Hidden Treasure in your Calendar Data

We at Sumatra revel in our reputation as quantitative calendar geeks. One of the means we use to show our prowess with calendar data comes from some of the statistics we can read so readily from Meeting Maker databases, of which the following data we ran on February 8, 2008 is a sanitized example.

Some of the most interesting statistics, the number of meetings that are current is only 2.53% of the total meeting volume. Activities track almost exactly the same at 2.56%. As some of you have heard us say: Our highly advanced mathematics has proven that most events have already happened.

You can expect the same statistics from your Exchange calendar data on an ongoing basis.

Overall Stats

Item	Value	% Total
8Feb_DB_v8.8.0.7.mdb File size:	562,237,440.
Total number of meetings:	62,560.
Meeting timeframe:	1/1/1940 5:00:00 AM-12/31/2039 12:30:00 PM
Total number of meetings newer than 2/8/2008:	1,591.	2.54%
Total number of meetings older than 2/8/2008:	60,969.	97.45%
Total number of meetings without any mapped users:	62,560.	100.00%
Total number of meetings without any mapped users and newer than 2/8/2008:	1,591.	2.54%
Total number of Guests:	211468
Total number of guests attending meetings newer than 2/8/2008:	7,791.	3.68%
Total number of guests attending meetings older than 2/8/2008:	203,677.	96.31%
Total number of guests attending meetings without any mapped users:	209,603.	99.11%
Total number of guests attending meetings without any mapped users and newer than 2/8/2008:	7,791.	3.68%
Number of foreign guests	0	0.00%
Total number of activities:	1,869,557.
Activity timeframe:	1/1/1940-1/2/2040 8:00:00 AM
Total number of activities newer than 2/8/2008:	48,026.	2.56%
Total number of activities older than 2/8/2008:	1,821,531.	97.43%
Total number of Activities without any mapped users:	1,869,557.	100.00%
Total number of Activities without any mapped users and newer than 2/8/2008:	48,026.	2.56%
Overall Timeframe:	1/1/1940-1/2/2040 8:00:00 AM
Number of days:	36526

When we turn our attention to the top meeting users, we see some other interesting results. From the same server with approximately 2000 users, the top ten users account for almost 20% of the total meeting activity, account for about 15% of all guests, and about 3% of all activities. While your mileage may vary, it will not vary by much.

Top Meeting Users

User	Num Mtgs	% Total Mtgs	Num Guests	% Total Guests	Num Actvy	% Total Actvy	Grand Total	% Grand Total
AV Student Staff	3,025.	4.83%	5,939.	2.80%	563.	0.03%	3,588.	0.18%
Bela Bartok	1,488.	2.37%	5,514.	2.60%	3,134.	0.16%	4,622.	0.23%
Adam Ant	1,281.	2.04%	4,516.	2.13%	2,799.	0.14%	4,080.	0.21%
Claudette Colbert	1,084.	1.73%	3,318.	1.56%	12,446.	0.66%	13,530.	0.70%
Deanna Durbin	1,065.	1.70%	2,385.	1.12%	2,045.	0.10%	3,110.	0.16%
Erik Estrada	1,031.	1.64%	2,755.	1.30%	4,655.	0.24%	5,686.	0.29%
Felix Frankfurter	906.	1.44%	2,029.	0.95%	10,234.	0.54%	11,140.	0.57%
Research Team Conf Room	895.	1.43%	2,596.	1.22%	289.	0.01%	1,184.	0.06%
Gary Gilmore	857.	1.36%	1,845.	0.87%	3,590.	0.19%	4,447.	0.23%
Harry Hope	755.	1.20%	2,375.	1.12%	2,947.	0.15%	3,702.	0.19%
Top User Total	12,387.	19.80%	33,272.	15.73%	42,702.	2.28%	55,089.	2.85%
Grand Total	62,560.	-	211,468.	-	1,869,557.	-	1,932,117.	-

Now let's take a look at one of everyone's favorite subjects: Meetings and Recurring Meetings. As you can see, over 90% of meeting objects are one-time meetings. Of the recurring meetings, the most common are "Daily_Every_N" (which when N=7 means a weekly meeting).

Meeting Frequency Profile

Day	Num Recurring Meetings	% Total Meetings	% Total Recurring Meetings
ONCE	58,824.	94.02%	-
DAILY_EVERY_N	2,991.	4.78%	80.05%
DAILY_DAYS_OF_WEEK	364.	0.58%	9.74%
WEEKLY	315.	0.50%	8.43%
MONTHLY	66.	0.10%	1.76%
Grand Total	62560	-	5.97%

Recurring Meeting Profile

Day	Num Recurring Meetings	% TotalMeetings	% Total RecurringMeetings
Finite end date	3,568.	5.70%	95.50%
Ongoing (no end date)	168.	0.26%	4.49%
Grand Total	3736	5.97%	-