10.3 Specifying your availability

The Edit Availability action allows you to specify which resource requests with a delegate assignment you are unavailable to work on during a particular time period. During the time period when you are unavailable for a particular request, the user delegated to act on that request can work on it.

If you prefer not to specify your availability for each request definition individually, you can use the Edit Availability action to establish global settings pertaining to delegation.

HINT:Before using the Edit Availability action, you need to have at least one delegate assignment to work on. If you’re an Organizational Manager, you can create delegate assignments yourself by using the My Delegate Assignments action. If you are not a manager, you need to have your manager (or the User Application Administrator) create delegate assignments for you.

10.3.1 Setting your availability status

To set your availability status:

  1. Click Edit Availability in the My Settings group of actions.

    The user application displays the Edit Availability page. If you do not have any existing availability settings, the display list is empty:

    Description: illustration

    NOTE:If no delegates have been assigned for you, the user application displays a message indicating that you can not change your status on the Edit Availability page.

    If you have one or more availability settings, the display list shows these settings:

    Description: illustration

  2. Specify your status by selecting one of the following options in the Change Status dropdown:

    Status

    Description

    Available for ALL Requests

    This is the default status. It indicates that you are globally available. When this status is in effect, requests assigned to you will not be delegated, even if you have assigned delegates.

    NOTE:The Available for ALL Requests status overrides other settings. If you change the status to one of the other settings, and then change it back to Available for ALL Requests, any Selectively Available settings previously defined will be removed.

    NOT Available for ANY Requests

    Specifies that you are globally unavailable for any request definitions currently in the system.

    Choosing the Not Available for ANY Requests status indicates that you are unavailable for each existing delegate assignment and changes the current status to Not Available for Specified Requests. Assignments are effective immediately until the delegate assignment expires. This setting does not affect availability for new assignments created after this point.

    NOT Available for Specified Requests

    Specifies that you are not available for certain resource request definitions. During the time period when you are unavailable for a particular request, the user delegated to act on that request can work on it.

    The NOT Available for Specified Requests option takes you to the Edit Availability screen. It is the same action as clicking the New button.

10.3.2 Creating or editing an availability setting

To create or edit an availability setting

  1. To create a new availability setting, click New (or select NOT Available for Specified Requests in the Change Status dropdown).

  2. To edit an existing setting, click the Edit button next to the setting you want to modify:

    Description: illustration

    The user application displays a set of controls that allow you to specify the time period for which you will be unavailable and choose the requests to which this setting applies.

    NOTE:The list of requests displayed includes only those that have a delegate assignment.

    Description: illustration

  3. Specify the time period during which you will be unavailable:

    1. Specify when the time period begins by typing the start date and time in the Unavailable From box, or by clicking the calendar button and selecting the date and time.

      Description: illustration

    2. Specify when the time period ends by clicking one of the following radio buttons:

      Radio button

      Description

      Duration

      Lets you specify the time period in weeks, days, or hours.

      End date

      Lets you specify the end date and time. You can type the date and time, or click the calendar button and select the date and time from the calendar.

      No Expiration

      Indicates that this unavailability setting will not expire.

      NOTE:The end date you specify must be within the time period allowed by the delegate assignment. For example, if the delegate assignment expires on October 31, 2005, you can not specify an expiration date of November 15, 2005 for the availability setting. If you specify an expiration date of November 15, 2005, it will automatically be adjusted upon submit to expire on October 31, 2005.

    3. Select one or more requests in the Types of Requests list box, and click Add.

      NOTE:On this screen, you select the types of requests that you will not accept during the time you are unavailable. This has the effect of delegating these requests to other users.

      Description: illustration

      Each request you add is included in the Declined for the Specified Period list box.

      Description: illustration

    4. To remove a request from the list, click Remove.

    5. Click Submit to commit your changes.

10.3.3 Deleting an availability setting

To delete an existing availability setting:

  1. Click the Remove button next to the setting:

    Description: illustration