Google Calendar Integration

Using the Google Calendar Integration

This is a chargeable module/integration, please speak to your CSM if you would like any more information about this feature.

Please note that the Google Calendar integration cannot be used alongside the Exchange Calendar integration.

Where to find Google Calendar Integration

Once your Google Calendar connection has been set up, you can then configure the Google Calendar settings for each of your Trainers. Please see below in this guide for directions to set up your Google Calendar integration in Google Workspace.

To access Google Calendar settings for your trainers, first go to the Resources DataGrid then open the ‘Google Calendar Settings’ option for your Trainer.

Open

There is no ‘Save’ option on this page - to update your settings, click the Connect button.

Open

Once you have configured a trainer’s Google Calendar settings, you will begin to see their accessplanit calendar populate with their Google Appointments if you have selected a Sync Option of either ‘Pull’ or ‘Push and Pull’. Appointments sync between accessplanit and Google every 10 - 15 minutes.

Common Uses for Google Calendar Integration

1. Pushing appointments to Google
   To send your accessplanit calendar appointments (Courses & Unavailability) to your trainer’s Google Calendar, select the ‘Push’ option or the ‘Push and Pull’ option in their ‘Sync Direction’ setting.
   
   

   
   Courses will send over to Google in the following format

   1. Title: ‘Training: Name of course or alias override’

   2. Start & End time: The start date & end date of the Course

   3. Location: The venue name and address (class Courses only)

   4. Body:

      1. Course label

      2. Course date

      3. Venue Label

      4. Venue address

      5. Venue phone

      6. Venue email

      7. Trainer webinar details (for webinar Courses only)

      8. A link to view more details about the Course
         
         

2. Pull appointments from Google
   To pull calendar appointments from your trainer’s Google Calendar into their accessplanit calendar, select the ‘Pull’ option or the ‘Push and Pull’ option in their ‘Sync Direction’ setting.
   
   

   Appointments pulled into your trainer’s accessplanit calendar from Google will create unavailability with the following information:

   1. Summary = Unavailability Description

   2. Start Time = Unavailability Start Date / Time

   3. End Time = Unavailability End Date / Time
      
      
      

3. Deleting Google Appointments
   To remove an appointment from a Trainer’s Google Calendar, find the unavailability that has been created within your trainer’s calendar in accessplanit.
   Right click on this unavailability in the calendar, and select the ‘Delete’ option.

   If the appointment originated in accessplanit, including Courses and Resource Unavailability that are created by an administrator in accessplanit, you can follow this process to delete any calendar appointments for trainers in both their accessplanit calendar and their Google Calendar.
   
   If the calendar appointment originated in the trainer’s Google Calendar, for example the trainer logged their own dentist appointment or blocked out time in their diary for training preparation, then this process will remove the appointment from the trainer’s diary in accessplanit however it will not remove the appointment from their Google Calendar. This appointment will sync back into their accessplanit diary when it is next flagged to be synced.

Setting up Google Calendar integration in Google Workspace

Once accessplanit has completed their steps to get your Google Integration configured, it is over to your team to complete your steps within the admin console for your Google Workspace.

Once there, complete the following steps:

1. Go to Security > API controls

2. Click “Manage Domain-Wide Delegation” (this should be at the bottom of the page)

3. Click “Add new” (next to API Clients header text)

4. Put the Client ID (provided by accessplanit) in the “Client ID” field

5. In OAuth Scopes, put (as you type one, another field should appear):

   1. https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar

   2. https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar.events

6. Click “Authorise”

You are now ready to work with your accessplanit Google Calendar Integration!

Using the Google Calendar Integration

Updates to Courses syncing to Google

If you would like a Course in your accessplanit platform to be re-synced to Google, for example if you have made a change to the Course and you would like these changes to be reflected in your trainers' Google Calendar, you can complete any of the below actions:

• Change the name (alias) of the Course

• Add, remove, or change the assigned Trainer on the Course

• Remove a Trainer from the Course, save your change, re-add the trainer to the Course, and save the Course again

• Change the Course start date/time or end date/time

• Change the status of the Course

• Updating the Cost or Cost Type of the Course

• Updating the ‘Advertise’ setting on the Course

• Updating the ‘Sessional’ setting on the Course

• Updating the ‘Tax Exempt’ setting on the Course

• Updating the ‘Waiting List’ setting on the Course

• Updating the number of places available on the Course

Please note that the below actions will not trigger a re-sync:

• Adding, removing, or changing a Venue to a Course

• Remove a venue from the Course, save your change, re-add the venue to the Course, and save the Course again

• Updating the Trainer or Delegate Webinar Details

• Updating the External ID of the Course

• Updating the Delivery Method on the Course

• Updating the Course’s Exclusive Accounts/Account Groups

If you would like a venue change to be reflected in your trainer’s Google Calendar you should complete one of the actions in the re-sync list above to re-sync the Course to Google, such as removing a trainer from the Course, saving, and re-adding the trainer back to the Course.

Updates to accessplanit Unavailability syncing to Google

If you would like a Course in your accessplanit platform to be re-synced to Google, for example if you have made a change to the unavailability and you would like these changes to be reflected in your trainers' Google Calendar, you can complete any of the below actions

• Rename the unavailability

• Change the date / time of the unavailability

Updates to Google appointments syncing to accessplanit

If you would like an appointment in your trainer's Google Calendar to be re-synced to their accessplanit calendar, for example if they have made a change to the date, they can complete any of the below actions to have this update sent to their accessplanit calendar

• Rename the appointment

• Change the date / time of the appointment

Course Statuses

Courses of every status will be sent to your trainer’s Google Calendar.

When a Course has a status of ‘Cancelled’ it’s appointment title will be updated to have the ‘Cancelled Training:' before the name of the Course so the trainer is aware that the Course is no longer running.

Appointment Statuses

Any appointments in your trainer’s Google Calendar that they have set as ‘Free’ will not pull into their accessplanit calendar, as they have indicated that they are not unavailable during this time.

Private Appointments

Any appointments in your trainer’s Google Calendar that they have set as ‘Private’ will pull into their accessplanit calendar, however the details of the appointment (including the title and the description) will not be displayed in their accessplanit calendar.

Repeating / Recurring Appointments

Any appointments in your trainer’s Google Calendar that are set to repeat will pull into their accessplanit calendar as an individual unavailability for each time the appointment repeats.

Appointment Types

accessplanit will bring in any appointments from Google that use the following types:

• Event

• Out of Office

• Focus Time

accessplanit will not bring in appointments from Google that use the following types:

• Reminder

• Task

• Working Location

Sessional Courses

Your accessplanit Google Calendar integration will sync both Sessional Courses and their Sessions to your trainer’s Google Calendar if your trainers are assigned to both.

This ensures that your trainers do not miss out on any information that is stored against the Sessional Course or the Sessions.

Time Zones

Courses and unavailability sent from your trainer’s accessplanit calendar to their Google Calendar include their time zone so that they are added to your trainer's Google Calendar at the right time, based on their Google Calendar time zone.

Please note that daylight saving times are only configured in your accessplanit platform for the next 4 years, so any Courses or unavailability scheduled during BST more than 4 years into the future will be incorrect by 1 hour.

Time zones are not yet factored into appointments pulling into accessplanit from Google Calendar.

Courses & Unavailability with Multiple Trainers

Your accessplanit Google Calendar integration is set up to support Courses that have multiple trainers assigned, and any Google appointments that have multiple trainers assigned.

Your Courses with multiple trainers assigned will be sent to each trainer’s Google Calendar.

Any Google appointments that have multiple trainers assigned will be pulled into each of their accessplanit calendars as an unavailability.

FAQs

1. How long does it take for the initial sync between Google and accessplanit?

   It can take up to 24 hours for the first initial sync to complete, this is based on the number of calendar events needing to be synced between the two platforms.

2. Can I choose to push appointments from accessplanit to Google for some trainers, and pull appointments from Google into accessplanit for others?
   Yes! You define per trainer whether their calendar appointments will be pushed to Google, pulled from Google, or both.
   
   

3. Who do I need to involve to get my Google Calendar integration configured?
   To set up your Google Calendar Integration you will need to involve a member of your team that has access to the admin console for Google Workspace.
   
   

4. How often do the calendars sync?
   Appointments are synchronised between accessplanit and Google Calendar every 15 minutes
   
   

5. Can I stop the calendar pushing and pulling calendar appointments for a specific trainer?
   Yes! For this trainer, access their Google Calendar settings and change their ‘Sync Direction’ setting to ‘No Sync’
   
   

6. Do you support recurring Google appointments?
   Yes! If a trainer has scheduled a recurring meeting/appointment in their Google Calendar, this will be brought into their accessplanit calendar as individual appointments
   
   

7. Does the integration work with time zones?
   Yes, the time zone information is used when pushing appointments to Google.
   
   

8. What timeframe of appointments will pull into my trainer’s accessplanit calendar from their Google Calendar?
   The integration will not pull in any historic appointments from your trainers' calendars, however everything included on future dates will be pulled into their accessplanit calendar.
   
   

9. What timeframe of appointments will push into my trainer’s Google Calendar from their accessplanit calendar?
   The integration will get appointments from the last 90 days of your trainers' accessplanit calendars, and everything included on future dates, and include these in the sync to their Google Calendar.
   
   

10. Are cancelled courses sent to the trainer’s Google Calendar?
    Yes there are, instead of deleting the Course from their calendar, cancelled Courses are sent to Google with the title ‘Cancelled Training: Name of course’, this ensures that the trainer is aware that the Course is not running
    
    

11. Can I use the Google Calendar integration for my Venues too?
    No unfortunately not, the Google Calendar integration has been built for Trainers only.

Additional Support

If you would like additional support on any of the above information please raise a ticket with our Support team.