How to Add an Event - Master Guide

While there are several tabs on an event that allow you to customize your event, not all the tabs are required to be filled out. Once you have filled out as many of the tabs as you need, make sure to submit the event for approval. Only events that have been submitted for approval will officially reserve any spaces, resources, and services that are requested on that event.

From the Dashboard:

• 1. Click "Add Event" or "Quick Event Create", located on the top of your dashboard and the Event Details screen will open.
  • Read this Knowledge Base article to learn more about "Quick Event Create": Quick Event Create - Article

• 2. OR expand the Events section of the menu, located on the left sidebar and click Add Event. 

From the Item Scheduler Calendar View:

• 3. If you want to see which spaces, resources or services are available for new events, you can also navigate to Calendar > Items Schedulers and choose one of the views: Daily Spaces, Daily Resources, Daily Services, Weekly Spaces, Weekly Resources, or Weekly Services.
  • To learn more about this option, read this Knowledge Base article: Item Scheduler | Viewing Space, Resource or Service Availability & Adding Events

Event Name and Description

• Enter Event Name (required field)
• Event Description (optional & an internal description only)
  • You can simply add the link/URL in the Event Description.
    • If you want to change how the link appears, you can add the text that you want to display inside of a bracket right before typing or pasting in the web address inside of parentheses.
      • Example: [Products and Pricing!]( www.smartchurchsolutions.com/software/pricing/)
  • OR you can also add notes about the event here for eSPACE admins and the event owner and editor(s) to see.

• Choose All Day Event  if you have an event that is lasting all day (12 AM - 11:59 PM).

Start and End Dates

• Add "Event Start Date" and "Event End Date" (see attached below).  The dates should be the same date, unless you are adding a continuous event from one date to another and want to block out all items for this time frame.
  • Example: Student Lock-out, Conference, Vacation Bible School, etc.
• Conflict detection will "reserve" the spaces and resources from the Start Date/Time to the End Time/Date".
  • If you ALSO Use Setup and End Teardown Dates then make sure they are also the same as the event start and end date, unless you mean to create a space(s) and/or resource(s) reservation that lasts over a 24 hour period.

Start and End Times

• Choose the hour by selecting a number in either the AM or PM grid, then choose the minute.
• For this example below, I chose the start time as 6:05pm.
• Pick times for the End Time as well as the Setup and Tear Down times the same way!

• • The Event Start time will automatically default to your "Open Time", located within Settings > Advanced > General.
  • If you started the event creation process from the Space Scheduler, the date and time will already be pre-populated.
  • If you started this process from a Calendar View, the event start time will already be pre-populated.

Setup Time/Date and End Teardown Time/Date

• Enter "Begin Setup Date/Time" and "End Teardown Date/Time" (based on Admin setting selections within Settings > Advanced > General > Event Creation.)
• Conflict detection will "reserve" the spaces and resources from the beginning of the "Event Set Up Time/Date" to the "End Teardown Time/Date".
• If no setup and end tear-down times/dates are selected then conflict detection will "reserve" the spaces and resources from the beginning of the "Start Time/Date" to the "End Time/Date".

If Admins Make Setup and End Teardown Required

• If an Admin has made the Setup and/or Teardown Dates/Times required, the user will be required to add these. If a buffer has been added for either one, then these dates/times will automatically pre-populate (see settings below).

• If you have COOLSPACE, your HVAC will be engaged and disengaged based on this order: First it looks for any Admin Overrides, then "Begin Setup Date/Time" and "End Teardown Date/Time". Otherwise, it will look at "Event Start Date/Time" and "Event End Date/Time". 
  • If you also have ramp times entered for each HVAC unit in FACILITeSPACE, then ramp time till be added in addition to the formula above.
• If you have SECURESPACE your doors will be engaged and disengaged based on this order: First, it looks for any Admin Overrides. If there are no overrides, then eSPACE will send a command for the door(s) to unlock at "Event Start Time" + the Global or individual buffer that you set in FACILITeSPACE.

Making an Event Recurring (Optional):

Offsite or Virtual

Here, you have the option to add an event that is Offsite or Virtual!

If you choose to have an Offsite event, then you'll be prompted to add the Offsite Location.

If you choose to make the event a Virtual event, you'll be prompted to add the Virtual Meeting Link; however, it is not required. You can create a Zoom link in your Zoom account or Microsoft Team etc and then paste that link into the "Virtual Meeting Link" field on the Details tab of the event in eSPACE.

• Keep in mind that you must enter the link with the correct format (must start with "http://" or "https://") or the following warning will appear:

• Once you Submit your event, it will appear on the Dashboard with a new tag that says VIRTUAL EVENT.

Location(s)

If your eSPACE account has one location then all events will default to that one location.

If your account has more than one, then each user can choose the proper location(s) on their event request.

Public or Private Event

• Select Public if this event is to be displayed on the Web Calendar to the general public after the event is fully approved. The default setting is Private (unless changed under your profile settings).
  • This setting is especially important when you are using the Public Calendar feature: Public Calendar Feature | Embed Your eSPACE Calendar on your Website
  • Public Locations: If you create a Public Calendar and choose a location to filter by, then all events must have a public location selected in order to correctly show on the Public Calendar. It is always recommended to choose a Location and Public Location on all events since locations are the foundation of every eSPACE account. 

• "Public Calendar Image" - Add an image (see attached below) that will show for events on your public calendar! You will see an expanded thumbnail view of the image as shown below. Notice also that you have the option to "Remove Image". The recommended image size is less than 232 KB. Anything larger than that will show sideways. 
  Note: Only events that have been marked public and are in an approved status will show on the public calendar.

Event Categories

• Next, select one or multiple Categories (option to make required in Setup > Advanced > General > Event Creation)

• If an event is saved under multiple categories, you will now see the colors supported on all calendars and schedulers:

Add Number of People

(Option to make required in Setup>Advanced>General>Optional Settings)

• Enter the Number of People expected for the event.
  • You can easily add increments of 1, 10, and 100's to your number of people by selecting one or more of the "+" blue buttons.

Auto Approve Option (Admins Only)

• When using the "Quick Event Create" option to add an event, admins have the option to disable auto-approve so the event can be processed through normal event approval workflow of Sub-Administrators. However, this only applies if you have "Can Auto Approve Events" under the admin's user permissions turned on.

Event Owner and Editors

• By default, if you created the event, your name will show as the Event Owner. Note: If an Admin has opted to allow users to change the event owner (Settings), then you will be able to make a change here when appropriate.

• Option to add event editor(s) that can make changes to your event and see the event listed on their dashboard grid.

Integration Options

COOLSPACE - HVAC OVERRIDE Setting (Visible to users who have this integration added to their plan and have been given access within user permissions).

• If you have COOLSPACE, your HVAC will be engaged and disengaged based on this order: First it looks for any Admin Overrides, then "Begin Setup Date/Time" and "End Teardown Date/Time", otherwise, it will look at "Event Start Date/Time" and "Event End Date/Time". 

INFOSPACE SETTINGS: Setting (Visible to users who have this integration added to their plan and have been given access within user permissions).

Optional Settings

This setting allows event owners to add some additional information to their event such as contacts, event attachments and event reminders!

Event Attachments

• These can be added to your event by choosing by selecting files from your computer or a document from your Document Library. You will be able to click on the uploaded attachment in order to preview it. All users, even users who are not the event owner or editor, can also preview and download the attachments on the Summary tab of the event.

Event Reminders

Reminder to Extend an Event: If your event is a recurring event over a period of time, you will have the option to receive an email reminder a month before your event ends (see first attachment below) so that you can extend the event OR copy the event and select new dates.

• This option can be set individually for each event as needed.
• The event must be fully approved in order for the email reminders to be sent out on the appropriate day. 

This is what the email reminder looks like!

Reminder about an upcoming event: Reminders can be used if you want an email reminder to go to event owners, Admins, and/or Sub-Admins or contacts days or weeks before the event starts! You have full control of scheduling your event reminders! You can:

• Select WHO you"d like to remind
• Choose the number of days before the event that you would like the reminder sent, and
• You can add reminder notes!

For internal users only, these reminders can also be found on the left sidebar of your dashboard by clicking Reminders. You can easily see how many unread reminders that you have to the right of "Reminders" as shown below.

• Unless your event is offsite or virtual (which you can program on the main Details tab), continue to the Items tab to select available spaces and/or resources and/or services.

   

Add Contacts?

• If you want to add one or more contacts to an event, simply add them to the Contact tab of the event. You can either choose to select a contact from the list of option or add a new one.

• When adding a new one, decide if you want to add it to the list of options for future events before clicking Save.

• • • Please note that once a contact is added, only an Admin can edit or delete the contact within Settings > Advanced> Contacts.

Adding Items (Spaces, Resources, Services)

• Unless you mark your event as being offsite or virtual on the main Details tab, then an event should always have at least one space and/or resource and or/service selected.
• As you review and select your "ITEMS" (Spaces/Resources/Services), you will quickly be able to identify if the item is available for your event and all occurrences. You will see either a green check mark for items not in conflict or a red caution triangle with "See Conflicts" next to it (see attached below).  

Conflict Detection: There is real-time conflict detection throughout the event scheduling process. To see the conflicts with your selection/date, you can click on the "See Conflicts".

• To Add Spaces, toggle ON next to any space. This can be done at the “parent” or the “child” level of the hierarchical tree. 
  • You can easily see which spaces are selected at the top right side. There you can click the trash icon to delete any or you can click "Remove All" to quickly remove all of them at once. 

If you started this process from a Calendar View, the space will already be pre-populated.

• Click Next to proceed to Resources and enter the same way as Spaces
• Follow the same steps to select Services

Setup Tab

• Adding Notes, assigning Resources to Spaces and Internal Forms

The Setup screen allows you to see if there are any required forms attached that need to be completed. There will be an exclamation mark next to it to, indicating it is incomplete. Once it is completed, there will be a green check mark and a print icon, allowing you to print the completed form. Within setup, you also can add/edit configurations, view documents, associate any item to a space, and add notes, which are reportable.

• Click the green edit button to edit any item, including configurations, notes, and associations of Resources and Services to particular Spaces, then SAVE.

• If the Space/Resource/Service selected requires a form to be completed, a red warning (red exclamation point) will be indicated.  
  • Read this Knowledge Base article to learn how to make internal forms that can be attached to spaces, resources and services: Form Builder | Create & Assign Internal Forms to Spaces, Resources, or Services

• Simply click on the form to complete. Once all of the required form questions have been completed, click SAVE.

• Once the form has been saved, you'll see a green check-mark next to the form, indicating it has been completed. The attached form can also be printed at any time.

Occurrence tab

• Click Next (Occurrences tab). This will display all of the recurring present and future schedules/dates/occurrences.  
• You can also choose to show "Past Occurrences". 
• To see details of any occurrence, click to expand that occurrence with the arrow on the far left-hand side. 
  • You can also choose to expand all and then collapse all occurrences. When you do, if you leave that tab and then return the occurrences will either be expanded or collapsed depending on how you left them.
• Read this knowledge base article to learn the difference between an Occurrence and a Schedule on an event: When to Add Occurrence vs. New Schedule?

Conflicts

• If there are conflicts, you will see a conflicts warning at the top of the Occurrence tab. Depending on your account settings and user level and permissions, you can either click "See All Conflicts" OR "See all Items" and any item that is in conflict with another event will be highlighted in red and say "Conflicted".

• If you have "See All Conflicts" selected, then the occurrences will only show you the ones that have items that are in conflict, rather than all items chosen.

 

Correcting Conflicts

• Click See All Conflicts, if there are any.
• If there are, then locate the items on the occurrences that are in conflict and delete them from those occurrences. If, however, an item, such as a space, is in conflict on all or most occurrences, then try switching it out for a different item. 
• Go back to the Items > Space, Resource or Service tabs to select a different one that is not in conflict with other events that have already been submitted for approval or approved.
• Then navigate back to the Occurrences tab to adjust any occurrences such as canceling ones that fall on a holiday.
• Once the event is completed to your satisfaction, you can either move on to the other additional tabs or click "Submit Event for Approval".

Editing Occurrences

If you need to make changes to any of the occurrences, then expand the one or multiple occurrences that you need to edit and select the option needed. 

Canceling an Occurrence Vs. Deleting

• If you cancel occurrences then it will be crossed out and labeled "Canceled" on the internal. If allowed it will also appear like that on the Public Calendar.
• If you delete occurrences, then the occurrences are removed from the internal and external calendar. However, there will NOT be a message in it's place that says it's been deleted. 
• Learn more: Canceling an Event, Occurrence, and/or Schedule
  • How to Find and Restore Canceled Events and Deleted Events

Adding Occurrences

• If another occurrence is desired, click the Add Occurrence button. Event information will be cloned, but date, time, etc., can be changed. A good use for this is if you want to add a one-off occurrence or need to add one more occurrence. If you are ready to submit your event for approval, simply click on Submit Event.

Schedules Tab

• Click Next (Schedules tab) where you will see your current schedule(s) and can also add any additional schedules. Adding schedules versus occurrences gives you the option to change the name for your new schedule, keep or change the items associated with the original schedule, and choose different dates, recurrence rules, etc.
• While different schedules on the event can be public vs. non-public or virtual vs. not-virtual, all schedules on the event can only be either onsite or offsite.

Example: A good use for adding schedules is when you have a wedding as main event and you want to add a new schedule for the rehearsal, and perhaps another for the reception. This keeps all schedules under the umbrella of the main event, which is the wedding. On the calendar, the schedules are shown according to the date, with the main event name and schedule name. On the Occurrences tab, the present and future schedules (not past) are visible, with occurrences from all schedules in date order.

Read this knowledge base article to learn the difference between an Occurrence and a Schedule on an event: When to Add Occurrence vs. New Schedule?

• Make sure you have the right schedule selected in the right-hand drop-down menu BEFORE editing any of the tabs. Whatever schedule is selected is the one you will be editing when you make changes on the Details tab, Items tab, Setup tab...

• 

Summary Tab

This tab gives you the options to Print, Download, or Email in order to share. While only event owners, event editors, and all admins will be able to view the Details tab of an event, all users will be able to see the attachments that are uploaded to the Details tab from the Summary Tab. The Summary tab will also show all the forms that are attached to spaces, resources, and/or services on the Setup tab for all users to be able to view. 

Conversations Tab

• Here you can begin a conversation regarding the event with any users associated to the event or others outside of the event.
• Read this Knowledge Base article to learn more: Conversations within an Event

History Tab

• Here, you can view the history of the event (edits, approvals, etc.), from creation to current status.
• This tab is especially helpful when you are trying to troubleshoot when certain items were added or removed or see when sub-admins have approved them items and much more!

Events in Draft Mode

When you add items to an event, you can save an event as a draft to come back to later on and complete. To access drafts from the Dashboard, simply go to the "My Drafts" grid. These will be all events you have created or edited, that were not submitted for approval.

• Spaces and resources are NOT "reserved" while an event is in draft mode. The event must at least be pending approval or approved in order to reserve the space and/or resources.