Examtimetable System (User Guide)
1 Contents
2 Introduction This is a user guide for the exam timetable system developed in-house for the University of Warwick. The system is designed to –
Admin staff group functionality:- Publish a specific profile. View timetable of students based on enrolment status. Generate various reports. Change details for special needs (time/room/ seat) Allocate seat numbers for special exam rooms. View timetable of any student (this can be done by any staff member also).
Students: View timetable corresponding to the published profile only (as PDF).
3 Permissions The system is currently accessed by the admin group (Exam Team) and students/staff. Admin staff needs to be in a particular web group (in-examtimetable-adminstaff) to access system set up pages. Students can view their own timetable where as staff can view timetable of any student.
4 System Set up You can configure various parameters through this menu option. These parameters are configurable –
Examprofile (exams are displayed based on this profile selected)
Instructions (displayed in exam PDF)
Ett header (displayed in exam PDF)
Header for special needs (displayed in exam PDF)
1 Start seat no. for special needs (used in Seat allocation batch process – separate menu option)
Test student id (in case you want to login as an external member and try to see timetable of a student. The system will display timetable of this id)
Before exams are made public, exam team runs some SITS process which generates data in SITS exam tables. Once that is done, exam team uses this system to choose a profile and set publish flag to yes. In case you want to test exams for a new profile but don’t want students to view them, you can set the publish flag to No. Students get a message when they login – “No exams are published yet”
5 Viewing Exams Students can view exams only if they have been published (flag that admin staff can set to yes through system set up menu option). Users would need to click View timetable menu option to view exams. If the publish flag is no, this is what students see -
2 If exams are published, you will be able to see exams by clicking view timetable
3 Staff can view exams for any students if they are published by admin staff.
6 Changing Room/Time Info for Special needs
You can update room /time info for special needs by clicking Room/Extra Time allocation menu option. This can only be done by the admin staff (in-examtimetable-adminstaff) or if you are in this web group - in-examtimetable-specialstuviewstaff. System displays this info in exam pdf view and various other reports. Staff can update this info through SITS client directly (they will have to manually retrieve a student and update this info. There is no batch update facility through client).
If you need to change info for a particular slot, just enter a slot id otherwise leave that blank if you need to retrieve all slots and update info for various records in one go.
4 Once you press generate button, info is retrieved from SITS
System will ask you to confirm you choices when you modify room/time info. You can select all, deselect all through user buttons. Once you have chosen records, you would need to press allocate button and this will take you to a screen where you can see your criteria selected.
5 The user has chosen two records and need to modify room and time. When he presses allocate button, this screen will be displayed –
You can save your changes or go back to modify or press cancel button. The data is updated in SITS through RMI service if you save your changes.
6 7 Allocation of seat numbers (Batch Seat allocation)
Admin staff needs to allocate seat numbers for special exam rooms. User can press allocate seat button and all special student exam slot rooms will be allocated a seat number (this excludes rooms that are set as INDEPT). The seat number will start from a value as set in this system set up screen field – Start Seat no. The seat allocation status field will b e changed to Allocated if user presses Allocate seat button.
7 By clicking View Seats tab, you can see this screen -
If you want to change seat numbers you can click Edit button and manually update that exam slot record
Once you have done changes you can click Update Seat button. This will update data in SITS through SITS RMI service.
8 8 Report Generation Various BIRT reports can be generated by clicking Report Generation menu option. Data is retrieved from SITS through JNDI pool
If you want to see bundle sheet report, just click the Bundle Sheets link and that will generate this screen (You can type values in the criteria box or leave them as % if you want to retrieve all data) -
9 10 You can retrieve reports again by clicking Run report icon.
Reports can be exported to pdf/doc and other versions by clicking export report icon
This will display a box and you can export data to different outputs –
11 9 Application Exam timetable system can be found by typing this URL - https://examtimetable.warwick.ac.uk
10 Who can access the system? Exam timetable can be accessed by both staff and students. Staff can view timetable for any student.
11 What can admin staff set up?
Admin staff can configure various parameters. These parameters are configurable – Current exam profile – Admin staff can choose a profile and students can view timetable corresponding to the chosen profile Publish – If the flag is yes then only students can view timetable. Instructions/ Header info – These get displayed in PDF when students view time table The members of a specific web group are recognised as admin staff. IT staff can add members to this group based on the request from exam office team.
12 Where is the timetable data held? The exam info is stored is SITS and the ETT system interacts with SITS through the RMI service.
13 How can I view timetable of another profile?
12 Currently you can only view exams of the profile that have been published by the exam office. There is a future enhancement where students can choose a profile and view exams corresponding to that profile.
14 How can I see system set up menu option? You need to be in this web group - in-examtimetable-adminstaff
15 How can I update special student room info? You need to be in this web group - in-examtimetable-specialstuviewstaff or in-examtimetable- adminstaff. If you are use Room/Extra Time Allocation menu option
16 Why can't I see exams? You can only see exams corresponding to the profile that has been published by the exam office. If the exams are not yet published, you won't see any data. If the exams are published and you get a blank page make sure you have adobe installed. There is a known issue with some safari versions. In case you are trying to view pdf document in safari and it doesn't work, use other browser (example - Firefox/IE). If it still does not work, raise call to IT helpdesk.
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