Overview
The shared calendar feature in GoTime allows departments to add their employee's leave dates to the department's Outlook shared calendars. These shared calendars are specifically created for GoTime use and are read only according to the read permissions configured during the set up process.
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What is the purpose of this feature?
- The purpose of this feature is to see which employees in your department have off. There could be one shared calendar for a team or there could be multiple calendars across multiple teams. Everyone assigned to a calendar will be able to see the leave dates for each other.
- If only a supervisor needs access, each member of a team can be assigned a calendar, but only the supervisor will be able to view them on given team calendar.
Set up process
GoTime shared calendars can be set up using a bulk process. Using this bulk process, shared calendars are created in Outlook and assigned to employees in GoTime.
Step 1: HR should work with their Department IT to fill out the GoTime Shared Calendars Bulk Import Template
Step 2: Department IT should create the AD groups to correctly delegate view access to the calendar.
Step 3: HR should then use TDX to submit a service request with the completed bulk import file. The service request can be submitted here.
Step 4: TS will use the bulk import file to create and assign calendars based on that template
Explanation of columns in the bulk import template
Department Name - Name of the department to which this shared calendar belongs to
Calendar Display Name - Preferred display name of the shared calendar
Preferred Alias( 20 character limit) - Follow naming convention rc.gtm[college/department abbreviation]@uic.edu
Employee UIN - UIN of the employee whose leave dates would be added to this shared calendar
Employee Name - Name of the employee whose leave dates would be added to this shared calendar
AD Group – Work with your department IT to create an AD group with employee(s) with view access to the shared calendar. AD Groups must be created under the OU: ad.uic.edu/Exchange/Shared Resource Groups/DEPTNAME. Replacing DEPTNAME with their department. AD Groups should be created as Universal groups. Most large units have that permission already. If they don't have an OU like that or can't create groups under theirs, the email & calendaring team can adjust the permissions. This allows department's IT team to maintain access moving forward.
Role of HR after initial setup
- Once the initial setup is complete, HR admins can add future employees to the calendar directly on GoTime. To achieve this, the admin will go to the view/edit employee page and add the calendar email address in the assignment list.
- Leaves will start populating for the employee, but Department IT must still add the employee for their view access.
How are leave dates added/removed to/from shared calendars?
In GoTime, users can be assigned a shared Calendar, either through the bulk upload template, or individually by an HR admin.
Once assigned, employees can add the shared calendar to Outlook. It will then be available under the “People’s Calendars” section, in the Calendar view, for both the Outlook Web and Desktop applications. Its take about 24hrs to sync the existing leave dates in GoTime to the shared calendars.
New leave dates are added to the shared calendars when leaves are submitted by the employee and are approved by the supervisors in GoTime. Leave dates removed from the shared calendars when a leave is declined or a withdrawn leave is approved.
What information about the leave is added to the shared calendars?
Only employee's name, leave date and leave duration are added to the shared calendar. Leave type and leave comments are considered confidential information and hence are not added to the shared calendars.
Who can view the employee's leave on the shared calendars?
Only employee's who are listed under the read permissions during the set up process can view leaves on the shared calendars.
How to open a shared calendar in Outlook?
Once the calendar is assigned, it is up to the employee to add the shared calendar to outlook. Employees can see the email of the calendar they are assigned to on the home page of Go Time. This is the email(s) that would need to be added to outlook to enable the ability to see the other scheduled leaves. For more information on how to achieve this please view this article.