Configure Calendar Synchronization

You can allow employees to configure subscriptions to their personal calendars on Microsoft® Outlook®, Apple®, and Google Calendar™. This functionality allows employees to choose the events they want to synchronize in one or more personal calendars; these events include shifts, absences, and schedule tags. See Synchronizing schedule events with Apple, Google, and Microsoft Outlook calendars for more information.

As an alternative, you can configure UKG Pro Workforce Management™ (UKG Pro WFM) to update employees' Microsoft Outlook accounts for approved time-off requests. See Updating Microsoft Outlook calendar with approved time-off requests for more information.

You can enable both approaches if you choose, but enabling calendar synchronization can be simpler to implement and it provides broader coverage and more flexibility for the employee.

Employees can synchronize schedule events with personal calendars on their desktop and mobile devices. They specify the data they want to synchronize in UKG Pro WFM; they specify the UKG Pro WFM URL and any other information required by the calendar provider in the calendar to which they are subscribing.

To enable your employees to synchronize UKG Pro WFM with their personal calendars, you need to enable the ESS Personal Calendar Synchronization feature switch. See Feature Switch to learn how to enable the feature switch.

The synchronize schedule feature uses the common Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar) .ICS file format and supports subscriptions to these calendars:

  • Apple
  • Note: You can subscribe to Apple calendar only from UKG Pro WFM on an Apple device running iOS.
  • Google
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Note: You can subscribe to Microsoft Outlook calendar only from UKG Pro WFM on the desktop.
  • Other calendars — Subscriptions to other calendars using the .ICS file format should function as expected but have not been tested. To subscribe to unsupported calendars, employees use the Other (Copy URL) subscription option to generate a URL, which they then use to manually configure subscriptions to calendars of their choosing.

Employees can subscribe to multiple calendars; the same .ICS file is used for all subscriptions, thus all calendars are synchronized with the same events. See Creating a calendar subscription for more information.

Employees can choose events from these categories to synchronize with their personal calendars:

  • Shifts — For regular shifts and transfers, the shift label, shift start and end times, and the organization path of first segment are synchronized.
  • Absences — Synchronized information varies by type of absence:
    • Approved time-off requests: the request subtype name, start and end time, duration (for each day) are synchronized
    • Non-time-off paycodes: the paycode name, start and end time, and duration are synchronized
    • Leave time: the case code, start and end time, and duration are synchronized
    • Paid leave time: the "Paid Leave Time" label, and duration are synchronized
  • Schedule tags — If schedule tags have been configured for display, the tag name (example: On Call), start and end time, and duration are synchronized.

To determine which schedule events are synchronized with personal calendars, the system looks forward six weeks at the time of each synchronization. Any events falling within that six-week window are written to the subscribed calendars.

The initial synchronization occurs when the subscription is established. The synchronization frequency is determined by the calendar provider and can vary from calendar to calendar. Any events in UKG Pro WFM that have changed (that is, have been added, removed, or modified) since the previous synchronization are updated on subscribed calendars.

Note: Synchronization is one-way, from UKG Pro WFM to the employee's personal calendar. Personal calendars are updated at the frequency specified when configuring the subscription. Changes made to personal calendar are not reflected in UKG Pro WFM.

The default name for the UKG Pro WFM calendar is ESS Schedule. This name can be changed when setting up the subscription on the calendar.

Individual events on the calendar dates are displayed as:

  • "ESS - [event name]" if an event name has been specified in UKG Pro WFM. For example: ESS-Shift
  • "ESS" if an event name has not been specified

Time signatures for the events that are synchronized with personal calendars are converted to the local time as configured for the calendar.

Links to events

Event details in the personal calendar include a link to the event in UKG Pro WFM. From the calendar, employees can click tap the link to open UKG Pro WFM to the events list with the focus on the event they selected in their calendar.

Note: The subscription process varies across providers. Employees should be familiar with the steps required to subscribe to the calendar they are synchronizing with UKG Pro WFM.

When creating a calendar subscription, employees can:

  • Choose a specific calendar provider — The application opens the subscription form for the selected provider in a new browser tab. The UKG Pro WFM URL and other default values, such as the name that represents UKG Pro WFM in their personal calendar, are added to the form.
  • The employee completes the remainder of the form as required by the calendar provider. They can subscribe to multiple providers, but only one at a time.
    • Note: Only providers supported on the operating system of their current UKG Pro WFM session are displayed. For example, they cannot choose the Apple subscription if they are using UKG Pro WFM on a machine running on Microsoft Windows.
  • This is referred to as the guided subscription process, as the system automates many of the subscription steps.
  • Choose the Other (Copy URL) — The Copy URL dialog box appears, which allows the employee to copy the UKG Pro Workforce Management™ URL to their clipboard. They then use that URL in the subscription process for the desired calendars on their device. This is a completely manual process.

Employees can update existing calendar subscriptions. This can be useful when they want to:

  • Change the information they are currently synchronizing with their personal calendars
  • Reestablish a subscription that they removed from a personal calendar

Note: This procedure automatically updates any calendar subscriptions created using the guided subscription process for supported calendars. The new settings take effect at the calendar's next scheduled synchronization.

To update calendar subscriptions created manually using Other (Copy URL), employees must create a new URL and repeat the initial subscription process.

To cancel a calendar subscription, employees follow the procedure for unsubscribing as described by the calendar provider. Subscription settings remain displayed in Sync My Schedule as they were last configured, but UKG Pro WFM events are no longer synchronized to any unsubscribed calendars.

Note: You can stop calendar synchronization at any time by disabling the ESS Personal Calendar Synchronization feature switch. Disabling the feature switch stops any synchronizations that employees have configured, but the subscription remains on the provider's calendar. If you later re-enable the feature switch, synchronization is restored and resumes from that point in time.

This feature is suited to employees who spend much of their work time at computers and who rely on email. For example: to book vacation time, the employee submits their time-off request as usual. When the request is approved, the confirmation email acts as a meeting request. When the employee accepts, Outlook marks the approved time as an out-of-office Vacation.

To set up synchronization between UKG Pro WFM and Microsoft Outlook for approved time-off requests only:

  1. Click Tap Main Menu > Administration > Application Setup > Employee Self Service >Request Subtypes. 
  2. Select the subtype. Click Tap Edit or Duplicate.
  3. In Request Type, select Time-Off.
  4. Select an Employee Notification to notify employees when their schedule requests change status.
  5. Select Add Approved Request to Outlook Calendar to send approved requests to the employee's Microsoft Outlook calendar as a meeting request.
    Caution:

    You must also select an Employee Notification.

    If pay codes are confidential for privacy or regulatory reasons, do not select this option.

  6. Click Tap Save & Return.

See Configure Request Subtypes for more information on this procedure.