BSBADM307B2CLH-BP Student Workbook

Student Workbook Acknowledgment

BSBADM307B Organise schedules Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council (IBSA) would like to acknowledge
Impact Training and Development Solutions Pty Ltd for their assistance with the
2nd Edition 2010 development of this resource.

Part of a suite of support materials for the Writer: Joanna Lennon

BSB07 Business Services Training Package Industry reviewer: Bradley Corcoran

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© 2010 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd

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Published by: Innovation and Business Originally published: January 2010

Industry Skills Council Ltd 2nd edition version: 1.0
Level 11

176 Wellington Pde Release date: June 2010

East Melbourne VIC 3002 Printed by: Fineline Printing

Phone: +61 3 9815 7000 130 Browns Road

Fax: +61 3 9815 7001 Noble Park VIC 3174

email: [email protected]

www.ibsa.org.au

ISBN: 978-1-921788-02-4
Stock code: %6%ADM307B2CL+%3

Table of Contents

Introduction .........................................................................................................................1
Features of the training program ................................................................................1
Structure of the training program................................................................................1
Recommended reading................................................................................................1
Required resources ......................................................................................................1

Section 1 – Establishing Schedule Requirements............................................................2
What skills will you need? ............................................................................................3
Organisational requirements .......................................................................................3
Appointment procedures .............................................................................................9
Personal requirements.................................................................................................9
Establishing appointment priorities ......................................................................... 13
Section summary....................................................................................................... 15
Further reading .......................................................................................................... 15
Section checklist ....................................................................................................... 15

Section 2 – Electronic Calendars.................................................................................... 16
Required resources ................................................................................................... 16
Using the calendar in Microsoft Outlook.................................................................. 16

Section 3 – Managing Schedules ................................................................................... 21
What skills will you need? ......................................................................................... 21
Scheduling appointments ......................................................................................... 21
Recurring appointments ........................................................................................... 22
Establishing availability of attendees....................................................................... 23
Rescheduling appointments ..................................................................................... 24
Section summary....................................................................................................... 29
Further reading .......................................................................................................... 29
Section checklist ....................................................................................................... 30

Glossary ............................................................................................................................ 31
Appendices ....................................................................................................................... 32

Appendix 1 – Answers to select learning activity .................................................... 32

Student Workbook Introduction Section 1 – Establishing Schedule Requirements Student Workbook

Introduction Section 1 – Establishing Schedule

Features of the training program Requirements

The key features of this program are: Effectively managing schedules requires good planning and organising skills but it
also requires good communication and team work skills. As the people that you
x Student Workbook (SW) – Self paced Learning activities to help you to are supporting are in most cases very busy people, your role is not just about
understand key concepts and terms. The Student Workbook is broken booking appointments into free spaces in a person’s diary. You will spend a lot of
down into several sections. your time re-arranging appointments due to diary clashes or making last minute
changes to schedules due to urgent appointments taking priority.
x Facilitator-led sessions (FLS) – Challenging and interesting learning
activities that can be completed in the classroom or by distance learning You will be working, on a daily basis, with others to make or change appointments
that will help you consolidate and apply what you have learned in the and this will require you to be flexible and demonstrate initiative to ensure you
Student Workbook. create a workable schedule that meets the needs of both the individual you are
supporting and the organisation.
x Assessment tasks – Summative assessments where you can apply your
new skills and knowledge to solve authentic workplace tasks and This section details the tools, systems and procedures that organisations and
problems. individuals use to manage schedules. To be able to effectively organise schedules
you must be able to identify the requirements of the organisation and the
Innovation & Business Skills Australia has licensed the use of over 200 video individual you are supporting.
vignettes from the Channel 9 television program, Your Business Success. The
videos have been carefully selected and embedded into relevant learning and Scenario: Establish schedule requirements
assessment resources in order to assist education providers and students in the
learning process. Mary has just joined Findlay and Partners Financial Services as executive
assistant to the financial controller and four finance managers. As part of her
Each video is accompanied by a learning activity. Videos can be found on IBSA’s induction she spent some time with Peter, the executive assistant to the sales
YouTube channel at <http://www.youtube.com/ibsachannel>. director and the sales management team. Peter explained to Mary that the
organisation has many procedures with regards to managing schedules. For
Structure of the training program example Microsoft Outlook is used to manage schedules and all appointments
are booked into this system, diaries must always be up to date and each
This training program introduces you to the skills and knowledge required to individual that she supports will require a print out of their diary at the start of
effectively organise schedules for managers and other professionals. Specifically, each day.
you will develop the skills and knowledge in the following topic areas:
Peter advised Mary that all of the procedures are documented in the managing
1. Establishing schedule requirements. schedules procedure guide which she should read. He provided her with the link
to the on-line version of the manual on the employee resources website. He also
2. Managing schedules. told her that she can obtain a hard copy of the manual from the office manager.

You facilitator may choose to combine or split sessions. For example, in some
cases, this Training Program may be delivered in two or three sessions, or in
others, as many as eight sessions.

Recommended reading

Some recommended reading for this unit includes:
x Cooperman, S 2008, Professional office procedures, 5th edn, Prentice
Hall, New Jersey.
x Stroman, J, Wilson, K and Wauson, J 2008, Administrative assistant's and
secretary's handbook, 3rd edn, AMACOM, New York.

Required resources

x Access to computer with Microsoft Outlook version 2007.

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Student Workbook Section 1 – Establishing Schedule Requirements Section 1 – Establishing Schedule Requirements Student Workbook

What skills will you need? Learning activity 1.1a: Organisational requirements

In order to work effectively as an administration assistant, you must be able to: What are your organisation’s requirements with regards to scheduling
appointments?
; identify organisational requirements and protocols for diaries and staff ___________________________________________________________________
planning tools ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
; identify organisational procedures for different types of appointments ___________________________________________________________________

; determine personal requirements for diary and schedule items for ___________________________________________________________________
individual personnel ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
; establish appointment priorities and clarify in discussion with individual ___________________________________________________________________
personnel. How are these requirements communicated to employees?
___________________________________________________________________
Organisational requirements ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Organisations have different requirements and use a variety of tools for managing ___________________________________________________________________
schedules. You will need to ensure that you are aware of these requirements and ___________________________________________________________________
tools prior to commencing your role. ___________________________________________________________________
Organisational requirements often include the following: ___________________________________________________________________
Do you believe that these requirements assist employees with managing
Visibility of employee diaries schedules? Why?
This could be open to all, limited or closed. Some organisations have protocols in ___________________________________________________________________
place whereby visibility is limited, for example managers having access to their ___________________________________________________________________
employees’ diaries, other organisations are open and all employees have access ___________________________________________________________________
to view the diaries of all other employees and in some cases organisations have a ___________________________________________________________________
closed policy where no diary information is visible to other employees. ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Booking systems ___________________________________________________________________
x Appointments must be booked into an electronic system.
x Diaries must be up to date.

Protocols for communicating
x Cover the requirements for communicating with internal and external
parties when making appointments.
x Detail what information is to be provided for example; internal meeting
invitations include the meeting room where the meeting will take place
whereas external invitations advise for attendees to report to reception.

Priority clients and personnel
x A list of clients or personnel who take priority. Some organisations stipulate
that a client meeting always takes priority over an internal meeting.

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Student Workbook Section 1 – Establishing Schedule Requirements Section 1 – Establishing Schedule Requirements Student Workbook

Planning Tools Electronic calendar or diary

Organisations use a variety of planning tools to manage and record schedules. As x Computer based calendar or diary system.
an executive/personal assistant you may already have experience with some of
these tools. Examples of planning tools used are: x Most common version used is Microsoft Outlook.
x Functionality allows for calendar or diary to be visible to others.
Appointment book
A hard copy book used to record appointment bookings. x Allows users on the same system to send and accept invitations with all
appointments being recorded.
x Often used when more than one person is making appointment bookings.
x Held at a central location, e.g. reception desk. Please see Section 2 for an example from Microsoft Outlook of an electronic
x Often used to record client bookings for a particular service. calendar/diary.
Below is an example of an appointment book.
In/out boards
Jenny’s Hair Salon x Record the employees who are in/out of the workplace.
x Often used by workplaces where employees regularly move in/out of the
Monday February 5, 2015 workplace, for example a real estate office.
x Details employees name with a marker to advise if in/out of office.
Time Customer Name Service x Sometimes also details expected time to return to the workplace.
Megan Wicks Cut and colour
9.00 Please see below for an example of an in/out board.
9.15
9.30 Sell It Real Estate
9.45
10.00 Barry McConnel Cut Monday February 5, 2015
10.15
10.30 Julie Clear Cut and blow dry Name In Out Due back to office
10.45 Craig Paterson x
11.00 Heidi Copple x 5 Feb, 2.30 pm
11.15 Penny Tamplin x x 6 Feb, 10 am
11.30 Deborah Spinks
11.45 Jeremy Hogan x x 12 Feb, 9 am
12.00 Douglas Howe x
12.15 LUNCH Maria Winter
12.30
12.45 Harry Cooper Cut
1.00 Margaret Pearson Cut, colour and blow dry
1.15
1.30
1.45
2.00
2.15
2.30
2.45
3.00
3.15
3.30
3.45
4.00
4.15
4.30
4.45
5.00

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Manual planners/calendars 2. How does the Information Leader project help the meat processing
x Give a weekly, monthly or yearly view. businesses shown in this video?
x Are typically posted in a central location with the workplace.
x Detail common activities for all employees. ___________________________________________________________________
x Can also be used for individuals. ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday ___________________________________________________________________
1 2 5 6 7 ___________________________________________________________________
34 ___________________________________________________________________
Pay day 3. While using the Information Leader, what data is the Operations Manager,

8 9 10 11 11 12 13 Neville Hensel, measuring?
Customer 15 Employee 20
review 22 Christmas ___________________________________________________________________
meeting Party ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
14 16 17 18 19 ___________________________________________________________________
Customer Monthly Pay day ___________________________________________________________________
review Employee 25 26 27 ___________________________________________________________________
meeting Briefing 24 Christmas Boxing Day See Appendix 1 for sample answers.
Day – – Public
21 23 Public Holiday
Customer Holiday
review
meeting

28 29 30 31
Customer Pay day
review
meeting

Learning activity: Information leader Learning activity 1.1b: Planning tools

Watch the video ‘BSBADM307B: Information leader’ on IBSA’s YouTube channel What planning tools does your organisation use and what are they used for?
at <http://www.youtube.com/ibsachannel>. You may use the organisation you are working in or the planning tool for the
1. What is the Information leader? delivery and assessment of this course as an example.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

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Student Workbook Section 1 – Establishing Schedule Requirements Section 1 – Establishing Schedule Requirements Student Workbook

Appointment procedures Conferences
x The time, date, and location.
Organisations put in place procedures for making appointments to minimise the x List of who is attending.
time lost due to poor scheduling. These procedures vary, depending on the type of x Purpose of the conference.
organisation, but are almost always based on ensuring that all appointments x Agenda of the conference.
booked do take place. Examples of appointment procedures include: x Pre-reading requirements.
x Activity requirements.
Appointment acceptance x A dress code.
x The appointment must be accepted 24 hours prior to the scheduled x Information regarding meals provided.
commencement time or it will be cancelled. x Accommodation and/or travel information if applicable.

Confirmation calls/SMS Travel
x Most commonly used for confirming customer appointments.
x The customer is contacted by telephone call or text message to confirm Itinerary details should include:
their attendance at appointment in the near future.
x Usually completed the day before an appointment is due to occur. x The travel destination.
x Transportation details. For example bus or train details, car pool
Personal requirements
information or flight details including departure date, time and location
Individuals also have requirements with regards to what information is detailed in and any other specific information such as flight number or bus number.
their diary or schedule. Again, like organisations these requirements will vary
however largely they include the following: x Accommodation details (hotel name, address, telephone number, check-in
Appointments and check-out date and time).

x The time, date and location Please see below for an example of a travel itinerary.
x Teleconference details if applicable
x List of attendees Travel Itinerary for Barry Smith
x Purpose of the Meeting
x Agenda Travel Dates 12 March to 31 March 2012
x Any pre-reading requirements. Contact Details
Address 12 Hope Drive, Smithfield
Recurring meetings Telephone Number 02 9875 6987
Recurring meeting requirements are not too dissimilar to general meeting Email Address [email protected]
requirements, with the exception that the purpose of the meeting usually does not Departure Flight
need to be included. Details required include: Date 12 March 2012
Airline JetFast
x The time, date, and location. Flight Number JF212
x Teleconference details if applicable. From Sydney
x List of who is attending. Departure Time 9am
x Agenda of the meeting. Departure Terminal/Gate Terminal 2
x Pre-reading requirements. To Melbourne
x Examples of recurring meetings include; monthly/weekly management

meetings or team meetings, board meetings, or committee meetings.

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Student Workbook Section 1 – Establishing Schedule Requirements Section 1 – Establishing Schedule Requirements Student Workbook
10.15am
Arrival Time Morning Tea To Sydney
Meal 1 hour 15 minutes Arrival Time 12.15pm
Length of Flight Meal Snack
Car Rental 01 March 2012 Length of Flight 1 hour 15 minutes
Date of Reservation Beep Beep Hire
Rental Company 12 March 2012 Annual leave
Pickup Day/Time 31 March 2012
Drop-off Day/Time BB212 x Personal annual leave must be recorded to ensure the organisation’s
Confirmation Number $77.00 per day schedule shows time away from work and appointments are not made
Rate 100km per day during this time.
Mielage 03 8974 5698
Telephone Number 03 8974 2111 x Leave of others that impact individual for example manager or client on
Fax Number leave.
Accomodation 01 March 2012
Date of Reservation Pacific Palms Learning activity 1.2: Scheduling a conference
Hotel 44 North Street, Melbourne
Address 03 8754 9632 You provide schedule support to six real estate agents at Home Sales Realty.
Telephone Number 12 March 2012, 2pm The general manager has asked you to schedule the following conference in
Check-In Day/Time 31 March 2012, 10am each of the agents’ diaries.
Checkout Day/Time Standard Double
Room Type $175 per night Home Sales Reality
Rate per Night
Return Flight 31 March 2012 Annual Sales Conference
Date JetFast
Airline JF322 You are invited to attend the Home Sales Reality Annual Sales Conference.
Flight Number Melbourne The conference commences on 12 October at 9am and will conclude on
From 11am 16 October at 6pm.
Departure Time Terminal B The conference will be held at the Vincent Room, The Plaza Hotel, 55 York
Departure Terminal/Gate Street, Sydney.
You will be provided with accommodation at the hotel and will be required
to check in by 2pm on 12 October. All meals will be provided for the
duration of the conference. You are responsible for organising your own
travel arrangements to and from the venue.
The dress code for the conference is casual.
RSVP – Jenny Doohan, Executive Assistant to the Sales Director

x Create an appointment for the conference using a manual diary based
system.

x What information is missing from the invitation that you will be required
to provide to the agents prior to their attendance at the conference and
where will you find this information?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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Establishing appointment priorities Learning activity 1.3b: appointment priorities case study 1

When you are responsible for organising the schedules of others it is important to You are responsible for organising the schedule for the sales director and his
understand their appointment priorities. What is a priority for one person is likely team of sales representatives at Cool Air Air-Conditioning. The sales director has
to be very different to the priority of another therefore you should always clarify advised you previously that client meetings must always take priority over any
priorities. internal meeting and that this is not negotiable. The sales director has asked
It is good practice to clarify appointment priorities through a discussion when an you to schedule an internal sales conference for 4th and 5th of May. He has
appointment clash occurs. In some cases you may agree on some standing advised that attendance for all sales representatives is compulsory. When you
priority principles, such as, a client meeting always takes priority over an internal start to schedule the conference in the sales representatives’ diaries you notice
meeting, and this will mean that it will not be necessary to discuss this issue if it that Bill Dean has an appointment with the company’s biggest client on the 4th
occurs. It is not safe to assume you know what a person’s priorities are if you of May. What would you do?
have not previously discussed and agreed this with them as a standing principle.
___________________________________________________________________
Learning activity 1.3a: Appointment priorities
___________________________________________________________________
How have you previously gone about establishing appointment priorities when
organising schedules? If you have not previously had experience in this area ___________________________________________________________________
how would you go about establishing appointment priorities for those to whom
you provide scheduling support? ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________ Learning activity 1.3c: Appointment priorities case study 2

___________________________________________________________________ You are responsible for organising the schedule for the warehouse manager.
You receive a meeting invitation from the finance manager for the warehouse
___________________________________________________________________ manager to attend a budget meeting on 7 June at 10am. You check the
warehouse manager’s schedule and find that she has a team meeting with her
___________________________________________________________________ direct reports at this time. You know from previous discussions with her that the
team meeting is a priority and she will only change this meeting for a client
What are some priority principles that you have observed in practice? meeting.
You contact the executive assistant for the finance manager and advise her that
___________________________________________________________________ the warehouse manager can’t attend at that time and ask to move the meeting
to another time. The finance manager’s assistant advises you that the finance
___________________________________________________________________ manager has requested that the meeting, as a matter of urgency, occur in the
next two days and that this is the only time that is available.
___________________________________________________________________ What would you do?

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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Student Workbook Section 1 – Establishing Schedule Requirements Section 2 – Electronic Calendars Student Workbook

Section summary Section 2 – Electronic Calendars

You should now understand how to identify organisational and individual This section relates to the use of a computer-based calendar or diary system.
requirements with regards to schedule management and how to determine
appointment priorities. Required resources

Further reading x Access to computer with Microsoft Outlook version 2007.
x Below is an example of an electronic calendar/diary. This example is from
x Cooperman, S 2008, Professional Office Procedures, 5th Edition, Prentice
Hall, New Jersey. Microsoft Outlook version 2007.

x Stroman, J, Wilson, K and Wauson, J 2008, Administrative Assistant's and Using the calendar in Microsoft Outlook
Secretary's Handbook, 3rd Edition, AMACOM
Chapters 2, 5, 6 and 7, New York. To view calendar, click on “calendar” at bottom left of screen after you open
Microsoft Outlook. This will open calendar as shown below. To open page of diary
Section checklist required click on that date in the calendar thumb prints shown on left side of
screen. For example below 19 May was chosen.
Before you proceed to the next section, make sure that you are able to:

; identify organisational requirements and protocols for diaries and staff
planning tools

; identify organisational procedures for different types of appointments

; determine personal requirements for diary and schedule items for
individual personnel

; establish appointment priorities and clarify in discussion with individual
personnel.

Fig 2.1

To enter an appointment or schedule a meeting, move cursor to required time (eg
8.00) and “right click” on mouse to view options on “Pop up Box”. Screen shot
below will appear. Choices including “New Appointment”, “New All Day Event” &
“New Meeting Request” appear in Pop-up.

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Student Workbook Section 2 – Electronic Calendars Section 2 – Electronic Calendars Student Workbook

Left Click on “Invite Attendees” then as shown in Fig 2.4 move and click cursor in
space alongside “To” as identified below. Enter names of required attendees.

Fig 2.2 Fig 2.4
Move cursor to “Send” and click to send invitations to required attendees.
Left Click on “New Appointment” from “Pop-up”. Enter details of appointment: Please see below for an example of an appointment invitation using Microsoft
Subject, Location then need to be entered in space provided. Agenda can be Outlook. Note that this planning tool details:
entered in space as per example below then move cursor to “Invite Attendees” as
shown below in Fig 2.3 1. Required attendees in the ‘To’ box.
2. The purpose of appointment is detailed in both the ‘Subject’ and the body

of the invitation.
3. The location of the appointment is detailed under “Location”.
4. Time and Date are detailed in the “Start time” and “End time” boxes.

Learning activity 2.1: Scheduling an appointment

Use Microsoft Outlook to create and send an appointment invitation to three
people.
The details of the appointment are as follows:
Date – tomorrow’s date
Time – 5pm
Duration – 1 hour
Location – meeting room 5
Subject – customer enquiry

Fig 2.3 For an appointment that is to be set-up as a regular or recurrent event click on
“Recurrence”. (Refer Fig 2.5 below) Pop up screen will appear. Follow prompts to
BSBADM307B Organise schedules enter requirements for recurring event. Then click on “Send” to invite required
© 2010 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd personnel.

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Student Workbook Section 2 – Electronic Calendars Section 2 – Electronic Calendars Student Workbook

planning tool also tracks the responses of all those invited which then allows you
to determine if the appointment needs to be rescheduled.

Microsoft Outlook allows required attendees to either:

x accept an invitation

x tentatively accept an invitation

x decline an invitation

x propose a new time.

Below is an example of how Microsoft Outlook allows the appointment organiser
to track the availability of attendees.

The appointment organiser can view this information by clicking on the ‘tracking’
tab within the invitation. This tab will only appear after invitations have been sent.
You will see that each attendee is listed and their response is detailed in the
column ‘Response’.

Fig 2.5 Fig 2.7
Refer again to Fig 2.5 as an example of a recurring appointment in Microsoft
A similar process exists to schedule a meeting or teleconference: Refer back to Outlook. The appointment organiser can set this appointment and as previously
Fig 2.2 and instead of clicking on “New Appointment” on Pop up click on required identified a recurring meeting can be set up by clicking on the ‘recurrence’ button.
option. This function allows the organiser to set the recurring details of the appointment
or meeting.
To summarise, an example of an appointment invitation using Microsoft Outlook
is shown below: Learning activity 2.2: Schedule a recurring appointment

1. Required attendees in the ‘To’ box. Use Microsoft Outlook to create and send a recurring appointment invitation to
three people. Use Learning activity 2.1a as basis.
2. The purpose of appointment is detailed in both the ‘Subject’ and the body The details of the appointment are as follows;
of the invitation. Recurrence – monthly
Time – 5pm
3. The location of the appointment is detailed under “Location”. Duration – 30 minutes
Location – meeting room 5
4. Time and Date are detailed in the “Start time” and “End time” boxes. Subject – Customer’s Enquiry

2 1
4 3

Fig 2.6

The most effective way to establish the availability of required attendees is to
send them an invitation to attend an appointment and await their response to
your invitation.

Microsoft Outlook allows you to establish the availability of attendees through
attendees having the ability to accept or decline appointment invitations. This

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Student Workbook Section 3 – Managing Schedules Section 3 – Managing Schedules Student Workbook

Section 3 – Managing Schedules As discussed in Section 1, organisations use a variety of planning tools to manage
schedules. It does not matter which tool you use to manage schedules the
This section is about the requirements for managing schedules. It discusses how principles remain the same:
to schedule and record appointments including recurring appointments and how
to negotiate alternative arrangements when changes are required. x All appointments need to be recorded.

Scenario: manage schedules x All appointment invitations need to include all the necessary information
including date, time, location, purpose, agenda, and other specific
Dimity provides administration support to specialist cardiologist Dr Francis requirements.
McDonald. Due to the nature of Dr McDonald’s role she often has to cancel or
delay surgery appointments due to urgent matters at the hospital. Dimity is x Invitations must be accepted or declined at least 24 hours prior to the
responsible for managing Dr McDonald’s schedule and therefore is responsible commencement of the meeting to allow for rescheduling should it be
for notifying patients that their appointment has to be changed or that there is a required.
delay. This can be very challenging as many patients become quite upset at the
delay or having to change their appointment. As result Dimity has learnt the skill Tip: Things to remember when scheduling appointments
of negotiation and relies heavily on this skill on a daily basis.
x Consider the number of appointments you have booked back to back
What skills will you need? (i.e. where an appointment starts immediately after one has finished).

In order to work effectively as an administration assistant, you must be able to: x Ensure that you allow for travel time to and from appointments within the
schedule.
; identify recurring appointments and deadlines, and schedule these in
accordance with individual and organisational requirements x Everyone needs to eat! Make sure that you allow time for a lunch break.

; establish availability of attendees, and schedule new appointments in x For teleconference appointments ensure that you provide the
accordance with required time lines and diary commitments teleconference details such as telephone number, pin number or access
code and ensure that a telephone is available and is in working order.
; negotiate alternative arrangements and confirm when established
appointments are changed x When booking appointments outside of normal business hours make
sure you have checked the availability of attending meetings outside of
; record appointments and manage schedules in accordance with business hours with those required to attend.
organisational policy and procedures.
x Be sure to confirm additional requirements for appointments such as
Scheduling appointments audio visual equipment, catering, etc.

Depending on the organisation you work for or the individual that you are x When organising catering find out about cancellation penalties in case
providing scheduling support to, the way in which you schedule appointments you have to change the time/date of the meeting and be sure to confirm
could vary. However in most cases, scheduling appointments involves identifying catering arrangements at least 24 hours prior to the meeting
the following: commencement time.

x The required attendees. Recurring appointments
x Time, date and location of appointment.
x Purpose of appointment. As discussed in the previous sections a recurring appointment is an appointment
that occurs repeatedly over the same time period. For example a sales meeting
that occurs on the first Monday of every month is a recurring meeting.

Recurring meetings should be scheduled in advance, as a recurring appointment,
to ensure the availability and attendance of required attendees. Attendance rates
will be higher for recurring meetings that are scheduled in advance as attendees
know, as with the sales meeting example above, that they are required to attend
this meeting on the same day and time each month.

Electronic planning tools are best at assisting with scheduling recurring meetings
as they schedule the recurrence automatically should that function be selected.

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Student Workbook Section 3 – Managing Schedules Section 3 – Managing Schedules Student Workbook

Establishing availability of attendees Rescheduling appointments

The most effective way to establish the availability of required attendees is to Rescheduling appointments is often required due to required attendees being
send them an invitation to attend an appointment and await their response to unable to attend the appointment at the scheduled time. Rescheduling
your invitation. appointments can be very challenging as it requires you to work with multiple
people and schedules. For this reason rescheduling appointments often requires
Microsoft Outlook is one means of establishing the availability of attendees good negotiation skills.
because they are able to accept or decline appointment invitations. This planning
tool also tracks the responses of all those invited which then allows you to Negotiation
determine if the appointment needs to be rescheduled. Negotiation involves a careful exploration of your position and the other person’s
position, with the goal of finding a mutually acceptable compromise that gives you
Other means to establish availability of attendees are to request RSVP or to both as much of what you want as possible. People's positions are rarely as
contact invitees by phone. fundamentally opposed as they may initially appear -- the other person may quite
often have very different goals from the ones you expect!
Learning activity 3.1: Managing attendee availability In an ideal situation:

You are the administration assistant for the finance team at the courier service x The other person will want the goods/services that you are prepared to
company ‘Deliver to Your Door.’ The finance manager has asked you schedule trade.
a four hour training session, for the whole finance team, for the new accounts
management system that is being implemented on 1 December. x You are able to provide those goods/services.
You send out an invitation to the team for 12 November from 12noon to 4pm. x If a problem arises you are able to reach a suitable compromise.
On the 8 November you check your attendee responses and find that out of the If this is not the case and one person must give way, then it is fair for this person
ten invitations sent you have received six acceptances, two declines and two to try to negotiate some form of compensation for doing so – the scale of this
attendees have not responded. compensation will often depend on the many factors. Ultimately, both sides
Mary has declined the meeting as she is on annual leave from the 10 November should feel comfortable with the final solution if the agreement is to be
until 5 December. considered win-win.
Stephen has the declined the meeting as he has conflicting meeting at that
time. Learning activity 3.2: Negotiation
George and Sarah have both failed to respond to your invitation.
What would you do? Scenario: The client
You have an appointment with a salesman trying to sell forklifts to your
___________________________________________________________________ company on Tuesday at 4pm.
You put him off many times as you are quite happy with your current supplier
___________________________________________________________________ and don’t like wasting time with salesmen as they try and pressure you into
things.
___________________________________________________________________ The salesman has just called you asking to reschedule.

___________________________________________________________________ You are not keen but if he is reasonable and seems genuine, you could see him
on Thursday or Friday morning. You are away all day Wednesday.?
___________________________________________________________________
What would you say to this salesman?___________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

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Student Workbook Section 3 – Managing Schedules Section 3 – Managing Schedules Student Workbook

Learning activity 3.2: Negotiation Policies and procedures

Which negotiation techniques would you adopt? __________________________ It is important to note that every organisation will have its own policies and
___________________________________________________________________ procedures for each area and all employees must adhere to them. An example of
___________________________________________________________________ a policy and procedure that must be followed when managing schedules is around
___________________________________________________________________ occupational health and safety rules such as, but not limited to:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________ x ensuring that there is enough time between each appointment
___________________________________________________________________
x ensuring that there is a lunch break allocated for each day

x restricting the number of appointments that are allocated each day.

Learning activity 3.3: Rescheduling appointments Learning activity 3.4: Managing schedules

As administration assistant at Healthline Medical Centre you have been asked You are the administration assistant to Giles Morris, warehouse manager at
to reschedule appointments for Dr Farrah as he has been held up at the Steel Manufacturing. You are responsible for organising Giles’ schedule. Giles’
hospital. His first appointment was booked for 9am and he is fully booked for schedule for Monday and Tuesday is as detailed below. He currently has no
every appointment until 4pm this afternoon. His appointments are scheduled appointments booked for Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
for every 20 minutes. He does not expect to be in the surgery until 11am.
What approach would you take to reschedule these appointments? Look at the appointment details scheduled for Giles, and perform the
instructions set out in the continuation of this learning activity that follows.
___________________________________________________________________
The details of the appointments scheduled above are as follows:
___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

BSBADM307B Organise schedules Page 25 of 32 Page 26 of 32 Fig 3.1
© 2010 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd
BSBADM307B Organise schedules
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Student Workbook Section 3 – Managing Schedules Section 3 – Managing Schedules Student Workbook

Fig 3.2 Fig 3.4
Fig 3.5

Fig 3.3 Page 27 of 32 Page 28 of 32 Fig 3.6

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Student Workbook Section 3 – Managing Schedules Section 3 – Managing Schedules Student Workbook

Learning activity 3.4: Managing schedules (cont.) Section checklist

Giles has informed you today that he is travelling from Sydney to Melbourne to Before you proceed to the next section, make sure that you are able to:
attend a conference on Monday and Tuesday and therefore will need to have all
appointments scheduled for those two days rescheduled to later in the week. ; identify recurring appointments and deadlines, and schedule these in
accordance with individual and organisational requirements
He has also asked you to book the following appointment for Wednesday,
Thursday or Friday: ; establish availability of attendees, and schedule new appointments in
accordance with required time lines and diary commitments
x A two hour team meeting with his team (Brendon Smith, Hilary
Landsdown, Maurice Whittacker, Belinda Daily, Henry Porter, Sophie ; negotiate alternative arrangements and confirm when established
Forbes) to discuss increase sales, warehouse running costs, employee appointments are changed.
performance reviews and occupational health and safety training.
; record appointments and manage schedules in accordance with
x A one hour one on one meeting with each member of his team (Brendon organisational policy and procedures.
Smith, Hilary Landsdown, Maurice Whittacker, Belinda Daily, Henry
Porter, Sophie Forbes). This is a recurring weekly meeting to allow Giles
and his team members to catch up one on one to discuss general
business and any issues.

x A one hour meeting with Harold Scone, finance manager and Jennifer
Limits, sales manager to discuss increased sales impact on costs for
warehouse.

x A 45 minute warehouse employee monthly briefing with all warehouse
employees.

Using Microsoft Outlook and the information above complete Giles’ schedule.

Section summary

You should now understand how to manage schedules including how to schedule
and record appointments and recurring appointments, and how to negotiate
alternative arrangements when changes are required.

Further reading

x Cooperman, S 2008, Professional Office Procedures, 5th Edition, Prentice
Hall.

x Stroman, J, Wilson, K and Wauson, J 2008, Administrative Assistant's and
Secretary's Handbook, 3rd Edition, AMACOM, New York, Chapters 2, 5, 6
and 7.

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Student Workbook Glossary Appendices Student Workbook

Glossary Appendices

Term Definition Appendix 1 – Answers to select learning activity
Accommodate The act of giving in to someone else’s needs.

Appointment A set time of arrangement. Learning activity: Information leader

Collaboration Where both parties are left satisfied; win-win. Watch the video ‘BSBADM307B: Information leader’ on IBSA’s YouTube channel
at <http://www.youtube.com/ibsachannel>.
Compromise To meet in the middle.
1. What is the Information Leader?
Compete The act of wanting only your needs met.
The Information Leader is an electronic quality management project set up by
MS Outlook A Microsoft software product that integrates email with the Australian Meat Processors Corp. It is an electronic planning tool that helps
organisation interfaces. eliminate paper work.

Reoccurring An event that continues to occur. Possible extended answers:

Reschedule To move a set time from one point to another. The Information Leader is a software tool that is used to monitor staff and work
without paper.
Schedule A list of appointments or to make an appointment.
2. How does the Information Leader project help the meat processing
businesses shown in this video?

It helps the meat processing businesses to cut down on paper work and
reduces the time necessary to report and process meat production. It also
helps monitor quality assurance.

Possible extended answers:

It helps Steve Crook the Quality Assurance manager to reduce paper and save
time. It also helps Neville Hensel the Operations Manager to monitor a range of
staff and work duties such OH&S, meat safety, environmental management,
and on the spot measurements.

3. While using the Information Leader, what data is the Operations
Manager, Neville Hensel, measuring?

Neville is able to measure the different production areas such as; stock
processing, cutting rooms, offal areas, night load out, hanging room,
refrigeration and freezing and beef processing.

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