Blog

March 1, 2012

How do I synchronize my Humanity staff schedule with other calendar applications?

It is important for employees to always have access to the most up-to-date staff schedules, wherever they are. Humanity is a web-based application which means you have access to your schedule whenever you are connected to the Internet; but what happens when you’re not connected?

Humanity’s Calendar Synchronization option allows you to sync your Humanity work schedule with 3rd party applications such as Outlook, iCal, Google Calendar, and more. Calendar Sync works by providing users with a unique URL they can access with their mail client. The URL provides the employees’ schedule in an iCal format (.ics), that can be accessed through all of the popular Calendar Clients, and can also be downloaded as a file itself. Once you have set up your client to access Humanity’s staff schedule software, you will have 24/7 access your work schedule, as well as having the advantage of being able to see it alongside your other events and appointments.

To get your employee schedule calendar synchronization information, begin by clicking on the ‘Schedule’ tab, and then the Action / Settings gear-shaped icon.
 
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Select the option Calendar Sync, which will bring up a list of staff schedules.
 
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Click on the icon to the left of the desired schedule.
 
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Clicking on that will bring up a unique Calendar Sync URL, as shown below.
 
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Copy the schedule sync URL and proceed below.

Set up your calendar client 

Once you have your Calendar URL, you need to configure that with your mail client. Here are a few links for how to do that in a few of the most popular clients:
 
 Apple iCal—Auto-Refresh Option to Every Hour 
 Outlook 
 Google Calendar 
 Mozilla Thunderbird / Lightning 
 Yahoo Calendar

iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch 

We have found that the easiest way to synchronize Humanity’s employee schedules to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch is to simply e-mail yourself the appropriate URL so that it can be opened on your device. Once you click on the link from your device it will automatically ask you if you want to subscribe to the calendar. 
Alternatively you can follow the below steps on your device: 
– Enter “Settings” from the main screen 
– Select “Mail, Contacts, Calendars” 
– Select “Add Account…” 
– Select “Other” 
– Select “Add Subscribed Calendar” 
– Enter the Humanity Calendar Sync URL

Important: 
Please be aware that these synchronizations are currently only one-way from Humanity to your 3rd party application. When you first set up Calendar Sync with your calendar client it will fetch your work schedule as it sits currently. Each client has different options for how often they will re-fetch the calendar. Some clients, such as Google Calendar, don’t have this option. If your client does have the option to set the update frequency we recommend setting it to hourly to make sure you are up-to-date and also to lower overhead on our service.

Check out the video below to learn more about calendar synchronization options: 

Hope this helps you keep up-to-date with your changing staff schedule and your employees stay connected at all times!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jNzrTaU0zEE