Use working places with the Calendar API for apps and workflows — Google for Builders Weblog

Posted by Chanel Greco, Developer Advocate

Giving Google Workspace customers the power to set their working location and dealing hours in Google Calendar was an vital step in serving to our clients’ staff adapt to a hybrid world. Sending a Chat message asking “Will you be within the workplace tomorrow?” quickly grew to become out of date as anybody may share the place and after they can be working inside Calendar.

To enhance the hybrid working expertise, many organizations depend on third-party or company-internal instruments to allow duties like sizzling desk reserving or scheduling days within the workplace. Till lately, there was no method to programmatically synchronize the working location set in Calendar with such instruments.

Robin shows the working location from Google Calendar of their software and updates the consumer’s Google Calendar after they e book a desk in Robin

Programmatically learn and write working places

We’re happy to announce that the Calendar API has been up to date to make working places accessible and this added performance is mostly accessible (characteristic is just accessible for eligible Workspace editions). This permits builders to programmatically learn and write the working location of Google Workspace customers. This may be particularly helpful in three use circumstances which have surfaced in discussions with clients which we’re going to discover collectively.

Enhancing the Calendar API permits builders to synchronize consumer’s working location with third-party instruments like Robin and Comeen. For instance, some firms present their staff with desk reserving instruments to allow them to e book their office upfront for the times they are going to be on-site. HR administration instruments are additionally widespread for workers to request and set “Work at home” days. In each conditions the consumer needed to set their working location in two separate instruments: their desk reserving software and/or HR administration system and Google Calendar.

Due to the working location being accessible by means of the Calendar API this duplicate work is now not needed since a consumer’s working location may be programmatically set. And if a consumer’s calendar is the only supply of reality? In that case, the API can be utilized to learn the working location from the consumer’s calendar and write it to any permissioned third-party software.

Comeen’s Google Workspace Add-on synchronizes the consumer’s’ working places each time the consumer updates their working location, both in Google Calendar or in Comeen’s add-on

The API permits the surfacing of the consumer’s working location in different instruments, creating attention-grabbing alternatives. As an illustration, a few of our clients have requested for tactics to higher coordinate in-office days. Think about you might be planning to be on the workplace tomorrow. Who else out of your crew will probably be there? Who from a neighboring crew is likely to be on-site for a espresso chat?

With the Calendar API, a consumer’s working location may be displayed in instruments like directories, or a hybrid-work scheduling software. The objective is to make a consumer’s working location accessible within the programs which can be related to our clients.

The third use case that surfaced from discussions with our clients is analyzing working location patterns. With a lot of our clients having a hybrid work method it’s very important to have a superb understanding of the working patterns. For instance, which days do places attain maximal authorized capability? Or, when does the on-campus restaurant have to arrange extra meals for workers working on-site?

The API solutions these and different questions in order that facility administration can adapt their assets to the wants of their staff.

The best way to get began

Now that you’ve got an concept of the probabilities the up to date Calendar API creates, we need to information you on how one can get began utilizing it.

Try the developer documentation for studying and writing a consumer’s working places.

Watch the announcement video on the Google Workspace Builders YouTube channel.

Test the unique submit concerning the launch of the working location characteristic for a listing of all Google Workspace plans which have entry to the characteristic.