Timetabler's Actions (VIC)

Time Periods determine the date range for class sessions to appear on schedules in Compass. Add your first Time Period here.
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For schools using the Schedule Builder for timetabling purposes, generally the only Time Period required for each year is '(insert year) Whole Year', i.e 2021 Whole Year
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For schools using a third party timetable package that doesn't integrate directly with Compass (e.g. Griddle, Edval, etc...), Time Periods are used to ensure that classes imported are allocated to run sessions during the correct date range (for example you may have some classes that run for the entire year, and others that run only for the semester).
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These schools would create multiple time periods each year depending on how the subjects and classes run for that school. For example, a school may need Time Periods for '(insert year) Term One', '(insert year) Term Two', '(insert year) Term Three' and '(insert year) Term Four' as well as for '(insert year) Semester One', '(insert year) Semester Two' and the '(insert year) Whole Year'.
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This section will show all the Academic Years within Compass for your school. Each Academic year contains the Subjects, Classes and Attendance data that was timetabled and recorded in that Academic year.
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​Generally Primary Schools will have one Academic Year listed here for each calendar year. Secondary schools may have additional Academic Years listed if they run a Headstart program that carries a separate Subject/Class structure to the standard Academic Year.
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One Academic year (the current one) is set as 'Relevant' and this indicates which timetable content will display by default on student and staff schedules, and also on the Subjects and Classes page.
You can view other years but only one should ever be set as 'Relevant'.
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To edit which year is set as 'Relevant', click the radio button for the Academic Year you wish to set as 'Relevant'. This process is generally only done when the current Academic Year has concluded and the incoming new Academic Year needs to be set as the Relevant year so that the new staff and student timetables display on their schedules.
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This will open a pop-up in which you need to select 'Make it relevant'.
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The Terms section is where you define the Term dates for the year. When configuring the schedule for a new Academic year, the Term dates you create then feed the dates into the Calendar section further below and define which dates are considered Teaching Days.
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You can select 'Add standard terms' to pre-fill the terms for your region, eg. Victorian term dates.

If you need to edit the Term dates, click the edit pencil icon and adjust the dates.

Here you will be able to set up your Public Holiday's which will automatically generate important dates for the year. You can use the Add public holidays button to add any additional important dates relevant to the your school or add them individually below.

Please note: Important School Dates are only relevant and listed as School Dates within the Calendar module on the App.

Important School Dates are not connected to Period Structures in any way, so will need to still be created as per below.

Depending on if your school is a Primary, Secondary or P-12 you may have one Period Structure or multiple Period Structures. These determine the period times that classes will run to when the schedule is imported.
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​Creating a new Period Structure
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Click the 'Add New Period Structure' button, 'Import from CSV' or edit the 'Default' Period Structure.
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Give the Period Structure a name and if you are using a third party timetable package to import your timetables you can include an Import Identifier.
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​If you want this Period Structure to be available in time pickers across Compass, tick that option (i.e. when adding an Event session, periods from this structure will show in the time drop down as options).

Click 'Add' and you will be then asked to confirm the cycle length.
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Click 'Save' and you will then see the newly created Period Structure in your list.
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Now click on the 'Clock' icon for beside the newly created period structure to configure the periods.
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​Here you need to add all the Periods that will be part of the Period Structure you have newly created.

You might only be having an AM and a PM session, you may have 6 sessions and sessions for Recess and Lunch, whatever is needed you can add here. Click the 'Add Period' button to add your first session.
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Fill in the fields to set this session.
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​When all fields are complete, click 'Apply'. You will then see the session listed on Day 1.

Continue to click 'Add Period' until all periods you require for the Day are listed.
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​When all sessions are listed, click on 'Day 2'. You will then need to add the periods needed on Day 2 of your timetable.
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Often this will be identical to what you have created for Day 1 (or another day/period structure); if this is the case, use the 'Copy periods from one cycle day' option at the bottom of the screen to efficiently add the periods rather than using the 'Add Period' option to create again from scratch.
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​To use the copy feature, choose the period structure/Day from the drop-down that you want to copy from for the Day you are currently on and click 'Copy'.

This will bring the same periods from the selected Day into the Day you are viewing. You can make any edits if needed.
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Continue to click through each of the Cycle Days and add or copy in the periods.
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When each Cycle Day has periods allocated, click 'Done'

Here you need to set the Teaching Days.
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Select the Period Structure you just created/edited. Click 'Bulk Update Teaching Days.
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​First ensure to tick any days of the week that are standard teaching days for your school.
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Then for each Term start date, from the drop-down, select the day of the cycle that this date will be. Generally Day 1 of your cycle would be for a Monday, Day 2 for a Tuesday and so forth if you are using a 5 Day cycle. For schools using a 10 Day cycle, Monday may be Day 1 or Day 6 of your cycle depending on where in the fortnightly timetable you want the Term to commence.

When you have selected the Cycle Day for each Term, click 'Apply'.
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Now you need to review the calendar to ensure Public Holidays have been applied. This can be done in bulk by clicking on the 'Add Public Holidays' button on the Calendar. This will identify the public holiday dates for your jurisdiction and apply the application attendance code for that day to student records.
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Changing dates from or to public holidays in the Configure Schedules screen will not update any already timetabled classes for that date. If your school imports the timetable from third-party timetable software, the next import will update any future dates affected by your change. If the date was in the past, you will need to cancel any classes scheduled on that date if it is now set as a public holiday.

For schools using Schedule Builder, any classes already scheduled on a date that you have updated as a public holiday will need to be cancelled. Please refer to the Cancelling Classes section of the Daily Organisation article from our Knowledge Base for details on this process.

Compass recommends creating all public holidays for the year in advance (where possible) for ease of daily schedule management.

Once the public holidays have been created in Compass, it is important to reimport your timetable or rerun Schedule Builder (for schools using this timetabling feature) to ensure that future sessions which have been scheduled for the public holiday dates are now removed, so that staff won't have any unmarked roll reminders appearing. For details on how to complete this task, please refer to the Knowledge Base article titled 'Schedule Builder' or the article titled 'Data Sync Tool' if you use a third-party timetable.
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Your new Period Structure is now complete!