DGFUMC Calendar Help

Introduction

The DGFUMC calendar is intended to serve two purposes:

1. to inform the congregation of the time, location, and description of church events.
2. to reserve rooms and other church resources for those events and prevent scheduling conflicts.

A web-based calendar is the most efficient way of satisfying these two objectives. This is because it allows those who organize events to enter the information themselves and keep it updated with changes using a web browser. Furthermore, as soon as the information is entered, it can be viewed by others without any further action. This ensures that any changes to the calendar are made public rapidly.

Although a web-based calendar provides the necessary mechanism for scheduling and broadcasting church events, it is the responsibility of those who maintain it, the editors, to update the information in a timely fashion whenever there are changes. This is important if the congregation are going to have trust in the accuracy of the web calendar.

---

Calendar Users

There are three types of users of the DGFUMC calendar.

Public

Anyone with access to a web browser is able to view the public approved events on the calendar, either individually or listed in day and month views. They access the calendar by visiting <http://www.dgfumc.org/calendar/>, which gives a view of the current month. From there, the years, months, days, and individual events, highlighted in red, are all hyperlinks to other calendar views. They can also use the List View button to list events according to various criteria, e.g., location.

Editors

Those allowed to add events to the calendar are known as editors. They are assigned unique usernames and passwords (which they can change), which allow them to login to the system using the Login button at the bottom of every page in the public calendar. Once they have logged in, they can do the following:

View all events on the calendar

Editors can see all the events, including unapproved, private, or setup events that don't appear in the public calendar. They are listed in the same way as other events but have particular background colors that designate the event type or status.

View lists of church locations and resources

When they login, editors have their own home page from where they can view lists of locations, resources, event categories, and other calendar editors. They can also update their own contact details and passwords. They can return to this page at any time by using the Admin Page button at the bottom of every calendar view.

Add an event to the calendar

At the bottom of every calendar view, there is an Add Event button. This leads to a form where the editor can specify all the details (time, location, description, etc) of the event. However, the event must be subsequently approved by a supervisor.

Supervisors

Supervisors are editors with the additional responsibility of approving events before they appear in the public calendar. They are also responsible for maintaining the lists of editors, locations, resources, and categories.

---

Events

The DGFUMC calendar has several different types of event, which dictate whether an event is listed in the public calendar or not, and how it will appear. The following types are defined:

Event

This is the basic event type. Once a supervisor has approved the event, it will appear in the public event lists, along with the time of the event and the location (except in the month view). It will be displayed without any background color. If an event has been requested but not yet approved, it will not appear in public event lists. If you are logged in, an unapproved event will be displayed with a blue background (Note: this applies to all events).

Special

This is the same as a normal event, but the title of the event will be in bold font in the event lists. Choose this type for events that are of particular importance or should interest a wide range of people in the congregation. The worship services are listed as special events.

Banner

Choose this type if the entry is to be displayed as a banner for the whole day. It does not have a scheduled time during the day, but appears as a hyperlink at the head of each day's event lists. It could be used to describe an all-day event that is occurring off-site, e.g., a mission trip, or a special day in the church, e.g., Dedication Sunday. The hyperlink is there so that people can read an explanation of the banner.

Holiday

This is the same as a banner event, but it is formatted in navy, rather than the usual hyperlink color of red. It is used to designate public holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, that require no explanation.

Private

This is the same as a normal event, but it will not appear in public event lists. It is used to allow locations and resources to be allocated to private events. If you are logged in, these events will be displayed with a green background once they have been approved.

Setup

This is an event designed to contain setup instructions. It will not appear in public event lists. By having separate private and setup categories, it is possible to generate lists that contain private events, but not setup events, and vice versa. If you are logged in, these events will be displayed with a yellow background once they have been approved.

---

Logging In

Editors and supervisors must initially login to the DGFUMC Calendar in order to view private, setup, and unapproved events, and to add or update events. They can do this either by :

1. Visiting <http://www.dgfumc.org/calendar/login.html> and entering their username and password.
2. Clicking on the Login button at the bottom of every calendar page.

You will not need to login every time if you use the same browser. Your username and password will be stored in encrypted form for an extended period. When you next view the calendar, you will be automatically logged in. After this period expires, you will need to login again.

---

Adding an Event

Once you are logged in as an editor or supervisor, you can add a new event by clicking on the Add Event button at the bottom of each calendar page. This opens a web form, in which you enter the details of the event.

Event Fields

Title

This is the title of the event as it will appear in all the calendar listings. It should clearly describe the nature of the event, but should not be too long or some of the listings, particularly the month view, will become too congested.

Type

Choose an event type from one of the options displayed.

Description

This is your chance to give a complete description of the event that will be displayed if someone clicks on the event. It can be as long (or short) as you like as it will only be displayed in the event view. We suggest entering reasonably comprehensive information here, particularly if you want to encourage people to attend. If those viewing the calendar never find useful information here, they will stop clicking on events and just scan the titles.

HTML Formatting

If you are familiar with HTML, event descriptions can contain simple formatting instructions to make them clearer to read. For example, you can make the text appear as bold by surrounding it with the HTML tags that make <b>text bold</b>. Be careful to close all tags properly.

Do not insert HTML breaks, i.e., <br />, since carriage returns are automatically converted into line breaks.

Location

Choose the primary location of the event to appear in public event lists. It is possible to reserve other locations later in the form, but they will only be visible to other editors. If you don't want to reserve any location, or don't want to list any in the public lists, choose "Location...".

Time

Enter the start and end times of the event. Note that this is the time the public will see; make sure that it is the time you expect them to arrive and leave, and does not include setup or cleanup time. Use the reservation times for that purpose.

Midnight and Noon

Note that 12am is midnight and 12pm is noon. If the end time of an event is set to 12am, it is assumed to be midnight at the end of the day, so an event that runs from 12am to 12am lasts all day.

Date

This is the date of the event. If the event is to be repeated, this is the first of the series.

Repeats

Use this if the event is to be repeated at regular intervals. Possible options are:

• Once Only
• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly
• Same Day Monthly, e.g., third Tuesday of the month
• Annually

You can either specify the number of repeats or the date of the final repeat. The date is ignored if the number of repeats is greater than 0.

Organizer

This is the main contact person for the event, and will appear in public listings.

Phone

This is the phone number of the contact person. This number is not displayed in the public calendar, but can be seen by other editors.

Email

This is the email address of the contact person. This is not displayed in the public calendar, but can be seen by other editors.

Reservation Times

It is possible to reserve a room for longer than the duration of the public event, for example, if the location needs to be set up before a meeting. Choose one of options:

1. Same as Event (default)
   The reservation will be set to the same as the event.
2. Longer than Event
   The reservation will be set to the chosen values.
3. All Day
   The reservation will be set to all day, i.e., equivalent to setting both the start and ending time to 12am.

If you are logged in, the reservation times will be shown in parentheses in day views.

Locations

If you need to reserve one or more locations in addition to the primary location, select them here. These secondary locations are combined with the primary location to check for reservation conflicts, but only the primary location is displayed in the public calendar. If you are logged in, the secondary locations are displayed in parentheses in day views. If you are updating an event, the primary location will be included in the list of selected locations; there is no need to remove it.

Multiple Selections

It is possible to select more than one choice in the lists of locations, resources, and categories, but the exact method will follow the convention of your operating system (e.g., shift-click or right-click). Be careful that you don't deselect your first choice when you select another one.

If you have made selections but then decide you want to remove all of them, select the default item at the top of the list, e.g., "Locations..." at the top of the Locations list. This is equivalent to making no selection at all.

Resources

If you need to reserve one or more resources, e.g, the TV/VCR, select them here. The chosen resources are used to check for reservation conflicts, but will not be displayed in the public calendar. If you intend to use any of the kitchens attached to some of the locations, e.g., Fellowship Hall, please specify the kitchen as a resource so that the kitchen supervisor is informed.

Categories

If you wish to specify one or more categories in order to characterize the event, select them here. The categories provide possible criteria for producing lists of events, e.g., a list of all "Adult Education" events .

Setup Instructions

Enter any event setup instructions here. If any instructions are saved with the event, the event time will be displayed with a yellow background to make it easy to identify.

Status

The status of every event has one of two values:

1. Requested (default)
   The event will not be displayed in the public calendar but will be displayed with a blue background if you are logged in and checked for reservation conflicts.
2. Approved
   The event will appear in the public calendar (unless it's a private or setup event).

Unless you are a supervisor, the status of the event is automatically set to "Requested". You will need to contact a calendar supervisor to change the status to "Approved". If you are a supervisor, you can choose to approve the event immediately.

Confirming the Event

When you have completed entering all the event details, click on the Add Event button. A preview of the event will be displayed for you to check. This is the time to catch any conflicts with other events, remove missing repeats, and correct any mistakes. If there are any errors, click on Return to Edit to resume editing the event details in the previous form. The event will not have been saved yet.

If the event conflicts with any other events in the calendar, e.g., because it requests the same location at the same time, the conflicting events are listed in the preview. It is advisable to click Return to Edit and choose another location, but if you cannot make the change, you can confirm the event and resolve the conflict later.

If you are setting up repeated events, the preview will display a list of checkboxes with the date of each repeat. You can deselect any of the repeats, e.g., if one instance of a weekly recurring event falls on Thanksgiving Day, before confirming the event.

Once you are satisfied that the event is correctly specified, click on Confirm Event in order to save it. The new event will be immediately displayed in the relevant event lists for others to view.

---

Requesting Approval

Editors

Editors can add new events to the online calendar, but they will only appear in the public calendar if they are approved by a supervisor. If the event is displayed with a blue background, it has not been approved. If you are not a supervisor, there is a button marked Request Approval at the bottom of all unapproved events. Clicking on this opens a form containing the text of an email that requests approval for the event. The form also contains a text box where you can add a personal message, perhaps with further explanation to help the supervisor resolve any conflicts.

When you click on Send Message, the text is automatically sent as an email to all the supervisors. It will contain a link to the new event so that they can open it directly and decide whether to approve it. The process is extremely quick.

The Request Approval button will always be available until the event is approved by a supervisor. If you need to send a reminder, you can use this facility to send messages more than once. Once the event has been approved, this button changes to Request Change, which allows editors to contact supervisors to make changes to the resource allocation of the event (See Edit Event).

Supervisors

Supervisors have an Approve Event button, rather than Request Approval, if the event is awaiting approval. Clicking on it will automatically change the status of the event from Requested to Approved and trigger an update in the event lists.

---

Editing an Event

Editors

If an event has not been approved yet, editors have complete freedom to change it by clicking on the Edit Event button at the bottom of the event view. This will open a similar form to the one used to add an event. It is possible to change all the details of the event, including the event and reservation time.

The only difference with adding an event is that it is not possible to change the repeat pattern. You can, however, choose either to edit all the repeats or just this event. If you choose to apply the changes just to this event, its link to the remaining repeats will be broken.

Once an event has been approved, the Edit Event button is still available to editors. If they click on it, the same edit form will open allowing changes to titles, descriptions, organizer, etc. However, editors do not have the authority to change any resource allocations, i.e., the times, locations, or resources of the event, since that might generate a new conflict. Only supervisors are able to make those changes.

When an event is approved, there is a Request Change button at the bottom of each event view. Clicking on this will open a similar form to the Request Approval form. However, you will need to describe the requested changes in the text box clearly. When you click on Send Message, it is sent by email to all the supervisors.

Supervisors

Supervisors have the authority to change all the details of an event, including reservation times and locations. The Edit Event button is always available at the bottom of each event view. Clicking on it opens the same form as for adding an event. It is not possible to change the repeat pattern, but you can choose either to edit all the repeats or just this event. If you choose to apply the changes just to this event, its link to the remaining repeats will be broken.