Overview

The calendar module on Compass can be used to schedule various meetings, as well as notify users of events and activities happening at the school, such as Curriculum Days, exams and more. The module allows administrators to set up different calendar layers and set a target audience for each individual layer. These layers will also have a list of specific users who can add entries to the calendar.

For example, some schools allow all staff to put calendar entries on the calendar layer that is only visible to staff members, but not to students or parents. Similarly, they might have the Year 10 Co-ordinators as the only users (aside from other administrators) with the ability to add entries to the Year 10 calendar layer, targeted at students in Year 10 and parents of students in Year 10.

In this way, the module allows for granular access, both in who can create calendar entries, as well as in controlling who can see the entries.

Items added to the Calendar can be viewed by going to the Calendar page on Compass. Calendar layers that have been denoted as visible on the Dashboard, will also show on user's Compass homepages. You can see in the screenshot at the right there are three coloured blocks that are highlighted in red - these are all calendar items visible on the users schedule.

Below you'll see an example of how the Calendar page appears.
   

Permissions

To create and administer Calendar Layers, staff will require the CalendarAdmin permission.  Staff with this permission can also edit any calendar entry on any layer.  For information on how to assign permissions to staff, please refer to the 'Permissions' article from our Knowledge Base.

Staff with the CalendarAdmin permission can provide other staff with access to edit/add entries to a specific Calendar layer (please see the 'Creating a Calendar Layer' section below in this article).

Staff who do not have the CalendarAdmin permission can be added as an Additional Manager to a specific calendar layer to allow them to create/edit entries on that specific layer.

Please Note: Staff with the 'Configure' permission can also create/edit/archive Calendar layers.

Creating a Calendar Layer

Only administrators (staff with the CalendarAdmin or Configure permission) have the ability to create and edit layers for the Calendar; this is managed within the Layer Manager. Staff with the Configure permission can access this from Administration Tools (Tools Menu > Administration Tools > Layer Manager).

    

Alternatively, staff who have only the CalendarAdmin permission, they can access Layers by clicking the 'Edit' link above existing layers in your Compass Calendar.

To create a new calendar layer, click the 'Add new layer' button, enter an appropriate layer name (e.g. "School Council Meeting") and select a colour for the layer as it will appear for all calendar users. 
 

The 'Show on home page' check-box determines if calendar items are displayed on the dashboard for the selected user groups. If this box is ticked, the entry will appear in the daily dashboard calendar for users. If it is not ticked, the calendar events will only display on the main calendar page, accessible under the Calendar icon.

The 'iCalendar Url' field allows for syncing an external calendar with this specific layer. It gives you the option to enter an iCal link and, when saved, all entries in that external calendar will then appear in this specific layer in your Compass Calendar.  It should be noted that entering the iCal link here will set your external calendar to sync into Compass, but any additions made to this layer within Compass will not automatically write back to your external calendar. If this external calendar is at any point deleted, all entries in Compass which stem from it will also be removed.

Additional Managers
By default, all users with the CalendarAdmin or Configure permission will be able to access and edit all layers of the calendar. If you would like a user to have access to one specific layer without giving them the CalendarAdmin permission, this can be done by making them 'Additional Managers' to that specific layer. When adding additional managers, you can do it on an individual basis or add all staff in bulk.

Audience
Calendar layers are similar to News Feed items, in that you can choose the specific audience for each layer. Each individual layer can be made visible to as many or as few groups in the school community as you would like, including custom groups, staff, parents and students (parents and students can also be split across year levels) or a combination of all. Any entries made on a layer will automatically be visible to any user in the audience for that layer.

When you've completed everything in this window click 'Save.'

Managing Calendar Layers

To manage calendar layers, follow the links to the Layer Manager. Here, a list of existing calendar layers will appear with their relevant colour displayed. 

     
To edit an existing calendar layer, click the corresponding pencil icon.

     

When you have made any edits, click 'Save' to update the changes.

Viewing Calendars

To view calendars in Compass, click the Calendar icon in the top menu bar.

You will see a small monthly calendar box on the left-hand side of the page above a list of all layers visible to you. The rest of the page is taken up with the calendar schedule view. You will automatically see the schedule for the week containing the current date. You can choose to view this schedule by day, week, month or term by clicking on the buttons in the top right-hand corner.

     

You can also choose to view your schedule for a specific time period by navigating to that date and clicking on it in the small calendar box.

     

Layers

All layers that have been made visible to you will appear on the left-had side of the page, along with your personal schedule. Users are not able to add any calendar items to their personal schedule on this screen. Personal schedules display any information that has been timetabled for the user (by a third party timetabling program or by Compass Schedule Builder), as well as any notes or approvals for the user.

Parents will not have a personal schedule which is labelled "My Schedule" instead they will see the schedules of their students. The screenshot below is an example of a parent's view of the Calendar.

     

You can show or hide any calendar layer that is available to you by clicking on it in the left-hand column where all layers are listed. Layers that are not visible will be slightly greyed out and any entries associated with that layer will not appear in the calendar as you are viewing it.

The layers you set to show will be retained as your 'pre-set view' whenever you are on the Calendar page.  If you click a layer to hide it or show it and then leave the Calendar page, this will update your pre-set view to this configuration ongoing.

     

Creating a Calendar Entry

To create a calendar entry you must either have the CalendarAdmin permission or be an Additional Manager of the Layer.

Click on the calendar in the timeslot you wish to create it. You can also click and drag between the start and finish times of your new event and it will be created with these times pre-filled. Both options will bring up an 'Add Event' pop up. Here you can enter the start and finish dates and times for your event, as well as select the layer it will sit on.  You can also enter an appropriate description of the event. Then click 'Save'.

Hovering your mouse over any created calendar entry will allow you to view the event description and the start and finish times. You can see this in the screenshot to the right.

Creating a Recurring Entry

You can use the 'Repeat' function (similar to the Repeat function in School Activities) to create a recurring entry.

Put in the information for the first session of the entry.  Tick the 'Repeat' box and then add in the Repeat Pattern details and select the days the entry needs to repeat on.  In the below example, there will be recurring Faculty Leader meetings, fortnightly on Wednesday afternoons.

     

Select the applicable layer in the 'Calendar' field, add a Description if applicable and then click 'Save'.  You will see the recurring entries appear on your selected layer at the designated intervals.

To edit or delete a recurring entry, right-click the entry and then choose the 'Edit' or 'Delete' option.

     

If you select 'Edit' you will be first asked to clarify which of the recurring entries the edits are to apply to.

     

Likewise if you select 'Delete' you will be asked to specify which of the recurring entries the delete function is to be applied to.

     

Printing Calendars

Syncing Calendars

As previously mentioned, Compass allows you the option to sync an external calendar with a calendar layer in Compass. It also enables you to sync a specific Compass Calendar layer with other external calendar applications.

It is important to note that each of these options only works one way. When you have an external calendar syncing into a Compass calendar layer you can also create new entries for this layer within Compass, but these new entries will not write back onto the external calendar.

Similarly, when you link your Compass calendar to sync into another calendar application and create additional entries within that calendar application, these will not then be synced back into Compass. 

Sync Compass to Calendar Application

To sync a layer of Compass to an outside calendar application, go to the Layer Manager and download the ICS link for the layer in question. The process will vary depending on the application you want to import this into. If you're unsure on how to proceed, please check the 'Help' section of your preferred calendar application.

Sync Calendar Application to Compass

If you have an external calendar that you wish to make visible in Compass, you can sync this to an individual calendar layer. 

You will need to get the iCal link from your chosen external calendar and insert it into the iCal Url field in for the calendar layer in question on the Layer Manager page. You can only add this iCal link during the initial set up of your Compass Calendar layer, it is not possible to go back into a layer at a later date and add an iCal link.



iCal links are typically available in the Settings of your calendar application, but if you aren't sure where to find it, please check the Help section of your preferred calendar application.

Please Note: If the calendar you are syncing into Compass is set as private, in order to sync, you will need to either make the calendar 'public' or use the secret URL option within your application.
     

Once you have added the new layer, you will need to do an initial 'Refresh' to enable the regular sync process.  Go to the list of layers at your school and click to edit this new layer, in the pop-up, click 'Refresh'.

     

This layer will now auto-sync every four hours.  If you need it updated at anytime sooner, you can come back into the edit screen and click 'Refresh' (please note that this calendar will be read-only in Compass, you will not be able to add content to it within Compass).

     

Sync Events or Personal Calendar to Calendar Application

Your personal schedule and the school's Events calendar are available for all users to sync with any calendar application. To do this, go to the Tools Menu (cog icon) and then click on 'Sync My Schedule.' This will open a page which gives two separate links, one for your private schedule, and the other for the whole school event schedule. 



There are also directions on this page for how to input this link into popular calendar applications.

Archiving Layers

When viewing Current Layers, clicking on the grey cross beside any calendar layer will archive that layer. Archiving a layer will hide all calendar activities associated with that layer.