Cisco CONFERENCING EXTENSIONS - ADMINISTRATOR GUIDE FOR MICROSOFT EXCHANGE Administrator's Manual page 45

administrator can decide which is best for their organization. In Exchange 2003 installations,
administrators may choose which booking model to use. In Exchange 2007 installations, Microsoft
has moved away from the Direct Resource Booking model and therefore it is no longer the default
method and is not covered by the standard instructions in this manual. Notes on using Direct
Resource Booking in Exchange 2007 with Cisco TMSXE can be found in the section Using Direct
Resource Booking in Exchange 2007..
Resource Scheduling Model/Asynchronous Booking
In this model, users send a meeting invitation via e-mail to the resource accounts just like they invite
other meeting participants. The meeting invite is then accepted or rejected by the resource account
and the meeting coordinator receives a response just as they do from other meeting participants. The
sending of the invite and receiving of the response are done separately, so this model is referred to as
'Asynchronous Booking' by Cisco.
This model has the advantage that users do not need to have special permissions to the resource's
calendar and they are not required to use the Resources field. This model also does not rely on the
Outlook client, so it is more compatible with other interfaces, such as Outlook Web Access (OWA).
In this model, the user sends out invitations before they receive a confirmation from the resource
accounts. This means if a resource rejects the initial meeting invite, the user should re-open the
calendar entry and try to rebook it. In an Exchange-Only installation, there is less potential for a
resource account to reject a meeting as long as it is free. But when scheduling audio/video resources
in addition to room availability, there can be other reasons such as a lack of MCUs available,
incompatible call types, etc that could lead to a request being rejected. With Asynchronous Booking,
users have more flexibility, but they also must take care to not repeatedly try to re-book a meeting to
avoid annoying other users with too many meeting updates.
Asynchronous Booking is available in both Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 installations of the
Cisco TMSXE Integration. On Exchange 2007 installations, it is the default and can not be disabled.
On Exchange 2003 installations, the integration can be configured to allow or deny Asynchronous
requests. On Exchange 2003 installations, a TANDBERG provided inbox sink facilitates
Asynchronous requests. In Exchange 2007, the Resource Attendant provides this functionality, and is
configurable using the Exchange Management Shell.
Direct Resource Booking/Synchronous Booking
In this model, when creating a meeting, users put the resource accounts for the meeting in the
Resources field of the meeting invitation. By doing so, the Outlook client tries to save the meeting in
the resource's calendar directly before the meeting is allowed to be saved by the user. The benefit to
this is the user gets immediate feedback if the meeting can be saved in the resource accounts
calendars and avoids needing to edit a meeting after it is saved due to a later rejection. In this model,
the user must use the Resources field in the meeting invitation for resources, and not the Required
or Optional fields.
The negatives to this model are that it requires specific calendar permissions and settings to operate.
The Cisco TMSXE Configuration Utility automates those tasks when enabling resource accounts,
minimizing that burden.
In the previous product, Direct Resource Booking was the default booking model as it offers greater
controls over who can book which resource and for the user feedback. When Cisco TMSXE is
installed on an Exchange 2003 server, this model is still the default choice.
Exchange Server 2007 changed the booking models available, and Direct Resource Booking is no
longer the preferred booking model in Exchange. The new policy controls and Resource Booking
Attendant have enabled new features and better manageability. As such, with Exchange 2007
installations and going forward, Direct Resource Booking is no longer the default, and no choice is
given to disable e-mail based reservations (Asynchronous Booking).
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