Calendar Getting Started

Getting Started

One of the first things you should do when getting started with the CB calendar is to enter your church's room names into the system.  To do this, start by clicking the “Room Names” link found in the left nav bar and enter your room names on that page.

You can also initialize Calendar User Group. If you have groups in your church that have many events, this feature lets you and your members view and print the calendar for individual groups. Click on the “Add User Groups” to enter the names of your groups. If you have a small congregation and this wouldn’t be a useful feature, just skip this step. Adding this feature adds a dropdown list at the top of your calendar and on several Admin pages. So, don’t do it unless it adds value for your members.

Adding Events to the Calendar

To define a new event select the “Add New Event” link in the left nav bar.

When you add a new event to the calendar the first thing you must do is to select the radio buttons that define whether the event is a one-time event, a recurring event or a consecutive-day event.

· A one-time event is one that occurs once on a specific date and time.

· The best way to understand recurring events is to give you a few examples. An event that:  occurs every Wednesday, one that occurs every month on the first and third Thursday, an event that occurs alternately every other week etc.  You define the start date and optionally a stop date for each recurring event. If you want to you can get very creative defining recurring events. There are numerous mouse-over help buttons on the Add New Events page.

· A consecutive-day event starts on a specified date and runs every day until a last or final date.

Adding a One Time Event to the Calendar

The required fields are:

1)      the event name

2)      the room(s) to reserve

3)       the start time and duration

4)      the date of occurrence (Type a date or use the small calendar to set it.)

Click “Submit” to save the event.

Adding a Consecutive-Day Event To the Calendar

1)    Select the Consecutive-Day radio button

2)      enter the event name

3)      the room(s) to reserve

4)      the start time and duration

5)     the first and last date of occurrence.

Click “Submit” to save the event.

Hint:

In some cases you may have an event that occurs on consecutive days, but does not occur for one or more days in that interval. You may find it convenient to define it as a consecutive-days event and then use the “Skip a Date” feature to turn the event off on some days. (See the paragraph below titled “Skipping a Date in a Recurring Event or Consecutive-Days Event”).

Adding a Recurring Event to the Calendar

Similar to a one-time event you use the “Add New Event” form to set up a recurring event. On that form:

1)         Select the “Recurring Event” radio button. (When you do this you will notice that additional fields are displayed in the middle of the form.  Those fields let you define the recurrence pattern. )

2)      Enter event name, room to reserve, start time and duration.

3)      Set the “First Occurrence” date

4)      Click the boxes that define the day(s) of the week that the event “occurs on”

5)      Click the “Week of month” check boxes.  See examples below.

6)      Enter other optional fields, such as contact information

7)      Submit the form.

Recurring Event Examples

The following examples assume you have entered an event name, selected a room and setup an event starting time.

1)      Set up an event that occurs on the 2nd Wednesday of each month starting on 1/12/2011.

            a.       Enter that date in the first occurrence field.  (That date is the second Wed. in January)

            b.      Click the “show me” button. (That will cause the box labeled “Wed” and the box labeled 2^nd to be checked for you.)

2)      Set up an event that occurs on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month starting on 1/12/2011.

            a.      Enter that date in the first occurrence field.

            b.      Click the “show me” button. (That will cause the box labeled “Wed” and the box labeled 2^nd to be checked for you.

            c.       Check the box labeled 4th

3)      Set up an event that occurs every Sunday starting on 1/2/2011.

            a.      Enter that date in the first occurrence field. (That date is the first Sunday in January)

            b.      Click the “show me” button. (That will cause the box labeled “Sun” and the box labeled 1^st to be checked for you.)

            c.       Click the box labeled “every”. (That will uncheck the box labeled 1^st)

4)      Set up an event that occurs on the first and third Sunday starting on 1/2/2011.

            a.      Enter that date in the first occurrence field. (That date is the first Sunday in January)

            b.      Click the “show me” button. (That will cause the box labeled “Sun” and the box labeled 1^st to be checked for you.)

            c.       Click the box labeled 3^rd. (Both 1st and 3^rd will then be checked.

Events That Have a Stop Date

To set up a recurring event that has a stop date do the following:

1)      Follow the instructions described  above in “Adding a Recurring Event to the Calendar”

2)      Put a check in the “Has a stop date” checkbox.

3)      Enter a date in the “Last Occurrence” field.

When Event Names Are Long

It is best to keep event names short. The screen version of the calendar will display event names no matter how long they are, but when you print the calendar long names will be truncated to make them fit in the squares that make up the calendar. One solution to long event names is to type a back-slash character in the event name. When the event name is displayed in the calendar the back-slash will be replaced with a line feed. The event name will take up two lines, but be shorter.

There is no problem with long event names when the calendar is viewed on the screen. On the screen the calendar will automatically be made as wide as necessary to fit long names. 

About the Admin Calendar

CB gives you two versions of the calendar: the Public Calendar and the Admin Calendar. The Public Calendar is what the members see on your church website. The Admin Calendar displays everything that displays on the Public Calendar but it also displays “admin only” items and has other admin features. The Admin Calendar will do the following:

1)      It displays “Admin only” events.  To do this check the “Show on admin only” checkbox on the Add New Event page.

2)      It displays Admin notes. To do this use the “Holiday Definitions” page and make a holiday or note and check the box titled “Show this note on the Admin calendar”.

3)      It lets the Admin select an event to edit.  To do this display the Admin calendar and click the radio button titled “edit event”. Then click on the event name of the event you want to edit. The page will then change to one that displays all the information about that event and allows you to change it.

4)      It lets the Admin view additional details about an event including: Event contact information, event setup instructions and recurring event information. To do this, the radio button “show event details” should be selected, then click on an event name.

5)      It lets the Admin edit the Event Title and Event Description individually for each occurrence of an event. To do this the radio button “show event details” should be selected, then click on an event name. Then edit the Event Title and Event Description. This feature is useful for events such as the worship service which may have a different sermon topic etc. each week.

6)      It lets the Admin change the event start time for an individual occurrence of a recurring event. For instance,  if a recurring event occurs every week at 7:00 PM, but on one particular week it starts at 7:30 PM. To reflect this, use the Admin Calendar and click on the event name on that date.  The Event Details box will pop up. There you will see the label “change the time on this date”. Use the hours and minutes drop downs to set the time to 7:30. Then click Submit.

7)      It lets the admin skip a particular occurrence of a recurring event. To do this view the Event Details box as in 6 above and click the check box titled “skip this date”. Click Submit.

8)      It lets the Admin clone an event.  To do this the radio button “clone event” should be selected, then click on the name of the event you want to clone. The page will then change to one that displays all the information about the new event. Before you save this new event you will need to change the start date, time or room so that it will not cause a room assignment conflict with the original event. Or you could uncheck the box at the bottom titled “test for double booking” and then save the cloned event.  Then you could edit the original event, such as adding a stop date to the original recurring event. (i.e. Check the box “Has a stop date” when editing that event.)

Editing a Calendar Event

To edit a calendar event you can start the process in either of two ways:

1)      Click on the link titled “Select & Edit Events” in the left nav bar and view the list of either the one-time events, recurring events or consecutive day events. Then select an event to edit by clicking the “Select” button next to the event name.

2)      The second way to edit an event is to view the Admin Calendar and find the event displayed there. Select the radio button titled “edit event”. Click on the event name to display the edit page.

The “Modify Event” page will be displayed by actions 1 or 2 above. Change any of the fields and then click the “Save Changes” button.

Deleteing a Calendar Event

Events can be deleted using the Select & Edit Event page

1)      The first thing to do is check the box at the top of that page titled "Allow Deleting". This box is here so you won't inadvertently delete an event.

2)      Then find the row that displays the event you wish to delete and, if you need to, scroll to the far right to see the word "Delete". Click on that to delete the event.

Skipping a Date in a Recurring Event or Consecutive-Days Event

If you have a recurring event and it is not going to be held on one or more of its scheduled dates you can tell the calendar to skip it (not display it) in the Public Calendar.  To do this:

1)      Display the Admin Calendar and view the event on the date you wish to skip.

2)      See that the “show event details” radio button is selected.

3)      Click on the event name to pop up the Event Details window.

4)      Check the box titled “skip date”

5)      Click the submit button.

In the Admin calendar the event name is displayed on dates that it is skipped. However, the event name is displayed followed by the word “skipped” on any of those dates.

Changing the Start Time for One Date of a Recurring Event or Consecutive-Days Event

You can change the start time on one particular date of a recurring event. Do the following:

1)      Display the Admin Calendar and view the event on the date you wish to skip.

2)      See that the “show event details” radio button is selected.

3)      Click on the event name to pop up the Event Details window.

4)      There you will see the label “change the time on this date”. Use the hours and minutes drop downs to set the time.

5)      Click the submit button

If you had wanted to change the start time for all dates of a recurring event see the instructions above titled “Editing a Calendar Event”.

Setting up an Event That Repeats, But Has No Pattern

If you have an event that occurs several times, but does not have a pattern, there is a way to save some time as you set up the multiple occurrences.

The steps are:

1)      Set up the event for its first occurrence as a one-time event, but do not submit yet.

2)      Uncheck the box labeled “clear fields upon Submit”. (You will find it alongside the Submit button.)

3)      Click Submit

4)      Change the date and time to that of the next occurrence and then submit again.

5)      Repeat step 4 for each additional occurrence.

  Adding a Holiday or Note to the Calendar

To add a holiday or note to the calendar use the link titled “Holiday Definitions” found in the left nav bar.  On the CB calendar there is very little difference between putting a holiday or note on the calendar.  To define a holiday, do the following:

1)      In the field titled “Holiday Name or brief note” enter the text to display on the calendar. Keep it brief and view the printed calendar to see how many letters will fit when printed.

2)      Select a text color

3)      Select the date you want the holiday to display on.

4)      Check the box titled “Every Year”. (Only for holidays that occur on the same date every year)

5)      Click the Submit button

Notes have more variability than holidays.  Some of the things you may want to do with a note:

1)      Check the box “Show this note on the admin calendar, but not the members”

2)      Display a note every month on a particular day. After you enter the date of first occurrence select the box titled “Every Month”. 

3)      Enter a note that does not display on a particular date, but it displays in a box without a date.  To do this:

      a)      You must specify the month of occurrence by entering any date in that month in the “Date of Occurrence” field.

      b)       Check the box titled “this note has no specific date”.

4)      Repeat a note every month and display it in a box without a date. To do this check both “Every Month” and “this note has no specific date”. 

Printing a Calendar

You can print a calendar from both the Public Calendar and the Admin Calendar. In each case you can print a one page or two page calendar.

Printing a Calendar From The "Calendar Print Choices" Page

The "Calendar Print Choices" page gives you more options.  The printing options are:

1)      You can choose to print in color or black and white, rather than the printer default.

2)       On one calendar you can print the events of all user groups, a single group or any combination of user groups. (Just check the boxes before printing.)

3)      You can print the one page calendar in the standard one month format or print two, three or four weeks per page.

4)      You can print the two page calendar. That format is two facing 8 ˝ x 11 pages. You can print one month or four consecutive weeks.

View Room Schedules

The View Room Schedules page lets you select a date and room. It will then display a graphical view of how that room is scheduled.

Print Room Setup Information

You can print room setup information that will assist the custodial staff and others who must set up rooms prior to an event. It is a listing of events in chronological order. It displays the maximum number of people for each event, the block of time that is set aside to allow for room setup and the details of the setup that is required.

A Review of Calendar Features

It is a web calendar that embeds in your Church Website:

1)      Your webmaster can embed the calendar link in your church website and the calendar will display month after month. 

2)      Members can click on an event name to get details of the event.

3)      They can print the calendar in beautiful high resolution.

It lets your staff maintain room reservations:

1)      The calendar maintains room reservations. 

2)      It lets you know if you try to double-book a room.

3)      You’ll have contact, rental and room setup information at your finger tips.

Help for your Admin:

1)      All event setup fields are on a single page: event name, description, date, time etc.

2)      You can set up a recurring event and it displays month after month.

3)      You can print the calendar in three flexible formats: single page, double page and multiple weeks that cross month boundaries.

4)      You can maintain administrative events and notes that only display on the Admin calendar.

5)   You and your members can display or print a calendar for each room in your church.

6)   You and your members can display or print a calendar for each user group in your church.

7)   Group leaders or Admin can print a calendar that combines the events of any number of user groups. 

Automation Pages for Your Church Website

Ask us about embedding an Upcoming Events page and an Upcoming Worship Services page into your church website. Those pages display a list of event names and descriptions that you maintain with the calendar. It means less work for your webmaster and a website that is easy to keep up-to-date.

How to Turn Off Mouse-Over Help

After a while you may want to turn off mouse-over help. To do this, uncheck the box at the very top of the left nav bar that is titled "mouse-over help".