How to configure Important dates

There are two roles available for Important dates:

• Content editor (to create and edit dates):

  • A Site manager for the Important dates central site will add a Content editor to the site and assign this editor to a Content access group(s).

  • Content editors can create and edit dates within their Content access group(s).

• Site manager (to configure Important dates and assign users to roles):

  • Important dates central site

    • Manage academic years

    • Manage audience

    • Manage keywords

    • Manage types

    • Manage Important dates access

    • Manage Important dates groups

  • Important dates central site and department's site

    • Important dates settings (via Dashboard)

Note: In order to create and edit content, Site managers require the Content editor role, and must be assigned to a Content access group.

Need help creating Important dates? Visit our How to create Important dates how-to document.

Manage academic years

An Academic year specifies which academic year (September 1 to August 31) the Important date will be taking place in, and assists users in filtering Important dates when in the list view.

How to add an academic year

1. From the Administration toolbar of the Important dates central site, click My Workbench.

2. Click Create/Manage Content.

3. Click Important dates.

4. The management page for the Important dates content type will appear. Click Manage academic years.

5. Click Add term.

6. Provide a Name for the new academic year.

7. Optionally, provide a Description for the new academic year.

8. Click Save.

Note: Option to rearrange Academic years using the cross arrows (newest year will appear at bottom of list).

Manage audience

An Audience term helps improve search engine optimization (SEO), and assists users in filtering Important dates in the list view and calendar view.

Note: Audience terms are case-sensitive. For example, "Undergraduate students" and "undergraduate students" would register as two separate audience terms.

How to add an Audience term

1. From the Administration toolbar of the Important dates central site, click My Workbench.

2. Click Create/Manage Content.

3. Click Important dates.

4. The management page for the Important dates content type will appear. Click Manage audience.

5. Click Add term.

6. Provide a Name for the new audience term.

7. Optionally, provide a Description for the new audience term.

8. Click Save.

Manage keywords

A Keyword makes Important dates searchable by its key term in the list view and calendar view.

Note: Keywords are case-sensitive. For example, "Academic standing" and "academic standing" would register as two separate keywords.

How to add a Keyword

1. From the Administration toolbar of the Important dates central site, click My Workbench.

2. Click Create/Manage Content.

3. Click Important dates.

4. The management page for the Important dates content type will appear. Click Manage keywords.

5. Click Add term.

6. Provide a Name for the new keyword.

7. Optionally, provide a Description for the new keyword.

8. Click Save.

Manage types

A Type will indicate to users what category the Important date falls into, and assists users in filtering Important dates in the list view and calendar view.

Note: Types are case-sensitive. For example, "Financial" and "financial" would register as two separate types.

How to add a Type

1. From the Administration toolbar of the Important dates central site, click My Workbench.

2. Click Create/Manage Content.

3. Click Important dates.

4. The management page for the Important dates content type will appear. Click Manage types.

5. Click Add term.

6. Provide a Name for the new type.

7. Optionally, provide a Description for the new type.

8. Click Save.

Note: Option to rearrange types using the cross arrows (order will match what is shown in the Calendar/List view).

Important! Making changes or deleting existing types will impact previous Important dates that are archived.

Manage important dates access

An Important dates access group indicates the proper editorial group for content. These terms will appear as a list in Manage important dates groups.

How to add an Important dates access group

1. From the Administration toolbar of the Important dates central site, click My Workbench.

2. Click Create/Manage Content.

3. Click Important dates.

4. The management page for the Important dates content type will appear. Click Manage important dates access.

5. Click Add term.

6. Provide a Name for the new Important dates group.

7. Optionally, provide a Description for the Important dates access group.

8. Click Save.
   
   

Manage important dates groups

Granting a user Important dates access is a two-step process:

1. Adding a user to the Important dates central site.

2. Assigning a user to the appropriate Important dates group(s).

A user must be given access to the Important dates central site before being assigned to their appropriate Important dates group(s).

How to add a user to the Important dates central site

Refer to the How to add/remove user access how-to document.

How to assign a user to the appropriate Important dates group(s)

1. From the Administration toolbar, click My Workbench.

2. Click Create/Manage Content.

3. Click Important dates.

4. The management page for the Important dates content type will appear. Click Manage important dates groups.

5. Select the group the user needs access to. If the group is not listed, refer back to adding an Important dates access group.

6. In the Add editor field, start to type the user's WatIAM ID. This will generate a drop-down list of users on the Important dates site. Select the user's WatIAM ID from the drop-down.

7. Click Update editors.

Important dates settings (via Dashboard)

Academic Year Settings

Current academic year (Important dates site and department sites)

This setting determines the current academic year for displaying Important dates. This must be set per site and does not have to match the Important dates central site.

Academic years to be used in filters (List view only)

This setting determines which years will appear in the List view filters. Hold the Shift key to select multiple years.

Default academic year (Important dates site only)

This setting determines the default academic year when entering Important dates. This field is only available on the Important dates central site.

Example

The current academic year is 2018-2019, but your department is creating numerous Important dates for 2019-2020. When creating these, rather than having Content editors select 2018-2019 from the Academic year drop-down each time, you as a Site manager can make 2019-2020 the default.

Important! A change in the Default academic year will apply to all Content editors. For example, if a Site manager with the Registrar's Office has changed the Default academic year to 2019-2020, this will also be the default for Content editors with Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs.

Recommendation: After creating numerous Important dates with your Default academic year of choice, it is highly recommended that Site managers change the settings back to what was there before.

Content Settings

Audiences to be used in the audience filter (Department site only)

Option to select audience terms to be displayed in the Audience term filter. This will be displayed on both the Calendar and List view. Hold shift to select multiple.

Content to get from central site (Department site only)

Select the department to pull content from the central site. This will be displayed on both the Calendar and List view. Hold shift to select multiple.

Calendar Settings

Start year for calendar view

This setting determines the start date when viewing the calendar.

End year for calendar view

This setting determines the end date when viewing the calendar.

Archive Settings

Important dates can be archived to easily view past academic years and or terms. In order to enable this feature, an archive link will first need to be created.

Note: Archives can only be viewed from the List view under Important dates.

1. From the Administration toolbar, select Dashboard.

2. Under Site management select Important date settings.

3. Select Create archive link.

4. Select the Academic year to archive and optionally select the specific term. If Any is selected for the Academic term, then the full Academic year will be archived.

5. Select Create.

6. A URL will be created which will be needed when updating the Archive link settings. Copy the full URL.

7. Navigate back to Important dates settings. This can be easily completed by selecting the Important dates settings link from this page.

8. Scroll down to Archive Settings. Optionally, configure the Archive Message. If left blank, the Archive Message will display with the default message: "These important dates are provided for historical purpose". The Archive Message appears similar to a Special alert: at the top of the archive page in a grey box, outlined in red.

9. Optionally, exclude date types from archive.Note: Site managers can add excluded date types via Dashboard under Vocabularies.

10. Add Archive link text to be displayed and paste the URL into the Archive link field.

11. Save configuration.

The link to the archives can now be found under the list view for Important dates and will appear at the top of the page. Select the link to navigate to the archives page to see the list of archived dates.