I am having our Exchange Admin create a public calendar.

The goal is to allow people to request time for a resource.

One key to the criteria for success of this effort is to ensure that a
exact amount of time is alotted to the time request based on
historical data. The historical data will be stored in a SQL Server
DB.

For example: if a requestor want to request a resource for "task X"
then I wish to invoke a DB call to find the average time for task X
then "automagically" set the start and end time in the Event interface
in Outlook. The start and end time should also be read only. This also
implies that "task X" is a predefined item in a drop down list in the
Event interface.

I have been writing software with various products since 1997. I can
handle the DB part without much problem. Building the form for outlook
is a foreign topic to me.

Is this possible with a reasonable amount of effort?

If so can someone please supply a few pointers? Any suggested book
titles that will lead me in the right direction?