and moving Repeat Group appointments from their folder
14. Using auto conflict option to avoid holiday dates in Repeat Pattern
15. Build a text file to import holiday dates into Outlook
16. Prefix the Subject field with the Repeat Group sequence number

Version History
(shows history of product updates up to and including current release available for download)

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Product Roadmap
The following is a list of enhancements either in development or under analysis from customer requests for inclusion with versions in our next versions of WS:RA II

Extended Repeat Patterns
Managed Repeat Group receipt
Options Page
Translation Module

Closed Accounting Support: Support for accounting department use. Allows the user to select an appointment referenced from business day one in a month and then repeat appointments for a selected number of months.

A business day is a working day excluding recognised public holidays. The reference can be + or - a number of business days.

example 1: Select -15BD and repeat for next four months
example 2: Select + 4BD and repeat every three months four times

First/Second/Third/Forth/Fifth/Last named day in the Month: Support for repeat appointments on named days within a month. The current repeat patterns allow the user to set repeat appointments on a Monday/Tuesday etc. Used in conjunction with the existing filters, WS:RA II will allow the user to combine repeat patterns to build more complex repeat criteria, repeat the pattern every n months 

example 1: Select Second Wednesday of each month.
example 2: Select Forth Friday of each month.
example 3: Use the existing combination filter to combine Example 1 and 2 to produce a more complex repeat pattern.

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Managed Repeat Group receipt: An additional module that when installed on the recipients system, receives all Repeat Group Meeting Requests and allows management to Accept, Reject or Tentatively accept all or individually.

With this additional module, a Repeat Group of Meeting Requests will show as a single Meeting request in the recipients Inbox.

This module will be fully integrated with WS:RA II but will also be made available as stand alone WS:Addin for nominal purchase by contacts that have not purchased the full WS:RA II.

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Options Page: Introduction of an option page on the main WS:RA II page. This will provide the ability to customise features for each Repeat Group created.

The first options planned are:

	Auto Conflict Option: When an appointment in a repeat group conflicts with an existing appointment with a specified category, then this new appointment date is either ignored or rescheduled for next valid available date - implemented ver 2.1.0.
	Attachments Sync: When a Repeat Group is created, copy or ignore attachments in the master appointment and carry over into all other appointments in the Repeat Group
	Body Contents Sync: When a Repeat Group is created, copy or ignore contents of the master appointment body and carry over into all other appointments in the Repeat Group
	Business Day: Allows the user to specify those days that are to be classified as Business Days.
	Displayed Repeat Count: Provides the option to prefix the Appointment Subject field with a count showing the sequence of the appointment in the WS:RA II Repeat Group - implemented ver 2.1.0.
	Future Dates Update: When a Repeat Group appointment is updated, pass updates to all following Appointments in the Repeat Group or update just the current Appointment
	Private Time: Configure private time so that any appointments made during that period are automatically marked as Private
	Travel Time: Include Travel Time for appointment and show as a separate entry in calendar and automatically marked as Out of Office

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Translation module: Introduction of a translation module to allow for the customisation and language translation of WS:RA II and it's associated messages.

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Create a Repeat Appointment Group
To create an Appointment Repeat Group in WS:RA II perform the following steps.

1. Create a new appointment in Outlook.
2. Complete the Subject, Location, Start/End Date, reminder and status fields plus any other appointments fields you need to complete, e.g. Category. This step is optional at this stage but must be completed before the Repeat Group is saved.
3. Select the WS:RA II command from either the Toolbar or Actions menu to display the WS:RA II screen.

4. With the WS:RA II screen displayed, first select the repeat pattern required, daily, weekly or monthly/yearly on the Range of Repeat Group tab. If manual dates are to be entered go straight to the Repeat Group Dates tab.
5. Once the repeat pattern is select, choose the days that are required to be repeated and the repeat frequency.
6. Confirm the start date and select whether a fixed number of dates are to be created in the Repeat Group or whether the pattern will finish by an end date. If unsure then always better to create a smaller repeat group and then update with more dates in the future as required.
7. If a fixed number of occurrences then enter the number in the End After field or select the end date in the end by field
8. Once complete, check the details and select the lower Apply command.
9. WS:RA II will now create the appointment dates that match the pattern select and show them in the appointment field on the Repeat Group Dates tab.
10. Now select the Update function to save the Repeat Group to the open Appointment. The individual appointments have not been created at this stage.
11. Select Save and Close and the appointment will close and the Repeat Group of appointments will be created and displayed in your Calendar.

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Create a Meeting Request Group
To create a Meeting Request Repeat Group in WS:RA II you perform the same steps as creating an appointment repeat group except,

1. Create a new Meeting Request in Outlook instead of an appointment.
2. Address the Meeting Request and select Send instead of Save and Close.
3. In the current release, one Meeting Request will be sent for each appointment date in the Repeat Group. This is to allow users that do not have WS:RA II installed to receive WS:RA II meeting requests.
4. Recipients of WS:RA II Meeting Request will handle each Appointment in the Meeting Request as an individual meeting request.

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Daily Repeat Groups
The following screen shows the Daily Repeat Group control, highlighted in three sections

Section 1 is common to all Repeat Group patterns and allows the user to select the repeat pattern required. 

Section 2 allows the users to specify the number of days that the appointment shall be repeated. 1 = every day, 2 = every other day, 3 = every third day etc.

Section 3 is where you have additional control by specify which days of the week will be included in the repeat pattern. If you have a task that has to be repeated every other working day but you only work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday then select just those days and the repeat pattern will count just those days as the working days. It is as if Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday just do not exist. 

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Weekly Repeat Groups
The following screen shows the Weekly Repeat Group control, highlighted in three sections

Section 1 is common to all Repeat Group patterns and allows the user to select the repeat pattern required. 

Section 2 allows the users to specify the number of weeks that the appointment shall be repeated. 1 = every week, 2 = every other week, 3 = every third week etc.

Section 3 is where you have additional control by specify which days of the week are to be included in the repeat pattern. If you have a task that has to be repeated every other Monday and Friday then select just those days and the repeat pattern will count just those days in the Repeat Group pattern.

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Monthly/Yearly Repeat Groups
The following screen shows the Monthly/Yearly Repeat Group control, highlighted in three sections

Section 1 is common to all Repeat Group patterns and allows the user to select the repeat pattern required. 

Section 2 allows the user to specify the monthly repeat pattern. If you wish to repeat an appointment on the same date each month then specify the day number in the first field. The second field allows the user to specify the number of months that the appointment shall be repeated. 1 = every month, 2 = every other month, 3 = every quarter etc.

Section 3 allows the user to specify the yearly repeat pattern. If you wish to repeat an appointment on the same date each year (an anniversary for example) then specify the month in the first field, the day of the month in the second field. The third field allows the user to specify the number of years that the appointment shall be repeated. 1 = every year, 2 = every other year, 3 = every third year etc.

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Update an existing Repeat Appointment Group
The following describes how to update an existing Repeat Group (add new appointments, delete existing appointments, change the time that some appointments occur etc)

1. Open an existing WS:RA II appointment in Outlook.
2. Select the WS:RA II command from either the Toolbar or Actions menu to display the WS:RA II screen.
3. The WS:RA II screen will now display.
4. Select the Repeat Group Dates tab and display the list of appointments in the repeat group
5. You may add or remove individual appointments from the group as long as they have not yet occurred. The the appointment to be removed in either the list or on the calendar and select the Remove command. WS:RA II will not remove historical appointment dates so if the date occurs in the past then you will be prevented from completing the task.
6. To add a new appointment, select the date on the calendar and then select the Add command. WS:RA II will not add duplicate appointment dates so if the date already exists then you will be prevented from completing the task.
7. You may also add additional appointments from the Repeat Group patterns. Select the Range of Repeat Group tab and select the pattern required, the start date and the occurrence frequency/end date. Once complete select the lower Apply command (the append option above the Apply command is automatically set)
8. When updates complete, select the Update command and you will be returned to the open appointment. The changes have not been applied at this stage. Select Save and the specified updates will be processed against the appointments in the Repeat Group and new appoints created as appropriate.

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Creating Repeat Appointments in named Calendar folders
To create Repeat Appointments in named Calendars, select the Calendar folder required before selecting the New Appoinment or New Meeting Request command in Outlook. The Repeat Group will then be created in that Calendar folder. If you do not select a named calendar folder (e.g. you have the Inbox selected), all Repea Group appointments will be created in the default calendar folder configured on your system.

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Repeat Groups and Recurrence
WS:RA II Repeat Groups and Recurrence appointments are two methods of achieving a similar result. They should NOT be used together on the same appointment group. Select the method that most suits your requirements for each series of appointments.

Recurrence appointments are ideal if the appointments fit a regular repeat pattern and you do not need to keep details stored in each appointment if the recurrence series is updated. e.g. If you set an end date to the recurrence series and then update after you have stored notes in the body of individual appointments in the series, these notes will be lost.

WS:RA II Repeat Groups allow you to create irregular and complex repeat patterns for your appointments. Each appointment in the Repeat Group is treated as an individual appointment so any notes made in an appointment in the group will be retained, even if in the future dates are added or deleted from the group. This feature has what may be seen as a disadvantage that in the current release each Meeting Request is sent as an individual appointment to allow non-WS:RA II users from receiving all the Meeting Requests in the group. Developments for version 2.5 are updating the application so that recipient users of WS:RA II will only receive one Meeting Request in the same manner as the Recurrence series but with the added advantage that appointments may be accepted, rejected etc individually.

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Repeat Appointments and Journal files
When a Repeat Group is cretaed, WS:RA II creates a Journal file for that group and stores in the Journal folder, WS:RA II (Do not Delete). This Journal file should not be moved, deleted or removed from the Outlook. If the Journal file can not be found, then when an appointment in a Repeat Group is re-opened after creation, it will not be able to find details of the other appointments in the Repeat Group. The appointments will be secure and still exist in your Calendar, you will not be able to manage them through the WS:RA II interface but treat them as individual appointments.

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Deleting and moving Repeat Appointments from their folder
If you delete or move a Repeat Group appointment from it's home Calendar folder then this will remove the appointment from the Repeat Group. When this appointment is opened, it will not see any of the other appointments in the group when the WS:RA II screen is displayed. If you open another Appointment in the group, the deleted or moved appointment will not be in the WS:RA II display.

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Using auto conflict option to avoid holiday dates in Repeat Pattern
When a Repeat Group is created from the WSRA II repeat patterns, WSRA II will check for conflicts with existing appointments and provide the user with the ability to change those dates in conflict. This can be achieved by either changing the time of the appointment or changing the date.

The Auto Conflict option provides an additional feature, allowing the user to set instructions that when an appointment is at conflict with an existing appointment, and the existing appointment is in the specified category, then this date will be either ignored in the repeat pattern, or WSRA II will look for the next valid, available date.

This feature has been introduced to provide support for the close accounting feature where Public Holidays are to be avoided when the system calculates valid Business Day. It can however be used for other types of date that need to be avoided such as personal holidays, company or organisation holidays (such as school holidays) plus other uses.

With version 2.1.0 of WS:RA II, a forth tab has been introduced that allows WS:RA II Options to be configured and used for the current Repeat Group or saved as the default options for all future Repeat Groups. The first of these Options is Auto Conflict.

To turn on the Auto Conflict option, select the Action date... check box. Next select the category that you wish to avoid conflict. In the example above we have selected the Holiday category.

There are two actions associated with the Auto Conflict option, select the Action you wish WS:RA II to perform while it builds your Repeat Group when it encounters an appropriate conflict.

Ignore date and move to next in pattern: With this Action selected, when an existing date in the selected category is encountered against a date in the Repeat Group, the date is ignored and WS:RA II moves to the next date in the Repeat Group series. For example, if the Repeat Group selected is the for meetings to occur on the 25th of each month, WS:RA II will schedule appointments for each 25th of the month, except for December 25th, Christmas Day. A Public Holiday in many countries.

Replace with next valid date and then return to Repeat Pattern. With this Action selected, when an existing date in the selected category is encountered against a date in the Repeat Group, the date is ignored and WS:RA II moves to the next available valid date to schedule an appointment. When an appointment date has been found WS:RA II then returns t the Repeat Group series. 

For example, if the Repeat Group selected is the for meetings to occur on the 25th of each month, WS:RA II will schedule appointments for each 25th of the month, except for December 25th, Christmas Day. A Public Holiday in many countries. Instead of the December 25th, WS:RA II will schedule an appointment for December 27th, the next available, non- Public Holiday date in UK.

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Build a text file to import holiday dates into Outlook

Microsoft provides a built in mechanism in Outlook to import national and religious holidays in it's Calendar, please go to  http://www.slipstick.com/calendar/holidays.htm for details on the options depending upon the version of Outlook you are using.

Note: Before using this feature, please add WSRA II to your category list. This can be achieved by going to an appointment (new or existing, selecting the Category command and then selecting the Master Category List command. At the displayed dialogue, add WSRA II as a new category.

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Prefix the Subject field with the Repeat Group sequence number

If you are required to track the occurrence number of any given appointment in a WS:RA II Repeat Group then select the Sequence Appointments option.

Check the Sequence Appointments option and every appointment created in a new Repeat Group will have it's sequence prefixed in the appointments subject field. If you wish to prefix the sequence number then enter the prefix text in the Sequence Prefix Text field.

Example: Using the above example, five appointments named WS:RA II FAQ would have subject headings of;

Subject field = Seq 1:WS:RA II FAQ
Subject field = Seq 2:WS:RA II FAQ
Subject field = Seq 3:WS:RA II FAQ
Subject field = Seq 4:WS:RA II FAQ
Subject field = Seq 5:WS:RA II FAQ

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If you would like to have functionality considered in WS:RA II to assist with the management of your calendar then please contact software@websetters.co.uk with your requirements. All requests will be considered and answered.