The organization I currently work at is still using Novell Groupwise Calendar. There is going to be a transition to the Exchange Server somewhere down the line but till then as an Apple user I would love to just use my iCal so I can have it sync with my iPhone Calendar app. To get this to work I went through the following roundabout method.
You will need the following tools:
- A free Google Calendar Account (calendar.google.com)
- gMigrate
- BusySync
Here is how it works. You upload your calendar from Groupwise calendar using gMigrate. Once all your calendar items are uploaded to Google Calendar use BusySync on your mac to subscribe to your Google Calendar account. This will fetch the calendar events from your Google Calendar into your iCal.
BusySync is a 2 way sync, so whenever you insert something in your iCal, BusySync will automatically upload that event to your Google Calendar too (depending that you have BusySync set to auto sync at certain intervals).
Unfortunately gMigrate is not a 2 way sync so it would not take your calendar event from Google Calendar and insert them into your Groupwise Calendar. But really this shouldn’t be a problem, you are just concerned about getting your calendar events that others might have proxy access to and may have inserted in your calendar to transfer into iCal.
What about sharing your calendar with other users? The method I chose was to set my Google Calendar as a public calendar and share the URL with whomever needed access to my calendar.
The second way is to publish your calendar from iCal to a free account you can setup at iCal Exchange and then provide your URL to the calendar to whomever needs access to your calendar.
Drawbacks of this system:
- gMigrate has to be manually run for whatever interval you would like information pulled from your Groupwise Calendar into your Google Calendar.
- Your calendar users would have to access your calendar in a different method because you are special.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
did you look at the programs from companionlink ?
http://www.companionlink.com/products/iclink-groupwise.html
http://www.companionlink.com/products/android.html
I’m also trying to find a solution
John,
Thank you for the links, I think CompanionLink Pro is an excellent solution for anyone using a windows PC and an iPhone. They would have to shell out an extra $100.00 out of their pocket to be able to do so though.
My story is slightly different, where I prefer using iCal over Groupwise for my calendaring purposes (as a matter of fact for any purpose) hence gMigrate.
My organization was going to be moving to Exchange by the end of this year but that just might be still under consideration due to economic conditions and the resulting budget cuts.