Meet Feature on Interstride
Objective
This functionality streamlines the process for students to schedule appointments with various university offices, including career services, International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS), admissions, and alumni relations. By enabling advisors from these offices to utilize the feature simultaneously, students can efficiently book appointments with different departments through a unified system. Advisors can also manage their availability by syncing their calendars (Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook Calendar) with the Interstride portal, ensuring real-time updates and preventing scheduling conflicts.
Key Features
Student Appointment Booking:
- Students can easily schedule appointments with advisors through the portal.
- Real-time availability ensures that students only view and select open time slots.
- Advisor profiles provide students with insights to choose the most suitable match.
Advisor Calendar Sync:
- Advisors can seamlessly sync their Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook Calendar with the Interstride portal.
- Synced calendars automatically update availability, excluding times marked as booked or busy.
- Advisors can specify their preferred meeting mode (Zoom or in-person) directly in their calendar settings.
1. Appointment Booking for Students
- Students log in to the Interstride portal and navigate to the Tools > Meet section.
- They select their desired advisor from the list of available options across departments.
- The portal displays the advisor’s real-time availability based on their synced calendar.
- Students choose a suitable time slot and confirm their booking.
- Both the student and the advisor receive a confirmation email with appointment details, including the meeting mode (Zoom or in-person).
- For advisors with synced calendars, new bookings are automatically saved in the system.
Calendar Sync for Advisors
- Advisors log in to the Admin portal and access the Meet > Calendar section.
- They select their preferred calendar platform (Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook Calendar).
- Advisors authorize the Interstride portal to access and sync their calendar data.
- The portal imports availability, marking any booked or busy slots as unavailable.
- Availability updates in real-time as advisors’ calendars change.
- Advisors can review or adjust synced availability and meeting preferences (Zoom or in-person) in the Admin portal at any time.
Integration Details
Google Calendar Integration
- The platform integrates with Google’s API to sync advisors’ calendars bi-directionally.
- Changes made in either Google Calendar or the Interstride portal are reflected instantly.
- Secure OAuth authentication ensures privacy and safe access to calendar data.
Microsoft Outlook Calendar Integration
- The platform integrates with Microsoft Graph API for seamless bi-directional syncing.
- Real-time updates ensure consistent availability across platforms.
- Secure OAuth authentication guarantees data safety during the integration process.
