How Do I Set Up Tandem for My Organization?

Welcome to Tandem! Whether you're starting fresh or joining an existing organization, this guide will walk you through everything you need to get your unified calendar up and running. By the end of this process, you'll have a fully configured system ready to bring calm to your organization's scheduling.

There are two ways to begin your Tandem journey, depending on your role.

Starting a new organization: If you're the first person from your organization to use Tandem, you'll create an account through our website and set up your organization from scratch.

Joining an existing organization: If someone from your organization has already set up Tandem, you'll receive an email invitation with a link to join. Simply click the link, create your account, and you'll be connected to your organization's calendar right away.

Visit our website and select "Get Started" or "Sign Up" to begin. You'll need to provide some basic information to create your account.

Your name helps your teammates recognize you in the system when you create events, book resources, or make changes to the calendar.

Your email address serves as your login and the primary way we communicate with you about your account.

A secure password protects your account and your organization's scheduling data.

Once you've entered this information, you'll receive a verification email. Click the link in that email to confirm your account, and you're ready to move forward.

If you're creating a new organization, Tandem's onboarding assistant will guide you through the initial setup. This process establishes the foundation for everything else you'll do in Tandem.

Organization name: Enter the official name of your organization as you'd like it to appear throughout the platform. This might be your school district's name, your church's name, your department's name, or your company's name.

Organization type: Select the category that best describes your organization. This helps Tandem tailor the experience to your specific needs. Options include educational institutions, religious organizations, government entities, nonprofits, sports and recreation organizations, and others.

Time zone: Set your organization's primary time zone to ensure all events display correctly for your team.

Contact information: Add your organization's address and primary contact details. This information helps when coordinating with external groups or generating reports.

Facilities are the physical spaces where your activities take place. Setting these up accurately is essential for preventing double-bookings and giving your team confidence in the calendar.

Buildings: Start by adding the buildings your organization uses. Buildings require an address. For a school, this might include your main building, gymnasium, and administrative offices. For a church, this could be your sanctuary, fellowship hall, and education wing. For a parks department, you might add each community center or recreation facility.

Rooms and spaces: Within each building, add the individual rooms and spaces that can be scheduled. Be specific here. Rather than just "Conference Room," consider names like "Conference Room A (capacity 12)" or "North Gymnasium" so users can quickly identify the right space.

Outdoor spaces: Don't forget outdoor facilities like athletic fields, playgrounds, parking lots, pavilions, and courtyards. These spaces often require scheduling just like indoor rooms.

Capacity information: For each space, add the maximum capacity. This helps users choose appropriate spaces for their events and prevents overcrowding.

Amenities and features: Note what each space offers. Does the room have a projector? Is there a whiteboard? Is the space wheelchair accessible? Is there a sound system? These details help users select the right space for their needs.

Beyond physical spaces, your organization likely has equipment and resources that need to be scheduled alongside rooms or independently.

Audio/visual equipment: Projectors, microphones, speakers, video conferencing systems, and presentation screens are commonly shared resources that benefit from scheduling.

Technology: Laptops, tablets, cameras, and other devices that move between users or locations should be added as schedulable resources.

Furniture and supplies: Tables, chairs, podiums, easels, and other items that are shared across events can be tracked in Tandem.

Vehicles: If your organization manages buses, vans, or other vehicles, add them as resources so transportation can be coordinated alongside events.

Specialty equipment: Think about what's unique to your organization. A school might schedule science lab equipment. A church might schedule communion supplies or baptismal preparation. A parks department might schedule maintenance equipment.

For each resource, indicate whether it's tied to a specific location or can be used anywhere. This helps users understand what's available when they're booking.

Groups help organize the people in your organization and determine who can see and schedule what. Setting up your group structure thoughtfully will make ongoing calendar management much easier.

Departments or ministries: Create groups that reflect your organizational structure. A school might have groups for Administration, Athletics, Arts, and each academic department. A church might have groups for Worship, Youth Ministry, Children's Ministry, and Outreach.

Teams: Within larger groups, you may want smaller teams. The Athletics department might include separate teams for each sport. The Youth Ministry might include middle school and high school subgroups.

Committees: Standing committees, boards, and working groups that meet regularly should have their own groups in Tandem.

External partners: If you regularly work with outside organizations, consider creating groups for them. A school might have groups for booster clubs, PTA, or community partners who use facilities.

Tandem uses a permission system that mirrors how your organization actually works. Setting this up correctly ensures people can do what they need to do while protecting sensitive information.

Administrators have full access to all settings, can manage users, and can see and edit everything in the system. Limit this role to people who truly need it.

Managers can manage specific areas of the calendar, approve booking requests, and oversee scheduling for their departments or facilities.

Schedulers can create and edit events within their assigned groups or facilities but may not have access to organization-wide settings.

Members can view calendars relevant to them and may be able to request bookings that require approval.

Viewers have read-only access to specific calendars, useful for stakeholders who need visibility without editing capabilities.

Think carefully about who needs what level of access. The goal is to empower people to manage their own scheduling while maintaining appropriate oversight.

Tags provide a flexible way to categorize and filter events across your calendar. Unlike groups, which are tied to people, tags can be applied to any event regardless of who created it.

Event types: Create tags for different kinds of activities. Examples might include Meeting, Practice, Game, Rehearsal, Worship Service, Training, Community Event, or Maintenance.

Priority levels: Tags like Tentative, Confirmed, or High Priority help communicate the status of events at a glance.

Audience: Tags can indicate who an event is for, such as Staff Only, Public, Members, Students, or Families.

Recurring themes: If your organization has annual events, campaigns, or seasons, tags help group related activities together. A school might tag events by semester or by which annual tradition they support.

Setup and requirements: Tags like "Requires A/V Setup," "Catering Needed," or "Security Required" help facility managers prepare for events.

Start with a manageable set of tags and add more as patterns emerge. Too many tags can be as unhelpful as too few.

If you have schedules, events, or information in other systems, Tandem can help you bring that data in rather than starting from scratch.

Calendar imports: Events from Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar, or other systems using standard calendar formats can be imported into Tandem.

Spreadsheet data: If your facility lists, resource inventories, or event schedules live in spreadsheets, our team can help you import that information.

Historical data: Bringing in past events can be valuable for understanding patterns and planning future activities.

Reach out to our support team if you need assistance with data migration. We're here to make your transition as smooth as possible.

Once your organization's foundation is set, it's time to bring in your team.

Send invitations: From the user management area, enter email addresses for the people you want to invite. You can assign their roles and group memberships as you add them.

Personalize the welcome: Consider sending a separate message letting your team know to expect the invitation and explaining why the organization is adopting Tandem.

Start with key users: You don't have to invite everyone at once. Consider starting with department heads or power users who can learn the system and then help others.

Provide guidance: Share any organization-specific guidelines you've established, such as how far in advance events should be scheduled or who approves facility requests.

Tandem keeps everyone informed through notifications. Setting these up thoughtfully prevents both information overload and missed updates.

Email notifications: Choose which events trigger email alerts. Options typically include new events, changes to events you're involved in, booking requests, and approval decisions.

Digest options: Rather than receiving individual emails, some users prefer a daily or weekly summary of calendar activity.

Reminders: Set default reminder times for events so attendees receive advance notice.

Encourage your team members to adjust their own notification preferences once they're in the system. Everyone has different needs when it comes to staying informed.

Before rolling out Tandem to your entire organization, take time to test your configuration.

Create sample events: Try booking a room, adding equipment, inviting attendees, and applying tags. Make sure everything works as expected.

Test permissions: Log in as different user types to verify that people can see and do what they should, and nothing more.

Check for conflicts: Intentionally try to double-book a space to confirm that conflict detection is working.

Review the calendar views: Look at daily, weekly, and monthly views to ensure the layout makes sense for your organization's needs.

Get feedback: Ask a few trusted colleagues to explore the system and share what's clear, what's confusing, and what might be missing.

When you're confident in your setup, it's time to launch Tandem across your organization.

Announce the transition: Let everyone know that Tandem is now the official calendar system and what that means for them.

Provide training: Offer a brief orientation session or share a quick-start guide to help people get comfortable.

Set a cutover date: If you're migrating from another system, establish a clear date when the old system will no longer be used.

Be available for questions: The first few weeks will bring questions. Make sure people know who to contact for help.

Celebrate the wins: When someone successfully books a complex event or catches a potential conflict, acknowledge it. Positive reinforcement helps adoption.

Your initial setup is just the beginning. As your organization uses Tandem, you'll discover opportunities to refine your configuration.

Review and adjust: Periodically check whether your groups, tags, and permissions still match how your organization operates.

Add what's missing: If users consistently request something that isn't in the system, consider adding it.

Remove what's unused: If certain tags or resources are never used, simplify by removing them.

Gather feedback: Regularly ask your team what's working and what could be better.

If you run into questions during setup or at any point in your Tandem journey, help is always available.

Knowledge base: Browse our articles for answers to common questions and detailed guidance on specific features.

Chat support: Reach out to our team directly through the chat feature for real-time assistance.

Email support: Send us a message and we'll respond as quickly as possible.

Onboarding assistance: If you'd like hands-on help setting up your organization, let us know. We're happy to walk through the process with you.

You've taken the first step toward a calmer, more organized approach to scheduling. Tandem is here to support you every step of the way.