Have full transparency over your team’s time by syncing meetings and calendar events into your Dialpad WFM schedule. Meetings are automatically taken into account when scheduling activities, ensuring agents are never double-booked.
Let’s dive into the details.
Who can use this
Dialpad WFM is available to all Dialpad users.
Contact your Customer Success Manager to discuss adding Dialpad WFM to your plan.
Ways to sync calendar events
You can sync calendar events into the Dialpad WFM schedule in two ways:
Google Calendar integration: If you use Google Calendar, our direct integration provides additional control over which calendar events are synced into Dialpad WFM. Learn more
Email invite: If you use any other calendars, like Outlook or Apple, you can sync a calendar event into the schedule by simply inviting an additional email address to the event.
Tip
You should only use one method to avoid calendar clashes.
Remove a calendar event
To remove a synced calendar event from the WFM schedule:
Open the WFM schedule
Select the synced calendar event
Choose Delete
Delete this meeting to remove only the selected occurrence.
Delete upcoming meetings to remove the selected meeting and all future occurrences.
Confirm the deletion
Note
Removing a synced calendar event from WFM doesn't delete the original calendar event. The meeting remains in your calendar and may reappear in WFM if it's updated.
Using Google Calendar integration
To start syncing events, each agent needs to integrate Dialpad WFM with their Google Calendar.
Admins can configure which events are synced via the Communication page in Settings.
Refer to the Google Calendar integration article for full step-by-step guides.
Using Outlook
If you're using Outlook for calendar invites, there are a few things to keep in mind to help meetings sync properly with WFM:
Outlook integrations may be slightly less reliable compared to Google Calendar integrations.
Always add the mailbox (block@teamsurfboard.com) as a required attendee rather than an optional attendee.
Meeting invites sent as a forwarded email will still sync successfully, as long as block@teamsurfboard.com is included as the primary recipient.
Because block@ is built on Google Calendar technology, some Outlook calendar changes are not automatically reflected in WFM.
Review the table below for Outlook sync limitations and recommended workarounds.
Scenario | What happens in WFM? | Recommended action |
|---|---|---|
An attendee is removed from a meeting in Outlook. | The meeting remains in the attendee's WFM schedule. | Remove the calendar event manually in WFM. |
A meeting is deleted in Outlook | The meeting remains in WFM and is not automatically removed. | Remove the calendar event manually in WFM. |
An attendee is added to an existing meeting | The updated attendee list is not automatically synced to WFM. | Resend the updated meeting invitation to ALL attendees. |
The meeting title, start time, or end time has been changed | The updates are not automatically synced to WFM. | Resend the updated meeting invitation to ALL attendees. |
An existing meeting is forwarded to the block@ mailbox | The meeting will not sync to WFM. | Add the block@ mailbox as an attendee when creating the meeting. |
Using email invites
To sync an event from your calendar to the Dialpad WFM schedule, simply invite block@teamsurfboard.com to the calendar event.
Once saved, the event will be added to the schedule within 15 minutes:
The event is added to the calendars of invited agents who accepted the invitation and are scheduled to work during that time, including the event creator.
The email address included in the invite must exactly match the agent’s email address configured in WFM.
The name of the event will be shown in the schedule.
If the meeting title is sensitive, we recommend creating a duplicate event for the same date, time and guests with a different title.
Events are only synced 56 days (7 weeks) into the future.
Only events with less than 100 invitees (including block@teamsurfboard.com) will be synced. This is because attendee lists over 100 are hidden from events, preventing the sync.
Synced calendar events will take priority over scheduled breaks or activities, and will overwrite them.
The schedule can display up to 3 overlapping calendar events at once.
If the event is added to a published shift, the event will be visible to agents immediately. There is no need to publish the shift again.
Note
If an agent is deleted from WFM, any meetings previously synced for that agent will also be removed from WFM.
Tip
If the guest list is hidden, the event will not correctly sync to the agent’s schedules, as the invite list is not visible to the system.
If you are using a shared or group email address, you need to expand the group alias to invite each agent separately.
How calendar events affect the schedule
Calendar events will be shown with a gray block in the activity schedule, marked with a calendar emoji 🗓️.
Calendar events have a higher priority than breaks or activities, so once synced, they will overwrite any previously scheduled activities at that time.
When an Activity Plan is applied, activities will fit around any synced calendar events, to prevent double-bookings.
Calendar events can't be edited in the WFM schedule. To update an event, edit it in your calendar, and the changes will sync to WFM.
You can remove synced calendar events directly from the WFM schedule without affecting the original calendar event. For recurring meetings, you can remove either a single occurrence or all future occurrences.
Automatically fill gaps left by removed calendar events!
If the Calendar event removed or rescheduled schedule optimization is enabled, Dialpad WFM automatically fills gaps when a synced calendar event is removed or rescheduled, whether it's removed from your calendar or directly from the WFM schedule.
Visit this Help Center article to learn more.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if a meeting is updated or cancelled?
Dialpad WFM syncs calendar events every 15 minutes. If a meeting is updated, cancelled, or an attendee declines the invitation, the schedule is updated automatically.
Removing a synced calendar event from your calendar or the WFM schedule may leave a gap in the agent's schedule. If the Calendar event is removed or rescheduled, schedule optimization is enabled, Dialpad WFM automatically fills the gap with appropriate activities.
Can I remove a synced calendar event from the WFM schedule?
Yes. Admins with edit permissions can remove synced calendar events directly from the WFM schedule.
For recurring meetings, you can remove either a single occurrence or all future occurrences. Removing an event from WFM doesn't delete the original calendar event.
Can I edit a calendar event from the schedule?
No, calendar events are not editable in the Dialpad WFM schedule. You need to edit the calendar event in your calendar.
I’ve added a new calendar event, how long until it shows up in the schedule?
Dialpad WFM updates calendar events every 15 minutes.
I’ve added a calendar event, but it’s not visible?
If you are using Google Calendar, refer to the FAQs in this article.
If you have invited block@teamsurfboard.com to an event, but it is not showing up in the schedule:
Ensure that the guest list is visible and any group email addresses are expanded. If the event has over 100 attendees, the invite list will be hidden, preventing the sync. If this is the case, split the event into smaller ones.
Check that the event is scheduled no more than 56 days into the future. If it is, it will be synced later when the event date is within 56 days of today’s date.
Check that the agents invited to the event have accepted the invitation and they have a shift scheduled for the time and date of the event.
Check that it has been at least 15 minutes since you invited block@teamsurfboard.com to the event.
If the event is still missing, contact our Customer Care team.
I added a calendar event to the past, will it sync?
Dialpad WFM will sync calendar events that occurred within the past 24 hours and up to 56 days into the future. Any events retroactively scheduled before that time won’t be scheduled.
Why is the email domain teamsurfboard?
Surfboard WFM was acquired by Dialpad in Fall 2024 and rebranded to Dialpad WFM. The email address is a legacy feature and has not yet been updated.
Can I use this to sync time off, too?
No, these tools are only used to sync calendar events into scheduled shifts in the schedule. Adding time off in this method will result in incorrect reporting, affecting the accuracy of timesheets and adherence.
Time off can be synced into Dialpad WFM via iCal links, or added directly into the schedule. Refer to this help article for more information.
Why did a calendar event reappear in WFM?
If you use Google Calendar, a synced event may reappear in WFM after it's been removed if the original calendar event is renamed or rescheduled.
Removing an event from WFM schedule doesn't delete the original calendar event. Changes made in Google Calendar can sync the event back into WFM.
Note
Changes to Outlook calendar events don't sync back into WFM after the initial sync.