Archive for the ‘did you know?’ Category

Tandem RSS and XML Feeds In-Depth

Tandem for Schools is a powerful way to manage calendar events,
and communicatethem as well.  Tandem provides a variety of ways
to distribute your calendar to your
school community:

  1. On your school web site
  2. As a PDF file
  3. As a Calendar Link for iCal, Google Calendar, and Outlook
  4. As an RSS feed

We have provided a new support link to provide more in-depth information on RSS and XML within Tandem for Schools.  This information will help you supercharge your calendar distribution in all the ways Tandem has to offer.

Find our more about RSS and XML in Tandem for Schools…

And click on links to the left if you need more information about our products.


A Complete Scheduling Solution

Hello all, my name is Darin and I’m a part of the Intand Sales Team.  Prior to joining Intand, I was on staff at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), also known as the governing body for high school sports and activities in Washington.  One of the major areas that the WIAA office emphasized was the member schools sending in their athletic schedules and scores.  Often this was a time-consuming task because most of that information had to be collected and organized by an already-busy athletic administrator or secretary.  This is where Tandem can help you.

With Tandem you can create “Schedules” that essentially search your database of information for any area you want.  You can search for groups, teams, facilities and schools in less than 15 seconds.

Plus the schedules automatically update themselves when you make a change or edit to your main Tandem calendar.  OK, so this is related to my WIAA story because, in less than 15 seconds, you can create your 2008 Varsity Volleyball schedule and export that data to a .CSV file (which is readable by Microsoft Excel).  Now all you have to do is email your 2008 Varsity Volleyball schedule to your state activities office.  It’s that quick.

And, what’s more, you can create an unlimited amount of schedules in your Tandem calendar.  So just imagine that you have all your sports teams schedules, band practice schedule and gymnasium schedule all ready at the click of a mouse!

Best of all, extensive technological knowledge is not required to use Tandem.  Our tool was created by school administrators and they know what it takes to make navigating the system a breeze.

For more quick tips and Tandem product information, let me or any of my co-workers know if we can be of more assistance.  You can reach us at 866-685-3449.   And be sure to check out our support area too.  You’ll find tutorials, videos and other posts there that you will find helpful.

Enjoy your summer!

Did You Know? A Personal Tour of Tandem for Schools

As you consider any calendar product, you’ll likely want an in-depth walk through of the product to get a solid idea of how it can serve your school’s needs.  That’s why we offer you the opportunity to get on the phone with one of our Tandem experts (who, by the way, are very familiar with the administrative environment at schools and districts just like yours) and take a personal tour of Tandem for Schools.

Using GoToMeeting, we’ll guide you through two key features:

  • One centralized calendar – Take away the confusion of multiple calendar points.
  • Conflict checking – Avoid event conflicts before they create grief for you.

And you’ll experience a host of other ways that Tandem will make your job managing your school calendar much easier.

Set up a demo today to find out how Tandem for Schools can help you – Click here…

Did You Know? Active Support

Tandem for Schools is easy to implement and use, but our users still have occasional questions.  That’s where our support forum comes in handy.  It doesn’t stop there.

If you are still in the information gathering stage and figuring out whether to implement Tandem for Schools, this forum is for you too.  All of our FAQ’s and feature videos are located there, as well as interaction from current Tandem users.  Our support area is a great resource, actively monitored by our developers and support staff, which are there to assist anyone with any questions about the product.   Including prospective users.

Check out our support forum and let us know if you have any questions.

Did you know? Customizable Schedules

Tandem for Schools is powerful, and adaptable to your every need.  You can customize schedules, for instance.  Tandem enables you to filter items by team, activity, etc.  and set them as public or private, depending on if your schedule is for internal use or not.

This handy feature allows you to create event lists for sports teams, drama groups, music groups — or whatever group suits your needs — allowing you to display times and locations in one easy-to-read schedule format.  Use these custom schedules on your website or to create handouts, or whatever else you  need.  Tandem allows great flexibilty in how you use your school calendar and event information.

Did you know? It’s easy to change Tandem calendars.

Tandem for Schools makes calendar changes a breeze.  And any changes made will be immediately available to everyone.  Plus, users (parents, etc.) that are registered on the calendar get updates of any changes.

Because the Tandem calendar operates out of a central database, your school staff will save loads of time when schedules do change.

Here are some scenarios where Tandem for Schools will greatly streamline the calendar change process:

– A baseball game gets rained out.  Rather than have to make a bunch of phone calls (and receive a bunch from inquisitive parents), you updated or cancel the event.  Registered parents get an email, and everyone on your staff knows – pretty much now.

– Your school administration is trying to finalize the general school calendar.  You enter it in the system.  But two days later, you receive an updated schedule.  You can update it in less than five minutes.  Tandem instantly reflects the changes.

– Had some snow days?  Change the last school day on your calendar with ease.  Parents, staff, everyone?  Happy and updated.

Remember, all of the above scenarios are simple updates made by one staff person to one centralized calendar.  No more fuss getting your changes made and calendar users updated.

Shameless plug:  Tandem for Schools is easy to use and will take the stress out of calendar management.  Learn more and give it a try at www.intand.com.

Did you know? Tandem Can Notify Parents of Schedule Changes.

Tandem for Schools can be a big help when school or district events get changed or canceled.  Parents can sign up to have updates sent to them via email (and through other means like SMS, etc. in the future).  So if they have kids in soccer, they can be notified if a game gets canceled due to weather.  No more taking 100’s of calls in your school office when there is a schedule change in question.  Once a staff member updates the calendar, everyone who has signed up for the updates knows about the change.  And you can breathe a sigh of relief.

Did you know? You can try Tandem for free.

Tandem for Schools is a great tool for most districts and schools. We’ve made it easy for you to determine if Tandem will take the pain out of your school district calendar planning.

Just go to demo.intand.com and play with the calendar all you like. Enter the following info to login:

Username: demo@intand.com

Password: tandemdemo

This site will give you full-featured access to Tandem for Schools and give you the opportunity to see the power of this tool in action.

If you still have questions, and would like a live personal demo over the phone, feel free to call us. We’re glad to help!