Edval Daily Webinar - Frequently Asked Questions July 2022

Edval Daily Webinar - Frequently Asked Questions July 2022


Exams

Q: I want exam scheduling to look for 3 exams in a row and when optimising, avoid this.
A: The 'Optimise' button on the Schedule tab automatically schedules exams via highly complex, efficient algorithms which have been designed to produce the best exam schedule, according to numerous criteria. These include minimising student exam clashes and maximising the quality of exam timetables for individual students. The algorithm does significantly improve students having balanced exam schedules, such as reducing 2 or 3 exams on the same day, reducing an exam this afternoon and then again tomorrow morning.  You can easily make manual changes to the auto-generated solution, pin exams where required and 'Optimise' the schedule to cater to such changes as you want.  When there is a large cohort of students, there may be some students who do not have an optimal timetable, but the algorithm will attempt to satisfy as many students as possible. An improvement may be found by unpinning as many exams as possible to allow the algorithm the flexibility to find the best solution.
Q: In exams, if Biology, for example, has 4 classes, can I specify separate room for each group?
A: Currently there is a limitation within the exam module when multiple rooms and supervisors are required for an exam.  There is no method currently that allows rooms to be specified per group. In the case of the Biology example above, 4 rooms and 4 supervisors can be assigned to the Biology exam but all 4 rooms will be listed for each supervisor. A suggested method to overcome this limitation is to create 4 separate exams and assign each class to its own exam. A room and a supervisor can then be assigned to each group. Scheduled for development shortly will be the option in the exam set up to create either 1 exam per subject or 1 exam per class. This will automate the process described above. For information on rooming see the Supervision and rooming section of the Examination module document.

Covers

Q: When splitting classes, can we determine the student groups allocated to each teacher?
A: The split class functionality creates registered supervision events and assigns the students to each group in alphabetical order. After the class has been split, you can rearrange the student groupings by editing the supervision events in the Events tab.

Q: How do you swap lessons when the swaps do not occur on the same day?
A: Terminology is important here as 'lesson swaps’ could mean several things. There is a function called ‘Lesson swap’ which refers to the action of using an unavailable teacher to cover a class and assigning a cover to that teacher’s original class. Alternatively, a teacher can be freed from a class by making them ‘absent’ using the ‘Lesson swap’ absence reason. This is a special absence reason, allowing the teacher to take a cover ‘in lieu’ of the class they have had replaced on that same day. This function does not allow swaps across days. For more information on this function please read our knowledge base article: Edval Daily: Lesson swap. 
There is the action of ‘Moving and replacing lessons’ which allows lessons to be swapped across periods. This function is available across days in the cycle, so it is possible to take classes from a period on one day and swap them with the classes from a period on another day. Thirdly, the ‘Replace lessons’ feature allows periods from any period in the cycle to replace the lessons in a selected period on a selected day. Both the ‘Move and replace lessons’ and the ‘Replace lessons’ features can be used across days in the cycle. For more information on these functions please read the following knowledge base articles:  Move and replace lessons  and Replace lessons

Q: Can I change the default credit for a particular period?
A: You can set a default credit value per period under Daily > Settings > Cover credit. This default value is then applied to all covers in that period. For more information on this please see our knowledge base article: Edval Daily: Cover Credit.

Q: When selecting "whole year group" this does avoid having all classes individually listed on the daily bulletin, but it does not select "year 7 classes" that have no students (for example a class that represents a support teacher).
A:  Edval Daily will ‘implicitly’ cancel classes that would normally contain students, all of whom are attending an event. However, classes without students cannot be cancelled automatically. They must be manually selected in the ‘Students’ panel for that event.

Q: Is there a way that combined classes of different year groups show students who still need cover if for example, in a 9/10 elective class- say Yr9 go on camp.
A: Composite classes, where only one year group attend an event, will not be cancelled, provided only the students on the event are selected. Students not on the excursion will remain in the class, which will only need to be covered if the usual teacher is also part of this event (or absent). A common mistake made when creating an event for a particular year level is the selection of students by ticking the root year level tick box instead of expanding the tree and selecting ‘Whole year group’. Ticking the root year level selects all the classes in that year level, and if that year level contains composite classes, all the students in those classes, including students from other year levels, will be selected for the event. This has the effect of cancelling the composite classes.
If an event leaves composite classes uncancelled, with only a few students remaining in the class, you may want to merge the fragmented class with another to save on staffing. For more information about how you can do this, please follow our knowledge base article: Edval Daily: Lesson Merge.

Q: Is there a function to prevent an imbalance with the week A/B underload covers?  For example, if someone is 3 under for the fortnight but teaches 18 face to face in week A and 19 in week B, they should not be given the 3 underload covers in one week. How do you prevent a teacher teaching over their 1200 minutes per week?
A: To keep your weekly limits respected, you may benefit from using the 480 index option in Daily>Settings>Misc > Accounting method. For more information on how to set this up in Edval 10, please refer to this document: E10 Reports – Teachers 480 index and for selecting the option in Daily please see our knowledge base article: Edval Daily: 480 index.

Q: With the new VIC agreement and ‘time in lieu’ now here, are there any thoughts as to how we can keep a record of this and not just from absence reasons?
A: At this stage we have not implemented anything to manage this, but we will consult schools to investigate the requirements and decide on potential future developments after consultation.

Q: Is there a way to make Min Supervision count towards an extra?
A: A minimal supervision will always appear as a no credit solution; however, you could assign a cover and then manually adjust the credit to something suitable for your circumstances. For more information, please read our knowledge base article on the subject: Edval Daily: Minimal Supervision.

Q: Can you manually add teacher to casuals here today under the cover alternative?
A: To include casuals in the ‘here today’ group, they must be assigned to a cover on that day or be engaged via an SMS Casual request. As suggested in the Webinar, a repeating event can be set up in the period before school to which casuals can be assigned. This will place them in the ‘Casuals here today’ group without assigning them to a cover.

Q: Where do you find the weights for auto covers?
A: The weights for auto cover can be found under Daily > Settings > Weights. For more information on each parameter, please follow our knowledge base article: Edval Daily: Weights.

SMS Casual

Q: How does SMS casual request work and can we add our own templates on messages
A: The Edval Daily SMS Casuals feature is an additional module that can be purchased to work in conjunction with Edval Daily. This module provides a quick and easy method of contacting casual teachers when work is available. You can learn how to create a custom SMS template by following this knowledge base article: Edval Daily: SMS Casuals feature.

Synchronisation

Q: Is it possible to upload room changes and/or relieving teachers to SEQTA from Daily?
A: Yes, Daily changes are reflected in the SEQTA files exported from Edval Daily. For more information on our SEQTA integration, please see our knowledge base article: Edval Daily Export to Seqta.

General

Q: Is there any plan to make the viewing optimised for phone screens? or an app?
A: Currently Edval Daily is available via a web browser only, though there are plans to build a mobile app in the future.  Daily screens are auto sized and optimised on smart devices. How the screen adjusts depends on the device.

Requested Features

Synchronisation 

Q: Will we be able to sync events to Compass in the new cloud version?
A: Edval Daily sends all data types, including events, when syncing to other systems. Admin systems on the other end may not necessarily support or process all data types. We have requested that Compass and some of our other major partners accept and support all types of events but the development of this is their responsibility and not something that we have control over. This is not expected to change when we move to the new version of Daily.

Q: Regarding excursions/incursions/Events - sometimes classes are cancelled on Compass so teachers think they do not have a class - sometimes it is only half a class that are attending. Why is this?
A: As mentioned above, Daily sends data for all event types during the sync process, however, not all the event types are supported within Compass. The only event types accepted by Compass are cancellation events and exams. 

Events

Q: Can 'lesson swap' be an event rather than an absence? The teacher is not absent, and often creates confusion when tracking actual absences. Also, the absence must be manually deleted if the lesson swap reason is later changed. I like the name/reason "lesson swap", I just know that when I look at the list of absences (for example to mark them as absent in department system) I see all the lesson swaps there too, and it can get confusing. An event type of lesson swap would be fine, or an event type of event, I don't think it would make a difference
A: This has been an issue for many schools and will be addressed in the new version of Daily, currently under construction. 

Q: Can I add event types of my own?
A: Currently all event types are system defined and have specific characteristics when displayed on the Covers page. The ability to rename event types will be considered in the new version of Daily.
Q: It would be very useful if, when creating an event, there was a colour picker so we could choose the event background colour to be displayed on timetables instead of the default grey.
A: Yes, we agree that colour would make the view nicer and we will certainly consider this in our product development pipeline. 
Q: With events - bulk import using their student codes rather than having to enter them one-by-one for registered events (e.g., to help merge classes that remain)
A: Currently the selection of students for registered events is a manual process and there is no import facility. The Product team will look at the possibility of developing an import for events.
UPDATE: The ability to import a list of students attending an event has been developed and will be available in version 1.114.

Cover

Q: After you have already published to Compass and staff then make a room change can you make the publish button accessible? 
A: Currently the publish button only activates if there is a change on the Covers page. As room changes are not required to be published before appearing on timetables, the publish button is not activated when room swaps or room bookings are made. It will be activated if the room changes are created as an event and the changes are made via the Covers page. Therefore, to send this information to Compass or any other system, one of three options are available. 1) Make a change on the Covers page to enable the Publish button and perform a ‘Publish and sync’ or 2) do an Advanced sync via Daily > Synchronise or 3) Enable the ‘Auto sync’ for the required system which will automatically send room changes when they are made.

Q: When merging, can "seats" of class being merged into be changed to ‘how many students in that class - it would be quicker to add together
A: We will look at improving the terminology used when merging to make it clearer how many students will be in the merged class.

Q: Can the day sheet automatically indicate in-lieus?
A: When generating Day sheets, there is an option to show ‘Cover type’. Selecting this will display the type of cover assigned, including ‘in lieus’. 
Q: Is there a way to see when a casual teacher is not being used, quickly and easily? Currently I generate day sheets to check, but it would be nice to see quicker. A casual teacher is here, covering 5 lessons, but has another period free. I would like to be alerted when we can use them to release another teacher. Not as a report, as that would take just as long as printing out all the casual day sheets and counting lessons. I was hoping for some way to alert me, without me having to check. Just like the alert in the corner telling me how many covers are remaining.
A: The quickest way to see what periods have been assigned to a casual is to look at their summary in the alternatives tab. To do this, click on a class to which they are already assigned and check the timetable summary. 
We are considering a ‘Casual’ summary view in the new Daily.

Exams

Q: I would like colours  on exam timetables or at least an option to allow them.
A. Currently the option to print the full exam timetable produces a pdf that does not display colour. However, a colour version can be printed by selecting CTRL-P instead of using the Print button, as this prints the screen display rather than the pdf version. Printing and exporting options will be improved in the new version of Daily.
Q. I would like to be able to print more than 1 student's timetable to a page as previously was the case.
A: The current Edval Daily Print template defaults to a single student per page. As mentioned above, printing and exporting will be improved in the new version of Daily to include additional printing options.
 Q: Exam timetabling - adding a Disability Provisions 'class' alongside each exam to be able to split a class for rooming and supervision
A: The creation of additional exams per subject will be automated when we build the new Exam module, however, for the current version, special provision exams must be created manually. As mentioned in a previous response, scheduled for development is the ability to create an exam per class per subject, enabling individual rooms and supervisors to be assigned to each class.

Timetable View

Q: Can Daily remember my choice If I only ever view timetables by week, as I don’t use the default ‘fortnight’ view
A: The option to set a default view for timetables may be considered for development in the current system but will be built in the new Daily.
Q: Would love to be able to bulk email teachers their usual timetables.
A: The ability to bulk email timetables is being considered for the new cloud version of Timetable but will not be developed in the current version of Edval 10 nor Daily. Currently, best practice is to issue webcodes for individual teachers so they can login and view their own timetable online or print it using the ‘Print’ option.
Q: It would be useful if the actual event type was displayed on timetables instead of the word 'Event'
A: Currently the label is displayed simply as ‘Event’, but future development to display the event name will be considered.

Room Booking

Q: With regards to staff making their own room changes, it would be good if they could request the swap from the other teacher without having to bother the Daily Organiser
A: There is an option to assign the permission ‘Manage room swaps’ to the Permanent teacher role via Admin > Roles, however this may not suit every school.  When this permission is assigned to a role, teachers with that role would have access to the Room swaps tab to make their own room swaps.

SMS Casual

Q: Can the default deadline time for SMS sent to casuals be expanded as I make requests during the day but the short time means they will miss it. 
A: The default time for an SMS deadline is currently 3 hours from the time of the creation of the request but the actual deadline time can be changed per request. The option to change the default time is not currently available but will be considered for future development.

General

Q: Will there be an 'undo' button in Daily?
A: This function is certainly on our radar. It is a complex function, but we will be building it on our new cloud platform.

 







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