Helios Calendar for Modern Campus CMS

As of March 29th, 2024, we have ended support for the Helios calendar that was offered with Modern Campus CMS. End of support means that we will no longer provide bug fixes, security updates, or any form of troubleshooting from the CMS Support Team. We will also not be able to help with any solutions that integrate with calendar feeds, such as showing events on your homepage.

Reach out to your account manager or through the Support Resource Portal (login required) to start a discussion about transitioning to the new CMS Calendar. This will ensure that your website visitors can continue to benefit from an enhanced and comprehensive calendar experience.

The Helios calendar for Modern Campus CMS displays an interactive calendar on one of your website pages, using your website styling. The calendar uses PHP and MySQL for its database and is installed on the production server (IIS and Apache supported).

This calendar has a separate administrator log-in and interface from Modern Campus CMS. From this interface you can create events, categories, and locations, connect your calendar to social media, and more.

Create CategoriesLink to this section

Categories are used to sort and filter events, and must be created before you start adding events, so categories are available during the event creation process. Categories can also be nested (for example the broad "Arts" category can contain the subcategories of "Theater," "Visual Arts," and "Music.")

To add a category:

1. Hover over the Events menu in the top bar.
2. Select Categories > Category Management.
3. Under "Add Category," type the name of the category.
4. If you want to nest it under an existing category, select the parent category from the dropdown.
5. Click "Save Category."

Editing a category allows you to change the name and parent. Deleting a category removes that specification from any events that have it, orphaning them.

Create LocationsLink to this section

Like categories, locations are set up before adding events, and are then selected when creating a new event. The new event form has fields for filling out an address, but a location created in calendar has additional options for data that automatically load into the event when the location is added.

To create a new location:

1. Hover over the Locations menu in the top bar.
2. Select Edit Locations > Add Location.
3. Fill out the location details. This includes the location name and any description you want to add.
   • A location can also be set to "Public" or "Admin only" (controlling whether or not public users can pick the location when submitting an event).
4. Fill out the address of the location.
5. Enter contact information, if applicable.
6. You can also add the location to your Eventbrite calendar and get a short URL.
7. Select Save Location.

Select Merge Locations to search for the locations you wish to combine. When merging locations, choose one, and any events using the other locations are assigned to the selected location.

Add and Manage EventsLink to this section

Events can be created from the admin interface.

To create a new event:

1. Hover over the Events menu in the top bar.
2. Select Edit Events > Add Event.
3. Fill out the event details. This includes the name of the event and any description.
   • Though a cost can be stated, this doesn't affect actual ticketing.
4. Set the date and time of the event.
   • Checking the "Override Times" box removes the start and end times from the event. You can then either select "All Day Event" or "Event Times to Be Announced”
5. Choose the registration method.
   • Limit: The maximum number of attendees who can register. Enter "0" for unlimited registration.
   • Allow Between: The date range that attendees can submit their registration.
   • RSVP Type: Choose between attendees registering for the individual event or for an entire series.
   • Email Notices: Can be turned on or off.
6. Under "Settings," you can set up how the event is displayed, including whether it is featured (granting it more prominent styling) and which categories it belongs to.
   • Multiple categories can be selected. When picking child categories, make sure to pick the parent as well, or else the event won't display.
7. Enter location information. If you type the name of an existing location, choosing it automatically fills out the location data.
8. Enter contact information for the event.
9. API publishing options lets you publish the event to other accounts you configured with your calendar, such as Twitter and Facebook.
10. Save the event. It now appears on the calendar.

To edit an existing event:

1. Hover over the Events menu in the top bar.
2. Select Edit Events > Edit Event.
3. Search for the event you want to edit. Selecting a category is required.
4. Choose your event from the search results.
5. The screen shown has the same options as creating a new event. Make and save the necessary changes.

Events in a search result can also be bulk edited. When editing events as a group, the event information screen for the first event is brought up. Any edits made to that event are automatically applied to the others selected.

Events can be recycled and deleted. Recycling an event creates a new event based on the information of the event being recycled, without affecting the original event. Deleting an event permanently removes it from the calendar, with no way to restore it.

Additional Options

Billboard events are displayed more prominently on the home page; once a Billboard event has occurred, it is removed from the display and the next Billboard event shown in its place. Selecting "Billboard Events" from the menu brings you to a listing of all events on the billboard; they can either be edited or removed from the billboard.

Orphan events are those that are not assigned to at least one category or have no location information. Selecting the "Orphan Events" option from the menu brings you to a listing of any orphaned events; they can be edited, deleted from the calendar, or selected and mass-deleted.

An event that occurs on multiple dates (whether it is a recurring event, multi-day event, or multiple date event) is called an event series. An event series consists of multiple individual event records that are closely related and have been identified by an admin as such.

Selecting "Create Series" brings up the event search page. From the search results, select the events you wish to group together, and select Create Event Series. Those events are considered a series, and can be edited as a group.

Note: If an event is already in a series, adding it to another series removes it from the previous series.

Submitting EventsLink to this section

Visitors to the calendar on your website can also submit events, which then need approval to be added to the calendar. These submissions can be managed, including turning them off entirely, from Settings > Preference > Public Event Submission.

To submit an event from the public calendar:

1. While viewing the calendar, click the "Submit" button.
2. If CAPTCHA is enabled, fill it out.
3. Enter your contact information. If the administrator approving your event chooses, you will be emailed when the event is added to the calendar.
4. Fill out the event details. You can also add a message for the calendar administrators that won't be displayed on the calendar.
5. Click "Submit Event."

To approve a submitted event:

1. Hover over the Events menu in the top bar.
2. Select Manage Events > Pending Events.
3. From the list of submitted events, select the edit icon (pencil and paper) for the event you want to improve.
   • Events can be declined by selecting the checkbox and clicking "Decline and Delete Selected Events" below the list.
4. Edit the event information as desired. You can select a checkbox to notify the submitter by email that their event was approved.
5. Save the event to add it to the calendar.

UsersLink to this section

Because the Helios calendar uses a separate interface from Modern Campus CMS, the users are managed separately as well. The only types of users are either administrators or public users. The system also keeps track of users that have signed in to the public calendar via other supported networks.

Admin users have potential access to the entire calendar, depending on their account permissions. They can make and approve events, create categories and locations, and other administrator functions. To create a new administrator:

1. Hover over the Users menu in the top bar.
2. Select Administrators > Add Admin User.
3. Fill out the user details and email notice settings.
4. Choose which account permissions they have.
5. Click "Save Admin" to create the user.

When Helios calendar is connected via API to other accounts, such as Facebook or Google, users can sign into the public calendar via an account in one of those supported third-party systems. Once signed in, event submissions are assigned to their account, making future updates easier for both the user and the admin.

Select Users > Public Calendar > Manage Users to manage public users. They can be edited, banned (or unbanned), and deleted. Banning a user prevents them from interacting with the system; deleting them removes their information, but does not prevent them from being re-added.