18Calendar
Calendar
This chapter describes the resource and calendar access tasks performed by the administrator. It includes the following topics:
About Calendar Resources
Resources are typically items such as conference rooms and audiovisual equipment that are reserved and used by employees for meetings and other calendar activities. Resources have availability associated with them and can be invited as participants to calendar activities, in much the same way as employees and contacts are invited to calendar activities. The administrator is responsible for setting up and maintaining the list of resources. For more information about adding participants to activities, see Siebel Fundamentals.
About Calendar Access
Normally employees grant each other access to their calendars. However, there are various situations when the administrator might have to add, modify, or delete calendar access for employees. For information about granting access to calendars, see Siebel Fundamentals.
Scenarios for Administering Calendars
This topic describes how calendar administration might be used. You might use calendar administration differently, depending on your business model. This topic includes the following scenarios:
Administering Resources
This topic includes the following scenarios requiring resource administration:
Before the Siebel application is rolled out to users, the administrator creates resource records. He creates resource records for all the conference rooms for the various floors and buildings of the company’s sites. He also creates resource records for the audio-visual equipment that employees might want to reserve for use at their meetings. For more information, see Setting Up Resources.
After the Siebel application is rolled out, the company grows and more sites and conferences rooms are added. Old audio-visual equipment is discarded and new equipment is purchased. The administrator continues to maintain the list of resources, keeping it up-to-date. For more information, see Setting Up Resources.
Administering Calendar Access
This topic includes the following scenarios requiring calendar access administration:
Employee A is out of the office unexpectedly. Employee B must view Employee A’s calendar so that she can cancel his appointments. Employee B asks the administrator to give her access to Employee A’s calendar. For more information, see Adding and Modifying Calendar Access.
An executive has been granted access to many of his colleagues’ calendars. When the executive moves to a new division, he no longer must access the calendars of these employees. He asks the administrator to clear the list by removing his name from all employees’ Calendar Access List views. (Alternatively, the executive can contact all the employees whose calendars are on his Owner drop-down list and asked each of them to remove his name from their calendar access lists.) For more information, see Deleting Calendar Access.
When an employee leaves the company, the administrator removes the employee’s name from the Owner lists of other employees. For more information, see Deleting Calendar Access.
Process of Administering the Calendar
To administer the calendar, complete the following tasks:
Setting up resources is completed before the users begin to set up meetings. Other tasks are completed according to the company’s business needs.
Setting Up Resources
The following procedure describes how to administer resources for calendar activities.
This task is a step in Process of Administering the Calendar.
To administer resources for calendar activities
Navigate to the Administration - User screen, then the Resources view.
In the Resources list, create a new record, and complete the necessary fields.
Tip: If the Description and Site fields are not sufficient to identify the resource, then other fields can be added to the Resources list applet. For example, your company might want to add Building Number and Floor fields to help users find and identify resources. For information about creating fields and making fields visible, see Configuring Siebel Business Applications.Edit and delete resource records as required.
Adding and Modifying Calendar Access
You can use the following Calendar Administration views to modify calendar access:
Access Received lists all the calendars that the selected employee can access.
Access Granted lists all the employees who can access the selected employee’s calendar.
This task is a step in Process of Administering the Calendar.
To give Employee B access to Employee A’s calendar
Navigate to the Administration - User screen, Employees, Calendar Administration, and then Access Granted.
In the Employees list, select the employee (Employee A).
In the Calendar Administration list, create a new record or select an existing record, and complete the fields in the following table.
Field Comments Last Name
Select the name of the Employee B who wants to access Employee A’s calendar.
Update Access
Select the check box to indicate Employee B has read and write access to Employee A’s calendar.
Clear the check box to indicate Employee B has read-only access to Employee A’s calendar.
Viewing All Calendars to Which an Employee Has Access
Complete the following procedure to view all the calendars to which an employee has access.
To view all the calendars to which an employee has access
Navigate to the Administration - User screen, Employees, Calendar Administration, and then Access Received view.
In the Employees list, select the employee.
The Calendar Administration list shows calendars to which the employee has access.
Note: Records can be added, modified, and deleted from this view.
Deleting Calendar Access
For a selected employee, the administrator can delete all employees from the Access Granted or the Access Received list.
This task is a step in Process of Administering the Calendar.
To remove all employees from an employee’s Owner drop-down list in Calendar view
Navigate to the Administration - User screen, Employees, Calendar Administration, and then Access Received view.
In the Employees list, select the employee.
Make sure that you select the employee whose Owner drop-down list you want to clear.
Click the cogwheel icon in the Access Received list, and select Delete All.
This command deletes all records in the list. The employee selected in the Employees list no longer has access to any calendars other than the employee’s own.
Note: Alternatively, you can use the Delete Record command to remove just one selected employee from the employee’s calendar owner drop-down list.
Removing an Employee From All Employees’ Calendar Access List Views
Complete the following procedure to remove an employee from all employees’ Calendar Access List views.
To remove an employee from all employees’ Calendar Access List views
Navigate to the Administration - User screen, Employees, Calendar Administration, and then Access Granted.
In the Employees list, select the employee.
Make sure that you select the employee that you want to remove from all employees’ calendar access lists.
Click the cogwheel icon in the Access Granted list, and select Delete All.
This command deletes all records in the list. The calendar of the employee selected in the Employees list can no longer be accessed by any other employees.
Note: Alternatively, you can use the Delete Record command to delete the employee from one selected employee’s calendar access list.
Configuring the Calendar Alarm
To administer Calendar alarms, review the following topics:
Setting Alarm Manager Load Frequency
The Alarm Manager Load Frequency system preference determines how frequently the calendar alarm queries the server for alarm-enabled appointments. The default value is 60 minutes, but you might want to change this time to better suit your business needs. Querying the server less frequently results in fewer SQL calls. However, each SQL call takes longer to execute. In certain cases, this trade-off results in improved performance. (Also, if the alarm frequency is less than the session time-out set in the Siebel Application Interface profile, then sessions never time out.) For information about how to edit system preferences, see Setting System Preferences.
Setting Retroactive Alarms
Retroactive alarms are alarms for past events that did appear before the event because the user was not logged in. By default, the Siebel application is set to display up to 14 days of past retroactive alarms for missed events. You can change the number of days for retroactive-alarm display by editing the RetroAlarmInterval user property of the Alarm Manager business service.
Configuring the Calendar
Some aspects of the Calendar feature that configurators or administrators can configure include:
Displaying Start and End Times for Calendar
Two fields determine the start and end times that appear in the calendar applet. These two fields are specified by applet user properties. The following table shows these two fields.
Table Calendar Applet User Property for Calendar Activity Start and End Times
| Applet User Property | Description |
|---|---|
Start Date |
The name of the field that indicates the start date and time that appear in the calendar applet. |
End Date |
The name of the field that indicates the end date and time that appear in the calendar applet. |
Displaying Fields, Colors, Drilldowns, and ToolTips
Review the following topics:
Displaying Fields for Calendar Records
You can configure one or more fields as display fields for calendar records. Field configuration is controlled by the Display Fields applet user property. The value of this user property is a list of comma-delimited business component fields that you want to appear for each record in the calendar. For the Activity Calendar, the default value is Description, which is the description of the activity that appears in the calendar.
Displaying Field Color
You can configure each display field to appear in a specified color and change the color dynamically. Use the Display Field Colors applet user property to configure the colors of the display fields. For information about this user property, see User Properties for Calendar Fields, Colors, Drilldowns, and ToolTips.
For example, the eEvents Event Calendar Applet has a value of Name for the Display Fields user property and a value of Event Type Color for the Display Field Colors user property. In the eEvents Event business component, Event Type Color has the following calculated field value:
IIF ([Event Type Color1] IS NOT NULL,[Event Type Color1],[Event Type Color2])
Event Type Color1 has the following calculated field value:
IIF ([Event Type LIC] = "Seminar","#3366CC",IIF ([Event Type LIC] = "Restricted", "#FF6633",IIF ([Event Type LIC] = "Fundraiser","#339933",IIF ([Event Type LIC]="Trade Show","#9900CC",IIF ([Event Type LIC]="Benefit","#7AB8F6","")))))
Event Type Color2 has the following calculated field value:
IIF ([Event Type LIC] = "Auction","#B2E5B2",IIF ([Event Type LIC] = "Conference", "#CC66FF",IIF ([Event Type LIC] = "Cultural","#FF0066",IIF ([Event Type LIC]="Presentation","#9999FF",IIF ([Event Type LIC]="Recreation","#FF6633","#CC9933")))))
You can create different types of events (for example, conference events and cultural events) in the Events view of the Events screen, and then navigate to the Calendar view of the Events screen to see the events in the appropriate colors in the eEvents Event Calendar Applet.
Displaying Field Drilldown
You can specify a drilldown object for each Display Field through the Display Field Drilldown Object Names applet user property. The value of the user property is a comma-delimited list of drilldown objects defined for the applet.
Displaying Field ToolTip Text
When you position the mouse pointer over a display field in a calendar record, ToolTip text appears. The ToolTip content is configurable through the Display Field Name.Tooltip Fields applet user property, where Display Field Name is the name of the display field.
The user property value is a list of comma-delimited business component fields. The values of these business component fields appear as the ToolTip in the display field. By default, the name of the business component field is used as the label in the ToolTip text.
Make the label for a ToolTip field translatable by creating a control in the applet with the name Tooltip Field Label:Field Name. The caption of the control is used as the label for the ToolTip field. For example, for the business component Quote, field Name, the ToolTip label for the field is defined as a control of name ToolTip Field Label:Quote.Name, and the caption of the control is the label for this field.
Disabling Text Wrapping
Set the NoWrapDesc user property to Y to disable text wrapping in the activity description field of a calendar. Applets in which you can set this property include:
Activity HI Calendar Applet
Activity HI Outlook Calendar Applet
LS Pharma Activity HI Calendar Applet
Specifying Day Summary ToolTip
For a day on the Weekly and Monthly Calendar, you can specify the format of the ToolTip that displays all the records for the day.
Day Summary ToolTip User Properties
The following information lists the applet user property for the Day Summary ToolTip.
Table Calendar Applet User Property for Day Summary ToolTip
| Applet User Property | Description |
|---|---|
[“Buscomp Name".]Day Summary Tooltip Template |
A template for the day summary ToolTip. ToolTip appears when you position the mouse pointer over the tile header (7 day weekly or monthly) or the day slot (5 day weekly). |
Action.Day Summary Tooltip Template |
[Planned] – [Planned Completion] [Type]: [Description] It is rendered as follows: 12:00PM – 1:00PM Appointment: Test eBiz 1:00PM – 2:00PM Training: Take course 2:00PM – 4:00PM Appointment: Design review |
User Properties for Calendar Fields, Colors, Drilldowns, and ToolTips
The following information lists the Calendar user properties for the Calendar fields, colors, drilldowns, and ToolTips.
Table Calendar Applet User Property for Calendar Fields, Colors, Drilldowns, and ToolTips
| Applet User Property | Description |
|---|---|
Display Fields |
A list of comma-delimited business component fields that you want to appear for each record in the calendar. For the Activity Calendar, the default value is Description, which is the description of the activity that appears in the calendar. |
Display Field Colors |
Comma-delimited color strings or field names in the format of #RRGGBB. If the value is a color string, and the format is #RRGGBB, then it is interpreted as a color string. If the format is not #RRGGBB, then it is interpreted as a field name. |
Display Field Drilldown Object Names |
Comma-delimited drilldown object names. For example, the Quote. Display Field Drilldown Object Name Applet User Property Name can drilldown to the Quote Detail - Id, Quote Detail - Name User Property Value. |
Display Field Drilldown Source Fields |
Comma-delimited business component field names. |
[“Display Field Name".]Tooltip Fields |
A list of comma-delimited field names. Replace ["Display Field Name".] with the actual display field name. ToolTip appears when you position the mouse pointer over the record’s display field. For example, the Description.Tooltip Fields user property has the value of Type, Description, Planned, Planned Completion. The following is an example of the ToolTip that might appear: Type: Appointment Description: Test Start: 2/2/2004 12:30PM End: 2/2/2004 13:00PM |
Showing and Hiding User Interface Components
The following table shows how to set user properties to show or hide the UI components. The HI Calendar Base Applet contains the default values for user properties for calendars. These user properties can be overwritten by the current applet.
Table Calendar Applet User Properties for User Interface Components
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
Enable Daily |
Set the Daily button to N to hide the button, and set to Y to show the button. |
Enable Weekly |
Set the Weekly button to N to hide the button, and set to Y to show the button. |
Enable Monthly |
Set the Monthly button to N to hide the button, and set to Y to show the button. |
Enable New Button |
Set the New button to N to hide the button, and set to Y to show the button. |
Enable Today Button |
Set the Today button to N to hide the button, and set to Y to show the button. |
Enable Print Button |
Set the Print button to N to hide the button, and set to Y to show the button. |
Enable Date Picker |
Set the Date Picker button to N to hide the button, and set to Y to show the button. |
Enable Owner Picker |
Set the Owner Picker button to N to hide the button, and set to Y to show the button. |
Enable Timezone Picker |
Set the Timezone Picker button to N to hide the button, and set to Y to show the button. |
Changing User Interface Strings
By changing the user interface strings, which come from Siebel Tools configurations, you can change the user interface controls. This topic applies only to the HI Calendar Base Applet, and not to calendar applets that you configure to display records from extra business components. For more information, see Specifying Extra Business Components.
The HI Calendar Base Applet contains the basic UI strings for calendars and the repeating pop-up dialog. These UI controls can be overwritten by the current applet. The following table lists the applet controls.
Table HI Calendar Base Applet Controls
| Control Name | Caption |
|---|---|
Daily Tab |
Daily |
Weekly Tab |
Weekly |
Monthly Tab |
Monthly |
New Button |
New |
Today Button |
Today |
Print Button |
|
Delete Button |
Delete |
5 Day Week Button |
5 Day Week |
7 Day Week Button |
7 Day Week |
New Account Call Button |
New Account Call |
New Contact Call Button |
New Contact Call |
New Meeting Button |
New Meeting |
Owner Label |
Owner |
Timezone Label |
Time Zone |
Private Label |
(private) |
No Description Label |
(no description) |
All Employee View Label |
All Employees |
Time Slot Label Tooltip |
Click to create a new record |
Tile Header Day Label Tooltip |
Click to navigate to this day |
Tooltip Field Label:Description |
Description |
Tooltip Field Label:Meeting Location |
Meeting Location |
Tooltip Field Label:Comment |
Comment: |
Tooltip Field Label:Planned |
Planned |
Tooltip Field Label:Planned Completion |
Planned Completion |
Tooltip Field Label:Type |
Type |
Repeating Dialog Title |
Edit Repeating Activities |
Repeating Dialog Label 1 |
This appointment is part of a repeating series |
Repeating Dialog Label 2 |
Please choose one of the following: |
Repeating Dialog This Instance |
Modify this instance |
Repeating Dialog All Future Instances |
Modify this and all future instances |
Repeating Dialog OK Button |
OK |
Repeating Dialog Cancel Button |
Cancel |
Changing Date Display Format
The following table shows the LOVs used to change the display format for the days of the week, the days of the month, the print header for different views, and the 5 Day Weekly header.
Table Date Display LOVs
| To change... | Use... |
|---|---|
Labels for the days of the week. |
LOV type IDS_SSA_LOVTYPE_DAY_NAME with names from Monday to Sunday. |
Labels for the months. |
LOV type IDS_SSA_LOVTYPE_MONTH_NAME with names from January to December. |
Formats of the print header for different views. |
LOV type CAL_PRINTHEADER_FORMAT with the following names: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, WeeklyFromTo. |
Format of other date displays. |
LOV type CAL_DATEDISPLAY_FORMAT with the following names:
|
Changing the First Day of the Week
Use the First Day of Week applet user property to change the first day of the week. The following table shows the values for the First Day of the Week applet user property.
Table First Day of Week Applet User Property
| Use this value... | For.... |
|---|---|
0 |
Sunday |
1 |
Monday |
2 |
Tuesday |
3 |
Wednesday |
4 |
Thursday |
5 |
Friday |
6 |
Saturday |
Overriding User Preferences
You can use the applet user property to override all the user interface user preferences, which are used for calendars. The following table shows the applet user property.
Table Applet User Property
| User Property Name | Description |
|---|---|
Default Calendar Mode |
Language independent calendar mode (Daily, Weekly, or Monthly). |
Preferred Weekly Mode |
Weekly mode (5 Day Weekly for a 5 day week, or 7 Day Weekly for a 7 day week). |
Preferred Timeslot Interval |
Timeslot interval in slot views. |
Preferred Business Day Start Time |
Start time of a business day. |
Preferred Business Day End Time |
End time of a business day. |
Preferred Appointment Duration |
Appointment duration when creating new appointments. |
Enabling and Disabling Calendar Editing
The following list shows the consequences if the No Insert property or the No Update property is selected, or if the Calendar is based on multiple business components.
If the No Insert property of the calendar applet is checked, then the icon to create new activities is disabled, and inline record creation is disabled. Inline record editing is allowed.
If the No Update property of the calendar applet is checked, then inline editing is disabled. Inline record creation is still allowed.
If the Calendar is based on multiple business components, then the icon to create new activities is disabled, inline record creation is disabled, and inline record editing is disabled. For details, see Specifying Extra Business Components.
Using Special Date Markers
You can use markers that can appear in 7-Day Weekly and Monthly calendars to mark certain days as special days. These markers are configured through the applet user property. The following table shows the user properties.
Table Special Date Markers
| User Property Name | Description |
|---|---|
Special Date Buscomp Name |
The name of the business component to get special date info from. |
Special Date Buscomp Start Date Field |
The start date field. |
Special Date Buscomp End Date Field |
The end date field. |
Special Date Buscomp Marker Field |
A field that is used to generate the special date marker. By default, it is a piece of HTML that is inserted into an <A> element and put in the header of the day tile. |
Special Date Marker ToolTip |
A comma-delimited list of field names. |
Specifying Extra Business Components
You can configure a calendar applet to display records from multiple business components by specifying additional source business components using the Extra Source Buscomp Names applet user property. The following table describes this applet user property. For each extra source business component, you can specify properties such as its Start Date Field using the [Buscomp Name.] notation. For example, to display both activities and quotes in a single calendar, you can configure the applet using the Action business component and then specify Quote as the extra source business component. Use the Quote.Start Date Field user property to specify the Start Date Field for Quote business component.
Table Calendar Applet User Property to Display Data from Multiple Business Components
| Applet User Property | Description |
|---|---|
Extra Source Buscomp Names |
The extra business components. You can specify user properties for each extra source business component using the [Buscomp Name]. notation. For example, to specify the Start Date Field for Quote business component, you use Quote.Start Date Field user property. For each extra source business component, Start Date Field user property is required. There are two user properties that are specifically for extra source business components.
For example, to specify the visibility mode and search specification for Quote business component, you use Quote.Visibility Mode and Quote.Search Specification user properties. |
Move Records from Other Applets into the Calendar
A list applet in the Calendar view can be configured so that one or more records can be relocated from the list applet onto the calendar applet.
Relocation Action Behavior
The behavior of the relocation action is configurable. The following table shows an example of this behavior.
Table Example of Configurable Relocation Behavior
| In the... | Relocate... |
|---|---|
Pharma application |
A record from the Activities list to the daily calendar applet updates the Planned Start date for the activity according to where it is dropped on the calendar. |
Consumer Sector application |
Records from the Activities list to the calendar applet creates a new record of type In Store Visit for the account, and associates appropriate activity records to the new In Store Visit record. If multiple records are relocated, then the account for the new record is based on the account of the last record in the relocated group. |
Relocation User Properties
The following table shows the user properties set on the list applet that determine the relocation behavior.
Table Applet User Property for Calendar Relocation
| Applet User Property | Description |
|---|---|
Enable Drag And Drop |
Set this user property to Y or N. The default is N. |
Calendar Default Action |
Set this user property to:
|
Calendar UpdateTime Field |
If Calendar Default Action is UpdateTime, then set this user property to the time field in the source applet that you want to have updated by the relocation action. For example, in the Pharma application (Pharma Calendar Activity List Applet), this user property is set to Planned. |
Calendar Drag Field, Calendar Drag Field1, Calendar Drag Field2, Calendar Drag Field3 ... Calendar Drag Fieldn |
If Calendar Default Action is NewRecord, then set these user properties to copy data from the source record to the new calendar activity (target) record. The format for these user properties follows: Source_field_name,Target_field_name For example, to copy content from a field named Summary in the source record to the Description field in the calendar activity record, the Calendar Drag Field is Summary,Description. |
Calendar Drag Associate |
If Calendar Default Action is NewRecord, then set this user property to Y if you want to have the source records associated with the new (target) record. The relocated records become child records of the new calendar activity record. |
Calendar Drag Child Associate Field |
If Calendar Drag Associate is Y, then set this user property to the name of the field in the source records that is to associate them with the new calendar activity record. The field specified gets populated with the row ID of the new calendar activity record. |
Calendar Drag Method |
If the default calendar action does not meet your needs, then set this user property to your own method name to control the relocation action. If this user property is set, then the preceding user properties are ignored. For example, in the Consumer Sector application, this user property is set to the Drag And Drop Handler method. |
Calendar Drag BusComp |
If a method is supplied in the Calendar Drag Method user property, then set this user property to the name of the business component on which you want to invoke the method. If this user property is not specified, then the method is invoked on the current business component. For example, in the Consumer Sector application, this user property is set to the In Store Visit business component. |
Calendar Drag BusObj |
If a business component is supplied in the Calendar Drag BusComp user property, then set this user property to the name of the business object to use when retrieving the Calendar Drag BusComp business component. If this user property is not specified, then the current business object is used. However, it is better to specify a value for this business object, even if it is the same as the current business object. This setting makes sure that instantiating the Calendar Drag BusComp business component does not affect other business components within the current view. For example, in the Consumer Sector application, this user property is set to the In Store Visit business object. |
Changing Controls in the Calendar Detail View
The Calendar Detail view (accessed by creating a new record in the daily, weekly, or monthly calendar views) has three buttons that are managed by the specialized class CSSSWEFrameGanttCalOUI in the GanttChart OUI Applet (the scheduling control applet). The following table shows the button name and the pop-up applet invoked by the button.
Table Participant Availability Buttons
| Button Name | Popup Applet Invoked |
|---|---|
Add Employee |
HI Gantt Chart Employee Pick Applet |
Add Resource |
HI Gantt Chart Resource Pick Applet |
Add Contact |
HI Gantt Chart Contact Pick Applet |
Showing or Hiding Side Applets on the Life Sciences Calendar
The calendar pages for the Siebel Life Sciences application have list applets alongside the calendar applet. The Suppress Side Applets Calendar Types user property on the LS Pharma Activity HI Calendar Applet determines whether or not the side list applet appears. For example, you can choose to have the side list applet appear with the daily and weekly calendars but not with the monthly calendar.
To hide or show the side list applet on the LS Pharma HI Activity Calendar View
For the LS Pharma Activity HI Calendar Applet, edit the Suppress Side Applets Calendar Types applet user property to include the calendars for which you want to hide the list applet.
For example, set the value to Daily, Weekly5, Weekly7, Monthly to hide the side list applet on all the calendars.