Connect to Data Sources

Data Sources consist of Event Types, Holidays, and User-Defined fields defined in your EMS implementation.

In EMS Master Calendar, as the site administrator, you have the option of setting up event types and holidays (special dates) from “scratch;” however, if you are an existing EMS customer who uses one of the EMS products, such as Campus, Desktop Client, Enterprise, Professional, Legal, and so on. This means that you have already configured this information for your EMS application. Rather than creating these items from scratch, if your organization has purchased the optional module, Master Calendar Data Connectors, you can follow the steps in this topic to perform a one-time import of event types and holidays from your EMS application into Master Calendar.

You can import event types and holidays from one or more EMS databases to one or more calendars in Master Calendar. At the data source level, you can select a high-level view of your user-defined fields (UDFs) in your EMS database, and you can then run a connector to import one or more selected UDFs and their associated answers into your Master Calendar database. Managing data sources in Master Calendar consists of adding data sources, deleting data sources, importing the event types, importing the holidays, and selecting the UDFs that are to be imported. You can also view the history of event type mapping between your EMS database and your Master Calendar database.

ClosedAdd a Data Source

EMS cloud customers can only add one EMS database as a data source. On premise customers can add multiple EMS databases as data sources.

  1. From the Admin Panel, navigate to Admin > Site Administration > Data Sources. 

    The Data Sources page opens. This page lists all the currently available data sources in Master Calendar.

  2. Under Actions, click Add. 

    The Adding a Data Source page opens.

  3. Add the information for the data source. 
    • Description – The name of the database into which you are importing the event types and/or holidays.
    • Database Server Name – The name for the database server on which the EMS database from which you are importing the information resides.
    • Database Name – The name of the EMS database from which you are importing the event types and/or holidays.

    • EMS database resides on the same server or you are using a linked server.

    To get the database server name and the database name, log in to the EMS client and then select Select File > Change Database. You can also work with your local Database Administrator to get the correct server and database names.

  4. Click Test Data Source. 

    If Master Calendar can connect to the specified EMS database, a success message opens. Otherwise, a failure message opens and provides a reason for the failure. You must make the necessary changes to the data connector, and test the connection again.

  5. After the success message appears, click Save.

ClosedDelete a Data Source

When you a delete a data source, all connectors that use this data sources and associated events are deleted.

Important!

Deleting a Data Source and its associated events cannot be undone.

  1. From the Admin Panel, navigate to Admin > Site Administration > Data Sources. 

    The Data Sources page opens. This page lists all the currently available data sources in Master Calendar.

  2. Select the data sources that you are deleting. To select all data sources on the currently opened page for deletion in a single step, select Description. If you have multiple pages of data sources to delete, you must repeat this entire process on each page.
  3. Under Actions, click Delete. A message opens, informing you that all connectors that use this data source and associated events are deleted and asking you if you are sure that you want to continue.
  4. Click OK. 

    A success message opens.

  5. Click OK. The Data Sources page refreshes to show any remaining data sources in Master Calendar.

ClosedImport EMS Event Types

When you are importing event types from EMS into Master Calendar, you have three options. You can:

  • Map an EMS event type to an existing Master Calendar event type.
  • Create an EMS event type in Master Calendar if it doesn’t already exist.
  • Indicate that you do not want to import the EMS event type.

  1. From the Admin Panel, navigate to Admin > Site Administration > Data Sources.

    The Data Sources page opens. This page lists all the currently available data sources in Master Calendar.

  2. Select the data source from which you are importing the event types.

  3. Under Actions, click Event Types. 

    The Event Types page opens. This page lists all the currently defined event types for the selected data source. It also shows the mapping for each event type, or whether it has been set to Do Not Use.

    If an EMS event type has not been mapped to a Master Calendar event type, and it has not been set to Do Not Use, then the Create option displays for it in the Master Calendar Event Type list.

  4. For any of the unmapped EMS event types, click Create to open a Master Calendar dialog. The Description tab lists all the currently active Master Calendar event types. The “Do Not Use” option is also displayed on this list. If you do not see the Master Calendar event type to which you want to map the EMS event type, either it has not been created, or it is currently inactive in Master Calendar. To add a new event type, or to activate a currently inactive event type, see “To add an event type” or “To activate an event type”.

  5. On the list, select the Master Calendar event type to which you are mapping the EMS event type, or select Do Not Use.
  6. Optionally, for any of the currently mapped EMS event types, change the mapping, or set the mapping to “Do Not Use.” All EMS event types that you leave in a '<Create>' status will be created in Master Calendar when you save your event type mappings. On the Master Calendar main menu, select Admin > Configuration > Event Types to view a global list of all the event types that are being stored in your Master Calendar database, regardless of their data source.

  7. Click Save on the Master Calendar dialog. 

    The Master Calendar dialog opens.

  8. Click Save on the Event Types page. A message opens asking you if you are sure that you want to save all the event types.

  9. Click OK. 

    The page refreshes to show the newly selected mapping for the EMS event type.

  10. Optionally, continue to one or both of the following:

ClosedView the History for an Event Type Mapping

The history for an event type mapping consists of the original creation date of the mapping, the name of the user who created the mapping, and the last date that the mapping was edited as well as the name of the user who last edited the mapping.

  1. From the Admin Panel, navigate to Admin > Site Administration > Data Sources. 

    The Data Sources page opens. This page lists all the currently available data sources in Master Calendar.

  2. Select the data source from which you are viewing the history of the event mappings.

  3. Under Actions, click Event Types. 

    The Event Types page opens. This page lists all the currently defined event types for the selected data source.

  4. Click the MC Event Type link for the mapping for which you are viewing the history. 

    A Master Calendar dialog opens on the Description tab.

  5. To view the history for the selected mapping, click the History tab.

ClosedImport EMS Holidays or Special Dates

The term “holiday” is equivalent to the Master Calendar term “special date.”

  1. From the Admin Panel, navigate to Admin > Site Administration > Data Sources. 

    The Data Sources page opens. This page lists all the currently available data sources in Master Calendar.

  2. Select the data source from which you are importing the holidays.

  3. Under Actions, click Holidays. 

    The Holidays page opens on the New tab. This tab lists the records for up to the first 50 holidays that are defined in the selected data source and that have a date greater than or equal to the current day’s date.

  4. Optionally, to refine this list, do one or both of the following:
    • In Start Date, enter a different start date.
    • In Title, enter partial or complete search criteria for the holiday description. The search is limited to the exact order of the characters in the string. The search string is not case-sensitive and the search string can be found anywhere in the search results. For example, the search string “scout” returns holidays that contain either Scouting Day or Boy Scouts’ Day.

  5. Click Go. 

    The page refreshes to show the holidays that meet your search criteria.

  6. Select the holidays that are to be imported from the selected data source, and then Add.To select all holidays on the currently opened page for importing in a single step, select Description. If you have multiple pages of holidays to import, repeat this entire process on each page. You will be prompted to confirm that you are sure you want to add all the selected holidays. 

  7. Click OK in the message.

    When you import EMS holidays into your Master Calendar database, all the imported holidays are added to all the calendars in Master Calendar. You must manually delete the dates from the calendars on which you do not want the holidays to be displayed.

  8. Optionally, do one or both of the following:
    • Click the Existing tab to open it and view the list of all the holidays that you have imported into Master Calendar.
    • Continue to procedures below.

ClosedSelect EMS User-Defined Fields (UDFs) for Importing

  1. From the Admin Panel, navigate to Admin > Site Administration > Data Sources. 

    The Data Sources page opens and lists all available data sources in Master Calendar.

  2. Select the data source from which you are importing the UDFs.

  3. Under Actions, click User Defined Fields. 

    The User Defined Fields page opens. On this page, you see only UDFs that have the Field Applies To: Reservation configured within the EMS database. To find this information in the EMS Desktop Client, navigate to Configuration > Other > User Defined Fields.

  4. In User Defined Fields, select the UDF that is to be imported from the selected data source (Ctrl-click to select multiple UDFs), and then click Add to move the UDFs to the Assigned list.  To move all the UDFs in a single step, click Add All.
  5. Click Save.
  6. You must now run a connector to import the selected UDFs and their associated answers into your Master Calendar database.