Changes to Indico Events initiated in the Event Approval System

Intended for:

Indico event managers and organizers

Scenario/Use case:

Understand the changes to Indico events that occur when an Event initiates in the Event Approval System

Instructions:

New events submitted through the Event Approval System will require some new procedures for form creation so that registrant experience is maximized.  

Changes from basic Indico behavior:

I. Required form fields

Event managers will notice that events with this integration applied now have a registration form (if they previously did not), a new section at the end of the registration form and new fields. These fields do not show up in the form editor.

In addition, an extra empty form section ‘Attendance Requirements’ now appears in the form editor.  This will contain the extra form fields not present in the editor(because they are not manager configurable).  It is possible for a user to delete this section; however, the extra fields will then show up in the last defined section of the form. Data collection will still work, but the form will not look great.

If a user has an event created for them or has the integration applied to an existing event with a form already defined, no action is necessary on their part.  However, there may be duplicate fields, which are often defined on previous events used as templates. Many current events request some of the same information (e.g., citizenship, institution) which is now being collected through fields defined through a different process than the normal Indico form editor.

Since there are such a wide variety of possibilities for input, event managers who are creating events from old templates must remove unneeded fields from the new event the first time they clone the old event and then use the newly adjusted event as the new template.  

Note that cloning an event with the integration applied to it will not clone the alterations made by the integration.  The integration will be applied when the cloned event is submitted to either the Event Approval System or the ServiceNow task (whichever is required based on creation options selected on the Event Request form.)

II. Auto-created event categories

Events auto-generated by the system will fall under two groups.  Those created for the EPE group will follow current category auto-generation methods and be created under the /EPE Events/<Program Name> category.  These events will use the visibility setting defined in the EPE program form (“Public”, “Public but unlisted”, “Private).

Unfortunately, there is no current system to map generic events in the Event Approval System to Indico Categories, so the new event will be created in the Indico Root Category.  Once the correct category is known, the event can be moved to the appropriate location.  

These default permissions are Private, requiring management access to be able to view or edit the event.  The event organizer will must 

III. External Registration Approvals

Events created automatically by or submitted through the Event Approval System require that all registrations are approved through a process external to Indico.  As such, when a user first submits their registration, they will be put in a ‘pending’ state.

The user or manager will be able to modify this registration to correct mistakes until the external system has begun processing their registration fully, at which time the modification feature will be disabled.  If a user withdraws their registration, this process is terminated; if the user changes their mind, the approval process will have to begin anew.

Once the registration has been approved or rejected by the external system, it will communicate this with Indico, which will then unblock the registration process and allow it to continue normally.  This means that if a registration form does not use payment or moderation, the registration will be marked complete and will attempt to enroll in the event. If these features are enabled, the system will then proceed as normal for Indico, putting the registration into the “awaiting payment” for payment-enabled events or remaining in “pending” for manually moderated events.  

IV. Enhanced Registration Settings

If an event was created by the Event Approval System, a new settings menu will be visible under the registration form management screen. Currently, the only new option available is “Waitlist Limit,” which allows for registrations beyond a certain number to be added to a waitlist. 

A. Waitlist

If an event has a limited attendance requirement, individuals can register for an event even if it is full and be “automatically” enrolled to the event if they meet the preconditions(have already paid or been manually approved, if these features are enabled.)  A user will be notified if they are attempting to enroll in an event that is already full and will receive email either if they are automatically enrolled or if a slot opens up in an event with the aforementioned preconditions(that they will then have to fulfill to be added).

A setting of “0”, the default waitlist limit for new events, wiill disable this functionality.