Best Practices for managing student enrolments in SEQTA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Internally timetabled classes
• Synchronising timetables from an external source (externally timetabled classes)
• Recommended workflow
• What should we do if the student has arrived at school and does not have a timetable in SEQTA?
• Scheduled sync profile times
• Managing enrolments
• Addressing Incorrect Student Enrolments
• Addressing Post-Commencement Enrolment Issues
  • Timetables are synced from an external source
  • Timetables are not synced
• Requesting changes to enrolments via SEQTA Support
• Correcting past attendance
• Enrolling students into new Timetable periods in advance
• Further assistance

This article is aimed at providing processes that mitigate issues resulting from:

• Student enrolment changes during semester

• Student class changes during semester

The issues that may arise from incorrectly managing these changes include challenges in accurate and efficient attendance and academic reporting.
The best practice is to ensure that students are unenrolled from classes in the timetabling system in advance and that the changes are synchronised into SEQTA. Where the school does not sync timetable data then enrolment changes are made directly in SEQTA with careful consideration of the Effective date.

In this article, there are also some suggested methods for a school to rectify any enrolment errors that may occur. 

It is the responsibility of your school to manage and oversee timetabling and enrolments for your students. In most cases issues can be resolved by staff with appropriate permissions at the school.

In the case that a school requires further assistance to rectify erroneous enrolment data, support is available from staff at Education Horizons at an hourly rate. You can create a case via the Help Portal by clicking on the Raise a case button.

After working through this article, if you feel that additional best practice guidance is required by your school to ensure smooth administration of enrolment changes, Professional Services can provide some consultation at an hourly rate. This is particularly useful if your school has some more creative timetabling solutions. Please contact the SEQTA Support team via the Help portal. They will put you in touch with the Professional Services team to discuss your needs.

Internally timetabled classes

The process for managing enrolment changes for classes managed directly in SEQTA is outlined below. For a detailed step-by-step guide please refer to the article Enrolling and Un-Enrolling Students from Timetabled Classes (Non-Synced, Roll Classes).

Note: It's essential when enrolling and unenrolling students that the ‘Effective date’ is set correctly (as per above) on the first attempt. The system cannot enrol a student once they are already enrolled and cannot unenrol a student once they are already unenrolled.

1. Synchronise the student record from the administration system to SEQTA, or create the student record directly in SEQTA if they are not synced.
2. Enrol the student into the class or classes in SEQTA. If the student has not synced into SEQTA in time for the student's first day, ensure that you set the ‘Effective date’ to the first day they attend once they are ready to be enrolled
3. If the student attends for the entire Timetable period, then nothing further needs to be done.
4. If the student leaves part way through the year, they must be unenrolled from classes prior to the student status being changed. (This is because once their status is changed (FULL to LEFT) they will no longer appear in SEQTA). Unenrolment can be done on the student's last day, or in advance if the student has no timetabled classes.

Synchronising timetables from an external source (externally timetabled classes)

• Ensure the student start date, end date and student status are correct in the school’s administration system.
• Ensure the student is enrolled/unenrolled in the appropriate classes in the school’s timetabling system.  

Recommended workflow

• Ensure correct enrolments in the timetable system: Do this at least the day before – in most cases the timetable sync runs ‘daily’ (which is midnight or just after midnight).
• Allow the overnight sync to run: This will enrol the students in classes in SEQTA.
• If students do not have a timetable on the day they commence classes – follow the below steps:

What should we do if the student has arrived at school and does not have a timetable in SEQTA?

1. Verify student record in SEQTA: If the record is missing, check the student’s details in the Admin system and run a sync to bring the record into SEQTA. Disable the timetable components if they are in the same profile ANDthe students classes have already started.
   • If the student is not in the Admin system, raise a ticket with the school Administrator.
   • If the student is in the Admin system but still not syncing, raise a case with the SEQTA Service Desk.
   • If student records are not synced create their record directly in SEQTA > Save > then refresh before proceeding to the next step on how to enrol students into classes directly in SEQTA.
2. Verify the student’s enrolments are correct in the Timetable system – these need to be correct in the timetable data source at the time the overnight sync runs (the default time is ‘daily’ which is midnight). Once the student record is in SEQTA and the enrolment is correct in the Timetable systems there are two options:
   • If the affected students’ classes haven’t started run a manual sync via the MANAGE SYNC page in SEQTA Teach
   • If the affected students‘ classes have commenced enrol the student directly in SEQTA via the MANAGE STUDENT CLASSES page in SEQTA Teach.  Note this can also be used to retrospectively enrol student in classes - providing the student has not already been enrolled.

Scheduled sync profile times

Schools that have one data source for their Timetable and another for their Admin system may require custom sync times so they can run the syncs in the following order: Timetable sync > Admin sync > Timetable sync. 

The reason for this is:

• The Timetable sync must run before the Admin sync to ensure leaving students are unenrolled from classes before their status is changed to left – this only applies to students leaving part way through the timetable.
• The Admin sync must sync the student record into SEQTA before the timetable sync can enrol them in classes.

In short, this is the sequence in which your timetable and data sync should be running:

First Timetable Sync:

Unenroll students who left (ensure they are not in that days timetable export or datasource)

Admin Sync:

• Set new students to FULL
• Mark leaving students as LEFT
• Sync new staff

Second Timetable Sync:

• Apply classes changes (eg. add classes onto new teacher’s timetable)
• Apply enrolment changes (eg. roll out timetable for new students)

Custom sync times are also required if the updated data is not available in the data source till after midnight.  Custom scheduled sync times are only available from 11PM to 6:55AM.

For further assistance or to request custom sync times please contact the SEQTA Support team via the Help portal.

Managing enrolments

There are two main methods for managing enrolments and the one best suited depends on your school's processes, policies and Sync / Timetable setup. See below section Further assistance if unsure as to your best course of action.

1. Correct the enrolment directly in SEQTA Teach. Remember that because the timetable is synced you will also need to correct the enrolment in your timetable system before the next sync. As sync usually runs overnight you need to update your timetabling system on the same day as making the change in SEQTA.

2. Ensure enrolments are correct in the timetable system at latest the day before. Schools that sync their timetable and their admin system may require an additional scheduled time added to allow the timetable sync to run before the admin sync. Please contact the SEQTA Support team via the Help portal for assistance with this.

Addressing Incorrect Student Enrolments

The challenge of students appearing incorrectly in classes should be addressed by the school's timetabling staff. Timely resolution is essential for maintaining accurate attendance records and upholding the school's duty of care.

In the event that teachers notice discrepancies in their rolls, such as students appearing who shouldn't be there, the recommended course of action is to report it promptly to the school’s timetabling staff.

Addressing Post-Commencement Enrolment Issues

Timetables are synced from an external source

In cases where enrolment issues are not resolved in advance, there is a workaround available. Timetablers can rectify enrolment problems directly in SEQTA Teach by:

• Setting the 'Effective date' to the first date the student did not attend (for unenrolling)
• Setting the 'Effective date" to the first date they attended the class (for enrolling).

It is essential the enrolment issue also be corrected in the Timetabling system prior to the sync running to prevent incorrect enrolments from syncing back into SEQTA.

Timetables are not synced

Steps for enrolling or unenrolling students directly in SEQTA (timetabled classes):

1. Go to Administration Workspace > Timetable Management > Manage Student's Classes.

2. Select applicable Timetable Period from the drop-down list.

3. Select the Class or Classes from which you wish to enrol/unenrol the student (or students).

4. Select the student or students that need to be enrolled/unenrolled.

5. Set the Effective Date. When enrolling this will be the first day the student will be attending classes. If unenrolling this will be the first instance of the class the student does not attend. 

6. Select Enrol > OK to enrol the student into the selected classes. Alternatively, select Unenrol > OK to remove a student from the selected classes. 

7. If additional enrolment changes are required please select Clear to remove the students from the list. Deselect any selected classes, then continue with steps 3 - 7 until all the enrolment changes have been completed. 

Requesting changes to enrolments via SEQTA Support

Where there have been erroneous changes made to the enrolments for students that the school is unable to rectify internally, the Team at Education Horizons is available to assist at an hourly rate.  

For example, in the case that a school creates a new class once the semester has started and wants it to appear as though the students were enrolled from the beginning of the semester takes a skilled database support staff member a minimum of 1 hours. This is not a trivial task and care needs to be taken when working on a live database.  

Supplying detailed requirements when reporting issues will enable a more accurate estimation of the effort it will take to rectify the problem and enable our skilled staff to begin working more quickly. Please include the following information, at a minimum: 

• Student/s affected
• Class code/s
• Enrol or Unenrol student from class
• 'Backdate to' date 

Correcting past attendance

If a student is appearing in classes when they did not attend the school, an Attendance solution should be entered to prevent teachers from entering attendance for that period of time using the type ‘Not required to attend’. 

Attendance can be entered for students even if they are not enrolled in classes. However, it will only be visible under Time-based (Linear view) and will not be picked up by the Federal stats report.

Where there are small gaps in student timetable (ie. the student is missing a class), the Federal stats report will look at the Attendance for the classes they did attend that day when making the calculations. As such, some gaps in the timetable may not impact the report - the report can be printed for select students / date range to confirm. .

Enrolling students into new Timetable periods in advance

When publishing timetables in advance to facilitate teacher planning, it is best to deselect the option Synchronise student class enrolments in the Manage sync profile in SEQTA Teach. This ensures: 

• Students/parents do not accidentally see future class details until the school is ready (the timetable shouldn’t be visible to students and parents anyway, but this is an additional safeguard.).
• Running reports in SEQTA will not include future enrolments. Some of the pre-built reports may include future enrolments, including those outside the start and end date of a timetable period.  

Further assistance

The Professional Services team is available for consultation for assistance with best practices, navigating the complexities of timetabling and enrolment management. 

Click here to schedule a free scoping session.