Configure Special Dates or Holidays

Special Dates are days that have special significance for your organization, for example, New Year’s Day, Spring Break, Staff Retreat, and so on. Special Dates are displayed in various places throughout your EMS system. The special date designation is for informational purposes only and unless you specifically close the date to your users, your users are not prevented from making reservations or booking rooms on a special date or holiday.

You must configure your organization’s Special Dates each calendar year. EMS Desktop Client does not assume that a day that is a special date or holiday for the current calendar year is also a special date or holiday for the next calendar year.

You can configure Special Dates on an individual basis, configure multiple Special Dates, or use a wizard to import a list of Special Dates in a single step. Optionally, after you configure or import a list of Special Dates, you can configure the hours for the buildings that are affected by the special date or holiday.

By default, buildings are configured to be “Open All Day.” You can configure the hours for a building so that the building is open for only a specific time period on the special date or holiday or the building is closed for the entire special date or holiday.

ClosedOpen the Special Dates Configuration Window

You can view special dates and holidays from the special dates configuration window.

  1. On the EMS menu bar, click Configuration > Other > Special Dates. 

    The Special Dates window opens. It lists all the Special Dates configured for all buildings in your EMS database and that have a date greater than or equal to the current day’s date.

  1. Optionally, do one or both of the following:
    • To view all Special Dates in your EMS database, under Show, click Old.
    • To view all Special Dates for a specific building, select the building on the Building field.

ClosedConfigure a Single Special Date or Holiday

  1. Click New. 

    The special date or holiday dialog opens.

  1. Enter the information for the special date or holiday.

Field

Description

Date

The date for the special date or holiday.

Description

The description or name of the special date or holiday (maximum of 50 characters, including spaces).

Building

Select the building to which the special date or holiday applies. (The default value is all buildings.)

Notes

Notes about the special date or holiday.

Calendar Style

Select the print characteristics for the special date or holiday on the event schedule.

EMS Web App Settings

Display to Everyday Users

Clear if you do not want the special date or holiday description to be displayed in EMS Web App .
  1. To spell check the description, click Spelling
  2. Click OK. 

ClosedConfigure Multiple Special Dates or Holidays

  1. Click Wizard. 

    The special date or holiday Wizard opens.

  1. Click Add. 

    The Add special date or holiday dialog opens.

  2. Enter the information for the special date or holiday.

Field

Description

Date

Date for the special date or holiday.

Description

Description of the special date or holiday (50 character maximum including spaces).

Calendar Style

Select the print characteristics for the special date or holiday on the event schedule. See Also: Configuring Calendar Styles.

Notes

Notes about the special date or holiday.
  1. Click OK. 
  2. Repeat Step 2 through Step 4 until you have added all the needed Special Dates.
  3. Click Next. 

    The special date or holiday Wizard window updates with a list of all the buildings configured in your EMS database.

  4. Select the building, or Ctrl-click to select the multiple buildings for which the special date or holiday is to apply, and then click Finish. 

ClosedImport a List of Special Dates or Holidays

If you use the wizard to import a list of multiple Special Dates, you can set the values only for the special date or holiday date, description, and notes. You cannot specify the calendar style, enter notes for the special date or holiday, or indicate that the special date or holiday should not display in EMS Web App. To configure the latter information for a special date or holiday, edit the special date or holiday.

  1. Create a tab-delimited file that contains the information (in the order listed) for the Special Dates that are being imported.
    • Date of special date or holiday (Required. Format is mm-dd-yy.)
    • Description of special date or holiday (50 characters maximum, including spaces.)
    • Notes (Optional. No maximum.)

Each special date or holiday must be a separate line entry. To see the required format for the tab-delimited file, on the Special Dates window, click Print > Import Format.

  1. Click Wizard. 

    The special date or holiday Wizard opens.

  2. Click Import, and in the Open File dialog , browse to and select the tab-delimited text file that contains that Special Dates that you are importing, and then click Open. 

    The special date or holiday Wizard window updates with a list of all the buildings that are currently configured in your EMS database.

  3. Select the building, or Ctrl-click to select the multiple buildings for which the Special Dates are to apply, and then click Finish. 

    The Special Dates window opens.

  4. Optionally, select a newly imported special date or holiday, and then do one or both of the following:
    • Click Edit to edit the Notes, Calendar Style, and/or EMS Web App. Settings for the special date or holiday.
    • Configure the building hours for the special date or holiday. 

ClosedConfigure Building Hours for a Special Date or Holiday

  1. On the EMS menu bar, click Configuration > Other > Special Date.

    The Special Dates window opens.

  2. Select a special date or holiday, and then click Hours. 

    The Building Hours window opens. The date and title of the special date or holiday display at the top of the window. A list of all the buildings for which the special date or holiday applies as well as the hours of operation for each building display in the window.

  1. Select the building, or Ctrl-click to select the multiple buildings for which you are modifying the hours of operation, and then click Change.

    The Building Hours dialog opens.

  1. On the Building Hours dialog, select an option.

Option

Description

Set Building Hours

Select to specify the time period (Open and Close) during which the building is to remain open for the special date or holiday. Your EMS users can make reservations on this date in the selected buildings even if the events are scheduled outside the indicated time period. They receive a warning that the reservation time exceeds building hours.

EMS Web App users cannot make reservations outside of building hours.

Closed All Day

Select to close the building for the entire special date or holiday period. Then a Web Only option displays on the Building Hours dialog.

  • If you do not select Web Only, then none of your users (EMS or EMS Web App) can make reservations on this date in the selected buildings.
  • If you do select Web Only, then your EMS users can make reservations on this date in the selected buildings; however, your EMS Web App users cannot.

Open All Day

Default value. Leave selected to have the building remain open for the entire special date or holiday.
  1. Click OK. 
  2. Repeat Step 3 through Step 5 until you configure the building hours for all the buildings.
  3. Click Close. 

 

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