Timed entry changes what a visitor needs from your website. They no longer ask whether you’re open on Saturday. They ask whether there’s still room at 11:00, and they want the answer before they get the kids in the car. A list of links or a static schedule can’t tell them that. A calendar that reads availability from Altru can.
Calendar Builder is Social Good’s tool for that job: an embeddable timed-ticketing calendar for your website, showing real-time availability from Altru. This page covers what a calendar like this has to do well, what has to be right inside Altru first, and what to look at before you put one on your site.
Video walkthrough
Here is a short video on Calendar Builder.
What a timed-ticketing calendar has to get right
Whether you build, buy, or keep what you have, judge the calendar on these points.
Availability that matches the desk
If the front desk sells the last forty spots in the 10:30 slot and the website still shows that slot as open, you’ll have guests arriving with no tickets and staff explaining why. The calendar should reflect what Altru knows about capacity now, not an hour ago or whenever someone last updated a page. That’s the main reason to tie the calendar to Altru directly instead of maintaining a separate schedule by hand.
A clear date-then-time flow
Visitors think in two steps: pick a day, then pick a time. A good calendar makes sold-out and closed days obvious at the month level, so nobody clicks through five dates hunting for an opening. Low availability is worth signaling too, because it helps people decide quickly.
It lives on your website
An embedded calendar keeps visitors on your own pages, with your navigation and messaging around it, instead of sending them to a separate page that looks like a different organization. For many sites, that’s the difference between the calendar feeling like part of the visit and feeling like a detour.
It works on a phone
Plenty of timed-entry buyers are on a phone, sometimes deciding the same morning. Tap targets, readable times, and a layout that doesn’t need zooming are not polish. They decide whether someone finishes buying.
What needs to be right in Altru first
A calendar can only display what Altru holds. Before you embed anything, spend an afternoon on the source data:
- Programs and scheduled times. Confirm each timed program has its upcoming dates and times built out far enough ahead. Gaps here show up as empty days on the calendar.
- Capacity. Check that capacity on each scheduled time reflects what you can actually admit. If you hold back spots for groups or walk-ups, decide whether that’s handled through capacity in Altru or through a separate allocation, and make sure everyone sells against the same number.
- Closures and special hours. Holidays, private events, and weather closures need to be reflected in the schedule, not only announced on a banner.
- Price and ticket types. Make sure the ticket types you want sold online are set up and priced for online sale, separate from anything that should stay desk-only.
If you’re unsure how a particular capacity or scheduling setting behaves, test it in an Altru sandbox or ask Blackbaud support before you rely on it for a holiday weekend. The calendar will faithfully show whatever Altru reports, including mistakes.
Questions to ask before you launch
- Which programs belong on the calendar? General admission almost always. Special exhibitions, tours, and seasonal events may deserve their own calendars or their own pages.
- How far ahead should visitors see? Showing months of dates you haven’t fully staffed invites sales you’ll regret. Match the visible range to what’s confirmed in Altru.
- What happens after a visitor picks a time? The calendar is the start of the purchase. Walk through the full path yourself, on a phone, and see where people would stall.
- Who owns the schedule? Name one person responsible for keeping Altru’s scheduled times and capacity current. When the calendar is live, that job matters more, not less.
How Calendar Builder fits with Altru
Calendar Builder doesn’t replace Altru’s scheduling or capacity. Programs, times, and capacity are still managed in Altru; the calendar reads availability from it in real time and is embedded on your own website, so online visitors and the desk see the same numbers. Details are on the Calendar Builder page.
Quick answers
Do we have to change how we set up programs in Altru?
Not usually, but the calendar exposes any gaps. Missing dates, stale capacity, or unmarked closures become visible to the public, so clean those up first.
Should general admission and special programs share one calendar?
Decide based on how visitors choose. If most people pick a date first and a program second, one view can work. If a tour or exhibition has its own audience, its own times, and its own capacity, a separate calendar on that program’s page is usually clearer.
