Event groups
The event calendar shows you event groups. You can combine several events in an event group if required. This makes sense if you want to send several employees to the same assignment at the same time. The location (place of assignment), event type (e.g. task / responsibility) and also the assignment time can differ for each employee. Of course, you can also create just one event per event group. This makes it easier if you need to reschedule, as you can drag and drop the event group in the calendar and thus also the event.
Event users only see their own events in the calendar. When they open it, they are taken directly to the event details page. Event users therefore have no access to the data of an event group
Actions in the event calendar
Click on a colored box, the so-called event group, to open it with all the stored information.
You can create a new event group by clicking on the white area behind the date or on the green plus button on the left above the calendar.
Click on the gear icon to open the quick access to your event group. Here you will find the most important information about the location and the status of the event users at a glance.
You can also assign labels directly here. Either to the event group or to the event user (e.g. if an event user has forgotten to check in, checked in by supervisior). Detailed information on the use of labels in EMPPLAN can be found here under Labels: https://www.empplan.com/training-center/projects/#projectdata
You can also delete the event group here. Please note that this will also permanently delete all associated reports, transactions or expenses/expenditures !
If you click on an event group with the right mouse button, an action menu opens in which the following actions are available to you, depending on the event group:
- Delete event group
This function can only be executed if there are no events with the status Checked-in or further advanced. - Delete event series
This function can only be executed if there are no events with the status Checked-in or further advanced.
Actions within event groups
The following functions can be accessed via the action menu in an event group.
- Open event group in new tab
This function allows you to share a direct link to the event group, for example. - Delete event group
This function can only be executed if there are no events in the Checked-in or advanced status.
In the event group, you define the standard data for the events to be created. Among other things, you can define the following here:
- Day and time window: A standard time window is automatically inserted. You can change this basic setting in the EMPPLAN settings under Calendar. You can also generate multiple time slots here
- Project
- Resources required: Number of users required
- Location type
- Standard location: You can select a location here.
- Standard area: Here you can select an area so that sales representatives or merchandisers can create location visits themselves.
- Dynamic location: Here you can activate events in locations that do not have to be activated in the project beforehand.
- Event type: If an event type has previously been activated in the project, e.g. setup, sales, etc., this can be used to differentiate between activities and for different customer budget evaluations.
- Event briefing: This can be used, for example, to communicate with your customer when they set up an event with the label customer request and share basic information about the planning and execution of the event with you here.
Once you have added all the mandatory information, you can save the event group, even without events, i.e. the selection of event users. This makes sense, for example, if you already know when an event is to take place, but not yet with how many or which users you will carry out the event.
The new event group is visible to you after saving in the calendar and can be clicked and edited by you at any time.
The data record of an event usually includes all standard data from the event group plus an event user, i.e. the person who carries out the event (operation).
To create an event, you must add one or more event users. After saving, EMPPLAN then creates the events for each user. Carry out the following steps:
- Select the Available users tab. All users who are already associated with the project are displayed here. The selection is sorted by availability and filtered to the immediate vicinity. EMPPLAN shows you the users who live near the location. For the availability display, you are shown either a green (available) or a red (not available) circle for each user. Users without a preference appear without a circle. Users who already have another event on that day are highlighted in light red in the row. The event is linked at the end of the line. You can also schedule users several times a day. However, please make sure that the time slots do not overlap. Of course, you can also set additional filters to narrow down your search for suitable candidates. The filters offered access the user data record. You can also adapt the radius search to your needs.
- Now select the desired user(s) by clicking on the checkbox at the beginning of the line and add them to the Event users tab using the Add user button.
- Now you need to save the changes in the event group. Only then will the new events be created. You have the following options for the save process:
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- Update and schedule new events: The status changes from New to Scheduled and is not published (event users do not receive a notification).
- Updateand publish new events: The status changes from New to Published (event users receive a notification about a new event).
Further information on user management and the different user types in EMPPLAN can also be found here: https://www.empplan.com/training-center/user-management/
You can perform the following actions in the action menu for event users. First select the events by clicking in the checkbox. These actions are available to you:
- Set event labels
- Send event request e-mail again
- Send email with customized content
- Change event type
- Change location
- change planned time slot
- Publish event
- Delete event
In the Messenger tab, you can create a channel for the open event group and communicate with all relevant recipients in real time. New messages are sent to the recipients via push notification, regardless of which end device is used
In the Communication tab, you can contact the locations, your customer or your event users directly by email or fax or add notes to the event group.
Here you can define the recipient (e.g. location contact person) of your message. Initially, this is limited to location contacts. If you want to select other user types as recipients, activate Search all user types.
Is a contact person, e.g. a store manager, missing from your data? You can use the Add location contact function to create a new data record
Below your message, you can select the following:
Attach appointment as a file (.ics)
Use the function to efficiently inform about your upcoming market visit or e.g. a planned promotion
Attachpdf to the e-mail
This ensures that the message content is quickly available to your recipients in a shareable and printable format. You can also define a template for this in the project beforehand. This allows you to present your message on your stationery or that of your customer
You can then choose whether your message should be sent by fax or email or whether you just want to save it as a note in the history.
If you have linked one or more reports of the type event group to the project, additional tabs with their report names will appear.
The event group report can be used to implement fields that can be filled in once per event group by customers and administrators, e.g. to document customer agreements with the location or to provide an agency with briefings or other customer requests for the created event group.
You can link any number of event group reports to one or more projects in EMPPLAN. The respective event group reports appear with their fields next to each other in tabs on all event groups of the assigned projects.
The History tab shows you the date and time of your notes created or emails sent via the Communication tab. You can also see who made changes to the event group and when.