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Company settings - System lists - Calendars

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Overview

The custom calendar feature is a powerful tool offering great flexibility in managing your work schedules. Three levels at which calendars can be applied make it possible to have two or any number of tasks using entirely different calendars (work schedules) on the same project! Or you can have a task among others which has no weekends (24/7) to cover special cases, e.g. security personnel’s work.

When calculating dependencies, the rule of thumb is, the dependent/successor task's calendar is used to calculate the new dates. 

Similarly, if an activity has its own calendar the workload will be distributed over the available working days.

Three levels of Calendar

Each calendar can be applied at any of three levels:

  • Company
  • Project
  • Activity

Calendar level priority

Of the three levels, the project level overrides the company level, and the activity-level calendars override the other two.

Calendars_priority.png

Company-level calendar

After you’ve created your set of calendars (see Adding a calendar below), you can select one which will serve as the default company-level calendar. Only one calendar can serve as one at a time.

To set a default company-level calendar:

  1. Click through Company settings > Account settings.
  2. Click the drop-down field under Default calendar.
  3. Select a calendar from the list.

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).

Project-level calendar

A newly created project will use the default company-level calendar by default. However, you can select another calendar to serve as the project’s own calendar (project-level one).

To select a calendar for a project:

  1. Hover the mouse over the project name and click Details. 
  2. On 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.

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. Type a name, e.g. “Mondays only”.
  4. Add a description.
  5. In the column Apply account-level public holidays, choose Yes to apply, or No otherwise.
  6. In the column Working days, click within the cell and select weekdays to include in the calendar, e.g. Monday as a single entry.
Calendars.png

Note

It is impossible to create a calendar with no workday selected.

Calendar import caveat

When importing projects from Microsoft Project, Birdview will attempt to match the calendar specified in the XML file by name only. The system does not compare calendar settings (e.g., if your project has a custom calendar named "Mondays Only", Birdview will apply the "Mondays Only" calendar from your account, even if the working days differ). If no calendar with the same name is found, Birdview will apply the default account calendar. Please verify your calendars after import to ensure accuracy.

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.

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.

Dependencies

Dependencies between activities will remain unaffected when using different work calendars.

  • 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

When a user is assigned to an activity, workload will be distributed only across the activity’s selected work calendar.

For example, 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