APSE APpointment SErvice

APSE is a tool to schedule team events.

APSE starts a survey among the possible attendees and then decides whether it's worth to start the event or cancel due to lack of participants.

It's specialized to

• define recurring events - for example a weekly soccer game on tuesdays at 8 PM.
• query all possible attendees to confirm or deny their participation - for example at 8 AM.
• decide if the event takes place dependent on the number of comfirmations gathered. For example minimum of 6 confirmations until 4PM.
• send notifications to inform the attendees if the event takes place.

Technical terms

• participant - person that has confirmed to participate in an event.
• attendees - circle of persons that are allowed to join the event. Possible participants.
• event - instance of an event with a certain start date / time. In an event series (interval in event definition is set up) an event is created for each interval.
• event definition - the template of an event.
  • event name
  • start date / time - start of the (first) event
  • interval - optional time interval between events of a series
• query - survey among attendees to confirm or deny their participation at an event.
• decision - determination if number of participants is sufficient to confirm the event.

Process

1. define event (start date, query duration, decision duration, minimum number of participants, attendees)
2. repeatedly (using a scheduler) select all eventDefinitions with queryDateTime (= startDateTime - durationQueryBeforeEvent) in the past.
3. for each selected event definition
   1. check if event with same startDateTime already exists
   2. create events with startDateTime, attendees, eventStatus = INVITATION and all other values of the definition
   3. if interval is set up
      1. update event definition with new start date: startDateTime = startDateTime + interval
      2. else delete event definition
4. select all events with eventStatus = INVITATION.
5. for each selected event
   1. if (startDateTime - durationDecisionBeforeEvent is in the past) decide
   2. else invite
6. wait for confirmations / cancellations
   1. update attendeeStatus = CONFIRMED / CANCELLED depending on selected answer in invitation

invite

1. select all attendees of the event with status attendeeStatus == IDLE
2. for each selected attendee: send invitation and set attendeeStatus = INVITED

decide

1. count participants of the event (attendees with attendeeStatus == CONFIRMED)
2. if number of participants >= minimumAttendees
   1. send confirmation message to all attendees
   2. update eventStatus = CONFIRMED
3. else
   1. send cancellation message to all attendees
   2. update eventStatus = CANCELLED

Sample data

EventDefinition

{
    "_id": {
        "$oid": "5da38cb084c5a05b1865e4e4"
    },
    "eventName": "Test Event",
    "startDateTime": {
        "$date": "2020-09-21T09:51:30.000Z"
    },
    "interval": "PT4M",
    "durationQueryBeforeEvent": "PT3M",
    "durationDecisionBeforeEvent": "PT1M",
    "queryDateTime": {
        "$date": "2020-09-21T09:48:30.000Z"
    },
    "decisionDateTime": {
        "$date": "2020-09-21T09:50:30.000Z"
    },
    "minimumAttendees": 1,
    "active": true,
    "attendeeDefinitions": [{
        "firstName": "Andi",
        "email": "[email protected]",
        "active": true,
        "attendeeStatus": "IDLE"
    }, {
        "firstName": "Andreas",
        "email": "[email protected]",
        "active": true,
        "attendeeStatus": "IDLE"
    }],
    "_class": "de.nikem.apse.data.entitiy.EventDefinitionEntity"
}

Event

{
    "_id": {
        "$oid": "5e5450edc3dc4a078ef3d403"
    },
    "eventDefinitionId": "5da38cb084c5a05b1865e4e4",
    "eventName": "Test Event",
    "startDateTime": {
        "$date": "2020-02-24T22:43:30.000Z"
    },
    "queryDateTime": {
        "$date": "2020-02-24T22:40:30.000Z"
    },
    "decisionDateTime": {
        "$date": "2020-02-24T22:42:30.000Z"
    },
    "minimumAttendees": 1,
    "attendees": [{
        "firstName": "Andi",
        "email": "[email protected]",
        "active": true,
        "attendeeStatus": "IDLE"
    }, {
        "firstName": "Andreas",
        "email": "[email protected]",
        "active": true,
        "attendeeStatus": "IDLE"
    }],
    "eventStatus": "INVITATION",
    "_class": "de.nikem.apse.data.entitiy.EventEntity"
}