Features in calendar software

When you decide to purchase a web event publishing calendar, you need some information about the features in web calendar software that will help you make a better choice. The most important issues are discussed below:

Calendar Views
The web calendar should be able to display month view, week view and day view. A list view is also recommendable.

Support
The issue about support is among the most significant aspects with respect to web calendars. The most common support types are: email, phone, forum support and remote session. With remote session type the support staff can see the desktop of your computer to help you fix problems.

Security System
The necessary security level is individual. For example, if only one person is in charge of the web calendar, it is not necessary for your security system to be very advanced. However, if you plan to have many editors, you have to consider your security characteristics more carefully, especially if you are going to allow only people with logins to access your calendar.

Documentation
It is recommendable for you to offer good documentation to users because it will assist them solving various issues and your support load will be alleviated. Printable version is advantageous as well. Providing manuals and tutorials make you seem more professional in your business area in the eyes of the customers.

Resource Management
Most businesses want to plan and administer resources such as class rooms, conference rooms, and vehicles. These matters can be worked out immediately by a web event calendar with resource management. It announces events on the web and does not allow double-booking of resources to take place. Although most web calendar vendors claim that their product has integrated resource management, it is not always absolutely true. In most cases they enable you to set up a calendar for each room. This matter has three aspects: 1) It increases licensing costs because you have to purchase a calendar for each room; 2) If an event uses more than one room, you need to replicate event entries in your calendar, and 3) You are not able to structure your calendar in the way that is most suitable for you. So, if you want resource management, you have to search for and find a system where resource management is an inseparable part of the product.

Data Export
Make sure that you can extract data from your web calendar in order to be able to import events into newsletters and extract information that is necessary for various sections of your web site or other purposes. Web calendar should support at least CSV and iCal (RFC-2445) format. Support for RSS/XML is getting more and more popular as well.

Data Import
You should also be able to import data. This will enable you to take data from other systems and put it into your web calendar. Import should support CSV and iCal format.

Email Notification and Reminders
It is very useful for your business if the calendar system is able to alert interested users when new data is inserted in the calendar, and make up reminders for forthcoming events. If you consider this feature obligatory, ensure that system administrators can generate reminders for all users not only regular ones.

Advanced Features
The recommendable advanced features in a calendar are:

• Custom Fields – Possibility to put your own entry fields for events.
• Ajax Support - A web technology that allows you to use calendar data in other sections of your web site.
• RSS Feeds - Offers a means for users to subscribe to calendar information without visiting your site every time.
• LDAP/AD Authentication for User Authentication – Makes password management and  administration easier.
• Time Zone Support – This is obligatory to avoid time misunderstanding among users in different parts of the world.
• Localization/Internationalization - Supports different languages, date, and time formats.