[alison]

Dear All,

Has anyone else developed an alternative to the standard Events Calendar (through View) in RE?

We have the optional events module and we use it to record a range of different events, including corporate hire of our two buildings.
One of the events team has asked if there is an alternative to the standard events calendar that they can use because ti does not display the information that they need to see and it cannot be customised to add or remove other fields. They need to be able to check dates up to two years in advance to see if the date is available or if an event has already been booked. And they want it to be fairly simple so that theyc an access it when they are on the phone with a client.

Ideally they would like the format to remain in a calendar layout and they would like to include the event name and start date, group, type, capacity and some registrant information.

Has anyone else found a report or something similar that could accomplish this?
I have had a look at Crystal but am not sure where to start (how to set up a calendar format and then retain blank squares where there is no information, ie no event on that date. Would a cross tab report be suitable?). I've also looked at the canned reprots and dashboard in RE but cannot find anything.
I've also read some of the help files about Outlook integration but I am concerned that this may provide access to things that we do not want (eg, constituents stored as contacts in individuals' Outlook).

I'd also be interested to hear if anyone else has a different product that they use for this sort of thing.

We're on RE7.82 and Crystal 8.5.

Many thanks in advance for any help,
Alison

[wolfganghario]

Hi Charlotte,
We use the Outlook integration to get all events synched into our calendars. It serves as a great snapshot view of what's coming up, however it has the same problems in that you can't choose what info you want to include - so you're limited to Name of event and location (and of course when it is). You could always include additional info in the actual name of event (to a point). If the events team have access to RE then if you click on the event in the calendar you're just a click away from the event info on RE (but I suspect they're not).
You can synch events without having to synch contacts (different tick boxes) if that's what your main concern was.
Sorry, not really an answer to your question as such...

Lee

[alison]

Hi Lee,
Thanks very much for your feedback.
It is helpful to know what options are available with the Outlook integration but it sounds like it wouldn't work that well for us. Our events team do all use Raiser's Edge but it seems a bit restricted. We already have standard formats for event names that work well but do take up most of the space available in that field and we really do need to be able to have more flexibility with the fields available to include.
Thanks for your help,
Alison