In this article, we are going to list some of the frequently asked questions regarding Timetable within Bromcom.
If you are in any doubt about making timetable changes please contact Bromcom Support.
For more information on wTimetable and eTimetable see here.
ANY SCREENSHOTS OR EXAMPLES IN THIS GUIDE ARE FOR ILLUSTRATION PURPOSES ONLY.
Q. What staff are imported into w/eTimetable?
A. Not all staff are imported in. Please see Importing Staff for information on roles types;
Q. I want to include staff (non-teaching staff) in wTimetable?
A. Staff who are not on the list covered in the above question, will not appear. However, there is a workaround;
- Add the staff member into the project – you may get a pop up that you don’t need to add staff but ignore it. Make sure that the staff code and names are identical to the MIS.
- These staff will now appear in wTimetable and can be used as normal.
- When the timetable is sent back into the MIS, the timetables for these staff appear to come over.
Q. Applying Timetable has failed.
Q. An error message pops up to say ‘Requested location(s) cannot be inserted / updated because for same Location Name have clashed date range with an existing record – Line Number 48’
A. Check on the pop up that any rooms that are being created on the Apply Timetable screen have a start date ON or BEFORE the start of the Academic Year by going to Config>Administration>Rooms to see room start dates and Config>Curriculum>Academic Years to check the start date of the Academic Year.
Q. Can I change my Period Structure mid-year?
A. See Changing Period Structure Mid-Year for guidance on the various options and implications.
Q. How do I manage Split Lunches?
A. See How to Manage Split Lunches for the various options, to note there can only be ONE period structure for a school. For further guidance including for schools using wTimetable please see How to Set Up Split Lunches
Q. Schools using Nova T in migration year.
A. In migration year, if a school uses Nova T and want to import their timetable, they need to check Class Names very carefully. Please see the section on Class Names in How to Import a Timetable from Nova T. This document can also be referenced in the scenario you are moving your timetable from one software package to another within an academic year. Class names are the linking factor when importing timetables, THEY MUST BE IDENTICAL OTHERWISE YOU WILL GET DUPLICATES.
Q. Error connecting to eTimetable.
A. This could be when the school is trying to connect to eTimetable to import data from the MIS or when they are trying to export their timetable into the MIS. This does not apply if they have actually got the timetable into the MIS and the error is on the processing in the MIS.
Check in eTimetable that in Tools>Connection Settings they have cloudmis.bromcom.com in the Bromcom MIS Server Name box. The Use SSL should be ticked.
Proxy Server Settings do not need to be changed for the majority of schools. If the school IT team have said it needs changing, they are the people at the school who would know this, Bromcom does not have information about the individual schools systems and therefore cannot advise on this. The default when clicking on Proxy Server Settings is –1 in the Port setting with everything else blank.
Q. How to manage Vertical Teaching Groups?
School has teaching classes with mixed year groups/derived year groups. This is most likely for the sixth form where subjects with a small number of students will mix Year 12 and 13 students together.
A. Neither the MIS or wTimetable use the concept of vertical groups.
To work with vertical groups in wTimetable or Bromcom in general, simply create a class in either of the year groups in wTimetable (it does not matter which year group that they choose) When they come to adding students into the class, they simply filter the students accordingly – choosing both years 12 and 13 to search for the students to be added.
Q. How to swap subjects in Complex Blocks ?
A. Right mouse click on subject to select the two subjects you want to swap. Once selected, left mouse click to bring up the swap option. Watch the short video below on Sliding Complex Blocks
Q. How do I start my timetable for next year now, before the end of term?
If you are thinking about starting the schools Timetable early, there are some considerations.
Timetable Software is Not Date Dependent
The date range that the Timetable is applied to in the MIS is the deciding factor in the process. Theoretically, if nothing changed in your school, you could use the same Timetable Year after Year. With this in mind, if you have your Timetable ready for the new Year, there is nothing to stop you from applying it towards the end of the summer term, allowing your Year 9s to start their GCSE options a little early.
Classes Can Only Be in One Academic Year
This restriction means that if you start your Timetable early, you CANNOT apply it to a date range that spans academic Years. You can apply the Timetable from your chosen date until the end of that academic Year, but you will also need to apply it to the new academic Year as well.
Student Class Membership
With the rule that classes cannot span more than one academic Year in mind, it is clear that you will need to add Student memberships to the classes for both the current and next academic Year. Using the export/import method for T files could be useful—saving the files for both imports. (The export contains Year group and tutor group columns, which should be removed when importing into the new academic Year.)
Student Promotion
Note: Students should remain in their correct Year Group
The promotion routines at the end of the Year should be completed as normal.
In the current Academic Year, Students should be allocated to the classes that are linked to the next Year, i.e.:
- Year 7 Students are assigned to Year 8 classes.
- Year 8 Students are assigned to Year 9 classes, etc.
You can suspend the Year 7 and Year 12 classes, as they will not be running. This releases the teachers and Rooms assigned to them (as per your school choices in Config > Cover > Configurations).
Differences to the Model Discussed Above
Some schools will decide to offer taster sessions for their Year 9 into 10 Students (and even some Year 11 into 12 Students when they have finished their Exams).
This is not likely to require full-scale Timetable changes. Instead, the use of Withdrawal Groups is probably the best method for these schools to consider.