Timetable Structures and Calendar Generation
Timetables are one of the most complex parts of managing a school. Each timetable structure has a number of complex parts, all of which have to be set up and managed correctly in order for the overall timetable system to work correctly. Let's start by looking at the component parts of a Posi Ed PosiEd timetable structure.
In Posi Ed PosiEd a timetable structure is defined by creating a record in the timetable structure object. This record has just a few parameters:
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The primary purpose of prime of timetable term records is to provide start and end dates for each term. Terms are hierarchical in nature, for example a term of type academic year will likely have two terms of type semester. Underneath it, each of these are likely to have two terms of type term underneath them.
- create a diagram showing this hierarchy
In the timetable structure context, the most important thing to remember is that all cohorts related to a timetable structure will have a timetable term they are linked to and this will provide the default start and end date range for that cohort. For example if a cohort is a full year class, then it should be linked to the academic year term. If it is a cohort that only runs for a single semester then it should be linked to that semester’s term record.
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Another school might have say 8 class periods each day plus 2 before school periods, a recess period, two lunch time periods, and two after school periods per day. And this is repeated each day of the two week cycle. While this sounds complex, once the bell time definitions have been established Posi Ed PosiEd will look after most of the work for you and create sophisticated calendars around these bell times.
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Bell Time Records provide a range of options when you are defining a timetable structure. For example Monday period one in week A might start at 8:45 but on Week B start at 9:00 AM. Or Friday timetables might start 30 minutes after other timetables and maybe they have one less period. As long as the data is set up consistently you will be able to extract a great degree of flexibility with regards to bell time structures.
- We need to add additional information on this field using the LISS documentation – refer to data dictionary for reference.
Note that if you are using timetabling software such as Edval or Edval Daily, the Bell Times structure is generally populated for you via the publish Bell Times process.
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The timetable periods object allows us to define a variety of characteristics of specific periods to certain functions and components within Posi EdPosiEd. These include defining the following:
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Order is a numerical field that is used to define the order of periods. Since Posi Ed PosiEd cannot simply use numerical or alphabetical orders to understand. For example that period 3 comes after recess etc.
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