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SIS 2000+ Track Editor

Begin Steps to Add a New Track 

General Introduction

The Track Editor program provides for an unlimited number of attendance tracks to be set up per school to allow for more flexible scheduling. A school site needs at least one attendance track to be set up in order for it to be included in most of the important SIS 2000+ programs, such as the Scheduling and Attendance modules. Each track has an event calendar associated it with plus many critical school parameters such as, positive or negative attendance, number of terms, number of periods, cycle days, bell schedules, etc.

The following is a general introduction to the main features of the Track Editor. Editing track attributes should not be attempted unless the user fully understands how a track is constructed and how the modifications may affect the Scheduling and Attendance programs. Please read all the "Steps to Add a New Track" that follow this introduction before attempting to edit.
 

Opening the Track Editor
From the SIS 2000+ Main Menu, go to the System Menu (Fig. 1) and click on the Track Editor icon.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2 - Track Editor screen, read-only mode
 

Finding a School

• When logged on to a single school site:

The Track Editor screen (Fig. 2) will always display the current school site in the School field in the upper left corner, along with a track information for the first track in the school's database: Code, track Description, and track Year End to the right side. The School field will be gray, indicating its read-only status, that is, no other school site can be selected in that field (Fig. 3).


Fig. 3
 

• When logged on to the District Office

The typical user has permission to view data from their local school site only. However, if a user with higher permission is logged on to the District Office, a list of all the schools in the district can be viewed by clicking on the field button in the School field. The desired school can then be selected from the list (Fig. 4).


Fig. 4
 
 

Or, use the List command button to view a list (Fig. 5) of all tracks created for the selected school. Select one from the list.

Fig. 5
 

View Track Attributes
The Track Editor screen layout consists of three main information screens: General, Calendar, and Definitions. Within the Calendar and Definitions screens there are information sub-screens. Click on the tab to bring forward the desired screen or sub-screen. All data is displayed in the read-only mode; signified by the gray color of most of the data fields.

• General attributes

Basic track parameters are displayed here (Fig. 6), such as first and last day of school year, periods per day, terms per year, and months per year. Periods Per Quarter Day, Half Day, Full Day, and Minutes Per Full Time Enrollment are fields for attendance reimbursement criteria. Attendance attributes can be designated as either Count Absences, Positive Attendance, or neither.


Fig. 6
 

• Calendar

Click on one of four sub-screens within the Calendar tab to view the following:
• Calendar/Events

Colored markers signify important track "events", such as the beginning and ending dates of the school year, the beginning and ending of terms, and the start and finish dates of monthly attendance periods. Markers are also placed on various school holidays and teacher inservice days.

Navigating the Calendar
The calendar can be navigated by scrolling forward or backwards through the months with the small, single VCR buttons below the calendar.



Use the double left VCR buttons to jump to the beginning of the school year or the double right VCR buttons to jump to the end of the school year. Click on the Today command button to restore the calendar to today's date (system date):


Fig. 7

Several event markers may be superimposed on one date. To view all the events of a day, click on a color-coded date until it is highlighted with a black or a white border and observe the Events list to the immediate right. Events that are scheduled for the selected day will be listed and highlighted in various colors depending on the type of event. Use the scroll bars, if necessary, to view the entire list.

Navigation Shortcut
Events can also be viewed in a read-only list format (Fig. 8) by clicking on the Show List command button. Only the days that have events assigned will be listed. Double click on an entry in the list to go to that date in the calendar view or click on the Show Calendar command button to restore the previous calendar view.


Fig. 8 - Show List view
 

• Calendar/Cycle Days

A cycle is the schedule model of courses taught in one day. A track may have more than one schedule model. If each day in a school week has the same schedule then the track has one cycle day. If there are variations in the schedule on different days of the week then a track must be defined as having 2 cycle days, or 3 cycle days, etc., according to the number of different schedule models. This parameter is defined in the General screen of the Track Editor.

By default, the first cycle day starts on the first day of the school year. Subsequent cycle days (if applicable) will be calculated and assigned in a cyclical pattern to the rest of the school days in a linear succession. The cycle days are displayed in the Cycle Days Calendar sub-screen (Fig. 9) as different colored markers in the calendar. This cyclical assignment is automatically calculated from the first to the last day of the school year. Non-school days, holidays, and other non-attendance days will be skipped over in the incrementing process, receiving no colored markers and having no effect on the alternating pattern. However, these non-attendance days can be counted in the incrementing process if desired, or, a specific day's assignment can be overridden. Furthermore, specific days may have their automatically assigned cycle days overridden by using the Lock Cycle Day function.


Fig. 9

Navigation Shortcut
Any specific day can be assigned a locked cycle day, that is, a cycle day that will not be affected by the default cycle day pattern. The location of locked cycle days, if any, can be viewed in a read-only list format (Fig. 10) by clicking on the Show List command button. Only the days that have locked cycle days will be listed. Double click on an entry in the list to go to that date in the calendar view or click on the Show Calendar command button to restore the previous calendar view.


Fig. 10
 

• Calendar/Bell Sched

Each day in the school year is assigned a color-coded bell schedule by linking a bell schedule to a cycle day. There may be more than one bell schedule created. In this case a different bell schedule may be assigned to different cycle days or a default bell schedule may be assigned to all cycle days and the secondary bell schedule used for special occasions.

The Bell Schedule Calendar (Fig. 6) will show each day's assigned bell schedule according to these parameters. Specific days may have their automatically assigned bell schedules overridden by using the Lock Bell Schedule function. In the example below, even though there are two cycle days in this track, all attendance days in September have the same bell schedule - called "Regular Day", with the exception of Fridays, which have been assigned the "Short Day" bell schedule using the Lock Bell Schedule feature.


Fig. 11

Navigation Shortcut
Any specific day can be assigned a locked bell schedule, that is, a schedule that will not be affected by the default bell schedule assignment. The location of locked bell schedule days, if any, can be viewed in a read-only list format (Fig. 12) by clicking on the Show List command button. Only the days that have locked bell schedules will be listed. Double click on an entry in the list to go to that date in the calendar view or click on the Show Calendar command button to restore the previous calendar view.


Fig. 12
 

• Calendar/Notes

Comments may be recorded for any day of the school year. Days that have comments recorded will be highlighted in yellow on the Notes Calendar (Fig. 13). Click on the target day and view the notes in the memo field to the right.


Fig. 13

Navigation Shortcut
A list of all days that have recorded notes, if any, can be viewed by clicking the Show List command button (Fig. 14). Specific days may have their automatically assigned bell schedules overridden by using the Lock Bell Schedule function. Double click on an entry in the list to go to that date in the calendar view or click on the Show Calendar command button to restore the previous calendar view.


Fig. 14
 

• Definitions

SIS 2000+ uses its own internal database codes to define periods, terms, and cycle days. In the various Definitions sub-screens these codes are mapped to user-defined codes (for ease of use) and Bell Schedules are defined. Click one of four sub-screens to view the following:
• Definitions/ Periods

The number of periods for a track is defined in the General screen. These periods are automatically assigned ascending code numbers starting from "1". The period code may be renamed with a two-digit alphanumeric value. In the example below (Fig. 15), period 5 was renamed "Lu" to help designate it as a lunch period and period 6 and 7 were renamed 5 and 6. These user-defined codes will be used when defining Bell Schedules and in various other Scheduling programs.


Fig. 15
 

• Definitions/ Terms

The number of terms for a track is defined in the General screen. The descriptions to be used for these terms are selected from a pre-defined list is this sub-screen (Fig. 16). The description codes selected in the Track Term column on the right will then be used in the Scheduling and Attendance modules when manipulating data from this track.


Fig. 16
 

• Definitions/ Cycle Days

The number of cycle days in a track is designated in the General screen. Each cycle day is then automatically assigned a numeric system code starting at "1", which appears in the far left column of the Definitions/ Cycle Days sub-screen (Fig. 17). The user then, 1) assigns a Description to each cycle day, 2) assigns a bell schedule to each cycle day, and 3) assigns a color code to each cycle day for use in the Cycle Days Calendar sub-screen (Fig. 9).


Fig. 17
 

• Definitions/ Bell Sched

Multiple bell schedules are created, named, defined and displayed in this screen (Fig. 17). In defining a bell schedule, the beginning and ending time of each period is decided. The period Length, Pass(ing) minutes, and the Total minutes are then automatically calculated. Each bell schedule created is assigned a color code for use in the Calendar/ Bell Sched sub-screen (Fig. 11).


Fig. 18
 

Begin Steps to Add a New Track