The web-based calendar
Perfect for any organization
Star-Tech
227 DeGress Ave
Atlanta, GA 30307
The application was written for organizations that need to keep both their membership and the general public aware of Events they sponsor, or in which they participate. It was originally written with performing groups in mind, but many enhancements have been added that make it useful to churches, service clubs, theaters, small offices, doctors offices and many other organizations.
There are two ways of looking at the Star-Tech Calendar. As a part of the “Public” Internet community, anyone can view public Events on your Calendar. If the details have been provided, the location and contact information are available to anyone who visits your website. A complete description field is provided to share any additional amount of detail with the public viewer.
The other view of the Star-Tech Calendar is from the “Members Only” side. This view of the Calendar requires that a Member log in with a UserID and Password. Once inside, all of the private details about an Event that are not for public consumption are displayed. Some Events can be entirely hidden from public view. They, too, are visible once the Member has logged in. The Domain Administrator assigns a UserID and an appropriate Security Level to each Member.
The only system requirements for the Star-Tech Calendar are that you have an Internet browser, a connection to the Internet, and that your organization has a website. There is no software to install on your computer. If you have subscribed to the Star-Tech Calendar, you have already received a file to upload to your website. The file contains a line of code that creates a link to your own private portion of the Star-Tech Calendar database. Everything that you (and your Members and your web visitors) do with the Star-Tech Calendar on your website is accessed through the Encrypted Client ID that is contained in this link.
It is worthwhile to spend a little time planning before you begin entering UserIDs and Events into your Star-Tech Calendar. We suggest that you read this entire manual, and then plan your implementation surrounding Categories (how you will group similar Events), and Member Security Levels (who will be permitted to do what). You can change things later, but you will find that a little advance planning goes a long way.
One of the most powerful features of the Star-Tech Calendar is the ability to group Events by Category. We have already established two Categories for you: Birthday, and Wedding Anniversary. You may group your Events into these or any other Categories you wish. We suggest that you plan your Categories carefully. Once you have begun using a Category, you may not delete it if there is even one Event that carries that Category as part of its description.
Every Event that is attached to a Category will be displayed on the calendar grid in the same color. You have complete control over color selection for each Category. However, we suggest you use colors that are on the darker side so that they will be more readable against the light background of the calendar grid. You will find that there are 95 named colors from which to choose. If none of these will fit your needs, you may input the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) code for the exact color you want.
The fundamental rules for what constitutes a Category are entirely up to you. Some of our organizations use Categories to separate the types of Events. Some use Categories for geographic separation. Some use Categories for Events tied to a certain person, group, or facility. The way you decide to use the Category feature is entirely up to you, and is limited only by your organization’s needs and your imagination.
Most of our customers have enough Events and variety in their calendars that the process of posting Events to the Star-Tech Calendar is shared among a number of people. The Star-Tech Calendar has a robust security plan that permits sharing this task easily, while still retaining control of the process. Large organizations may find that assigning a group of people to their part of the calendar may be of benefit (like the Membership Committee managing the Membership Category, or the Music Team posting rehearsals and performances).
You will find that planning how the calendaring process will be managed in your organization will help to smooth the implementation of the Star-Tech Calendar. We suggest that if you focus on who needs the information, and who is the source of the information, most of the other issues will fall into place easily and quickly.
Six classes of Users are defined in the Star-Tech Calendar. From highest capability to lowest, they are:
Domain Administrator
Calendar Administrator
Calendar Editor
Calendar Member
Subscriber (not yet implemented)
Public Viewer
Each of these User Security Levels can perform certain tasks, but is prohibited from performing tasks at a higher level.
The first User of the Star-Tech Calendar is the Domain Administrator. The Domain Administrator has the highest authority over the Star-Tech Calendar. In the security scheme of the Star-Tech Calendar, each level has all the capabilities of the levels under it. As Domain Administrator, you may appoint other Domain Administrators if you wish. They will have identically the same authority and capabilities as you do. Domain Administrators are the only ones who can establish new Users, and assign (or take away) their capabilities.
Caution: Any other Domain Administrator can delete you, just like you can delete them.
Calendar Administrators have two special capabilities: (1) the ability to make changes to Events that have been posted by others, and (2) the ability to add and edit Categories.
A Calendar Editor can add, edit, and delete Events. The only Events that may be edited or deleted by a Calendar Editor are Events that they have placed on the file personally.
A Calendar Member may log in to view all the details of the Members’ Only information, including “Members’ Only” and “Private Function” Events, but can make no changes to any Event.
A Subscriber is a person who wants to be kept informed about what is happening with your organization. They must supply identification information about themselves, including at a minimum their name and E-mail Address. (The facility for Subscribers to sign up has not yet been implemented.)
This is our term for anyone who visits your website and views your calendar. A Public Viewer can only see the public information and Event details that you put on the Events for public view. This level does not require a UserID or Password.
Whenever you go to your calendar, you will see the current month, with the box for today highlighted. If there are any U.S. holidays in the current month, they will be marked for you. This is the display that any public viewer can see when visiting the calendar page in your website. We call this view the Calendar Grid. There are places throughout the system where you will see the caption “Back to Grid”. If you click on any of those links, you will return to this view.
Moving from month to month is easy. To the left of the current Month name and year is a button marked “Prev” for previous. If you click it, you will move one month earlier. Similarly the button on the right marked “Next” will take you forward one month at a time.
If you want to jump to a particular month, there are two ways to do it. Either type a date in the box labeled “Select a Date”, or use the “Select a Month” and “Select a Year” boxes to pick your target date. You won’t actually go there until you click the “Go to Selected Month” button on the same row. If you select a month and/or year with the dropdown boxes, you will notice that the date you typed in the “Select a Date” box will change. Whatever date is displayed in the “Select a Date” box when you click the “Go to Selected Month” button is the Calendar Grid month that will be displayed.
At the very top of the page, above the grid, you will see your organization's name, as you gave it to us when you established your account. If you click on your organization's name, you will find that it is a link to your own home page. If you enable the display of your company logo, it will be displayed in place of your organization's name. It, too, will be a link to the home page of your website. There is yet another link to your home page that is on the left on the top line of the grid.
On the far right of the top line of the grid is a link that says “User Login”. Clicking this link is the way that you and your Members log into the Star-Tech Calendar to see and edit (as permitted) the Members Only details. More about logging in later.
A visitor can display the details of any Event by clicking on that Event in the grid. All the details for that Event are then displayed. In order to view the details of another Event, you must return to the grid and click on the Event you want to see.
The Event Detail screen has two fields that can be active links. If there is a Contact E-mail Address, clicking on it will begin an e-mail to send to the contact person. In a similar manner, if there is a website for additional information, the viewer will be taken to that website when the link is clicked.
Other information that may be displayed on the Detail Screen include:
Start Time
End Date
End Time
Location
Category
Contact Name
Contact Phone Number
This field describes the Event in detail. It can contain an unlimited amount of text relating to the Event. For example, it could include directions to the venue, background on the performers, sermon descriptions, meeting agendas, or any other details about the Event that is intended for the viewer.
All of the above fields are visible to the general public. No UserID is required to access any of the information described thus far. Everything that follows is about what is available on the “Members’ Only” side of the Star-Tech Calendar.
In the upper right hand corner of the grid, there is a link labeled “User Login”. By clicking it, the viewer is sent to a login screen that requests a UserID and Password. There is also a statement below that says, “Click here and your password will be emailed to you.” If you are logging into your calendar for the first time, you should have received an email message with your password. If you have forgotten your password, click on this message, and you will be taken to a screen labeled “Email Password”. Fill in your UserID, and your password will be sent to the E-mail Address we have on file for you. Your Password has been stored by the system.
As a security measure, we never send both the UserID and the Password in the same e-mail message. If you have forgotten your Login ID, then you must ask your Domain Administrator to help you. Once your Password has been sent to your E-mail Address, click on “Click Here” to return to the Login Screen. When you do, and the Login Screen reappears, your UserID will already be entered for you. Just enter your Password and click the “Enter” button.
Note: If this is the first time you have logged into the Members-Only section of the Star-Tech Calendar, click on Edit Profile and change your password to something you can remember. Please read the section on Passwords below.
To log into the Members-Only view of the Star-Tech Calendar, click on User Login. The Calendar User Login screen will be displayed. Enter your UserID and Password and click on the “Enter” button. If the UserID and Password are valid, the Calendar Grid page will be redisplayed, with your Name in the upper right-hand corner of the Grid.
Once you are logged in, the top navigation line of the grid will have: (1) a new link (“Edit Profile”), and (2) a changed link (what was “Admin Only” will now be “Logout”). The “Logout” link means exactly what you would think. If you click it, you return to being a “Public Viewer”.
If you click on “Edit Profile” you will see the details stored with your UserID on a screen called the User Profile Edit. The identity information the system needs about you is displayed on this screen. There are three boxes that you can change. Two of them have to do with your Password, and the third is for changing your e-mail address.
Note: Throughout the system, to make changes to the information, simply type the new information into the appropriate boxes. When you are satisfied with all the information on the screen, press the “Submit” button. Nothing is stored until you click “Submit”. If you leave the screen without clicking “Submit”, none of the information that you have typed into the form will be retained.
To change your Password, simply type the new Password into both the “Password”, and the “Confirm Password” boxes. If you are changing your Password, the new Password must be typed into both boxes exactly the same way. If the two boxes are typed differently, the system will ask you to fix the difference, and won’t save the change until the two boxes agree.
You may change your Password at any time, and for any reason. There are a few rules, and some recommendations about passwords:
Rules:
Letters and numbers only
No special characters
No spaces
Recommendations:
Change your Password as the first thing you do in the Star-Tech Calendar.
Make it something you can remember easily.
Use at least 6 characters.
Include at least one number.
Don’t be obvious.
What we mean by obvious is: part
of your Social Security Number; part of your Drivers License Number; part of
your Phone Number; your birthday; your spouse’s or child’s name; your pet’s
name; a predictable series of numbers.
To change your E-mail Address, simply type your new E-mail Address into the box provided. The system will check to be sure that it is the correct syntax for an E-mail Address, but you are responsible to be sure that it is a valid, active address. Remember, if you ever forget your Password, it is to this E-mail Address that your Password will be sent.
Once you are satisfied with your changes, and press the “Submit” button, your changes will be recorded into the Star-Tech Calendar database. You will also see a confirmation message at the top of the screen that says, “User Record has been updated”. This is like a receipt for the changes, and means that they have been successfully saved.
In the top right of this screen is a link labeled “Back to Grid”. This will take you back to the Calendar Grid monthly display.
Members who have only viewing privileges can only edit their own profile information. Members who have higher security levels will see a new second line in the navigation area of the Calendar Grid. In that bar, the leftmost link is labeled “Add an Event”. Members who are Calendar Editors, Calendar Administrators, or Domain Administrators can add events.
When you click the “Add an Event” link, a form is displayed that has places for lots of information. It is grouped into sections from top to bottom as: Event Title and Date; Event Information; Contact Information; and Record Information. All of the Record Information is maintained by the system, and cannot be edited.
Only two items of information are required to store an Event: the Event Title and the Start Date. Both are entered into boxes bordered in red. If either field is empty, the system cannot store the Event.
Event Title. Required. Displays on the Calendar Grid. Because the Event Title appears on the Calendar Grid, we recommend that you keep the Event Title as short as possible. However, the Event Title should also be specific enough to separate its meaning from other Events with similar Titles.
Members Only/Private Function. In the line above the Event Title, on the right of the centerline, there are two boxes marked “Members Only” and “Private Function”. If you check the “Members Only” box, this entire Event will be visible only to Members, and then only while they are logged in to the Members-Only view of the Star-Tech Calendar. Any Public Viewer will be entirely unaware that the Event even exists in your Calendar.
Checking the “Private Function” checkbox will cause the Event to show in the public side of the Calendar Grid, but the Calendar will only display the words “Private Function” on that day. The Start Time or Location will not be displayed, even if this information is stored in the Event record. This feature can be used to let the public know that a person/group/facility is unavailable on a certain day without revealing the nature of the Event.
You may check either the “Private Function” or the “Members Only” checkbox (but not both) for any Event as required.
Bold Title/Italicize Title. In the box to the right of the Event Title field, there are two boxes labeled “Bold Title”, and “Italicize Title”. Each does exactly what its label implies for the Event Title when it is displayed on the Calendar Grid. You may use either or both options on any Event.
Start Date. Required. Dates may be entered into the Star-Tech Calendar in any recognizable date format. We suggest that you verify that the system has understood the date that you intended to enter by checking the date in the box after you have clicked the “Submit” button. If there is any doubt, the best format to use is MM/DD/YYYY. We accept any Start Date back to January 1, 1001. This enables you to enter Birthdays beginning with the person’s actual birth date, for example.
Caution: Once a Start Date that is in the past (before today) has been posted, that Start Date can no longer be changed. If it is in error, the only way to fix the Event Start Date is to delete the entire Event and re-enter it. (It is possible to change other information about an Event that is in the past.)
Start Time. If present, displays on the Calendar Grid. If the Event has a fixed starting time, you may enter it here. The system accepts time in this format: HH:MM AM (or PM). 12:00 AM is midnight, and 12:00 PM is Noon.
End Date. For a multi-day or recurring Event, enter the last day that the Event will occur into this field. This field is not required. For formatting rules, see Start Date, above.
End Time. If the ending time for an Event is known, it may be entered here. This field is not required. For formatting rules, see Start Time, above.
Location. Displays on the Calendar Grid. This 50-character field will be used in different ways by different organizations, depending on their implementation plan for the Star-Tech Calendar. Some organizations (like performers) may use this field for a City Name. Other organizations may choose to put in a facility name. Others might enter street addresses here.
Caution: In planning the use of this field, be aware that whatever is entered here could increase display size of the Calendar Grid. We recommend using something meaningful, but short, in this field. Otherwise, your Calendar Grid will look cluttered.
Category. Determines the color of the display on the Calendar Grid. This is a drop-down box that permits the Calendar Editor to select a Category for this Event from those Categories already established. A legend, displaying the Categories in use in their colors, is indicated at the foot of the Calendar Grid. A Calendar Administrator or Domain Administrator can establish and configure Event Categories.
Description. This field will accept a description of any length. It is intended to store all of the details that you want the public to know about this Event. Internal formatting in this field is up to you. If you know and can write HTML, this field will accept that code. You may display images and graphics along with any amount of text in this field.
Note: If you use HTML in the Event Description field, any images that are referred to in that code must already be stored somewhere on your website, and can be referenced by a URL.
Note: One of our organizations is a theater that displays a picture and a bio of the performer for each Event in this field. There is really no limit to what can be done here.
Contact Name. If there is a person that should be contacted for more information about an Event, then their name may be entered here.
Contact Phone. This field stores a phone number that the public should call for more information, to purchase tickets, or to or make reservations for your Event. We recommend that you include the area code on all phone numbers. We do not check formatting for telephone numbers (the Contact Phone Number might be overseas). You may include telephone extensions in this field, if needed.
Contact E-mail. For an e-mail contact, put the e-mail address for the public to use into this field. This field is checked to be sure it has the legal syntax for an e-mail address. However, it is up to the Calendar Editor to verify that the e-mail address is an active address. When this e-mail address is displayed in the “Public View” side (on the View Details screen), clicking the e-mail address link will open a new E-mail composition window.
Contact Website. If there is a website that has more information relating to your Event or the venue where it will be held, then you may put the URL link here. If can be as long and involved as you like. However, because of the nature of HTML, extended URLs may cause some interesting displays.
Members Only Comments. This field is never displayed to the “Public Viewer”. It is only available for view by Members when they are Logged In. The rules for using this field are the same as “Event Description” above, but its use is for all of the details that only the Members need to know.
Note: One of our organizations is a performing group. They use this field to keep the members up to date on travel details, costume requirements, tech rehearsals and other preparation details for performances. They also maintain rehearsal plans and rehearsal notes in this field. All of this information can be stored in great detail, but it is kept entirely out of the “Public” view.
Once you have filled out all of the details for the Event, you save it in the Star-Tech Calendar system by clicking the “Submit” button near the top of the Event Detail screen. When you click “Submit” the system will perform all of the validation checks for the fields, and lets you know if there is a problem that you need to address. If there is, just fix the problem(s) and click the “Submit” button again.
Note: If you post an Event with a Start Date in the past (before today) you will get a warning, but the system will accept the Event and post it to the database without further action on your part.
Once your Event has been accepted, you will see a confirmation in red that says, “This calendar Event has been posted successfully.” In addition, two new buttons will appear next to the “Submit” button. They are “Printable Version” and “Recurring Event”.
There are times when you want to print the details of an Event to take with you away from your computer. Since Internet pages don’t always fit well on a standard page, we have provided a facility that prints all of your detail information in an easy-to-read format
Each Event is initially posted to the system as a one-time (non-recurring) Event. Once the Start Date is established, then recurrence can be built into the Event. When you have clicked the “Submit” button, and the system has accepted and posted the Start Date for your Event, you may then click the “Recurring Event” button to add a recurrence pattern.
Note: A multi-day Event that spans a number of days (like a convention that goes from Monday through Thursday of a given week) does not require the following procedure. Providing a Start Date and an End Date will schedule the event for all of the days between.
When you click the “Recurring Event” button, you will see a screen that is called “Calendar Event Frequency”. The radio buttons down the left side are the basic controls. Only one of them can be selected. The Frequency form first displays the Event with the “One-Time or Daily” button selected.
These Events happen on a single day or over a span of contiguous days. They typically will happen once. Examples: a performance, a conference, a trade show, a trip, a meeting, a rental of a space. This button is provided for editing purposes to reset a recurring Event back to one-time status, and to provide a default option for this screen.
Weekly Events generally happen on the same day of the week every week. Examples: church service, club meeting, rehearsal, class meeting. Within the weekly pattern, you must select at least one day of the week. Some weekly Events may happen on more than one day each week (i.e., every Tuesday and Thursday). You may select any number of days of the week necessary to match your weekly schedule.
Events that happen every other week will use the Skip Interval in the far right column. For every other week, enter two (2). For every fourth week, enter four (4).
Events that occur on the same day of the month require only that this radio button be checked.
If the Event is Quarterly on the same date, use the Skip Interval, and enter a three (3) to cause the Event to be scheduled on the same day every third month.
These radio buttons schedule the Event into the week of the month that is indicated. These Events are usually described as First Monday, Fourth Friday, Last Tuesday, etc.
For Events that skip months, put the number of months between Events in the Skip Interval field. For example, a quarterly Event should have a three (3) in the Skip Interval field.
Use this button for Events that happen every year on the same date. Birthdays and anniversaries are obvious uses of this recurrence pattern.
For Events that skip years (like a reunion) use the Skip Interval field. For a reunion that occurs every five years, enter a five (5).
Once you have selected the recurrence pattern that describes your Event, click the “Submit” button. Your information will be validated and posted to the database. You will see both a red confirmation that says, “This calendar Event has been posted successfully”, and you will also see the recurrence pattern described in text for this Event in a special box in the Calendar Event Frequency form. You will also see the recurrence pattern in text on the Event Detail form when you return to it.
Note: For Weekly Events and Monthly by Week Events, your Start Date does not have to exactly match the recurrence pattern. For example, if you are describing an Event that is weekly on Tuesdays, and the Start Date is a Saturday, the system will just begin displaying the Event on the first Tuesday after the Start Date. It will not report an error. However, Monthly By Date and Annual Events are dependent on the exact Start Date.
Editing an Event is very easy. While logged in as a Calendar Editor, just click on the Event to be edited from the Calendar Grid. The Event Detail screen will be displayed with all of the details for the Event in editable boxes. Simply make the required changes, and click the “Submit” button.
Note: Calendar Editors can edit only their own Events. Calendar Editors cannot edit events created by other Calendar Editors. Only Calendar Administrators or Domain Administrators can edit (or delete) an Event created by another Calendar Editor.
Real life intrudes on recurrence patterns all the time. The Star-Tech Calendar lets you reflect the changes. Typical situations and their solutions are best shown with examples:
You are a member of a chorus that meets every week on Monday evening. Your rehearsal for Labor Day is cancelled.
The weekly meetings are easy. A recurring Weekly Event is recorded for Mondays with a Start Date that was a long time ago, and no Ending Date.
When you are logged in and are viewing the Calendar Grid, if you click on an Event that is a part of a recurring pattern, you will be asked if you intend to open the series, or just this one occurrence of that Event. Click on the rehearsal that appears to be scheduled for Labor Day. Choose the “This Occurrence” option. You can change the Title of the Event from Weekly Rehearsal to Rehearsal Cancelled. This change only affects the Event record for the Labor Day rehearsal – all of the rest of the Event Recurrences are left entirely unchanged.
Two weeks later, your rehearsal hall is booked by someone else for Monday night, and you will have to meet on Thursday night that week.
The change from Monday to Thursday is only slightly more complex. The first step is much like the Labor Day cancellation, but change the Event Title to read “Rehearsal moved to Thursday”. Then create a new One-Time Event on Thursday that is the new rehearsal date, with all the detail required to inform both the membership and the public. If necessary a different venue can be entered or other details can be altered, as needed, in order to keep your membership informed as to the changes.
One of the powerful features of the Star-Tech Calendar is the ability to change things about an Event after it is already in the past. This capability is very useful for developing a history of actions in a group in an on-going set of recurring Events. Again, an example:
The chorus we mentioned before has a rehearsal plan for each Monday meeting. During the week, well in advance of the meeting, the chorus director posts his plan for the rehearsal so that the members of the chorus can practice the right music in preparation. The director overrides the current week’s rehearsal and inserts the rehearsal plan into the description field.
During the rehearsal, one of the members takes notes on things the chorus members should remember for next week’s rehearsal. All of these notes are entered into the Description field for that rehearsal on the Tuesday morning after the rehearsal. Any authorized Member can edit the rehearsal Event and add the rehearsal notes.
For boards of directors, committees, and other groups who meet on a regular basis, and need to communicate information to their membership, as well as to the public, this facility can be most powerful. Posting meeting agendas and minutes directly to the Calendar can communicate the activities of the Board or committees to the Public (including members who missed the meeting).
This facility is not yet implemented. When it is, Subscribers will be able to enroll themselves into a program that will keep them informed about the organization through a number of possible vehicles (like an e-mail newsletter, et al.). The subscription process will require a minimum of a name, address, phone number, and an e-mail address. Subscribers will each have a unique UserID and a password that they can maintain. They will not, however, have access to “Members Only” or “Private Function” information and Events. For Calendar purposes, Subscribers will be treated the same way as any other Public Viewer.
This is a read only member. It is the lowest Security Level that has access to all of the “Members Only” Calendar information.
Calendar Editor
Calendar Editors can place new Events on the Calendar. They can also edit and delete Events that they have put onto the Calendar themselves. They cannot edit Events entered by others.
Calendar Administrators have two capabilities that go beyond those of a Calendar Editor:
1. Calendar Administrators can edit (change) or delete any Event entered into the system by any other Member.
2. Calendar Administrators may add, edit, and delete Event Categories.
For a Calendar Administrator, the add, edit, and delete Event functions are identical to those granted a Calendar Editor. Events are added by clicking the “Add an Event” link on the navigation bar. To edit or delete an Event, just click on the Event from the Calendar Grid while logged in, and all the edit/delete functions will be available.
Editing Categories.
Calendar Administrators will have a link in the second row of the grid that is labeled “Categories”. When this link is clicked, a list of all of the Categories for your Star-Tech Calendar will be listed. To edit a Category, click on its Category Description
There are three data items listed about each Category:
1. Category Description – The name of the Category. This name is displayed in the Category Drop-down box when selecting a category, or when viewing the Event Detail screen for any Event. . We suggest that you keep these Descriptions short but informative.
2. Web Color – The color in which the Events assigned to that Category will be displayed.
3. Sort Sequence – The Sort Sequence is used to sort Categories higher or lower in the Category selection dropdown box. This sequence is also a tiebreaker for displaying Events in the Calendar Grid. If two Events have the same combination of Start Date and Start Time, this Sort Sequence will determine which Event will display first.
You can add a Category by clicking on the “Add a Category” button at the top of the list. You will see a screen titled “New Category”. Only the Category Description is required. You may enter a Sort Sequence if you wish (it will default to zero if you enter nothing).
In the lower right of the screen is the Web Color selection box. There are 95 named colors in the dropdown box. If you need a color that isn’t listed there, you may input a color using its RGB (Red, Green, Blue) code starting with a “#” in the Web Color box (e.g., #336699).
Once you have made your selections, press the “Submit” button. You will see a message at the top of the screen in red that says, “Category record has been updated”. At this point, make note of the color in which the words “Web Color” appear in the lower right of your screen. This is the color in which your Events assigned to this Category will appear on the Grid. If it is not to your liking, make a change, click the “Submit” button, and inspect the color again. You may repeat this process as many times as necessary to get exactly the color you want.
There is a “Delete this Category” button on this screen. The system will not permit deleting a Category as long as a single Event is linked to it. We recommend that you not rename Categories.
1. Any Domain Administrator may create another Domain Administrator.
2. Any Domain Administrator may delete any other Domain Administrator.
3. A Domain Administrator may not delete himself/herself.
4. A Domain Administrator may not assign away his/her Domain Administrator capability.
User Management. Only Domain Administrators have a link on the second bar of the Calendar Grid that says “User Management”. When you click it, you will be presented with a screen that lists all of the UserIDs currently in your Star-Tech Calendar. The default order for the listing is alphabetic by Last Name. In the upper right area of the screen are two radio buttons labeled “Sort by Name” and “Sort by Security Level”. You will find both to be useful at times.
Add a User. To add a User to the Star-Tech Calendar, click the “Add a UserID” button which is in the upper left of the Login User Management screen. A screen will appear called Login User Profile Edit/New Login User. In this screen, all of the fields, and at least one of the checkboxes is required to be filled in before clicking the “Submit” button.
UserID. This is the User Name by which an individual will log into the Star-Tech Calendar. The only requirement is that it be unique among your User community. We suggest you make it something easy for the User to remember.
First Name and Last Name. Any time someone is Logged In to the Star-Tech Calendar, his or her First and Last Name is displayed in the upper right hand corner of the Calendar Grid.
Password and Confirm Password. The password must be entered into each of these two fields in exactly the same way. See the discussion of passwords under “Logging In”.
E-mail Address. This is the E-mail Address to which a lost or forgotten password will be e-mailed on request. The E-mail Address will be validated for proper syntax, but you must verify that it is an active and valid email address.
Security Level Checkboxes. These checkboxes grant security capabilities to the User. The associated capabilities are described elsewhere in this document. Each higher level implies all of the capabilities of the levels below it, so checking multiple boxes is not necessary
You must check one of these checkboxes to grant the User the privileges of that security level. A User record with no checkboxes marked will not be able to see any of the “Members-Only” information. . Note: To revoke “Members-Only” privileges from an existing User, you do not need to delete the UserID. Simply uncheck all of the checkboxes in their UserID record. . .
Editing a User. To make changes to an existing User, simply click on either the UserID or their name, and the User Profile Edit screen will appear with the UserID listed at the top. All of the fields are then displayed for you to edit. You must still follow the rules for Password and Confirm Password, if you change them. Note: You cannot change the UserID once it is in the system.
Deleting a User. To delete a User, simply display their record as if you were going to Edit it, then click on the “Delete this User” button.
When you first visit a Star-Tech Calendar on one of our organizations’ websites, right away you will notice that the Events are displayed in a variety of colors. If you go to the bottom of the Calendar Grid screen, you will see the color key for those Events. Color for Events is driven by the Category to which they are assigned. Your own implementation of the Star-Tech Calendar will include a plan for grouping events into Categories so that the purpose of each Event is instantly clear to every Viewer.
The Star-Tech Calendar is initially installed with two Categories: Birthday and Wedding Anniversary. You may add Categories as required. We suggest you plan your Categories carefully. Once you have begun using a Category, you may not delete it if there is one Event that carries that Category as part of its description.
Every Event that is attached to a Category will be displayed on the Calendar Grid in the same color. You have complete control over color selection for the Categories. However, we suggest you use colors that are on the darker side so that they will be more readable against the light background of the Calendar Grid. You will find that there are 95 named colors from which to choose. If none of these will fit your needs, you may input the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) code for the exact color you want.
The fundamental rules for what constitutes a Category are entirely up to you. Some of our organizations use Categories to separate the type of Event. Some use Categories for geographic separation. Some use Categories for Events tied to a certain person, group, or facility. The way you decide to use the Category feature is entirely up to you, and is limited only by your organization’s needs and your imagination.
Appendix – A
The Star-Tech Calendar stores Events in as few records on the database as possible. While this concept is part of the elegance of the Star-Tech Calendar system, it leads to a few interesting outcomes in using the Calendar, particularly for recurring events.
When you place an Event on the Calendar, a single record is written to the database. It has a unique identifier (managed by the system) and a Start Date. If there is no end date, and no recurrence is specified, it is a one-time Event.
Adding an End Date that is different from the Start Date makes the Event span a number of days on the Calendar Grid, but no new record is written to the database. The logic of the Calendar Grid engine takes care of displaying the Event properly in each of the days on which it occurs.
For this discussion, we need to explore the power of the Calendar a little further. For example, we will talk about a conference that lasts three (3) days. The original Event was posted to Friday (the 3rd) with an end date of Sunday (the 5th). If we select the Event for the 3rd, the system will ask if we want to open the Series, or just that Occurrence. If we edit the Series, those changes will be reflected when we click any of the three days to view their details.
Suppose we arrange a Saturday breakfast meeting with an associate, and want to post it to the Calendar. Clearly the Saturday breakfast can only happen on Saturday, so choose Edit the Occurrence. The system automatically creates a new Event record that is for Saturday, copying the information for the Series into the event. Then we can make any specific changes that relate to just the Saturday activity.
The Saturday Event will indicate that it is overriding the Friday thru Sunday Series, and the original Saturday Event will NOT be displayed on the Grid.
Note that no record will be created for Sunday until, and unless, we have special details that are unique to Sunday. It is generated from the original (Friday) Event information.
When a single base event is changed into a recurring event, the only thing that has changed is the internal description of the way the Event is to be handled on the Calendar Grid. No additional Event records are created. This makes it easy to change things about every event occurrence, and have them reflected throughout the Series.
Only when Users add details about a particular occurrence of an event is a new Event Record created. Any number of override Event records can be created as needed.
Note: When detail is added to an Occurrence of an event, an override record is created, which becomes the Event record for the event of that single date. Once the Override Event record is created, it stands on its own as an Event. It may be edited and deleted like any other Event record. However, if the base Event record from which it was created is deleted, this Override Event record will NOT be deleted.
The following examples are intended to help your organization in planning its own implementation of the Star-Tech Calendar. The choices shown here may not be appropriate for your organization. They are cited to illustrate the versatility of the Star-Tech Calendar.
Background: The chorus is a performing group that also goes to competitions three times a year. They have a website into which the Star-Tech Calendar has been installed.
The chorus meets weekly on Monday at a church.
The base record has a convenient Start Date, the Event Title is Weekly Rehearsal, and the Start Time is the normal rehearsal time. The church’s name goes into the Location field. The address of the church, and directions for finding it are entered into the Description field. The Category is Rehearsal (defined by the Calendar Administrator with a Green color). Because members of the umbrella organization may be visiting from out of town, and want to visit a rehearsal, full contact information is provided: the Membership VP for Contact Name, his phone number in Contact Phone, his e-mail address in Contact E-mail, and a link to maps.yahoo.com with the church’s address in the Website. This fundamental information can be changed at any time, and will provide the display information for any dates that have not been overridden.
After the base Event record is posted, the recurrence pattern is added by pressing the “Recurring Event” button. To make this a weekly Event, click the weekly radio button and check the Monday box to put the event on the right day of the week. The base Event record’s Start Date does not need to be a Monday for this process to work. The system will just begin displaying the rehearsals on the first Monday after the Start Date.
Note: In this example, there is no End Date for this Event. It will repeat indefinitely. Any changes to fundamental information (like Contact Information) should be made on the base Event record (by changing the Series).
Overrides:
After Monday’s rehearsal, one of the members writes notes about the lessons learned. He is charged with publishing those notes before Wednesday morning so that the other members of the chorus will have access to the notes, and can use them in their personal rehearsal time. He posts the notes by overriding that Monday’s rehearsal record (for the rehearsal just passed) and adding the notes to the “Members Only Comments” field.
Meanwhile, by Thursday evening, the musical director has reviewed the success of the rehearsal just past, and has planned the rehearsal for next Monday. He overrides next Monday’s rehearsal record and posts his rehearsal plan to the “Members Only” Comments section of that record. Now the Members will all have access to the director’s notes and can be better prepared for the upcoming rehearsal next week.
When Labor Day rolls around, the chorus does not rehearse. The Calendar Administrator simply goes to the Labor Day record, overrides it, changing the title of the Event to “Rehearsal Cancelled” and changing the Category to “Cancelled Event” (this may or may not be one of your Categories) so that the color on the Event on that day will change.
A little later in September, the church has rented out the facility to another group, and the chorus can’t rehearse on that Monday. Instead, they will rehearse on Thursday that week. To record this change, the Calendar will require two Event actions: (1) override that Monday’s rehearsal record to change the Event Title to “Rehearsal moved to Thursday”, and (2) create an entirely new Event for Thursday with all the information in it, including Contact information and Event Title of “Weekly Rehearsal”.
A local church has a monthly meeting of their Board of Trustees. Their meeting is always held on the last Thursday of the month, and lasts from 7:00PM to 9:00PM.
Setting up the recurring meeting schedule is easy. First establish a base record on a known date. Press the “Recurring Event” button, select Monthly-By-Week (the Last Week of the Month button), and click the Thursday check box. By putting the Start Time and Stop Time in the base record, they will appear in all of the following occurrences unless overridden. We suggest that the Contact information also be included. The Contact could be a member of the board, or one of the administrative staff members at the church.
Every month, by the 15th, the Chairperson of the Trustees overrides the upcoming meeting record and posts the agenda to the “Members Only Comments” field. Once the meeting is complete, and the minutes for the meeting have been approved, the Secretary to the Board edits that single Event and posts the minutes of the meeting to the Calendar. Over time, a complete record of the actions of the Board of Trustees is developed, and it is available for any Members to inspect at any time.
You are in charge of scheduling classes for your martial arts school. Classes run in 12-week segments. The classes are for two hours on the same day at the same time every week. You are closed on Mondays. Each class is geared toward students at a certain level of achievement (black belt, brown belt, etc).
Each of the classes is set up as a recurring weekly event with a fixed Start Date and End Date. The hours that the class meets are recorded in the Start Time and Stop Time.
The Category Feature of the Star-Tech Calendar is configured so that the color for each Category represents the achievement level of the students. By selecting the appropriate Category for each class series, the Calendar Grid is displayed with its designated achievement level color.
Once a student registers for a class, the student’s name and contact phone number are added to the Members Only Description field. Eventually, the Members-Only Description will contain a list of all of the students in that class. This information is only available to your instructors and staff. If the class fills up, you can modify the Title of that class series to display this status.
The lesson descriptions are put into the Description field for each session so that the students know what to practice between sessions, and what is coming up in the next session.
If there is a problem (i.e., the instructor is ill, or there is a cancellation of the class for any reason) it can be posted to the Calendar for everyone’s reference.
You are the rental manager for an events facility. You have three facilities to rent. They are available by the hour, and require two hours between events for cleaning and setup.
You can color code your three facilities so that each is represented by a separate Category. It is clear to everyone when each facility will be in use. As soon as an agreement is signed to rent a facility, the contracted event is posted to the Star-Tech Calendar. All of the events for that facility for the day will show up in the same color in the Calendar Grid.
All Events are posted with the contracted Start Time and End Time. The staff is trained to allow cleaning and setup time between events. In addition, the setup/preparation and cleanup staff can check the Calendar and know the appropriate time to report for their duties.
Any special instructions for setup are put into the “Members Only Comments” field for the staff to use in planning, along with the customer contact information regarding who rented the facility for that time. Because there is no limit to the size of this area, you can enter as much information into this field as you need to, in order to keep all of this information in one place. In addition, this field will accept HTML coding, so diagrams and other graphic material can be included for reference. The public Contact Information fields are used for Client Contact information if requested by the Client.