DE102015109199A1 - Automated appointment system - Google Patents

Abstract

A system (1) for automated appointment negotiation between a plurality of clients (5), comprising a server (2) connectable via the Internet to a plurality of clients (5), the server (2) having an appointment agreement unit (12) is adapted to a request for an appointment of one of the clients (5), which is related to a number of other clients (5), an appointment request to the other clients (5) to allow a cross-platform appointment, independent of the accessibility of the clients The server (2) has a calendar database (6) with calendar information for each of the clients (5) and a universal calendar connection unit (14), the universal server Calendar connection unit (14) has a plurality of interfaces (22) each to a digital calendar system type and is adapted for each client (5) to continuously synchronize calendar information from a digital calendar system associated with the respective client (5) via the respective matching interface (22) into the calendar database (6), and wherein the appointment agreement unit (12) is configured on the basis of the calendar database ( 6) stored calendar information of the requesting client (5) and the other clients (5) of the appointment request to assign a period that is marked as free in the calendar information.

Description

The invention relates to a system for automated appointment negotiation between a plurality of clients, comprising a server which can be connected to a plurality of clients via the Internet, the server having an appointment agreement unit which is adapted to respond to a request from one of the clients related to other clients to make an appointment request to the other clients.

In the increasingly service-oriented modern business world, there is an increasing need to schedule appointments on a regular basis. More than 30 percent of employees report that the number of their meetings has increased. This is especially true of modern executives who claim to attend nearly 11 meetings every week. In the meantime, a multitude of technical aids has been established to agree on these dates: First of all, groupware platforms (such as Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Notes or Tobit David) are to be provided, which provide appropriate calendar systems that allow scheduling coordination within an organization. which operates the corresponding system

However, the working world has developed in recent years towards a strong networking with teamwork across company boundaries and has entered into intensive cooperation with specialized freelancers. However, there are no direct interfaces or functionalities in any of the groupware systems mentioned in order to carry out an automated appointment agreement from / to the outside.

In the US 2009/0281860 A1 an Internet-based "meeting scheduling system" is proposed, which runs on a connectable via the Internet with a plurality of clients server. An appointment request from a client is directed via the server to the other client selected by the user of the requesting client and answered there accordingly. Also, a plurality of concurrent appointment requests can be created.

However, there are several technical problems: First, despite the proliferation of mobile systems (appointment management on smartphones or tablets), the availability of the respective client is not given consistently. Thus, the respective client can be switched off (at night, on flights, used up battery) or not be reachable due to missing radio network coverage. On the other hand, the resulting data volumes and processing times, especially at a company boundaries, web-based solution considerably, since for each of the large number of appointment requests sent a request per participant, processed, evaluated the responses and, if necessary, deleted appointment requests and re-sent ,

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a system of the type mentioned, which allows a cross-platform appointment, is independent of the accessibility of the clients and minimizes the amount of data to be processed in the clients and in terms of data transmission.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that the server has a calendar database with calendar information for each of the clients and a universal calendar connection unit, wherein the universal calendar connection unit has a plurality of interfaces to a respective digital calendar system type and is designed to continuously provide calendar information for each client from a client associated with the respective digital calendar system via the appropriate interface in the calendar database to synchronize, and wherein the appointment agreement unit is adapted to use the stored in the calendar database calendar information of the requesting client and the other clients of the appointment request a period of time in the Calendar information is marked as not busy.

The invention is based on the consideration that the calendar information of the respective clients should be available independently of the accessibility state of the respective client for a largely independent of the accessibility of the clients appointment with little data exchange. For this, the server should have a corresponding database containing this information. The calendar information should be synchronized continuously. However, in order to ensure a cross-platform integration, a reliable synchronization of the data should be ensured regardless of the calendar system used by the respective client. For this purpose, the server has a universal calendar connection unit which has a plurality of interfaces to different digital calendar system types, such as e.g. Microsoft Exchange, Tobit David, IBM Notes and Domino, Novell Groupwise, Apple iCloud or Google Calendar.

In an advantageous embodiment, the appointment processing unit comprises a route time calculation unit which is designed to calculate route times from the home location of the respective client and / or to the appointments present in the calendar information, the time period additionally to a duration specified in the request each of the other clients comprises the respective calculated travel time. In other words, in addition to the duration of the appointment requested by the requesting client, the corresponding travel times are calculated for each client and taken into account when determining a suitable time period.

In a further advantageous embodiment, the appointment agreement unit comprises a free-time index unit, which is designed to continuously use the calendar information of each client to determine an index that characterizes the utilization status of the user of the respective client, wherein the period is additionally based on the indices of the client requesting clients and the other clients. The index is e.g. Based on the number and duration of existing appointments of the client determines and therefore gives a rough probability of whether the user of the client will accept the appointment.

In yet another advantageous embodiment, the appointment agreement unit comprises a calendar quality index unit which is designed to continuously determine an index on the basis of the calendar information of each client and the previous appointment request refusal behavior of the user, which characterizes the probability of rejection of the appointment request by the user of the client , whereby the period is additionally assigned on the basis of the indices of the other clients. In other words, based on the previous rejection behavior of the user in certain periods, places or in the temporal proximity of other appointments an index value is determined for each period, which characterizes the probability of the cancellation. Based on this, time periods are proposed automatically, in which the probability of rejection of the other clients is as low as possible.

Furthermore, the appointment-appointment unit is designed to withdraw the respective time period from all other clients upon receipt of a rejection of one of the other clients for an appointment request. Withdrawing is here understood that the period in the appointment request is deleted in all clients, if necessary, the entire appointment request is deleted, if this leaves no longer possible periods. This achieves a reduction in the amount of data processing in the clients and in particular reduces the amount of information between the user and the frontend.

This is particularly advantageous if the appointment-appointment unit is advantageously designed to direct an appointment request with different alternative time periods to the request of the client to the other clients. The multiple periods are determined according to analogous principles. This allows faster appointments to be fixed. By withdrawing the time periods for corresponding cancellations, however, this does not generate excessive processing expenditure on the other clients since periods canceled by one client are deleted directly in the appointment request in the other clients.

In another advantageous embodiment, the universal calendar connection unit is configured to only synchronize parts of the calendar information from the digital calendar system assigned to the respective client into the calendar database. In particular, these parts are advantageously time or time and location of the appointments entered in the respective calendar system. This information is sufficient for the determination of a suitable period. This reduces the amount of data transferred and also ensures appropriate data protection.

In an additional or alternative advantageous embodiment, the server has a relationship database in which a record is stored for each client, which defines access rights to the client's calendar information for other clients, and the server comprises an availability access control unit which modifies the appointment request depending on the access rights , The access rights can be individually set by each client for each other client. You can e.g. restrict access to business or private appointments, limit certain time periods for appointment requests, or give permission to enter appointment requests directly into your calendar without confirmation.

A computer program product advantageously includes soft-ware code sections that, when executed on a processor of a server, enable the server to interact in the system described above.

Another computer program product advantageously includes software code portions that, when executed on a processor of a client, enable the client to interact with the system of any one of the preceding claims. The computer program product can be designed in particular as a so-called "app" for a smartphone or tablet.

The advantages achieved by the invention are, in particular, that a fast, automated appointment is possible by depositing the calendar data of the calendar systems of each client in a server regardless of the platform. Through direct access to the temporal availability and processing of subscriptions and cancellations in real time, the Time spent agreeing a meeting to the bare minimum. The same applies to the data communication effort between the initiator and the participants of the meeting as well as the amount of data processing in the respective clients.

• – auf Basis der tatsächlichen, in Echtzeit ermittelten zeitlichen Verfügbarkeit aller benötigten Teilnehmer,
• – unter Berücksichtigung etwaiger An- und Abreisezeiten zum Termin sowie dem Ort von angrenzenden Terminen,
• – in Abhängigkeit von der jeweiligen Arbeitsbelastung der einzelnen Teilnehmer in dem möglichen Zeitraum, sowie
• – mit Hilfe der Ermittlung des spezifischen Zu- und Absage-Verhaltens des jeweiligen Teilnehmers
• – unter Berücksichtigung weiterer Parameter – wie zum Beispiel dem kulturell üblichen Planungsverhalten bzw. der in Abhängigkeit der Herkunft des Teilnehmers üblichen Zu- oder Absagezeit.

The self-learning appointment arrangement unit, which is at the core of the invention, determines an appointment directly depending on the respective composition of the participants or makes a number of appointment proposals - or where necessary due to the group composition. These are formed

• - on the basis of the actual, timely availability of all required participants,
• - taking into account any arrival and departure times for the appointment as well as the location of adjacent appointments,
• - depending on the workload of each participant in the possible period, as well
• - with the help of the determination of the specific admission and rejection behavior of the respective participant
• - Taking into account other parameters - such as the usual cultural planning behavior or depending on the origin of the participant usual arrival or cancellation time.

The above points are made possible due to the deposit of the necessary calendar data in the central web server, since on the one hand, the information is available and on the other hand, the required analysis can be performed centrally.

Both an appointment blocker and the final appointment can be entered directly into the calendars of the respective participants via the universal calendar connection unit. The appointment proposals are transmitted to a corresponding web application and app. The dynamic appointment requests automatically change by processing subscribers' subscriptions and cancellations and, if necessary, by withdrawing time periods in real time. This reduces avoidable communication and time spent on scheduling.

An embodiment of the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to drawings. Show:

1 a schematic representation of a system for automated appointment, and

2 a schematic flow diagram of an automated appointment.

The system 1 for automatic appointment scheduling includes a server 2 , on whose processor appropriate software runs, which the server 2 for the steps described below and defines the corresponding (software) units. The server 2 is over the internet 4 with a number of clients 5 connected. The clients 5 can be eg computers, tablets or smartphones. On the clients 5 Also runs a suitable software, for example in the form of an app that the clients 5 for the interaction with the system described below 1 toughen.

The system 1 is designed to provide the fastest possible, data-efficient coordination of appointments of the users of the clients 5 to enable. At the request of a user of a client 5 on the server 2 in relation to certain other clients 5 be in the server 2 one or more appropriate periods and appropriate appointment requests to the specified other clients 5 Posted. They can accept or reject the appointment requests. The result is one of all requested other clients 5 accepted appointment request in the calendars of all these clients 5 entered.

The server contains this 2 to store the data a calendar database 6 , a user database 8th and a relationship database 10 , The server includes the processing of data and communication over the Internet 2 an appointment agreement unit 12 and a universal calendar connection unit 14 , The appointment agreement unit 12 includes a travel time calculation unit 16 , a free-time index unit 18 and a calendar quality index unit 20 , The universal calendar connection unit 14 includes several interfaces 22 each to a digital calendar system type. The server 2 further comprises an availability access control unit 24 , All components are described in detail below.

The travel time calculation unit 16 is used to consider travel times and travel times when making an appointment, which are usually not entered in the calendar by the user. However, these are a great advantage for meaningful scheduling. The travel time calculation unit 16 independently determines the distance and travel time from the home location of the participant or from the locations of the temporally adjacent appointments. Detects the travel time calculation unit 16 that several participants are near another location, she also suggests this as an appropriate venue for the meeting. The travel time calculation unit 16 calculates the travel times based on the possible and preferred by the user means of transport. For internal meetings at the company location, the Travel time calculator 16 possible travel times to the meeting rooms.

A heavy workload of the meeting participant reduces the possibility of accepting an appointment or appointment proposal. The free-time index unit 18 analyzes the load status of each client 5 continuously. In addition, the free-time index unit learns 18 How the attendee accepts or rejects appointments during a specific workload On the basis of these findings, a free-time index is formed for a possible period. This indicates the probability with which the user of the client 5 make an appointment at this time or accept an appointment proposal.

The calendar quality index unit 20 learns from previous cancellations and unperceived appointments of the user of a client 5 , It analyzes how the adjacent appointments were set in this case - in terms of duration, time of day, as well as on the place. It also evaluates which other clients 5 this has occurred. From these data, the calendar quality index unit learns 20 and forms a calendar quality index. This indicates the probability with which the user of the respective client 5 reject a new proposal. As a further parameter can also intercultural characteristics of the users of the clients 5 Include in the appointment calendar with the calendar quality index.

The results of the travel time calculation unit 16 , the free-time index unit 18 and the calendar quality index unit 20 takes into account the appointment agreement unit 12 at each appointment coordination accordingly for the next appointment / appointment suggestion. If needed by one or more participants, the appointment appointment unit will guide you 12 also several appointment requests.

Appointment requests can be made through the appointment agreement unit 12 be made dynamic. Such a dynamic appointment request is meeting-centric, ie a meeting with one or more alternative time periods is requested, in contrast to classic systems with one request per appointment proposal. The dynamic appointment request will be on all requested clients 5 Updated and adjusted directly in real time on the basis of subscriptions and cancellations. As a result, the communication between the initiator and the participant as well as the processing effort for the review of no longer relevant period proposals at the client 5 effectively reduced.

The appointment agreement unit 12 In addition, in critical cases - if there is no appointment with the group named by the initiator in an acceptable time - action alternatives are proposed. These include, for example, the consideration of mandatory and optionally required participants (ie concretely the execution of a meeting without the optionally required and non-available participants) or the splitting of an overall meeting into several part-meetings with the respectively available and required part of the total -Teilnehmergruppe.

• – Kalendersystemtypen im geschäftlichen Umfeld wie z.B. Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Notes und Tobit David
• – Kalendersystemtypen im ursprünglich eher privaten Umfeld wie z.B. Apple iCloud und Google Calendar

Aufgrund des Trends zu Bring-your-own-Device/-Application bedeutet dies nicht notwendigerweise, dass über diese Dienste Kalenderdaten von Privatpersonen für private Termine oder von Geschäftsleuten für private Termine verwaltet werden. Vielmehr nutzen die ursprünglich für Privatkunden entwickelten Dienste mittlerweile eine nicht zu unterschätzende Anzahl von Freiberuflern sowie Klein- und Kleinstunternehmen.For the fast and efficient appointment arrangement and the analyzes of the above mentioned further parameters lie in the system 1 All calendar data of clients involved in a meeting 5 from the various heterogeneous system environments. The system demonstrates the integration of all relevant business and personal calendar technologies 1 the universal calendar connection unit 14 on. The universal calendar connection unit 14 has essentially to communicate with two groups of calendar system types:

• - Calendar system types in the business environment such as Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Notes and Tobit David
• - Calendar system types in the originally rather private environment such as Apple iCloud and Google Calendar

Due to the trend for bring-your-own-device / application, this does not necessarily mean that these services manage private individuals calendar data for private appointments or business appointments for private appointments. Rather, the services originally developed for private customers now use a not insignificant number of freelancers as well as small and micro enterprises.

The universal calendar connection unit 14 takes on various tasks within the scope of the required calendar-bidirectional connectivity. For the later decisions of the appointment agreement unit 12 she reads the calendars in the calendar systems of each user of a client 5 first and ensures a continuous synchronization of the "busy times" in the calendar database 6 , From this calendar database 6 be through the appointment agreement unit 12 together with the user data (from the user database 8th ) and the access rights (from the relationship database 10 ) determines the availability of a participant for the initiator.

Required for the synchronization, the already existing appointments of the user of each client 5 (in its connected business and personal calendars, usually in different systems - for example, Exchange for the business calendar and iCloud for a user's private calendar). Here are the appointment only the beginning of Appointments, the end of the appointment as well as the place of appointment of relevance. Not required Subject of the appointment as well as the actual content. The universal calendar connection unit 14 therefore only synchronizes this calendar data in the calendar database 6 ,

To reduce possible conflicts, the appointment phase of a dynamic appointment request is provided with corresponding appointment blockers in the calendar data in the calendar database 6 for the clients involved in the meeting 5 entered. This ensures that parallel appointment requests can be processed automatically and the appointment appointment unit 12 not in itself already produced scheduling conflicts. Thus, the subsequent conflict handling (only) with any scheduling conflicts during the agreement phase between the appointment agreement unit 12 and the other manual appointment entries of the user of the respective client 5 employ. Ideally, the universal calendar connection unit reaches 14 a system-high performance - then the aforementioned appointment blockers can also on the universal calendar connection unit 14 written to the user's calendar system. This significantly reduces the necessary conflict handling.

Both for an appointment blocker and for the event that has finally come about, the universal calendar connection unit writes 14 in the calendar data of all users involved in the appointment (initiator and all participants) as simultaneously as possible. The appointment must be filled in at least with the subject, beginning and end as well as the place - in the first phase the other participants are also optimally inserted in the appointment object. Furthermore, the travel times must be entered and also indicated accordingly. An enrichment of the appointment object to route calculations or travel planning for means of transport is conceivable. In addition to the permission to write to the calendar systems must be the universal calendar connection unit 14 Of course, the authorization in the respective calendar systems to be able to delete their set appointment blocker.

To access the appointment agreement unit 12 To enable "foreign" calendar data, it is necessary to provide a centralized function for "sharing" calendars with other users in other companies or systems. The access rights for this are managed by the availability access control unit 24 , The goal is to create a secure relationship between two trusted users or their clients 5 to establish. Here, different forms of cooperation are taken into account; For example, in a very open, cross-company teamwork culture, the initiator of the meeting can directly enter appointments in the calendars of the other team or meeting participants, whereas from this point of view, other "external" persons need an appointment request instead. The availability access control unit 24 is therefore self-learning in the context of the application of the system 1 in that it also downgrades this mode of operation independently if any meetings lead to a cancellation of the appointment by the subscriber at a later time due to the direct entry of an appointment in the case of an initiator-subscriber connection.

The relationships between each person become for the availability access control unit 24 in the relationship database 10 managed. The appointment agreement unit 12 can determine from this whether an automated appointment coordination is possible or how the individual meeting participants work together. The operation of the availability access control unit 24 as well as the appointment agreement unit 12 is determined by the 2 explained in more detail.

2 shows a schematic flow diagram of an automated appointment 26 in the system described so far 1 , The initiator gives in the first step 28 the participants required for the appointment to be coordinated. In step 30 checks the availability access control unit 24 First, if all participants with their clients 5 in the user database 8th contained and thus registered. The availability access control unit 24 recognizes this by a system-wide unique criterion, such as the email address of the desired subscriber.

Is not yet in the user database 8th registered person, adds the availability access control unit 24 Add the user to the appointment (initially without knowing its availabilities) and load it in step 32 via e-mail for registration in the user database 8th one.

In step 34 the requested subscriber follows the invitation and registers, ie data associated with the user is combined with the system-wide unique criterion in the user database 8th stored. As part of the registration the user connects his business and / or private calendars. From this point on, the universal calendar connection unit 14 access the calendar data in the user's specific calendar systems and the appointment appointment unit 12 so recognize the temporal availability.

The access rights between the initiator and the requested participant are in step 36 established. In this step 36 the new confirms User cooperation with the initiator. Upon registration, the user sets the access rights. He can change these at any time later. It will be in the user database 8th from the availability access control unit 24 stored. Based on the standard collaboration, the availability access control unit 24 the access rights are set up and in the relationship database 10 saved.

During step 36 The user may modify the default collaboration according to individual needs of each other user. Here, both the business and private context is considered. Furthermore, it is possible to give each user an individual time frame for possible appointments.

For example, the user A can not allow his business and private contacts to also enter appointments directly. The availability access control unit 24 will consider this for cooperation and to the appointment unit 12 handed over accordingly. Consequently, it will always request appointments via dynamic appointment request when an appointment is initiated by user B with respect to user A.

On the other hand, when user A initiates the coordination of an appointment with user B, and B allows his contacts to automatically schedule appointments, the availability access control unit hands over 24 the appointment agreement unit 12 that for this direction of the appointment agreement no dynamic appointment request is needed - instead, the appointments are from the universal calendar connection unit 14 directly registered.

In step 38 then takes place an access of the appointment agreement unit 14 on the calendar data in the calendar database 6 for each user requested. Was the respective user already in step 28 already registered, follow step 30 first step 40 in which it is checked whether access rights have already been defined between the initiator and the respective subscriber. If this is not the case, first step 36 executed. If this is already the case, then step 38 directly executed.

In step 38 determines the appointment agreement unit 14 one or more free time periods in their calendars, which if possible correspond to the respective habits for all participants, taking into account the in travel time calculation unit 16 , Free-time index unit 18 and calendar quality index unit 20 calculated data and considering the access rights.

In step 42 It is checked whether all participants have allowed the initiator in the access rights to have appointments automatically entered. If this is the case, done in step 44 a direct entry in the calendar data. Otherwise, in step 45 a dynamic appointment request, as explained above. This shortens the data processing times for all clients 5 drastically: the appointment agreement unit 12 Determines the time frame (s) for the initiator and transfers them to the clients via push notification 5 of the participant. As soon as the first participant in step 46 The client responds to this and rejects or accepts an appointment proposal 5 this information via http request to the server 2 , This will ship immediately back in step 45 updated push notifications to the clients 5 the other participant.

For example, if you have a dynamic appointment request, have three participants in step 50 If the decisions of the second participant have led to the fact that there are no more common appointment options, the dynamic appointment request will be in step 52 not completed successfully. The appointment agreement unit 12 automatically notifies the client 5 of the initiator as well as the clients 5 of the first and third participants. The initiator of the appointment receives new period proposals and the participants will be in the clients 5 entered the unsuccessful termination in a history.

Once the participants have agreed to a common period sends the appointment agreement unit 12 in step 44 a push notification about a successfully fixed appointment to all participants (initiator and participant). At the same time carries the universal calendar connection unit 14 the final appointment in the calendar systems of the participants and the initiator and deletes any appointment blocker.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

 system

2

 server

4

 Internet

5

 client

6

 Calendar database

8th

 User Database

10

 Relationship database

12

 Appointments Unit

14

 Universal Calendar connecting unit

16

 Travel time calculator

18

 Free-time index unit

20

 Calendar quality index unit

22

 interface

24

 Availability access control unit

26

 automated appointment

28, 30

32, 34

36, 38,

40, 42

44, 45

46, 48

50, 52

 step

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents listed by the applicant has been generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• US 2009/0281860 A1 [0004]

Claims (10)

System ( 1 ) for automated appointment between a plurality of clients ( 5 ) comprising one over the Internet with a plurality of clients ( 5 ) connectable server ( 2 ), whereby the server ( 2 ) an appointment agreement unit ( 12 ) adapted to respond to a request from one of the clients ( 5 ), which are based on a number of other clients ( 5 ), an appointment request to the other clients ( 5 ), characterized in that the server ( 2 ) a calendar database ( 6 ) with calendar information for each of the clients ( 5 ) and a universal calendar connection unit ( 14 ), wherein the universal calendar connection unit ( 14 ) a plurality of interfaces ( 22 ) to each of a digital calendar system type and is adapted for each client ( 5 ) continuous calendar information from one of the respective client ( 5 ) associated with the digital calendar system via the appropriate interface ( 22 ) into the calendar database ( 6 ), and wherein the appointment agreement unit ( 12 ) is designed, on the basis of the calendar database ( 6 ) stored calendar information of the requesting client ( 5 ) and the other clients ( 5 ) assign the appointment request a period that is marked as not occupied in the calendar information. System ( 1 ) according to claim 1, wherein the appointment processing unit ( 12 ) a travel time calculation unit ( 16 ), which is adapted to travel times from the home location of the respective client ( 5 ) and / or to the appointments present in the calendar information, the period being in addition to a duration specified in the request for each of the other clients ( 5 ) comprises the respective calculated travel time. System ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the appointment agreement unit ( 12 ) a free-time index unit ( 18 ), which is adapted to use the calendar information of each client ( 5 ) continuously determine an index that determines the load state of the user of the respective client ( 5 ), whereby the period is additionally determined on the basis of the indexes of the requesting client ( 5 ) and the other clients ( 5 ). System ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the appointment agreement unit ( 12 ) a calendar quality index unit ( 20 ), which is adapted to use the calendar information of each client ( 5 ) and the user's previous deadline rejection behavior to continuously determine an index that determines the likelihood of the client's user requesting the appointment request to be rejected ( 5 ), whereby the period is additionally determined by the indexes of the other clients ( 5 ). System ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the appointment agreement unit ( 12 ) is adapted, upon receipt of a rejection of one of the other clients ( 5 ) on an appointment request the respective period for all other clients ( 5 ) withdraw. System ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the appointment agreement unit ( 12 ) is adapted to an appointment request with different alternative periods on the request of the client ( 5 ) to the other clients ( 5 ). System ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the universal calendar connection unit ( 14 ) is adapted from the calendar information from the respective client ( 5 ) associated digital calendar system ( 5 ) only parts in the calendar database ( 6 ) to synchronize. System ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the server has a relationship database ( 10 ), in which for each client ( 5 ) a record is stored, which access rights to the calendar information of the client ( 5 ) for other clients ( 5 ) and where the server ( 2 ) an availability access control unit ( 24 ) which modifies the appointment request depending on the access rights. Computer program product containing software code sections which, when stored on a processor of a server ( 2 ), the server ( 2 ) for interaction in the system ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims. Computer program product containing software code sections which, when stored on a client ( 5 ), the client ( 5 ) to cooperate with the system according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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