TER - PTI Conferences

*Conference Description

The description that is entered here becomes visible to teachers through Staff Kiosk and parents through Parent Lounge, e.g. Year 11 Parent Teacher Evening.

This is a mandatory field. Maximum 200 characters.

*Number of Sessions

A PTI conference can be run across multiple sessions. Enter the number of sessions that this conference will contain, e.g. A conference that runs over two evenings. Tuesday 6.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. and Wednesday 6.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. You would enter '2' into this field.

This is a mandatory field.

*Year

This will default to the current year setup in the Timetable module.

This is a mandatory field.

*Semester/Term

This will default to the current Semester/Term setup in the Timetable module. It can be overridden if you are creating a conference for next Semester/Term.

This is a mandatory field.

Campus

Enter a campus if the PTI conference is only to include students who belong to a particular campus. If this is not the case leave this blank.

Subject Year Groups

For schools running a non-unitised timetable.

Enter the year groups to include in this PTI conference. The subjects belonging to the year group(s) that you nominate here will become available in this PTI conference.

To be available for a PTI conference the subjects also have to be set up with the 'Interview Flag' set to 'Yes' using TASS.web program Student Admin > Student Records > Setup Information > Student Records Setup on the 'Subjects' tab.

The 'Subject Year Group' is a multi-select field. Holding down the 'Shift' key while clicking on your options enables a range selection holding down the 'Ctrl' key allows individual selection of additional fields.

Student Year Groups

For schools running a unitised timetable.

Enter the year groups of the students who will be included in this PTI conference.

The subjects that will be included in this PTI Conference are nominated in the next step.

The 'Student Year Group' is a multi-select field. Holding down the 'Shift' key while clicking on your options enables a range selection holding down the 'Ctrl' key allows individual selection of additional fields. 

Comments

The comment entered here becomes visible to teachers in Staff Kiosk when the conference is in 'Pre-Release Review / Open' mode.
It is also displayed to parents in Parent Lounge. Therefore care should be taken when entering or editing this comment field.

Optional. Maximum 200 characters.

*Conference Date

Enter the date that this PTI conference will be held on.
Take care when entering this date as it becomes critical when generating the conference schedule. This date cannot be changed after:

• The conference schedule has been generated using TASS.web program Student Admin > Teacher Records > Parent Teacher Interview > Generate Conference Schedule.

• The 'Pre-Release Start Date' has expired.

If you are setting up a conference that has multiple sessions, the default date for the second and subsequent sessions will advance one day. You can override this to allow two sessions to occur on a single day.

This is a mandatory field.

*Start Time

The staring time for this PTI conference session.

This is a mandatory field.

*End Time

The overall finishing time for this PTI conference session.

This is a mandatory field.

Number of Scheduled Breaks

Select the number of scheduled breaks for this conference session. The range available in the dropdown is 0 to 5.
When the number of breaks is greater than one, further fields appear to be filled in: Break Description, Break Start Time and Break End Time and must be filled in.

Break Description

Example: Dinner, Tea, Afternoon Tea, etc.

Break Start Time/Break End time

The times entered here must fall between the session 'Start Time/End Time' that have been entered above. The Start Time/End Time of the first Break must come before the Start Time/End Time of second Break (if configured) and so on. The break periods cannot overlap.

{Method One} Parent preference order and Teacher subject weightings'

or

{Method Two} Appointments allocated on a first in first served basis'

{Method Three} Direct selection of appointment times by Parent

*Appointment Allocation Method

{All Methods}

Click on this link for a description of the three methods that are available for allocating interview appointments.

Choose the method for this PTI conference and then refer to the correct column in this section of the help.

This field will default to the method that has been set up in using program TASS.web Student Admin > Teachers Records > Parent Teacher Interviews > PTI Setup. It can be overridden so that this conference will be run using a different method to the school's default method for running conferences.

This is a mandatory field.

*Appointment Length (minutes)

{All Methods}

Enter the time that is to be allocated for each parent interview.

TASS.web program Student Admin > Teacher Records > Parent Teacher Interview > Generate Conference Schedule uses the number that you enter here when calculating the appointment schedule.

The default minimum value for appointment lengths has been set up using TASS.web program Student Admin > Teachers Records > Parent Teacher Interviews > PTI Setup.

If you intend to allow teachers to split appointments you need to ensure that the number you enter here is able to be divided by 2 and is twice the default minimum.

This is a mandatory field.

*Appointment Gap Length (minutes)

{All Methods}

This is the amount of time that you will allocate in the schedule for parents to move between appointments.

Program Student Admin > Teacher Records > Parent Teacher Interview > Generate Conference Schedule uses the number that you enter here when calculating the appointment schedule.

This is a mandatory field.

Maximum Number of Appointments

{All Methods}

This is the maximum number of interview appointments that a parent can request for this PTI conference.

The default maximum has been set up using program Student Admin > Teachers Records > Parent Teacher Interviews > PTI Setup but can be overridden for this PTI conference if required. The ‘Maximum Number of Appointments’ field in PTI Setup also determines if the maximum number is based on ‘Per Student’ or ‘Per Parent’. If the PTI Setup field is blank, ‘Per Students’ will be used as the default setting for this PTI conference.

If the 'Maximum Number of Appointments' is set to an odd number, the halved amount is rounded up for each Parent account login (where the 'Per Student' option is selected).

Parents can book unlimited appointments if the 'Maximum Number of Appointments' fields are blank in both PTI Setup and PTI Conferences.

Allow Subject Preferences

{Methods 1 & 2}

Tick this checkbox to allow teachers using Staff Kiosk to be able to add preferences to the subjects for which they want to have appointments allocated first, e.g. A teacher takes Maths, Physics and PE. The teacher would like priority allocation of interviews to be given to Maths and Physics.

The allowing of subject preferences is only relevant when the 'Appointment Allocation Method' for this PTI conference is Method 1 – 'Parent Preference Order and Teacher Subject Weightings'. The checkbox will not be active if you are using Method 2.

This option may also be disabled due to a parameter setting in TASS.web program Student Admin > Teachers Records > Parent Teacher Interviews > PTI Setup.

{Method 3}

Not relevant for this method. The checkbox is not active.

Allow Split Appointment Times

{All Methods}

Tick this checkbox to allow teachers using Staff Kiosk to be able to split appointment times, e.g. A teacher may be oversubscribed and decide to split an appointment slot into two to be able to see more parents.

This option may be disabled due to parameter settings in program Student Admin > Teachers Records > Parent Teacher Interviews > PTI Setup.

Allow Teachers to alter their Availability in Staff Kiosk

{All Methods}

Tick this checkbox to allow teachers using Staff Kiosk to be able to block out appointment times for a conference using Staff Kiosk, e.g. A teacher is not available for part of a session.

This option may be disabled due to parameter settings in program Student Admin > Teachers Records > Parent Teacher Interviews > PTI Setup.

Allow Teachers to maintain/change Appointments in Teacher Kiosk 

{All Methods}

Tick this checkbox to allow teachers using Staff Kiosk to be able to change appointment times for a conference using Staff Kiosk.

*Pre-Release Review Open/Close

{All Methods}

Enter the open date and time and close date and time.

During the 'Pre-Release Review' period for this PTI conference (providing that program Student Admin > Teacher Records > Parent Teacher Interview > Generate Conference Schedule has been run) teachers are able to use Staff Kiosk to:

• Review the conference schedule.

• Prioritise subjects (if the 'Allow Subject Preferences' checkbox above has been selected).

• Split appointment times (if the 'Allow Split Appointment Times' checkbox is selected).

• Block appointment times (if the 'Allow Teachers to alter their Availability in Teacher Kiosk' checkbox above has been selected.

• Add required students/teacher interview requests.

{Method One} Parent preference order and Teacher subject weightings'

or

{Method Two} Appointments allocated on a first in first served basis'

{Method Three} Direct selection of appointment times by Parent

Multiple interviews can be booked by the parent for the same teacher

Select this option to allow parents to book multiple appointments for the same teacher in Parent Lounge.

For example, a student might have the same teacher in two separate subjects, using this option will mean the parent will be able to book an appointment for each subject.

Only one interview is able to be booked by the parent per teacher

Select this option to restrict the number of appointments that parents can book for the same teacher in Parent Lounge to one appointment.

For example, a student might have the same teacher in two separate subjects, using this option will mean the parent will only be able to book one appointment to cover all subjects.

*Parent Bookings Open/Close

{Methods 1 & 2}

Enter date/time

This is the time period during which parents can lodge their requests for appointments using Parent Lounge.

These dates/times are used to open and close the Parent Lounge access for parents to indicate their availability for the interview conference and request interviews with teachers.

Teachers do not have access to the PTI conference through Staff Kiosk between these date/times.

{Method 3}

Enter date/time.

The 'Parent Bookings Open' date/time is used to open the Parent Lounge access for parents to book interviews with teachers.

The 'Parent Review Close' date/time (below) is used to close the Parent Lounge access for parents to book interviews with teachers.

The 'Parent Bookings Close' date/time is NOT used under this method.

Teachers can maintain their appointment schedule from the 'Parent Bookings Open' date/time setting until the day prior to the conference, provided the 'Allow Teachers to maintain/change Appointments in Teacher Kiosk' checkbox has been selected above.

Parent Review Open/Close date/time

{Methods 1 & 2}

Parents are able to review their allocated appointments and alter their availability to make additional appointments if any free appointments exist (on a first-in basis).

Teachers are able to alter their appointment schedule from the 'Parent Review Open' date/time values until the end of the conference if the 'Allow Teachers to maintain/change Appointments in Teacher Kiosk' checkbox is selected.

{Method 3}

The 'Parent Review Open' date/time is NOT used under this method.

The 'Parent Review Close' date/time (below) is used to close the Parent Lounge access for parents to book interviews with teachers.

Send SMS Reminder

Tick the box to enable SMS reminders to be sent to parents with bookings.

The message that will be sent to parents is defined in TASS.web program Student Admin > Teachers Records > Parent Teacher Interviews > PTI Setup.

*Reminder Date and Time

When the above is ticked, the date and time fields become available to enter the date and time that the reminder SMS should be sent.

The reminder date and time must be:
  - Method 1 or 2:  after the Parent Review Close Date/Time
  - Method 3:  after the Parent Bookings Close Date/Time
  - less than the Conference Date and Start Time

The actual time the SMS is sent may vary depending on a number of factors. It is recommended that you consider sending the SMS at least 24 hours before the start of the Conference.
SMS that remain to be sent after being scheduled can be viewed in the SMS Queue Maintenance screen, with the option to Cancel if necessary.