Availability - Article

What Availability is

Availability is a calendar-based planning tool for instructor capacity.

It combines two kinds of information:

1. Scheduled commitments—Training Activities and modules for which the user is responsible.
2. Manually recorded unavailable time—periods such as leave, travel, preparation, focus time, or an external commitment.

Administrators use that combined view when selecting an instructor for scheduled training. Instructors maintain their own known constraints so they do not need to coordinate every absence through email or a separate spreadsheet.

Typical uses include:

• Block annual leave or planned absence.
• Reserve travel time around an onsite delivery.
• Record a recurring external responsibility as individual time blocks.
• Compare several trainers before scheduling a new Event.
• Find instructors who have the required Skills and no recorded conflict.
• Coordinate external instructors across customers, countries, and time zones.
• Detect that a proposed instructor is already responsible for another activity.

Availability records unavailability

A clear calendar means that no displayed scheduling commitment or manual time block for that period are recorded. It does not prove that the instructor has confirmed the assignment or that no private, Outlook-only, customer, travel, or non-Eurekos recorded commitment exists.

What Availability does—and does not do

Availability is one layer of the complete scheduling decision. Also verify:

• Delivery format and subject expertise
• Required Skill and level
• Instructor agreement or contract
• Travel time and location
• Working hours and local holidays
• Preparation and follow-up time
• Activity and Event time zones
• Location and Equipment availability
• Participant capacity and delivery constraints

Understand the three entry points

Availability can appear in three contexts.

The views use the same underlying schedule and time-block information, but their scope and available actions differ.

My Availability

When enabled, My Availability appears in the instructor's navigation menu.

Use it to:

• Review activities and modules for which the instructor is responsible.
• See personal unavailable time blocks.
• Add a new personal block.
• Edit or delete a block created by that instructor.
• Navigate to the relevant period using previous, next, and today controls.
• Use the calendar views available on the platform.

Calendar views can include Month, Week, and Day. Some platform versions or rollout configurations may initially expose only Month, so document the views actually available to your instructors.

Course Administration → Availability

The administrator view supports workforce planning across the available instructor population.

Use it to:

• View instructor calendars within the administrator's role and organization scope.
• Select or compare instructors.
• Filter by relevant user-profile information such as Job function, Organization, or Country.
• Filter by multiple Skills when Skills are enabled.
• Add unavailable time on behalf of an instructor.
• Edit or delete time blocks when the administrator has permission.
• Review a calendar before opening or editing the scheduled Training Activity.

The view may open with the current user's items or a default selection. Apply the intended instructor filters before concluding that the calendar represents the complete teaching team.

See availability during scheduling

The See availability action appears when the scheduling context contains the information needed to compare responsible instructors, including:

• An Event module with a proposed schedule and Responsible Instructor.
• A Training Activity with the Responsible feature and an enabled activity-level Schedule.

When Starts and Ends are both set, the availability view opens around the week containing the proposed Start date. The selected period is highlighted so the administrator can compare it with existing calendar items.

If the proposed schedule changes, reopen Availability. A view opened before the change should not be treated as evidence for the new time.

Enable Availability

Availability is disabled by default unless it has already been activated for the platform.

1. Open Settings → General as a Platform or Global Administrator.
2. Find Features for Instructors.
3. Enable Availability.
4. Save the configuration.
5. Confirm eligible instructors can see My Availability.
6. Confirm authorized administrators can see Course Administration → Availability.
7. Test the See availability action from a scheduled activity or Event.
8. If Outlook synchronization is used, test creation, update, and deletion with controlled users.

Enabling Availability adds interfaces and conflict awareness; it does not populate historic non-Eurekos commitments automatically. Instructors and scheduling teams need a rollout process for recording existing absences and agreeing how the calendar will be maintained.

Related platform dependencies

For more detail, see Calendar Events and Video Conferencing, General Settings, User Profile, Microsoft.

Permissions and scope

Instructor access

My Availability is intended for users who can be assigned as instructors, including configured Instructor, Advanced Instructor, External Instructor, or Trainer roles.

An instructor can create and maintain their own manual time blocks. The instructor cannot use the personal page to edit a scheduled activity entry as though it were an availability block; activity-based items come from the activity or module configuration.

Participant, Auditor, Manager, and Immediate Manager roles do not receive availability access merely from those roles. A person who also holds an instructor-eligible role or permission can have a different effective experience according to platform configuration.

Administrator access

Authorized administrative roles can access the Course Administration Availability view and manage time blocks on behalf of instructors within their permitted scope. Administrative edit access can include Support and applicable Affiliate, Platform, Global, or other configured administrator roles.

Organization filtering can limit which instructors and items an administrator may see or manage. Two administrators can therefore receive different results without either calendar being technically incorrect.

Ownership rules for manual blocks

• The author can edit or delete their own time block.
• An authorized administrator can edit or delete blocks on behalf of instructors according to role and scope.
• A user without edit permission can review item details but will not receive the same edit/delete actions.
• Activity and module entries must be corrected in the source Training Activity rather than edited as manual blocks.

Do not grant broad availability administration merely for convenience. Calendar entries can expose working patterns, leave, travel, organization relationships, and activity responsibilities.

Read the calendar

The calendar distinguishes the source and purpose of an item visually.

Colors can vary with interface theme and future design changes. Use the item details and source—not color alone—when making a scheduling decision.

Activity and module entries

The personal calendar shows the relevant activities and modules for which the user is responsible. Cancelled and deleted activities are excluded. Other scheduled states can remain visible because past, current, or future responsibilities still form part of the instructor's calendar.

Click an activity-based item to review its source details or follow the activity link where available. The item is derived from training configuration, so it does not offer the same manual edit/delete behavior as an unavailable block.

Manual unavailable blocks

A manual block states that the instructor should not be assigned during its Starts–Ends period. The title provides operational context, while the dates, times, and time zone define the actual interval.

Use concise, non-sensitive titles such as:

• Unavailable
• Annual leave
• Travel
• External delivery
• Preparation block
• Not available – customer commitment

Avoid medical detail, private appointments, or confidential customer information. Administrators need enough context to schedule responsibly, not a full explanation of the instructor's personal circumstances.

Busy days and overflow

When a calendar day contains more than five items, use + N more to open the extended list.

When an extended list contains more than ten events, an Expand control can open it full-screen. Use Collapse to return to the standard popup. The expanded/collapsed state is preserved when a permitted edit or delete confirmation opens and is then cancelled.

Do not assume a day is clear from the first five visible entries. Open the complete list before assigning another commitment.

Create an unavailable time block

As an instructor

1. Open My Availability.
2. Navigate to the relevant date.
3. Hover over the day header and select Add item.
4. Enter a clear Title.
5. Set the Start date and time.
6. Set the End date and time.
7. Confirm the Time zone.
8. Select Add.
9. Confirm the success message and review the red block on the calendar.
10. If Outlook synchronization is expected, verify the corresponding Outlook item.

The instructor is implicit in the personal view and does not need to be selected separately.

As an administrator

1. Open Course Administration → Availability.
2. Select or filter to the intended instructor.
3. Navigate to the relevant date.
4. Select Add item.
5. Confirm the Instructor.
6. Enter the Title.
7. Set Start and End.
8. Confirm the Time zone, which is preselected from the user's time-zone context.
9. Select Add.
10. Verify the block on that instructor's calendar.
11. Inform the instructor if the block was added on their behalf under the organization's operating process.

Field reference

The form prevents an End earlier than Start. It may enforce the chronology without showing a separate validation message, so if Add appears not to respond, compare the two values carefully.

Choose the correct interval

Include the complete time during which the instructor cannot accept training—not only the participant-facing session.

For an onsite event, that can mean:

• Preparation
• Travel to the venue
• Room setup
• Delivery
• Participant questions
• Travel from the venue

Availability does not calculate travel time from Location addresses. Add the necessary buffers deliberately.

Multi-day and partial-day blocks

Use one continuous interval when the instructor is unavailable throughout the period. Use separate blocks when availability returns between periods.

For example, do not block Monday 09:00 through Friday 17:00 if the instructor is available every afternoon and only unavailable each morning. Create the required morning intervals so administrators can see the usable time accurately.

No general recurrence rule is documented for manual availability blocks. Where a pattern repeats, create and verify the required blocks or use an approved integration/process rather than assuming one item repeats automatically.

Review, edit, or delete a block

Open the item details

Select a manual block to preview:

• Item Title
• Start date and time
• End date and time
• Responsible instructor
• Edit and Delete actions where permitted

Close the preview without changing anything when the item is only being reviewed.

Edit a block

1. Select the manual block.
2. Select Edit.
3. Update Instructor, Title, Start, End, or Time zone as permitted.
4. Select Save.
5. Confirm that the item displays the new interval.
6. Recheck any scheduled training that relied on the former availability.
7. Verify Outlook synchronization where used.

Editing a block does not automatically reschedule an overlapping activity or alert every Course Administrator who previously reviewed it. Coordinate material changes through the operational process.

Delete a block

1. Select the manual block.
2. Select Delete.
3. Review the item title in the confirmation.
4. Select Delete to confirm, or cancel to keep it.
5. Verify that the block disappears from the calendar and Outlook where synchronized.

The deletion confirmation states that the action cannot be undone. Recreate the block manually if it was deleted in error.

Deleting an unavailable block does not delete or cancel a Training Activity, Event, calendar invitation, or Responsible Instructor assignment.

Filter and compare instructors

The administrator Availability view can use instructor profile information to narrow the population. Depending on platform configuration, filters can include attributes such as:

• Job function
• Organization or suborganization
• Country
• Other relevant enabled profile fields
• Skills

Use filters to create a qualified candidate group, then compare individual calendars.

Profile filters depend on profile quality

A filter result reflects stored profile data. An instructor can be missing because:

• The profile field is blank.
• A vocabulary value differs from the expected value.
• An import or identity synchronization overwrote it.
• The instructor belongs to another organization branch.
• The administrator's organization scope excludes the instructor.
• The person lacks the instructor-eligible role or permission.

Do not conclude that no instructor exists until both filter logic and profile data have been checked.

Filter by Skills

When Skills are enabled, the Availability view can filter instructors by multiple Skills.

This supports decisions such as:

• Product specialist and facilitator
• First aid and onsite safety
• Language skill and certification level
• Equipment qualification and regional authorization

Skills can come from profile administration, imports, APIs, or certificates. A Skill granted through a certificate can be removed when that certificate expires. Filter results therefore describe the current recorded Skill state, not a permanent historical qualification.

Verify:

• Correct Skill, level, and vocabulary
• Current certificate validity where relevant
• Instructor's practical authorization
• Availability period
• Location and travel feasibility

Matching Skills does not assign the instructor automatically.

For more detail, see Certificates, User Profile, Introduction to Skills.

Connect availability with Responsible Instructor

Availability becomes operationally meaningful when the correct person is assigned as responsible.

Activity-level Responsible

The activity-level Responsible feature can identify:

• Responsible Course Administrator
• Responsible Instructor

For instructor availability, the activity needs an applicable activity-level Schedule. The scheduled period then appears as an activity commitment for the responsible instructor and can be used in conflict checking.

Use activity-level responsibility when one instructor owns the complete learning path or delivery.

Module-level Responsible Instructor

Individual modules can have their own Responsible Instructor. Use this when different people teach different Events or modules inside one learning path.

An Event has required Starts and Ends values. Its responsible instructor and Event period supply the module-level availability commitment.

Both activity- and module-level responsibility can give the instructor related training visibility, permissions, dashboard placement, and progress access. Assign only the people who genuinely own delivery; do not use Responsible merely as a calendar label.

Avoid duplicate responsibility

If the same instructor is assigned at both activity and module level, the calendar can show related activity and module items. This does not necessarily represent two separate teaching sessions, but it can make the view look more occupied.

Use activity-level responsibility for the whole journey and module-level responsibility for exceptions. Review the visual result with the actual instructor.

For more detail, see Calendar Events and Video Conferencing, Creating a Training Activity.

Check availability while scheduling

A safe scheduling sequence is:

1. Define the delivery requirement, Skill, region, format, and Location.
2. Set the proposed Start, End, and Time zone.
3. Select candidate Responsible Instructors.
4. Open See availability.
5. Review the highlighted proposed period.
6. Open all items on busy days, including + N more.
7. Check travel and setup buffers not represented by the Event itself.
8. Confirm the instructor outside the calendar where required.
9. Save the Responsible and Schedule configuration.
10. If a conflict warning appears, investigate before choosing Cancel or Proceed.
11. Reopen the activity and the instructor's calendar to verify the saved result.

Proposed-period highlight

When the scheduling form has both dates, the period is highlighted in the availability popup. For a multi-day interval, the selected days can be shown with a light-green background.

The highlight represents the form's proposed period. It is not an existing booking until the activity is saved.

Review absolute time, not only displayed labels

Activity, module, Event, and availability blocks each carry time-zone context. Two entries can display different local clock values while referring to the same actual interval.

For international scheduling:

• Confirm the time zone on the proposed Event.
• Confirm the instructor's profile/default time zone.
• Confirm the time zone stored on the manual block.
• Check daylight-saving changes on the delivery date.
• Include travel across time zones.
• Review the participant-facing time separately.

Do not “correct” an apparent offset until the stored time zones have been compared.

Understand conflict detection

When an activity is saved with a Responsible Instructor who has an overlapping commitment, Eurekos can show a conflict notification.

The source conflict can include:

• A manual Availability time block.
• Another activity or module for which the instructor is responsible.
• An activity in the same period for which the person is already registered as a participant.

Because the visible personal Availability calendar focuses on responsibility and manual blocks, investigate participant commitments separately when a warning has no obvious calendar item.

The conflict dialog provides two choices:

• Cancel—close the warning and do not save the activity in the conflicting configuration.
• Proceed—acknowledge the conflict and save the activity anyway.

A warning is not a hard booking lock

Proceed exists because some overlaps are legitimate—for example, duplicate visibility of the same program, co-facilitation, a non-delivery ownership role, or an intentionally covered exception. It also means a careless administrator can double-book an instructor. Record why an override is valid.

Before choosing Proceed

Confirm:

• The overlapping items refer to the same absolute time.
• The person is truly required at both.
• The activity- and module-level entries are not two views of one delivery.
• Co-instructors or substitutes cover the overlap.
• Travel and setup remain possible.
• The instructor has agreed.
• Participant communication and calendar invitations remain accurate.
• The reason and approving owner are recorded.

If the conflict is real, choose Cancel and change instructor, Start/End, or responsibility.

Adding a block does not resolve an existing booking

A manual time block can be created even when the period already contains training. The block documents unavailability; it does not automatically cancel or reassign the existing commitment.

After adding a block over an activity:

1. Identify the affected Training Activity or module.
2. Contact the responsible Course Administrator and instructor.
3. Decide whether to reschedule, replace, co-assign, or keep the delivery.
4. Update Eurekos at the source.
5. Confirm external calendars and participant communication.

Availability compared with Location and Equipment scheduling

Instructor, Location, and Equipment availability solve related but separate capacity questions.

A clear instructor calendar does not guarantee that the room or equipment is available. Use the integrated availability views where offered and verify every required resource before publishing the schedule.

For more detail, see Locations, Equipment.

Outlook synchronization

When Microsoft Outlook synchronization is configured under Settings → Third Party Integrations, supported Availability blocks created, updated, or deleted in Eurekos can synchronize to the instructor's Outlook calendar and arrive as RSVP-enabled items.

This helps the same constraint appear in the instructor's daily work calendar, but the systems have distinct roles:

• Eurekos owns the availability block used by Eurekos scheduling.
• Outlook displays the synchronized calendar item.
• Changes made in Eurekos can be sent to Outlook.
• Changes made only in Outlook are not a reliable way to update Eurekos.
• Eurekos does not read the instructor's complete personal Outlook calendar into Availability.

The broader Outlook integration is one-way from Eurekos to Outlook for synchronized learning calendar items. Declining or deleting an item only in Outlook does not cancel or delete the Eurekos source.

User connection and preferences

Synchronization can depend on:

• Platform Microsoft/Azure configuration
• Service account and required Microsoft Graph permissions
• The instructor's Microsoft-connected identity or account
• The user's Sync events with Outlook calendar preference
• Organization security and consent policy

Users can opt out of Outlook synchronization through their profile where that control is available. The Eurekos Availability block can still exist even when no Outlook item is created.

Test all three operations

For a controlled instructor:

1. Create an availability block in Eurekos and verify the Outlook item.
2. Edit title or time in Eurekos and verify the Outlook update.
3. Delete the block in Eurekos and verify removal/cancellation behavior in Outlook.
4. Option: if you wish to experience the difference, make a change only in Outlook and confirm that Eurekos does not treat a personal Outlook as its source of truth.
5. Test a user without a connected Microsoft account.

Do not infer platform availability from an Outlook “Free,” “Busy,” “Tentative,” or “Working elsewhere” label. Those statuses describe the external calendar item and client behavior; Eurekos conflict logic uses its own stored schedule and availability records.

For more detail, see Calendar Events and Video Conferencing, Microsoft.

Changes, cancellations, and lifecycle behavior

Schedule changes

Changing an activity or Event period changes the derived calendar commitment. Recheck the instructor and every other resource after moving dates or time zones.

Calendar updates and participant communication are separate from the availability decision. A conflict-free new time can still require updated invitations, emails, Location, Equipment, registration dates, deadlines, and pricing arrangements.

Responsible Instructor changes

Replacing the Responsible Instructor moves the operational responsibility and calendar commitment to another person according to the saved activity/module configuration.

Before replacing:

• Check the new person's Availability and Skills.
• Confirm their agreement.
• Review instructor permissions and participant-progress access.
• Review Automated Email Workflow recipients.
• Update Event invitations and conferencing host configuration where relevant.
• Remove any manual block that was created only as a temporary hold, if appropriate.

Cancelled and deleted activities

Cancelled and deleted activities are excluded from the instructor Availability calendar. Do not delete an activity merely to clear a scheduling conflict. Use the correct cancellation, rescheduling, or responsibility process so participants, Transactions, certificates, and audit history remain understandable.

Past items

Past activity commitments and manual blocks can remain useful operational history. The calendar is not a substitute for a formal timesheet, payroll record, contractual utilization report, or invoice system unless a separately validated report/integration provides that purpose.

Governance and operating practice

Define what instructors must record

Publish a simple availability policy covering:

• Annual leave
• Travel and setup buffers
• External customer work
• Part-time/non-working hours
• Preparation and assessment time
• Public holidays not centrally represented
• Minimum notice for changes
• Who may add or change a block on another person's behalf
• How urgent changes are communicated
• Whether Outlook synchronization is expected

Without a shared policy, two equally clear calendars can mean different things.

Protect privacy

Time-block titles can be visible to administrators and other authorized scheduling roles. Record the operational fact, not private detail.

Prefer Unavailable – personal appointment over a medical diagnosis, and External delivery over a confidential customer name where the name is not needed for scheduling.

Use a scheduling owner

Assign responsibility for:

• Reviewing Availability before booking
• Approving conflict overrides
• Maintaining substitute instructors
• Monitoring profile and Skill quality
• Coordinating room and Equipment checks
• Resolving cross-time-zone questions
• Confirming Outlook integration failures
• Auditing double bookings

Review high-risk periods

Run a focused review before:

• Major product launches
• Annual certification peaks
• Holiday periods
• Conferences and multi-track events
• Large repeated-activity series
• International travel
• Bulk schedule changes

Availability helps prevent individual clashes; capacity planning should also consider the total number of qualified instructors and backup coverage.

Realistic use cases

Verify the configuration

Use representative accounts and the routes enabled for your delivery. Check the relevant outcomes before launch and after a material change; an administrator preview alone does not verify the participant experience.

Troubleshooting