In Microsoft Outlook 97, you can schedule the use of resources such as conference rooms and AV equipment by defining an e-mail account for each resource. To reserve these resources you invite them to meetings and activities as you do individuals. These resources can be set up to automatically accept or reject scheduling requests or an assigned delegate can handle these decisions manually.

This article describes how to set up a resource account and how to set up a delegate account to control one or more resources.

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Each resource account must have an assigned delegate account. If you want to centralize booking of several resources, you can assign a single delegate to multiple resource accounts. The advantage to this method is that only one computer is required to handle multiple resources. For example, you can set up a dedicated computer, with Outlook logged on to the delegate account, to handle the booking of several conference rooms at once. You can forward all meeting requests sent to the resource to the delegate for manual processing. If you prefer, you can configure the resource accounts to respond to meeting requests automatically. However, the delegate account must remain open in order for an appointment to be booked.

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Delegate Account Setup

You must create an e-mail account for the delegate. You can create a dedicated delegate account, or you can use an existing user account. For example, you may use a receptionist's e-mail account for booking all conference rooms in a building.

To configure the delegate account, follow these steps:

1.	Open the delegate account in Outlook.
2.	On the Tools menu, click Options.
3.	On the E-mail tab under "Settings for automatic processing of mail" click to select at least "Process requests and responses on arrival" and then click OK.

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Resource Account Setup

To set up a resource in Outlook, first create an e-mail account for each resource just as you would for a workgroup member. Assign a descriptive name to the resource such as, "Room 101." If a delegate is assigned to a resource, you can configure the resource account so that meeting requests go directly to the delegate.

To configure the resource account, follow these steps:

1.	Open the new resource account in Outlook.
2.	On the Tools menu, click Options.
3.	On the E-mail tab under "Settings for automatic processing of mail" click to select at least "Process requests and responses on arrival" and then click OK.
4.	On the Calendar tab, click Advanced Scheduling.
5.	Click to select the desired options under, "Processing of meeting requests" (see "Automatic Booking of Resources" later in this article).
6.	Click OK to close the Advanced Scheduling dialog box.
7.	On the Delegates tab, click Add to add the name of the delegate account.
8.	In the Delegate Permission box, click Editor in the Calendar list and click to select, "Delegate receives copies of meeting-related messages sent to me" and then click OK. This setting is always required whether you choose to automatically have the resources process the requests or have the delegate process the request.
9.	On the Delegates tab, click to select, "Send meeting requests and responses only to my delegate, not to me" and then click OK. This will keep unanswered mail messages from building up in the resource account's Inbox.

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Automatic Booking of Resource Requests

To enable automatic booking of resources, follow these steps:

1.	Open the resource account in Outlook.
2.	On the Tools menu, click Options.
3.	On the E-mail tab, click to select "Process requests and responses on arrival."
4.	On the Calendar tab click Advanced Scheduling.
5.	Under "Processing of meeting requests," select the options you want to use. Select all three options for complete automatic booking of all meeting requests forwarded to the delegate. The delegate account must remain logged on for automatic booking of resources.
6.	Under "Settings for Free/Busy information" set the desired time interval for updating the free/busy information on the server and then click OK and OK.

NOTE: It may take a few minutes for the new resource and delegate options to update on the Microsoft Exchange server. The local computer must remain idle for approximately 30 seconds to allow this processing to occur.

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For information on direct booking of resources, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information on this topic, see chapter 31 of the Office Resource Kit (ORK). The complete ORK is available for viewing at:

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