``
Birdview PSA
Login Sign up Submit a ticket
How can we help?

Articles in this section

See more

Company settings — System lists — Calendars

Avatar
Birdview Support
  • Updated
Follow

Availability

Project management__Team (-) Enterprise (-) Lite (+) (1).png
Professional services__Team (-) Enterprise (+).png

Overview

Custom calendars let you define working weekdays and choose whether account-level public holidays apply. You can use them at company, project, and activity level to support different work schedules in the same account.

Birdview uses the applicable calendar when calculating activity dates, duration, dependencies, and work distribution. Resource availability is calculated separately from each resource’s schedule and time off.

Calendar levels and priority

Calendars can be applied at three levels:

  • Company
  • Project
  • Activity

Calendars can be applied at three levels: company, project, and activity. Birdview uses the first explicit selection in this order: activity, project, then the account default calendar.

A calendar selected on a parent activity applies only to that activity. Sub-activities use their own selected calendar, then the project calendar, then the account default.

Calendar.png

Example

If a project uses Monday-Friday and a parent activity uses Thursdays only, a sub-activity with no calendar selected still uses Monday-Friday.

Company-level calendar

The account default calendar is used when no project- or activity-level calendar is selected. A custom calendar defines working weekdays and public-holiday handling; it does not define separate working hours per day or create recurring tasks.

To set a default company-level calendar:

  1. Click through Company settings > Account settings.
  2. Under Default calendar, select a calendar.
  3. Confirm the change1. 

The chosen calendar will be used in projects and activities in the absence of any other applicable calendars.

Default calendar.png

Note

Only the weekdays, selected in this default calendar, will be counted as available workdays throughout the system by default.

Important

Updates made to the default company calendar will only apply to the projects that are using it (the ones that employ their own project- or activity-level ones remain unaffected).

 
1
Birdview may recalculate dates that use the account default.

Project-level calendar

A project uses the account default unless another calendar is selected for it to serve as the project’s own calendar (project-level one).

To select a calendar for a project:

  1. Hover over the project name and click Details. 
  2. In the project details pane, use the Calendar field to select a calendar for the project.
Project calendar.png

Note

If the Calendar field is left empty (no manual selection is made), the project will use the default company-level (see the section above).

Note

You can view (not edit) which calendar is used by a project by enabling the Calendar column in Activity center (see Activity center - Customization).

Important

Updates made to the project calendar will only affect activities that are using it (the ones that employ their own activity-level calendar ones will remain unaffected).

Activity-level calendar

By default, a newly created top-level activity falls under the effect of the parent project’s calendar. However, you can select another calendar for it, i.e. an activity-level calendar.

To select a calendar for an activity:

  1. Hover the mouse over the activity name and click Details.
  2. On the activity details panel, use the Calendar field to select a calendar for the activity.
Activity calendar.png

Unlike the project-level calendar, an activity-level calendar will apply strictly to the activity it has been set for. Accordingly, a sub-activity created for such an activity will inherit the project-level calendar, if one has been selected, or the company-level one.

Birdview will calculate workdays for activities based on calendars that apply to them. If no activity-level calendar is selected for an activity, Birdview will check if there is a project-level calendar that can be applied. Otherwise, the default company-level calendar will apply.

Important

Updates made to the project calendar will only affect activities that are using it (the ones that employ their own activity-level calendar ones will remain unaffected).

Important

The activity-level calendar always takes precedence over project- and company-level calendars.

Important

If no calendar is selected for an activity it will use the project-level calendar, if one is selected, or the default company-level calendar.

Note

By default, activities will use the calendar effective for their project, e.g. the default company-level or a specifically selected project-level one. 

Note

Only the selected weekdays will be considered available workdays when calculating the activity duration and workload.

Permissions

To manage custom calendars the following permission is required in your global access level:

  • Manage system settings

Important

A space administrator without being an account-level administrator will not be able to access Calendars as it is an account-level setting.

Accessing Calendars

Go to Company settings > System lists > Calendars. From here you can add calendars, edit their settings, review usage, and delete non-default calendars.

Calendars_accessing.png

Customizing the Calendars tab

The tab screen comprises five columns. As with other typical Birdview screens, the following operations on columns are available:

Operation Steps
Adjust column width
  1. Place mouse pointer at the left edge of a column header
  2. As it changes shape to a two-way arrow, hold the left button
  3. Adjust the width by dragging.
  4. Release the button.
Relocate columns
  1. Place mouse pointer within the header of the column you wish to relocate.
  2. Holding down the left button, drag the column to another place, e.g. column 4 between columns 1 and 2.
  3. Release the button.
Freeze columns
  1. Hover the mouse over the column header
  2. Click the More actions button.
  3. Click Freeze column.

 

Calendar usage

You can always check if a calendar is currently in use. The Usage column on the Calendars screen indicates, which work units (projects or activities, and how many) have employed this or that calendar.  

In the picture on the right, one calendar has been used as a company-level calendar in an indefinite number of work units, one as a project-level calendar in 2 projects and as a activity-level calendar in a single activity.    

Usage.png

Adding a calendar

To create a custom calendar:

  1. Click through Company settings > System lists > Calendars. 
  2. Click + Add calendar.
  3. Enter a name and, optionally, a description.
  4. Set Apply account-level public holidays to Yes or No.
  5. In Working days, select weekdays included in the calendar.
Calendars.png

Note

At least one working day must be selected. Selecting all seven weekdays allows weekend scheduling. If holidays should also count as working days, set Apply account-level public holidays to No.

Editing a calendar

To edit a calendar:

  1. Click through Company settings > System lists > Calendars. 
  2. Make changes to the calendar fields, as required.
  3. All changes are saved automatically.

Note

A shared calendar can be assigned to multiple projects and activities. Changing its working days or holiday setting can affect schedules that use it, so review affected dates after editing.

Deleting a calendar

To delete a calendar:

  1. Click through Company settings > System lists > Calendars. 
  2. Hover over the calendar you wish deleted.
  3. Click .
  4. Confirm the deletion.

Note

After deletion, affected projects use the account default. Affected activities use their project calendar, or the account default if the project has no calendar selected. Deletion may therefore affect scheduling.

Activity center calendar filters

Use Project calendar and Activity calendar filters to find items with a calendar explicitly selected at that level. Choose None to find items without an explicit selection.

Note

None does not mean that no calendar applies. The item still follows the normal fallback to the project or account default calendar.

Dates and dependencies

Birdview uses the applicable calendar’s working and non-working days when calculating activity duration and planned dates. Changing working weekdays or holiday handling can change the finish date for the same duration.

Dependencies remain linked when activities use different calendars. Dependency dates and working-day lag for a successor are calculated using the successor’s applicable calendar: its activity calendar, then its project calendar, then the account default.

Note the following rules:

  • Once the dependent date is set, the activity’s own work calendar will determine the end date via duration calculation.

  • If dependency has a lag (for example, FS+1 day), the date of the dependent task will be calculated on the nearest later workday. For example:

    • Task 1 calendar: Mon, Tue, Thu

    • The task has a dependency: start 1 day after Task 2 is finished. 

    • Task 2 finishes on July 17, 2025 (Thursday). The next available work day 1 day after that is July 21, 2025 (Monday).

    • Task 1 start date will be calculated as July 21, 2025.

Workload distribution

The activity’s applicable calendar determines the working days used to distribute its scheduled work. Full-day vacations are excluded from automatic task distribution.

Resource availability is calculated separately from the resource’s schedule and time off. Public-holiday handling for resource availability follows the account default calendar. An activity calendar does not replace a resource’s personal schedule.

Example

A seven-day activity calendar can allow work to be scheduled on a weekend or holiday, but it does not automatically make the assigned resource available on that day.

In the picture below, if the activity duration is 4 working days and only Monday, Tuesday, and Friday are working days in its calendar, workload will be distributed across the first four such available days starting from the activity’s start date.

calendars_workload.png

Resource Planning allocations

For allocations generated from Scheduled Hours, Birdview summarizes load by week. It counts the working days across the applicable calendars of activities that contributed Scheduled Hours in that week. A day is counted once if at least one contributing calendar treats it as a working day.

The project calendar is included through activities that inherit it; it is not added separately when contributing activities use their own calendars. This rule applies to allocations generated from Scheduled Hours and should not be assumed for manual allocation calculations.

 

Calendar import caveat

When importing projects from Microsoft Project, Birdview matches the calendar in the XML file by name only. It does not compare calendar settings. If no calendar with the same name is found, Birdview applies the account default calendar. Verify calendar assignments after import.

Related articles