Overview

The Events module is where Excursions and Camps are managed for your school.

Staff can create an event to include all the applicable information including arrangements, costings and risk management; it can then go through an approval process, parents can provide consent/payment and attendance data can also be recorded at the time of the activity.

Events can be used for compulsory single session excursions or camps and compulsory multi-session excursions or camps.
For schools using CompassPay with the Events Online feature enabled, additional features such as Opt-in events, Risk Management, Additional Questions in Events, Parent Volunteers, Event Payment Plans (this also requires the Payment Instalment module) and the Action Centre in the parent portal are accessible.

This article will cover the process for creating Single Session and Multi Session events.  For information on opt-in events, please refer to the 'Opt In Events' article from our Knowledge Base.

Creating an Event

To create a new Event, go to the Organisation menu (grid icon) and select 'Events'. This will take you to the Events Dashboard.

Click the 'Create New Event' button.

Select the appropriate template for your event and click the 'Create New Event' button. The templates available are set up by administrators at your school.

After clicking the 'Create New Event' button you'll be taken to your new event's Dashboard. You should fill this out as per your school's event/excursion policy. Fields marked with a small red star are mandatory.

     

FIELD	PURPOSE	VISIBLE TO STUDENTS/PARENTS
Event Name	Type in the title of your event.  This is what the event will display as on schedules, consent forms and in the payment/consent section of the parent portal.	Yes
Event Description	Provide a brief overview and the purpose of the event.  This will be included on the consent form and in the event details on schedules.	Yes
Additional Event Details	This is optional and content will be included in consent forms.  Can be used for any additional information students/parents need to be aware of for the event.	Yes
Dress Code	Provide information regarding the attire students are to wear for the event i.e. school uniform, neat casual etc.	Yes
Transport	Type in the applicable transport for the event.	Yes
Consent	Tick the box if parent consent is required for this event.	Yes
Default Cost per-attendee	If students are required to pay an amount for attending the event, set the amount here.	Yes
Paper consent/payment forms returned to	When consent is required for an event, you can type in this field to who or to where the forms are to be handed in.  This information will print on the consent forms.	Yes
Consent/Payment	When consent/payment is required for an event, set the due date for this to be received.  If online consent/payment is enabled for the event, it will stop at 11:59pm on the due date specified.  Please note that parents can edit any already submitted consent information up until the due date.	Yes
*CSEF	Ticking this will allow eligible parents to have CSEF/Credit Balance as a payment option for the event (only available for Victorian Public Schools).	Yes
Online Processing	Tick this if you want to allow online processing of consent/payment for the event.  This will mean parents can consent/pay via the parent portal.  Please note this option is only available for schools who have the online payment feature enabled.  Please contact our Support Team via support@compass.edu.au for further assistance.	Yes
Only Print Mandatory Questions	Tick this if you only want mandatory event Questions to print on the paper consent forms.  Leave unticked if you want all event Questions to print on paper consent forms.	Yes
Opt-In Event	This is for use when the event you are creating is not mandatory but rather an event you can invite attendees to opt into.  Please see the 'Opt In Events' article for further information.  The additional fields, 'Detected Clashes', 'Invite All' and 'Attendee Limit' relate to Opt In events.	Yes
Allow Declines	Ticking this will give parents the option to decline non-opt-in events during the online consent process if their child is not permitted or unable to attend the event.	Yes
Action plan review	Tick this option if you require parents to review any current Action Plans on file for their child's medical conditions when they are consenting/paying online for this event.	Yes
Administration Details	Type in any additional information you want to record for internal purposes i.e. staff related information	No
Roll Marking Mode	Set the default Roll Marking Mode for the event from the available options.	No
Attendance Mode when marked Present	Set the Attendance Mode for the event.  This will be the attendance code recorded for the attendees when marked Present on the event roll.  Please note this will only apply when the roll marking mode for the event session is set as 'Normal' or 'Intelligent'.  When the roll marking mode is set as 'Roll Only' or 'No Roll', no  attendance data is recorded in relation to the event for the attendees for inclusion in attendance records submitted to the DET.	No
Create Chronicle entry when marked Present or Late	When a student is marked Present or Late in any of this event's sessions, a Chronicle entry will be created on their student file to note their participation in the event (please note, only one entry is created per event, not an entry per session within the event).	No
Faculty/KLA	Select the Faculty/KLA that this event will be associated to.  This may impact the first person in the approval chain process where the 'Include Faculty/KLA Manager' option is checked within the event template being used.	No
Risks	Tick to indicate you have read and understand the DET event planning guidelines.	No
School Council Approval	Tick if the event meets the guidelines for requiring School Council approval at your school.	No
DET School Activity Locator	Staff with access to DET SAL can use this link to enter required event information.	No
Date	For a single session event, select the date for your event. Note:You can skip adding session information in this screen and add it when the event is created.  For a multi session event, leave this field blank and you will add the sessions later in the process.	Yes
Start/Finish	For a single session event, select the start/finish time for your event. For multi session events, enter the start/finish details for the first session, you can then either use the Repeat option on this screen to create the subsequent sessions or do this at a later point in the process once the Event is created as a Draft.	Yes
Repeat	This is the standard Repeat modal used across Compass.  You can use this if you want to generate multiple sessions for this event.  Please note you can also do this from the event's dashboard at a later time while the event is in Draft mode.	n/a
Campus	Select the applicable Campus for an event being held onsite at your school.  Select 'Off Campus' if the event is being held at a different location.	Yes
Room	For an event at your school, select the applicable room.	Yes
Custom Location	If the event at your school is not being held in a room from the available room list, type in the location. Alternatively if the event is off campus, type in the location.  For multi session events leave blank.	Yes

*Please Note: The option to pay via CSEF Funds is only available for Victorian Public Schools.

Once you have entered the required details click 'Save'.

          
Once you click 'Save', the event will be created in draft mode and you will be directed to the dashboard of your event. 

Event Dashboard

     

There will be a warning in yellow near the top of any key information that needs to be added.
You can review any of the information you have included and if you need to edit aspects, click the 'Edit' option in the top right.   

Please note:If you need to change the event from being a mandatory event to an Opt In event, you can only do so before attendees have been added to the event; once attendees have been added - even if they are removed - you cannot change the event type.

Adding Sessions

Now that you have the draft of your event created, if it is a multi session event and you didn't add all your sessions when initially creating the event, you can add sessions now.

If it is a single session event and you added this information in the previous step, move to the next section of this article 'Adding Attendees'.

To add sessions you either add them one at a time if they are across an inconsistent range of dates/times or you can add them in batches if they repeat at the same time across a series of dates.

Add an Individual Session:

Click 'Add Session'.
    

Select the Date and Start/Finish times for the session.  Add the applicable Location information and adjust the Roll Marking mode if needed.  Click 'Save & Close'.

     

You will then see the session listed on the Dashboard tab.  Click 'Add Session' again to add the next session.  Continue to do so until all sessions for the event are added.
     

Add Sessions in Batches:

If you have an event that will have sessions regularly you can add the sessions in a batch i.e.Students having swimming lessons over a period of a few weeks.  Click 'Add Sessions'.

Select the Date of the first session, and also the Start/Finish time for the first session (if you already added the first session when you created the event, add the Date/Time of the next session).  Add the Location information and adjust the Roll Marking Mode if needed.

      

Tick the 'Repeat' option.

     

Add the frequency for 'Repeat Every' and the date of the last session in 'Weeks Until' i.e. If students were swimming every Monday, Wednesday, Friday in the morning for 3 weeks, you would put '1' for 'Repeat Every' (as the sessions are each week) and then the date of the last lesson for 'Weeks Until'.

     

Next, click the days of the week the sessions need to be created for i.e. if swimming lessons are Monday, Wednesday, Friday each week for three weeks, tick the boxes for those days of the week.

    

Then click 'Save & Close' and the sessions will be created.
    
      
You can continue to add batches or add individual sessions until all session of the event are listed.

For information on how to edit sessions, please refer to the 'Managing Events' article from our Knowledge Base.

Please Note: All Attendees added to the event will be on the Roll for each session of the event.

Adding Attendees

The next step will be to add Attendees.  To do this, click to the 'Attendees' tab.
     

This tab includes the standard modal used in Compass for adding students.  You can add by individual, year level, form, class and a range of other options.  Use the drop down box for the field you want to use to select your student or cohort of students.  Click the associated 'Add' button to add the user/users you have selected.

There are further options available by clicking the 'Advanced' button.  This will assist if you need to add by bulk ID code or add some external students.

When you have added all the applicable students to the event, they will be listed in the lower section of the Attendee tab.
     

You then need to click to the 'Staffing' tab to add staff to the event.

Adding Staff

     

By default, you as the event organiser will be included as an attending staff member.  If you are not attending, untick the 'Event Organiser Attends Event' option.

If all staff are attending the event, click the 'Add' button associated with the 'All Staff' option.

If only some staff are attending the event, add them one by one by typing their name in the 'Add Individual' field and clicking the associated 'Add' button.

Attending Staff will then be listed in the lower section.  Please note if the Event Organiser is set as attending the event, they will not show in the 'Attending Staff' list.
     

Volunteers

If you require parent volunteers for the event, click to the 'Volunteers' tab.
     

Add the parents you want to invite to volunteer at the event.

For details on how to manage event volunteers, please refer to the 'Event Parent Volunteers' article from our Knowledge Base.

Adding Costings

If you want to list costings for the event for record keeping purposes, you can click to the 'Cost Incurred' tab.
Here you can add each cost item for the event by clicking 'Add New Cost Item'.
     

If you do not want to record the event costings, you can move straight to the 'Resources' tab.

Payment Plan

For information on having a Payment Plan for your event in which parents can pay for the event via instalment, please refer to the 'Event Payment Plans' article from our Knowledge Base.

Please Note: This tab will only show if there is a cost per attendee for the event and the school has the Payment Instalment module enabled.

Adding Event Resources

The Resources tab is where you can upload additional reference material for students and parents in relation to the event.  Things like a list of what to bring for a camp, an itinerary etc could be added here.  When the event is approved and published, these items, depending on the permission settings you apply, will be accessible to student attendees and their parents via their portals.
To add content, click the Folder that you want to add Resources to and then click 'Add Content'.
     

You can pull content from School Resources into an event by right-clicking the folder in the event (on the event Resources tab) and choosing the option 'Pull from School Resources'.

     

To set the Permissions as to whether staff, students or parents can access a resource, select the content item, or folder, and click the 'Edit Permissions' button. 
     

Set the access level you require for that item.

     

If you have selected a Folder and you want any content in that folder to have the same permissions as the folder, tick the 'Apply to all child resources' option.

You can add resources to an event while it is in Draft mode or when submitted for approval.  Once the event is fully approved, only staff with the EventsAdmin permission can edit/add resources to an event.

Example: Parent view of an Event Resource (they click to open it).
     

If you do not want to upload any Resources at this time, you can click straight to the 'Risks' tab.

Adding Risks

The Risks tab is where you can manage risks associated with the event.  Your school may have added some default risks to the template you chose to use when creating this event; if so, they will be listed here.  Click one of the Add options to begin adding any additional risk information.
     

If your school uses the Risk Management Bank we recommend adding your risks from this option as they will already be set up for your use. 

Alternatively you can set up your own Activities/Hazards/Control Measures for the event by clicking 'Add Activity'.  Please note that any Activity created within an event is only retained in that individual event.  For Activities that are used regularly, please speak with your school Events Administrator to have the activity added to the Risk Management Bank.

For a detailed explanation on using the Risk Management feature in Events, please refer to the 'Risk Management' article from our Knowledge Base.

Adding Questions

You can add some questions in relation to the event attendees for parents to answer when they are consenting/paying for the event and you can also add questions for parent volunteers also.  This is managed on the Questions tab.
     

There may already be questions pre-loaded here that were assigned to the template you chose to create the event from.
You can add questions from the school's Question Bank or alternatively you can create your own question by clicking 'Add Question'.  Any questions you create within the event will only be retained in that event; if it is a question likely to be re-used on other events, please speak with your school Events Administrator to have the question added to your school's Question Bank.
     

For further information on Event Questions, please refer to the 'Additional Questions in Events' article from our Knowledge Base.

Submit for Approval

Once you have worked through each of the tabs that you need to include information on, click back to the Dashboard tab.  You are then ready to submit your event for approval.  Click 'Submit for Approval' and the event will be sent to the first approving staff member in the notification chain (visible in the lower right of the Dashboard tab).  The event status will change from Draft to Pending.
     
 
If you want to check the status of your event, go to the Organisation menu (grid icon), click into 'Events'.  In the section 'My Upcoming Events' you can see in the Status column where your event is at in regards to the approval process.
     

You can also click into your event by clicking the Title to see which staff have approved it so far.  The Notification chain in the lower right corner will show which staff have approved the event so far as they will have a green tick next to their name.  Staff with the envelope icon on the right of their name are not approvers of the event but rather listed to be notified when the event is fully approved.   

     

When each staff member required to give approval has done so, you will receive an email notifying you that your event is fully approved and published.  If an approver Declines your event, you will receive an email with their reason.  Your event will show as a 'Draft' which you can then adjust per the approver's feedback and re-submit for approval if required.

When an event is fully approved, the staff member who is the final approver will be presented with the option to issue an email to parents of the event attendees to advise them of the event.  If online consent was enabled for the event, parents will have a notification on their dashboard that there is an event requiring their consent/payment. 

Events that have a 'Published' status, it will be visible on the applicable attendees and staff members' schedules.  

To manage your event, please refer to the 'Events' article from our Knowledge Base.