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Newsletter Archives
Masterful Calendars:
Creative Implementations of the EMS Master Calendar
While the Dean
Evans & Associates (DEA) EMS Master Calendar system can be implemented
right “out-of-the-box” using the system defaults, creative IT staffs
sometimes come up with unique modifications to the way the system looks,
the way users navigate in it, etc. In many cases these changes are made
to bring the Master Calendar in line with their organization’s web
standards, thereby giving it a familiar feel and making it an even
better source of event information for their users.
With the help of
Chris Meyers, the lead developer on DEA's Master Calendar team, we
thought we’d highlight some innovative implementations at a handful of
customer sites to give you a sense of some of the possibilities.
Although the examples below come from higher education, Master Calendar
is in use in a wide range of settings – corporations, non-profits,
municipalities, churches and more.
Vanderbilt
University (https://community.owen.vanderbilt.edu/calendar/)
Style sheet changes and additional help text
Chris: I like the way they’ve modified the style sheets for their
Master Calendar pages to change the system colors, the look of the
buttons, etc. They’ve also added descriptive help text to the Calendar
Selection page, making it very clear to their users how the system is
used.
Indiana State
University (http://calendar.indstate.edu/)
Customized calendar access and calendar subscription link
Chris: ISU integrated customized calendar access links into their
home page, allowing users to go straight into a particular calendar.
They also created a direct link to the Calendar Subscription page, which
I had not seen before, as well as one to a page where users can tap into
RSS feeds for calendars they’re interested in. Another nice touch is
help text that is displayed in the Submit an Event process which
indicates that putting an event on the Master Calendar doesn’t mean that
a room has been, or will be, reserved for the event.
University of
Alabama (http://events.ua.edu/)
User defined questions and custom fields
Chris: This site makes great use of “user defined questions” in
the Submit an Event process. UDQs, which are displayed under the
Additional Info heading on the page, can be used to collect text, date
or numeric information. They can also be set up so that users select an
option from a list. This site also provides hints for the optional
fields, making it more likely that people will take advantage of this
feature to provide additional event information to calendar users.
Kennesaw State
University
(http://claymore.kennesaw.edu/mastercalendar/)
Virtual EMS link and attachments
Chris: One of the first things I notice when visiting their site
is that they have a link to their Virtual EMS page as one of their menu
options. If I were a user at KSU, I’d appreciate how this simplifies
moving between the two systems. Also, Kennesaw is one of the first
organizations I was aware of that allowed users to include attachments
when submitting an event. Attachments are an excellent way to provide
more information to attendees. Options in the System Administration area
of Master Calendar let you indicate how many attachments can be
included, how big an individual attachment can be and what types of
files may be attached.
Idaho State
University (http://events.ets.isu.edu/MasterCalendar/MasterCalendar.aspx)
Customized home page and helpful calendar descriptions
Chris: Idaho State has created a customized home page, with links
to a number of other areas – Academics, Prospective Students, etc. – at
the top, and the Master Calendar below. They also have helpful calendar
descriptions on the Calendar Selection page.
“Out-of-the-box”
or out on the cutting edge – the ways in which you can implement the EMS
Master Calendar are virtually limitless!
Article courtesy of Dean Evans & Associates: DEA is a Visix business
partner that offers a line of sophisticated software systems for meeting
and event management, academic scheduling, shared workspace management,
and online calendaring. Learn more about EMS scheduling solutions at
www.dea.com
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