Sure, its a long list of questions….

[RK]

Our small non-profit has the following requirements:

1. At least one, but perhaps several dynamic ics feeds that originate from an internal outlook calendar that is published via Office365 and is only updated internally.
The ics feed changes will need to be picked up by The Events Calendar, with a collection of single, recurring, and changes to instances of recurring events.

2. Depending on how things are categorized on The Events Calendar side (icons, color scheme, etc.), we may create multiple feeds for different categories of
events – so a user creating multiple calendars in Outlook, so they can be tagged as specific categories on The Events Calendar side – the downside of published
Outlook calendars, is that all categorization data is stripped away, and just basic event info is left.

3. In some events, we will need links to sign-up Genius either sent as plain html in the published ics, or perhaps appended as code on the The Events Calendar side (as
part of default formatting for that category).

4. Depending on the evolution of our organization, we may segment the calendar onto separate WP pages – all specific to the type of category that those events are
relative.

5. We will not be using The Events Calendar to sell tickets, book venues, or allow end-users add events to the calendar. So, a one direction publishing where the Outlook
calendar (s) is the dynamic source, with little front end manipulation.

6. Our website is managed, so any major changes require us to jump through hoops to get the hosting company to modify the install, etc. Furthermore, the hosts have to pay
for the service and then bill it to us… because of this, testing of your or any new product is a PITA.

With all those requirements, can you ….

A. Tell me if The Events Calendar will meet those requirements?

A1. If so, what products/package would we have to purchase to meet those requirements?

B. Tell me your money back policy, because we will need to test your product on another dummy site – to prove proof-of-concept to our client.

C. If the product works, and if we want to install it on our managed, hosted production site, can the license be transferred to the new site OR must
it be repurchased and then you credit us for the test trial license?

D. Do you offer discounts for non-profits? If so, how does that work since we have to purchase this through our host? What is the discount?

Thank you

[Cliff]

Hi RK. Thanks for considering our suite of plugins. Here’s some high-level information for you:

Your non-profit organizations may be interested in our Do you offer discounts for nonprofit organizations? help article.

I’m not sure you’ll need them, but we do offer pre-built Bundles, which some of our customers have found to be a great way to get several of our plugins at a “bulk purchase” discount.

We have a pretty great Refund Policy so you can buy one or many of our add-ons and thoroughly test them.

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Here are answers to some of your specifics:

Our iCal Importer plugin can import from O365 iCal URLs, either as a one-time import or a scheduled/recurring import.

However, it does not import recurring events as a connected series of events. In other words, if you setup a recurring event in O365 calendar as Event A on Day 1, 2, and 3, it will import to your WordPress site as Event A, Event B, and Event C — 3 separate events.

==

Events can be assigned to Event Categories or Tags. Each Event Category generates its own view, such as http://wpshindig.com/events/category/learning/ vs http://wpshindig.com/events/category/tech-events/ (WPShindig.com is our Demo Site, so feel free to click around there).

iCal Importer can assign all imported events to an Event Category of your choosing. For example, unique iCal Feed URL “X” would be imported like regular but also assigned to the “Learning” Events Category, and unique iCal Feed URL “Y” would be imported like regular but also assigned to the “Tech Events” Events Category.

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There are many ways to customize our plugins so however you choose to implement SignUpGenius (with which I have no experience) should be doable.

If you need some coding help, you may want to ask your developer or reference our list of known customizers.

==

Obviously, you might benefit from iCal Importer, as previously mentioned, but you might also like the functionality of our Filter Bar plugin.

You may want to simply try out the free/core version of our plugin (which is required to be continually installed alongside all our add-on plugins) on your own localhost site to give it a test drive (DesktopServer helps make this really easy to do).

==

Lastly, you can purchase it through any account/email address you choose to. Just know that only that user account will be able to create support tickets in each product’s forum (our only method of support). However, you can edit your accounts email address at any time at My Account.

===

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions.

[RK]

Thanks for the great response….

Some follow-up ?s, just one reply per subject:

However, it does not import recurring events as a connected series of events. In other words, if you setup a recurring event in O365 calendar as Event A on Day 1, 2, and 3, it will import to your WordPress site as Event A, Event B, and Event C — 3 separate events.

OK, that isn’t that big of a problem from our side. What we would like to know is that if one of the instances in the recurring event gets changed on our side (day gets moved, time window gets altered, info in entry body gets modified)… will The Events Calendar properly map that changed instance to the proper “singular” event on your side, so the changes are reflected on The Events Calendar during the update process?

[RK]

You may want to simply try out the free/core version of our plugin (which is required to be continually installed alongside all our add-on plugins) on your own localhost site to give it a test drive (DesktopServer helps make this really easy to do).

My key challenge with this client is that I can’t install the plugin on the production server, because we don’t have admin access to the build… therefore, all my proof of concept testing has to mimic the correct The Events Calendar plugin and any add-ons.

Furthermore, the test site won’t be the final site, so I will definitely be testing then scrapping it – either with the intent of acquiring the same exact package for the production server or scrapping your product as an option. Therefore, this trial will result in a for sure refund request. It sounds like you are cool with that, per your policy, so no concerns for me.

[RK]

Obviously, you might benefit from iCal Importer, as previously mentioned, but you might also like the functionality of our Filter Bar plugin.

You may want to simply try out the free/core version of our plugin (which is required to be continually installed alongside all our add-on plugins) on your own localhost site to give it a test drive (DesktopServer helps make this really easy to do).

So, with any number of ics feeds greater than zero, a user must purchase the iCal importer in addition to the base package? I’m pretty sure that is a YES, but want to make sure before spending the cash.

Thanks a bunch for the DeskServer tool.

[Cliff]

iCal Importer is the only way to create Events via an .ics file or iCal URL, so yes.

There is a tribe_events_ical_importer_overwrite_existing_events filter that can be used to control how the iCal Importer works with re-importing “revisions” to existing (previously-imported) events. You should try it out on your local testing site to see if it can work for you exactly how you’re wanting.

[Support Droid]

This topic has not been active for quite some time and will now be closed.

If you still need assistance please simply open a new topic (linking to this one if necessary)
and one of the team will be only too happy to help.

[Author]

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