Calendars are a way for specifying which periods an activity or milestone may or may not be taking place due to national holidays, weekends, scheduled days off, and/or weather (blocked weather days). NetPoint comes preloaded with two calendars for the user to start with. Additional calendars may be created, modified, and deleted through the Project Calendars window. Only activities and milestones are assigned a calendar.
When NetPoint is installed, the user is prompted to choose a country of origin. A calendar is derived based on this country’s holidays and workweek, and it becomes the default calendar for all new activities and milestones created on their machine. A second calendar is also provided (called the Calendar Day calendar) where every day is a working day.
If desired, a different calendar may be chosen as the default for all new activities, but it will only apply within the active schedule. If a new schedule is opened or created, the country chosen upon installation will again become the default calendar. The only way to reset the default calendar permanently is to reinstall NetPoint, at which point a different country may be selected. See Installing NetPoint for more details.
Defining Calendars
To define a new calendar, click from the menu bar. The Project Calendars window opens.
Click the New… button.
The Calendar Properties window opens, offering several calendar fields.
Name
Enter a description in the Name field. This field is required.
Templates
A list of 22 countries, complete with their national holidays and workweek, are provided as templates for creating a new calendar. Any user-defined calendars as well as the default calendars are also provided. This makes it possible to start with an existing calendar and make changes rather than redefine all the holidays from scratch.
To derive a calendar based on a certain template, click the down arrow 
button, choose a template from the list, and click the Add to List button.
This will load the holidays as well as the workweek of the selected template (but not the weather days). This may be repeated, if desired, to combine holidays from different templates. Holidays may also be removed individually by selecting them and clicking the Remove button.
Non-working Days
The non-working days determine the workweek for the schedule. To designate a non-working day, such as a weekend, check the box to the left of the desired day.
Weather Days
Weather days are a way to randomly assign non-working days due to external factors on a monthly basis. To declare one or more weather days to a particular month, type a number into the field or click the up and down buttons accordingly.
To prevent all the weather days from falling on pre-existing non-working days (such as holidays or weekends), the number entered is first multiplied by a conversion factor and then randomly distributed over working days only. For example, if 7 weather days are entered for February (assuming a traditional US workweek and standard holidays), 5working days will be assigned as weather days.
If any holidays need to be defined or modified, see Defining Holidays before finalizing the calendar.
Finalizing the Calendar
After entering all the fields, click the Add button. The new calendar will be added to the Project Calendars window and the Calendar Properties window will reset.
Additional calendars may be defined consecutively by repeating the steps above. When finished, click the Exit icon 
to close the Calendar Properties window, or use the OK button to close and save both.
Modifying and Deleting Calendars
To modify a calendar that has already been defined, click from the menu bar. The Project Calendars window opens.
Select the calendars from the list of Project Calendars. At this point, the Modify… and Delete buttons become enabled.
Click the Modify… button.
The Calendar Properties window opens, showing the several calendar fields filled in accordingly.
After making any changes, click the Update button and the Calendar Properties window will reset.
Click the Exit icon to close the Calendar Properties window, or use the OK button to close and save both.
NOTE: The default Calendar Day calendar cannot be modified.
NOTE: If a calendar is modified which is assigned to an activity, then the start date and duration are held constant while the finish date is recalculated. If the activity has any constraints, however, then user input will be needed to resolve any violations.
NOTE: A calendar may not be modified if any of the objects it has been assigned to have been actualized. First de-actualize any objects before modifying the calendar.
To delete any calendar, open the Project Calendars window, select a calendar from the list of Project Calendars, and click the Delete button. A confirmation message opens. Calendars may only be deleted if they are not assigned to any activities or milestones.
Click Yes to proceed.
Click the OK button to close and save the Project Calendars window.
Defining Holidays & Non-working Days
Some projects might require a non-working day more specific than weekends or weather days. Holidays provide this functionality. In NetPoint, the term holiday is used to represent national holidays as well as any user-defined non-working days and non-working periods.
With the Calendar Properties window open, click the New… button below the list of holidays. The Holiday Properties window opens with the following fields:
Name
Enter a description in the Name field. This field is required.
A holiday may be defined as one of the following types. To change types, click the down arrow button and select one from the list.
Annual Holidays
An annual holiday is a type a fixed-date holiday but with the following limitations: it must repeat every year and it must last for at least a day or more. Many national holidays, like New Years Eve and Independence Day in the USA are annual holidays.
New Years Eve, for example, occurs on December 31st each year, but not necessarily on the same day of the week.
Annual holidays have little flexibility—only a month, day of the month, and duration may be specified. Annual holidays will take place over the entire range of the project.
Floating Date Holidays
A floating-date holiday occurs on a fixed day of the week and must repeat every year. Many national holidays, like Thanksgiving and Labor Day in the USA are floating-date holidays.
Thanksgiving, for example, occurs on the fourth Thursday in November, but not necessarily on the same date each year.
Floating-date holidays have little flexibility—only a month, week, day of the week, and duration may be specified. Floating-date holidays will take place over the entire range of the project.
Fixed Date Holidays
A fixed-date holiday occurs on a fixed date and/or time and can be either repeating or non-repeating. A fixed-date holiday is also known as a non-working period, as the duration may be less than a day.
An example of a repeating fixed-date holiday could be an event that occurs on the same date every month. For instance, a non-working day could be set to repeat on the 5th of every month.
An example of a non-repeating fixed-date holiday could be some anticipated one-time event. For instance, a scheduled black out could be set for two hours on a particular day. To make a holiday non-repeating, leave the Repeat Every field blank or set it to zero.
Fixed-date holidays have the most flexibility—the start date, duration, duration unit, recurrence, and recurrence unit may all be specified. Fixed-date holidays, if repeating, will not take place over the entire range of the project, but from the start date and on.
NOTE: If the duration is set to less than a day but the time unit for the schedule is larger, the entire time unit will be considered a holiday. For example, if a holiday is created on December 20th with a duration of 1 hour but the time unit for the schedule is set to days, all of December 20th will be considered a holiday, even though the holiday line and shading will depict 1 hour.
Easter-Relative Holidays
An Easter-relative holiday occurs a certain number of days before or after Easter. It must repeat every year and it must last for at least one day or more. Good Friday, for example, occurs on the Friday before Easter every year.
Easter-relative holidays have the least flexibility—only the offset and duration may be specified. Easter-relative holidays will take place over the entire range of the project.
After choosing the type of holiday and entering all the fields, click the Add button. The new holiday will be added to the list of holidays for the selected calendar and the Holiday Properties window will reset.
Additional holidays may be defined consecutively by repeating the steps above. When finished, click the Exit icon to close the Holiday Properties window.
NOTE: The Add button must be clicked each time to define a holiday before clicking the Exit icon . Otherwise, the holiday will not be saved to the List.
Modifying and Deleting Holidays
To modify a holiday that has already been defined, open the Calendar Properties window for the desired calendar.
Select the holiday from the list in the middle. At this point, the Modify… and Delete buttons become enabled.
Click the Modify… button.
The Holiday Properties window opens, showing the several holiday fields filled in accordingly.
After making any changes, click the Update button and the Holiday Properties window will reset.
Click the Exit icon to close the Holiday Properties window.
To delete any holiday, select a holiday from the list and click the Delete button. Click the Update button and the Calendar Properties window will reset.
Click the Exit icon to close the Calendar Properties window.
NOTE: When modifying or deleting a holiday, the Update button must be clicked before clicking the Exit icon . Otherwise, the changes will not be saved.
NOTE: If a holiday falls on a weekend (e.g. Christmas is on a Saturday), the following Monday will not be marked a holiday.
Viewing Holidays and Non-working Days
Holidays, non-working days, and any user-defined non-working periods may be viewed graphically and tabularly.
Graphically
To view holidays on the canvas, click from the menu bar. Every instance of a holiday and non-working day for the default calendar will be shaded with a darker vertical strip to show visually where they fall on the schedule.
The system chooses a color automatically according to the background color of the canvas. Any weather days will be shaded slightly darker than other holidays and non-working days.
To shade holidays for a different calendar, change which calendar is the default for new activities. See Default Properties for more details.
Holidays and non-working days may also be displayed on the holiday line. This can be better if shading the canvas makes the plan too cluttered or difficult to read. Any weather days will show up as blue notches; all other holidays and non-working days will show up as red. The holiday line is also based on whatever calendar is set as the default for new activities.
To turn the holiday line on or off, click the Schedule Properties icon 
. The Schedule Properties window opens.
Click the Displays Tab and check the box next to Holiday Line.
When finished, click OK to exit.
Tabularly
To view a tabular list of holidays and non-working days, click from the menu bar. The Project Calendars window opens.
Select a calendar from the list of Project Calendars. At this point, the Modify…, Delete, and Details… buttons become enabled.
Click the Details… button.
The Holiday Timetable window opens, listing actual holiday dates for the selected calendar.
Assigning Calendars
By default, all new activities and milestones inherit a calendar derived from whichever country is chosen upon installation. An object’s calendar may be changed, however, at any time. The first method described is best for assigning a calendar to a single object. The second method is best for assigning the same calendar to more than one object. The last method is best for assigning more than one calendar to more than one object.
NOTE: If an activity’s calendar is changed right after it’s drawn (before pressing OK), then the start and finish dates are held constant while the duration is recalculated. If an activity’s calendar is changed at any other point, then the start date and duration are held constant while the finish date is recalculated. If an activity has been limited by constraints, however, then user input will be needed to resolve any violations.
A Single Activity or Milestone
To assign a calendar to a single activity, double-click the activity on the canvas, or right-click on the activity and select .
The Activity Object window opens. Click the Dates tab.
At the bottom, click the down arrow button next to the Calendars field and choose from the corresponding list.
When finished, click the OK button to close and save any changes.
To assign a calendar to a single milestone, double-click the milestone on the canvas, or right-click on the milestone and select .
The Milestone Object window opens to the Properties tab.
In the Properties and Dates section, click the down arrow button next to the Calendars field and choose from the corresponding list.
When finished, click the OK button to close and save any changes.
Selected Activities or Milestones
To assign the same calendar to more than one activity or milestone, first select the desired objects on the canvas.
Click from the menu bar. The Set Global Properties window opens to the Activity tab.
Click the down arrow button next to Assign Calendar and choose a new calendar from the list. This will apply to all selected activities and will overwrite any currently assigned calendars.
For milestones, click the Milestones tab. Under the Properties section, repeat the steps from above to assign a new calendar to all selected milestones.
When finished, click the OK button to close and save any changes.
Multiple Activities or Milestones
To assign more than one calendar to more than one activity or milestone, click from the menu bar.
The Global Calendar Assignment window opens.
If any objects were selected on the canvas, only those will be listed in the box. otherwise, all activities and milestones in the schedule will be listed.
To change an object’s calendar, find it in the list and click in the corresponding cell under the calendar column. A down arrow button will appear. Click this and choose a new calendar from the list.
When finished, click the Exit icon to close and save the Global Calendar Assignment window.