How to manage Actions in Curriculum Plan

On the Curriculum Plan tab the Actions button can be found. This guide covers the following functions within Actions;

• Overview
• Auto Assign
• Clear Curriculum Plan
• Import Options

The minimum permissions required to create a Timetable are found in the Timetable Module from Config > Setup > Roles and Permissions > Choose Role>Edit>Timetable > Timetable App.

For more information on wTimetable see here and see What’s New for wTimetable updates.

Go to Modules>wTimetable>Projects>Click on Project to see the Timetable panel with the tabs below. Click on Curriculum Plan.

Overview

On the Curriculum Plan page, the Overview feature opens a simplified, read-only view of the Curriculum Plan.

• Click on the Actions drop down and select Overview.

The Curriculum Plan Overview popup opens.

Click on any of the filter dropdowns: Year Groups, Departments (Blocks that contain at least one Subject from the selected Departments are displayed), and Subjects (Blocks that contain at least one of the selected Subjects are displayed).

After making a selection from the filters, click Apply. The Curriculum Plan Overview will update to display the filtered criteria.

Tip: View the Curriculum Plan Overview popup using the different views: Staff and Room.

Tip: Click on Export as Grid to export the Curriculum Plan Overview to Excel.

Auto Assign

This feature allows users to assign Staff and Rooms to Subjects automatically.

The following prerequisites must be met for the Auto Assign feature to work fully: there is at least one Staff/Room added to the selected Subjects on the Relationship page, and, in the case of Staff assignment, the Contact Time plays an important role as the system follows the assignment flows below.

Click on the Actions drop down and select Auto Assign from the dropdown.

The Auto Assign popup opens.

Select one or more Year Groups from the multi select dropdown or Select All

Select either Staff Only, Room Only, or Staff and Room from the Staff/Room dropdown.

Select whether to view the Subject list by Subject or Departments.

Tip: Ticking Select all will select all Subjects

Tick the checkbox against the Subjects you wish to automatically assign Staff or Rooms.

Once the selections have been made, click the bottom right Auto Assign button.

A success message will appear.

Note: If the Relationship between the Staff/Room and the Subject is not set up in the Relationship page, the following message will appear. If you Continue, the Auto Assign process may not be complete.

Note: To remove the auto assignment, after selecting at least one Year Group, Subject, and an option from the Staff/Room selector, click on the Remove Assignments button.

Staff Auto-assignment flow:

• We run the process initially for Staff members that have remaining Total Contact Time and have Contact Time for the Subjects and the Year Groups.

• For any unassigned sessions, we run the process with the Staff members that have remaining Total Contact Time for the Subjects.

• If the use any staff with a subject relationship checkbox is selected prior to auto assignment:
  • For the remaining unassigned sessions, we run the process with the Staff members that have remaining Total Contact Time and have a relationship with the Subject but where Contact Time for the Subject equals zero.

Room Auto Assignment flow:

• We run the process initially for Rooms that have remaining Contact Time (this defaults to the Timetable cycle period count) and have a relationship with the Subject.

For the automatic assignment we have to follow the rules below:

• Additional Staff members always remain in place, we do not assign/remove them during the auto-assignment process.
  • If a main Staff/Room has already been added to a session we do not overwrite it with the automatic assignment.
  • We only auto-assign the Staff/Rooms to sessions that are assigned to the Subjects on the Relationship page.
  • We do not create conflicts with auto-assignment. If there are sessions that cannot be filled with the existing setup, we leave these sessions unassigned.

Rules for filling up different blocks

Linear Blocks:

• We have to assign different Staff to different Subjects in Linear Blocks.
• We can assign the same Staff to different classes of the same Subject:
  • Provided the sessions have not been already scheduled to the same Period.
  • To a maximum of as many sessions as the Period count for the Block. For example, a subject Art within a Linear Block has three Periods and three classes. The Linear Block itself has 9 Periods required for 4 Subjects, so one Art teacher could be assigned to each Art session as there are sufficient Periods available in the Linear Block to allow that one teacher to teach all of the sessions.

Complex Blocks:

• Where the Subject structure allows, the Staff can be assigned to the same Subject for different classes provided the sessions have not been already scheduled to the same Period.
• Complex Blocks will be dealt with at the end of the process.

Priorities within Blocks:

• Fill up all sessions for a Subject within a Block for a class.
• A member of Staff can appear in more Bands based on availability.
  • E.g., we have a simple Block of Maths in Band A and Band B as well. Staff A can be assigned to a session in both Bands’ Blocks.
    • To a maximum of as many sessions as the Period count of the timetable.
  • Check if the Staff has a relationship with the Subject.
    • We do not assign Staff to a Subject without having a relationship.
  • Check if the Staff has Contact Time for the Subject for the Year Group.
    • For Year Group 12 and 13 we only assign Staff that have Contact Time for these Year Groups for the selected Subjects.
    • For lower Year Groups, we assign the Staff if they have a relationship with the Subject even if they do not have Contact Time for the Year Group.
  • Check if the Staff has remaining Contact Time.
  • If the session is scheduled, check if the Staff is available and not already been assigned to that period.

Clear Curriculum Plan

This feature allows users to permanently delete all the Blocks and additional Bands from ALL the Year Groups at the same time, in the Curriculum Plan.

Note: To clear the Blocks and additional Bands for just the selected Year Group use Band three-dot menu and select Remove all the blocks from year group, and remove all the blocks from band.

Click on the Actions drop down and select Clear Curriculum Plan.

The confirmation popup opens.

Click Confirm to continue, users are warned they may wish to create a backup before continuing, or Cancel.

Note: The Review page is unaffected, however Blocks can be generated again from here using the Generate Blocks button.

Import Options

This feature allows users to import Timetable Patterns from the Options module for Year Groups 9, 10, or 12 only, so that so that they can be used to form the Option Blocks.

1. Filter in the relevant Year Group.
2. Click on the Actions drop down and select Import Options.

The confirmation popup opens.

1. Click Continue to carry on, users are warned that the previously imported option blocks will be replaced (if previously imported) and that the manually created blocks will remain in place.

The Option Block will be updated to reflect the imported Timetable options.

Import rules:

• Only available for Year Groups 9, 10, and 12.
• The latest Set as Final Timetable pattern is imported for the selected Year Group.
• If there are already imported Option Blocks in the selected Year Group, they will be removed, and new ones will be created.
• The manually created Option blocks remain in place.
• If there is no Set as Final timetable pattern for the selected Year Group, a message will appear “No Options pattern to import.”

General rules:

• Timetable Pattern Year Groups are offset by one year when importing them into the Timetable module E.g. Timetable Pattern Year Group 8 will be imported to Timetable Year Group 9.
• Class names in the Curriculum Plan expanded Blocks will be imported from the imported pattern, the Class Name can be edited.
• If we re-import the Blocks from Options, we remove the previously imported Blocks and create new ones based on the fresh data:
  • Staffing/Rooms, scheduling information or any changes made to the previously imported Blocks will be removed.
• If a block contains at least one subject that is not active in the project, the block will not be imported.