Overview

SmartSimple Calendars allow you to create, share, and monitor appointments and events related to your granting, research, or claims management work—directly inside SmartSimple—so you can avoid conflicts, duplicated scheduling, and missed dates.

Calendars can be used both:

From the main menu (e.g., Menu > Calendars) to view calendars and events you have permission to access.
Inside a Universal Tracking Application (UTA) (when calendars are enabled for that application) to create and manage calendar-based activities/events.

Key Concept: Calendar Events Are Level-2 Activities

In UTAs, calendar events are Level-2 activities. This matters because visibility and access are controlled by role-based security, including the UTA Security Matrix and Level-2 activity permissions.

Calendar Types

Personal Calendars

Every user has a personal calendar. You can add events directly, and your calendar can also be populated by activities/events created elsewhere in SmartSimple when you’re associated to them. Calendar entries can be color-coded, and users can switch event coloring by event type or calendar type. Personal calendars start private but can be shared.

Shared Calendars

Shared calendars are used to track activities not tied to one individual (e.g., board meetings, committee meetings, training schedules, holidays). You can create an unlimited number of shared calendars and share them with organizations and roles—users will only see calendars they’re permissioned to access. Shared calendars can optionally be enabled for internet access.

Resource Calendars

Resource calendars track “resources” (people or entities) that don’t log in but still require scheduling. Resource calendar management requires enabling the relevant manager permission (Job Costing and Resources – Manager).

How Access & Visibility Works (The “4 Layers”)

Calendar access is determined by multiple layers of configuration and permissions:

1) System Feature Permissions (Platform-Level)

System Feature Permissions can control access to the Calendars menu and whether a role can create or manage calendars.

Key permissions include:

Calendars – Menu Access (grants access to Calendars from the main menu)
Calendars – Access (if present in your instance, determines which roles can access calendar features)
Calendars – Create (enables roles to create additional calendars)
Calendars – Manager (allows roles to view/add entries to calendars)

2) Calendar-Level Sharing (Calendar Settings)

Each calendar can be shared via:

Read/Write Access Companies (Organizations)
Read/Write Access Roles

This is configured from the calendar’s settings/edit screen (Calendar list > Edit).

3) UTA Security Matrix (Application-Level)

The UTA Security Matrix determines what each role can do at:

Level 1
Level 2 (Activities / Calendar Events)

Note: When Security Matrix is enabled, users can lose access until role permissions are explicitly set.

4) Level-2 Activity Type Permissions (Event Type Access)

Because calendar events are Level-2 activities, users must have the appropriate Level-2 access in the Security Matrix and the relevant role permissions for those event/activity types.

Enabling Calendars (Recommended Admin Steps)

Step A — Confirm System Feature Permissions

Ensure the relevant roles have:

Calendars – Menu Access (Menu section)
Calendars – Access, Calendars – Create and/or Calendars – Manager (Features section), depending on responsibilities

Step B — Enable Calendars in a UTA (Example: Meeting Manager)

To enable calendars inside a UTA (example shown for Program Manager):

Global Settings > Tracking Applications > [Edit] Meeting Manager > Level-2 Activities (tab) > [Enable Calendar]

In the UTA configuration, calendar-related options appear under Activity Scheduling Settings, including:

Enable Calendar
Disable Recurring Button
Enable Time Conflict Alerts
Activity Scheduler (create multiple cycle activities in bulk)

Tip: If the calendar toggle isn’t visible where expected, verify you’re in the correct UTA configuration area and that your role has configuration access.

Creating & Sharing a Shared Calendar (e.g., Board Meetings)

Go to Menu > Calendars.
Select New Calendar (this button appears only if your role allows creating calendars).
Configure calendar properties such as:
- Name, Description
- Optional Workflow
- Optional Internet Enabled
- Read/Write Access Companies
- Read/Write Access Roles
Save.

Important: If the Calendars menu item is not enabled for a role, users in that role may not be able to access calendars even if other permissions are set.

How Users View “All In One Place”

In the calendar UI, users can select which calendars they want to view together. A list of available/selected calendars appears in the calendar view, and users can click calendars to display them.

Recommended approach for organization-wide visibility (e.g., board meetings):

Create a shared calendar and grant Read Access Roles to the intended audience.
Ensure the audience has the necessary Level-2 activity access in the UTA Security Matrix (for UTA-based calendar events).
Users can then select that shared calendar in their calendar view to see it alongside their personal calendar.

Recurring Events & Conflict Checking

Recurring meetings (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.) with the ability to update details within a recurring series.
Scheduling conflict alerts that warn about conflicts for associated people when enabled.

Calendar Tasks & Notes

Calendar Tasks

When creating a calendar entry, it can be designated as a task instead of an event. Tasks appear in the Task List rather than on the calendar grid.

Notes on Events

To change event details (e.g., completion), use Edit Event. To add multiple annotations over time (including notes by multiple people), use Event Notes.

Calendar Fields on UTA Calendars (Advanced)

The Calendar Fields section in UTA Settings – Miscellaneous controls how activities display on a UTA calendar, and supports Web Page View Field Variables and logic (sslogic).

Example 1 (show a field for one activity type):

<!--@sslogic('@type@'='Contract')-->@#55222#@ <!--@end-->

Example 2 (show details only for certain statuses):

<!--@sslogic('@statusname@' in ('scheduled','re-scheduled'))-->
@type@ @parent.owner.fullname@ @starttime@-@endtime@
<!--@end-->

You can also reference parent fields like:

@parent.fieldname@

Holiday Calendars (Business Day Calculations)

A Holiday Calendar records organizational holidays and can be used in formulas to add/subtract business days.

Supported formulas include:

SS_FUNC.addbusdays(DATE, BUSINESSDAYS)
SS_FUNC.countbusdays(FIRSTDATE, SECONDDATE)

Holiday calendars can also be referenced in workflows via the Workflow Connector.

Troubleshooting (Most Common Issues)

“I can’t see Calendars in the menu.”

Confirm Calendars – Menu Access is enabled for your role in System Feature Permissions.

“I can’t create a new calendar.”

Confirm your role has Calendars – Create and that the New Calendar button is visible (it appears only for users with permission to add calendars).

“I get ‘Permissions Denied’ when opening an event.”

Event visibility can be restricted by role permissions, UTA security, System Feature Permissions, and calendar-level sharing (Read/Write access companies/roles). This can also occur if the underlying record no longer exists.

“Users can’t see UTA calendar events.”

Because calendar events are Level-2 activities, confirm:

The UTA Security Matrix grants Level-2 (Activity) access to the intended roles.
Event/activity types are permissioned appropriately for those roles.