CalendarHero's Shared Availability settings allow users to customize their availability settings for even greater flexibility and control when working with colleagues! Shared availability settings are easily enabled from any meeting type.
Shared Availability settings include:
- On-Behalf - Easily substitute another member or collaborator's availability instead of yours. When the meeting is booked, the meeting owner can decide to transfer ownership to that member and add it only to their calendar.
- External On-Behalf - Substitute the availability of another invitee, who is NOT a member of your organization. For example, an external recruiter scheduling on behalf of a hiring manager who is not using CalendarHero.
- Collective - Pool availability and only show invitees times when ALL specified team members or collaborators are available. The meeting owner can choose to include or omit their availability. When the meeting is booked, all the members are added to the calendar event.
- Round-Robin - Distribute meetings between specific members or collaborators based on their availability. When the meeting is booked, meeting ownership is transferred to the available member and added only to their calendar.
Which plans can use Shared Availability?
- Pro plan users can use Shared Availability options with Collaborators
- Team Plan users can use Shared Availability options with both Members AND Collaborators
- Both Pro and Team plans can use External On-Behalf with external users
- Basic plans will need to upgrade to use Shared Availability: Compare Plans
NOTE: While CalendarHero supports all major calendars there are some shared availability feature restrictions due to 3rd party calendar limitations in iCloud and Microsoft Exchange On-Premises. Learn More
On-Behalf
The On-Behalf shared availability setting makes it easy to schedule a meeting on behalf of another member or a Collaborator. A "member" is anyone in the same CalendarHero Team account.
The meeting creator can also decide to transfer ownership - if selected then when the meeting is booked, the meeting ownership is transferred to that member and added only to their calendar.
On-Behalf is set up on the meeting type and can be applied to both Personal Scheduling links (so you can create a link specifically to share another member's availability with a client!) or meetings created via web or chat.
Use Case Examples:
-
Recruiters / HR:
- Quickly schedule candidate interviews on behalf of a hiring manager. Allows the candidate to easily select times based on the hiring manager's availability.
-
Sales Teams:
- BDRs can easily schedule meetings on behalf of other sales colleagues - for example to transition qualified prospects to a specific account manager. (To use multiple hiring managers' availability we recommend using Collective Availability)
-
Executive Assistants:
- Easily schedule meetings on behalf of C-Level executives or other colleagues - and ensure the meeting is based on their availability and appears in their calendar once booked.
Enabling On-Behalf
The On-Behalf setting is enabled on the meeting type. To enable this setting first open an existing meeting type or create a new meeting type. From the meeting type go to Availability Shared Availability and select the radio button next to "On-Behalf." Select whether or not to Transfer Ownership (scroll below for more details on this option.)
Next, use the search box to select the one member that you want to schedule on behalf of. (Do you need to schedule on behalf of other individuals as well? Simply make a meeting type for each member! Or scroll below for more info on Collective and Round Robin options.)
Video Conferencing links (both dynamic and static) can be added to On-Behalf meetings. If dynamic video conferencing is added to the associated meeting type, then when the meeting is assigned, CalendarHero will automatically add the dynamic video conferencing link associated with the assigned member/collaborator (if one has been added by that user.)
- If a request was added with a dynamic video conferencing provider: CalendarHero will check if the user that you are scheduling on-behalf (member or collaborator) has a video provider added to their default
video
meeting type. If so CalendarHero will use that video provider. If not CalendarHero will use their latest added video provider. - If a request was added with a static video link, CalendarHero will just use that video link
Applying On-Behalf to a Meeting
Once enabled in any meeting type, it's easy to apply this setting to any new meeting:
- Select the meeting type with the On-Behalf setting already enabled. Do this by either sharing the related Personal Scheduling link OR selecting the meeting type when you create a new meeting via web or chat.
- The On-Behalf settings will automatically be applied to that meeting. As a result, any meeting invitees will only be able to select based on the selected member's availability. The meeting creator's availability won't be used.
- Once a time is selected by the invitee and the meeting is booked, the meeting is automatically assigned to the selected member. (If selected, ownership of the meeting is also transferred to that member). All invitees and the "assigned" team members will receive a confirmation notification (and calendar event) for the scheduled meeting.
What does Transfer Ownership mean?
If Transfer ownership is selected then when the meeting is booked, the meeting ownership is automatically transferred to that member and added only to their calendar.
If Transfer Ownership is NOT selected then the meeting ownership is retained and the meeting will appear in the Meeting Creators calendar for visibility. The meeting status will automatically be set as "Free" in their calendar so it does not block other meetings.
Transfer Ownership details:
- On Transfer: The original meeting creator will receive an email confirmation of the meeting transfer. (For Greenhouse ATS users this activity will also be automatically logged in the Greenhouse activity feed). The scheduled meeting will NOT appear in the meeting creator's calendar (as they are not attending the meeting) and the event will be removed from the meeting creator's Task list.
- On Transfer: The new meeting owner (the On-Behalf "assignee") will receive confirmation that the meeting has been scheduled with them, and the upcoming meeting will appear in their calendar and the Completed Tasks list. The new meeting owner will have full rights for managing the meeting moving forward, including the ability to cancel or reschedule the meeting as needed.
External On-Behalf
The External On-Behalf shared availability setting makes it easy to schedule a meeting on behalf of another invitee who is NOT a CalendarHero user.
External On-Behalf is set up on the meeting type and can be applied to meetings created via web or chat. (It can NOT be applied to Personal Scheduling links, but you can use a Private Invite Link if you prefer to send meeting invites manually.)
Use Case Examples:
-
Recruiters/Hiring Managers:
- Easily schedule candidate interviews on behalf of a hiring manager + other required team members. Only the meeting creator needs to be a CalendarHero user.
- Example: Karen the hiring manager is interviewing the candidate Thomas. The recruiter Marie can enable "External On-Behalf" and then invite Karen to manually share their availability. Once Karen is done, then Thomas (the candidate) will be able to easily pick a time based on Karen's availability.
- Easily schedule candidate interviews on behalf of a hiring manager + other required team members. Only the meeting creator needs to be a CalendarHero user.
Enabling External On-Behalf
The On-Behalf setting is enabled on the meeting type. To enable this setting first open an existing meeting type or create a new meeting type. From the meeting type go to Availability Shared Availability and select the radio button next to "External On-Behalf".
Video Conferencing links (both dynamic and static) can be added to External On-Behalf meetings. However, keep in mind that if the meeting is using the meeting creator's dynamic video conferencing link then they will likely need to be present to start the conferencing - this is dependent on the 3rd party provider. To avoid any issue a static link can be used instead (via CalendarHero), or a conferencing link can always be added directly to the calendar event after the meeting is booked.
Applying External On-Behalf to a Meeting
Once enabled in any meeting type, it's easy to apply this setting to any new meeting using our web interface:
- Select the meeting type with the External On-Behalf setting already enabled. Do this by selecting the meeting type when you create a new meeting via web or chat.
- The External On-Behalf settings will automatically be applied to the meeting. As a result, the meeting creator's availability won't be used, and in the next step, the Meeting Creator can select the invitees whose availability they want to use.
Note: If you are making a meeting request via chat (such as MSTeams or Slack) the first invitee added to the meeting will automatically be asked to share their availability. e.g. If you want Jenn's availability to be used say her name first in your "Meet with Jenn, Mark, and Andy".
- The selected invitee will be the first to receive an invite, notifying them that the meeting creator is booking a meeting on their behalf and inviting them to share their availability. (NOTE: Notifications happen automatically if you had your assistant send the invites. If you have opted to use a Private Invite Link you must manually send the invites as needed.)
- By clicking on the "Respond to Meeting Request" link in the invite email, the selected invitee will be prompted to share their availability by selecting times. They are encouraged to select as many times as possible - since these are the only times that the remaining invitees will be able to select from.
The selected invitee can also choose to privately sync their Google calendar so they can quickly and easily see when they are free (and avoid flipping back and forth with their external calendar to select times!)
- After the selected invitee has shared their availability, the remaining invitees will be automatically notified so they can select times based on the first invitee's availability.
- Once the meeting is booked all attendees and the meeting creator will receive a confirmation notification (and calendar event) for the scheduled meeting. While the Meeting will appear in the Meeting Creators calendar for visibility, the meeting status will automatically be set as "Free" in their calendar so it does not block other meetings.
Round Robin
Round Robin makes it easy for invitees to choose a time with any available member of your team or a Collaborator. A "member" is anyone in the same CalendarHero Team account.
Round Robin will optimize for availability, to allow meeting invitees the best chance of scheduling at a time that works for them. Once the meeting is booked, the meeting event is automatically transferred to the available team member. If more than one team member is available we will randomize the selection to distribute. Meeting creators can also allow invitees to select which available Round Robin member they would like to meet with.
In addition, if video conferencing is enabled for that meeting type, then CalendarHero will automatically add the video conferencing link belonging to the assigned owner. This makes it super easy to assign client video calls to any available team member and ensures the assigned member can use their own conference dial-in.
Round Robin members who are not booked for the meeting will NOT receive any notifications; this ensures members who are not involved in the meeting aren't needlessly distracted.
Round Robin is set up on the meeting type and can be applied to both Personal Scheduling links or meetings created via web or chat.
How CalendarHero’s Round Robin Works
Our Round Robin (RR) distributes meetings across members added to the Meeting Type, based on the members' availability and as “fairly” as possible.
This means that if an invitee selects the time slot of Tuesday at 9 am, and only Maxine and Ryan are available, we will only choose between those two available members. However, if Ryan had already been booked for a meeting through this RR Meeting Type, and Maxine has not, this new meeting would be assigned to Maxine.
Priority order for who should be assigned the meeting:
-
Members who are available in that time slot.
-
Members who have NOT had this meeting booked for them yet.
This will only take into account the meetings scheduled after we release this feature.-
If there are several members, we will randomly pick between those members.
-
-
Members who had this meeting booked the farthest back (or a random among those who had a meeting booked at the exact same time)
-
The date and time that we store, and use to determine “farthest back” is the scheduled date/time. Meaning if on Monday at 11 am the invitee schedules the meeting for Tuesday at 9 am we store Monday at 11 am.
-
Rescheduled Meetings
In the case where a meeting is rescheduled, we will still use the scheduled date/time that the original meeting was requested. This ensures that those whose attendees reschedule meetings are not favored or penalized for the reschedule.
Use Case Examples:
-
Recruiters/Hiring Managers:
- Seamlessly schedule candidate interviews with any available member of the team; such as technical discovery calls or interviews assessing 'culture fit'. Create separate round-robin groups for different teams or phases of the interview process.
-
Sales/BDRs:
- Allow prospects to quickly pick a time with any available member of the sales team for their initial sales demo or discovery call - to help move deals forward faster. Create separate round-robin groups for different phases of the customer journey.
-
Customer Success/Support:
- Easily allow customers to meet with any available member of the support or client services team at their convenience. Supporting lots of clients? Create separate round-robin groups for different needs; for example based on a technical area of expertise, dedicated region, or for support escalation.
Enabling Round Robin
The Round Robin setting is enabled on the meeting type. To enable this setting first open an existing meeting type or create a new meeting type. From the meeting type go to Availability Shared Availability and select the radio button next to "Round Robin".
Round Robin requires that members are pre-selected, so next add those members you want to be included by using the search box to find their names. (Keep in mind the search results will only return existing members - e.g. those users who have been previously added to your CalendarHero Team account). Any member selected will be included in the Round Robin availability for meetings associated with that meeting type. The meeting creator can choose to either include or omit their own availability, by adding or removing their name.
Up to 20 members can be added to Round Robin.
Meeting creators can also allow invitees to select which available Round Robin member they would like to meet with. To enable this option select " Allow invitees to select who to meet with". When enabled the invitee will have the option to view availability by all available members or to filter the view by a specific member.
Video Conferencing links (both dynamic and static) can also be added to Round Robin meetings. If video conferencing is added to the associated meeting type, then when the meeting is assigned, CalendarHero will automatically add the conferencing link associated with the assigned member.
Applying Round Robin to a Meeting
Once enabled in any meeting type, it's easy to apply this setting to any new meeting:
- Select the meeting type with the Round Robin setting already enabled. Do this by either sharing the related Personal Scheduling link OR selecting the meeting type when you create a new meeting via web or chat.
- The Round Robin settings will automatically be applied to that meeting. As a result, any meeting invitees will be able to select from times that ANY of the selected members are available.
- Once a time is selected by the invitee and the meeting is booked, the meeting is automatically assigned to the team member who matches that availability. Ownership of the meeting is also transferred to that member. All invitees and the "assigned" team members will receive a confirmation notification (and calendar event) for the scheduled meeting.
What does Ownership Transfer mean?
When a Round Robin meeting is booked, if the assigned member is different from the original meeting creator, then the ownership of the meeting will be automatically transferred.
- The original meeting creator will receive an email confirmation of the meeting transfer. (For Greenhouse ATS users this activity will also be automatically logged in the Greenhouse activity feed). The scheduled meeting will NOT appear in the meeting creator's calendar (as they are not attending the meeting) and the event will be removed from the meeting creator's Task list.
- The new meeting owner (the Round Robin "assignee") will receive confirmation that the meeting has been scheduled with them, and the upcoming meeting will appear in their calendar and Completed Tasks list. The new meeting owner will have full rights for managing the meeting moving forward, including the ability to cancel or reschedule the meeting as needed.
Collective Availability
Using Collective Availability allows you to pool specific members' availability and only show your external invitees' times (on the meeting acceptance page) when all those members (or Collaborators) are available. A "member" is anyone in the same CalendarHero Team account.
Collective Availability is set up on the meeting type and can be applied to both Personal Scheduling links (by pre-selecting members) or meetings created via web or chat (by pre-select or invite).
- Collective Availability uses the overlapping availability of those members who have been invited to the group meeting.
- External attendees will only be able to select from times that those members are mutually available.
- When the meeting is booked all invited members will be added to the calendar event.
Use Case Examples:
-
Recruiters/Hiring Managers:
- Easily schedule candidate interviews that include the hiring manager + other required team members.
- Example: Sasha and Jane are both required to interview the candidate Amy. The recruiter Marie can enable "Collective" and then invite Sasha, Jane, and Amy to the group meeting. Amy (the candidate) will be able to easily pick a time from Sasha and Jane's mutual availability (to share their availability as a collective they must also be CalendarHero users). If Marie (the recruiter) is simply organizing the meeting and not attending she can choose to omit herself and her availability will be excluded.
- Easily schedule candidate interviews that include the hiring manager + other required team members.
-
Sales/Support:
- Easily schedule meetings that allow the client to pick times based on the collective availability of all required team members.
- Example: David and Connie are sales reps working together to try and close a new deal but the client has some highly technical questions that require their sales engineer Bob to help answer. Connie can enable "Collective" and invite both David and Bob - and when the meeting invite is sent to the client, that client will be able to quickly select a time based on David, Connie, and Bob's mutual availability.
- Easily schedule meetings that allow the client to pick times based on the collective availability of all required team members.
Enabling Collective Availability
The Collective Availability setting is enabled on the meeting type. To enable this setting first open an existing meeting type or create a new meeting type. Under Availability Shared Availability select the radio button next to "Collective."
There are 2 ways to add members to a Collective; by pre-selecting the members OR by inviting the members during the meeting request. For either option, the meeting creator can also choose to either include or omit their own availability.
(1) Pre-Select Members/Collaborators
This option allows you to select your members/collaborators. in advance. Use this option if you want Collective Availability to work with your Personal Scheduling link. This option works with both members and Collaborators. Up to 20 members can be added to a pre-selected Collective.
From the meeting type, simply add those members you want to be included in the Collective by using the search box to find their names. Keep in mind the search results will only return existing members - e.g. those users who have been previously added to your CalendarHero Team account. Any member selected will be included in the Collective availability for meetings associated with that meeting type.
The meeting creator can choose to either include or omit their own availability by adding or removing their name. If the Meeting creator is omitted the Meeting will still appear in the Meeting Creators calendar for visibility, however, the meeting status will automatically be set as "Free" in their calendar.
(2) Use the Members I Invite
Use this option for flexible group meetings; for example, if the Collective members change often, or are only decided on-the-fly when you create the meeting. This option does NOT work with 1:1 meetings or Personal Scheduling links. At this time this option only works with members - it does not currently work with Collaborators.
Use the members I invite and include my availability:
- By default, the meeting creator's availability will also be included in the collective availability.
Use the members I invite and omit my availability:
- The meeting creator can choose to omit their own availability from the collective if they want to schedule collective meetings on behalf of other internal attendees. Just make sure you invite another member - otherwise the availability will default back to the meeting creator to avoid offering no availability!
- If enabled the Meeting will still appear in the Meeting Creators calendar for visibility, however, the meeting status will automatically be set as "Free" in their calendar. Therefore this assumes the Meeting Creator wants to know details about the meeting, but will likely not be attending the meeting.
- NOTE: If using Collective + omit my availability then the ability to postpone or cancel that meeting via chat will no longer work. This is because the meeting owner is marked as free (e.g. to be omitted). The meeting can still be canceled/moved from your native calendar. If this limitation is preventing you from using this feature please let us know! We do plan to address this in a future release.
Applying Collective Availability to a Meeting
Once enabled in a meeting type, it's easy to apply Collective.
- Select the meeting type with the Collective setting already enabled. Do this by selecting/referencing the meeting type when you create a new meeting via web or chat.
- Alternatively, if the "Pre-Select Members" option was used - you also simply share the related Personal Scheduling link with the invitee.
- Alternatively, if the "Pre-Select Members" option was used - you also simply share the related Personal Scheduling link with the invitee.
- If you selected to add by invite then you MUST invite the internal members by creating a new meeting via web or chat. It is the availability of these invited members that will be used for the collective availability.
- Invite the external invitees - just like you normally would for any group meeting.
- Meeting invites will be sent to everyone you invite (just like normal). The collective availability settings will automatically be applied to the meeting. As a result, invitees will only be able to select from times that ALL the invited members are mutually available. Those in the collective can suggest times but do NOT need to.
- That's it! Once the meeting is booked all invitees (members + externals) will receive calendar events.
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.