DOCUMENTATION

Introduction

The Documentation Module allows for the generation of mail-merged documents, which are usually letters of correspondence posted off to guardians, other schools and external organizations affiliated with the school. Information is pulled directly from the database.

Features

  • Set up MS Word document templates
  • Fields pull information directly from the database
  • All documents are mail-merged
  • The sources of data are guardians, learners and staff
  • Clone from any existing MS Word document
  • Once set up, mail-merge documents are used over and over again

 

Contents

The Documentation Module consists of the following:

Document Templates

The Templates Screen

Batch Run

 

Document Templates

In order to produce documents that can pull information directly from the TS School database, document templates need to first be set up. A document template consists of two types of text:

  • Fixed – text that never changes
  • Merge Field – text pulled directly from the database


A Practical Example:

Letters to guardians might begin as follows:

Dear Mr. Thompson
Dear Mrs. Smith
Dear Miss. Brown

As you can see, each letter begins with the word Dear, followed by a space, then the guardian’s title, followed by another space, followed finally by the guardian’s surname. Instead of having to type out a separate letter for each guardian, you simply create a single document template with both fixed and merged fields as follows:

Dear <<Guardian_Title>> <<Guardian_Surname>>

As you can see, the document template begins with the word Dear, followed by a space, then the <<Guardian_Title>> merge field, followed by another space, followed finally by the <<Guardian_Surname>> merge field.

When each document is printed, the relevant title and surname are pulled through from the database.

 

The Default Templates

Use is made of Microsoft Word documents in order to generate the various letters of correspondence. TS School ships with default templates. It's not recommended you delete or alter any of them. Rather clone from them and customize the clones to your specific requirements.

 

About New.doc

TS School ships with a blank MS Word document called New.doc, placed in the Documentation folder. TS School uses this document as the basis for creating its document templates from scratch. What happens is the blank New.doc is brought into TS School, you add your own text and save the file as something else. If this special file is deleted, TS School will simply recreate it just before it uses it.

 

The Templates Screen

The Templates screen of the Documentation module handles the creation and maintenance of MS Word document templates. The screen has the following functionality:

  • General Info
  • Previewing
  • Adding Fields
  • The Data Source
  • The Word Document
  • Cloning
  • Permissions
  • Testing

 

General Info

This section holds the following information:

  • Name – The name of the document template. The default document templates that ship with TS School all end with a “^”.
  • Description – An apt description of the document template

 

Previewing

This shows you what document template you are working with.

 

Adding Fields

The Field Tree application assists you in adding merge fields to your document.

The Field Tree

The field tree, as its name implies, is a tree structure consisting of database fields. The field tree’s name is Ft.exe (short for Field Tree executable).

When you install TS School, this small application is placed in the same folder as the TS School executable (school.exe). You can even run this exe on its own and drop fields onto any already-opened MS Word document.

Simply first place the cursor where you want a database field to be, and then select the database field by double-clicking on it. This will place the merge field in the MS Word document.

Each merge field will then be populated with the relevant data at print time.

 

The Data Source

This section has the following:

  • Source - MS Word needs to know where the data is going to be coming from (i.e. it’s source).

TS School has the following data sources:

  • Guardians
  • Learners
  • Staff

It is obviously important to get the source right. E.g. the source of data for report cards is Learners because the report cards are about individual learners, even though they may be posted off to the learner’s guardians. Invites to guardians, however, are based on guardian information (such as guardian names and addresses), and so the data source of these is Guardians. Likewise Invites to staff are based on staff information (such as staff names and addresses), and so the data source of these is Staff.

TS School goes through the data source, one record at a time and provides MS Word with the needed data at the time of print.
  • Module - In order to categorize and group your documents, you must select which module the document belongs to.


The Word Document

You have to indicate the actual MS Word document you require your template to be saved as. Although TS School refers to its templates as document templates, this terminology is not to be confused with MS Word document templates (files ending in .dot). TS School only uses normal MS Word .doc documents for its document templates. Although you can save the document as either a normal .doc document or a .dot document template, we recommend you always save them as normal .doc documents.

 

Cloning

Instead of having to re-create similar document templates, you can simply clone from an existing one and change the clone to meet your specic requirements. You can clone from:

  • A TS School document template
  • An MS Word document

 

Permissions

You may not want just anybody producing certain documents, and so permissions need to be granted to only those user groups that are allowed to produce them. Instead of having many permissions, the rule for permissions is as follows: Only indicated user groups have access otherwise all user groups have (if no user groups have been indicated).

 

Testing

This section is an extremely useful way to quickly test the document templates.

 

Batch Run

The purpose of the Batch Run screen of the Documentation Module is to identify all the people for which documents are to be printed in a single batch. For example, you may wish to send a certain letter to the guardians of all grade 8 learners in your school. These guardians are identified through one or more filters (in this case the grade filter). All the customized mail-merged letters are produced from the corresponding underlying TS School document template.

The various types of people that documents can be produced for are of course exactly the same as the data sources that drive the documents concerning them. In other words, information about guardians comes from the guardian data source, information about learners comes from the learner data source and information about staff comes from the staff data source. The various types of people that documents can be produced for are thus:

  • Guardians
  • Learners
  • Staff

 

Guardians

The guardians of certain learners may need to be sent batches of documents based on the following filters:

  • Grade - Guardians whose children are in certain grades (e.g. all guardians of grade 8 learners)
  • Class
  • Admin Class: Guardians whose children are in certain administration classes (e.g. all guardians of learners in admin classes 9A and 9B)
  • Subject Class: Guardians whose children are in certain subject classes (e.g. all guardians of learners in subject class SCI-12-O1).

 

  • Subject - Guardians whose children take certain subjects (e.g. all guardians of learners taking Science). If you want those guardians whose learners take a particular SGL (subject for a grade on a level) then filter by Subject Class.

 

  • Sport
  • Regular Sports – Guardians whose children take certain sports (e.g. all guardians of learners taking Rugby). If you want those guardians whose learners take a sport for an age group on a particular level then filter by Team.
  • Athletics – Guardians whose children take certain athletics disciplines (e.g. all guardians of learners participating in the Javelin Throw)
  • Gymnastics – Guardians whose children take certain gymnastics disciplines (e.g. all guardians of learners participating in the Rings event)
  • Swimming – Guardians whose children take certain swimming disciplines (e.g. all guardians of learners participating in Freestyle)

 

  • Team
  • Regular Sports – Guardians whose children belong to certain sports teams (e.g. all guardians of the team members of Soccer-B13-A).
  • Athletics – Guardians whose children belong to certain athletics teams (e.g. all guardians of the team members of 100sp-B13-A)
  • Gymnastics – Guardians whose children belong to certain gymnastics teams (e.g. all guardians of the team members of Horse-B13-A)
  • Swimming – Guardians whose children belong to certain swimming teams (e.g. all guardians of the team members of 50FrSt-B13-A)

 

  • Schoolhouse - Guardians whose children belong to certain schoolhouses (e.g. all guardians of learners belonging to the Blue House)
  • User Group - Guardians whose children belong to certain user groups (e.g. all guardians of learners who are library monitor users).
  • Other
  • Guardians of new learners
  • Guardians of learners receiving awards

 

Learners

Certain learners may need to have batches of documents printed based on the following filters. These individual documents (e.g. report cards) are then usually addressed to the guardians of the learners:

  • Grade - Learners in certain grades (e.g. all learners in grade 8)
  • Class
  • Admin Class – Learners in certain administration classes (e.g. all learners in admin classes 9A and 9B).
  • Subject Class – Learners in certain subject classes (e.g. all learners in subject class SCI-12-O1).
  • Subject - Learners taking certain subjects (e.g. all learners taking Science). If you want those learners taking a particular SGL (subject for a grade on a level) then filter by Subject Class.
  • Sport
  • Regular Sports – Learners taking certain sports (e.g. all learners taking Rugby). If you want those learners taking a sport for an age group on a particular level then filter by Team.
  • Athletics – Learners taking certain athletics disciplines (e.g. all learners participating in the Javelin Throw)
  • Gymnastics – Learners taking certain gymnastics disciplines (e.g. all learners participating in the Rings event)
  • Swimming – Learners taking certain swimming disciplines (e.g. all learners participating in Freestyle)

 

  • Team
  • Regular Sports – Learners belonging to certain sports teams (e.g. the team members of Soccer-B13-A).
  • Athletics – Learners belonging to certain athletics teams (e.g. the team members of 100sp-B13-A)
  • Gymnastics – Learners belonging to certain gymnastics teams (e.g. the team members of Horse-B13-A)
  • Swimming – Learners belonging to certain swimming teams (e.g. the team members of 50FrSt-B13-A)

 

  • Schoolhouse - Learners belonging to certain schoolhouses (e.g. all learners belonging to the Blue House)
  • User Group - Learners belonging to certain user groups (e.g. all learners who are library monitor users).
  • Other
  • Guardians of new learners
  • Guardians of learners receiving awards

 

Staff

The staff members may need to be sent batches of documents based on the following filters:

  • Staff Type - Particular types of staff members (e.g. Educators)
  • User Group - Staff members belonging to certain user groups (e.g. Educator Users)
  • Department - Staff members teaching subjects belonging to certain school departments (e.g. the Science Department)
  • Grade
  • Class Administrators – taking care of learners in certain grades (e.g. all grade 8 class administrators)
  • Educators – teaching learners in certain grades (e.g. all grade 9 educators)
  • Class
  • Form Class – Class administrators in charge of certain form classes (e.g. the class administrators of form classes 9A and 9B).
  • Subject Class – Educators teaching certain subject classes (e.g. the educator of subject class SCI-12-O1).
  • Subject - Educators teaching certain subjects (e.g. all educators teaching Science). If you want those educators teaching a particular SGL (subject for a grade on a level) then filter by Subject Class.
  • Sport
  • Regular Sports – Staff members coaching certain sports (e.g. all Rugby coaches). If you want those coaches taking a sport for an age group on a particular level then filter by Team.
  • Athletics – Staff members coaching certain athletics disciplines (e.g. all coaches of Javelin Throw)
  • Gymnastics – Staff members coaching certain gymnastics disciplines (e.g. all coaches of the Rings event)
  • Swimming – Staff members coaching certain swimming disciplines (e.g. all coaches of Freestyle)
  • Team
  • Regular Sports – Staff members coaching certain sports teams (e.g. the coach of the Soccer-B13-A team).
  • Athletics – Staff members coaching certain athletics teams (e.g. the coach of the 100sp-B13-A athletics team).
  • Gymnastics – Staff members coaching certain gymnastics teams (e.g. the coach of the Horse-B13-A gymnastics team).
  • Swimming – Staff members coaching certain swimming teams (e.g. the coach of the 50FrSt-B13-A swimming team)

 

  • Schoolhouse - Staff members assigned to certain schoolhouses (e.g. all staff assigned to the Blue House)
  • Other - Staff members receiving awards

 

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