Mar 1, 2021

There are two ways of using the Student Attendance Register.  You can use it to mark rolls and process absence notifications, or you can import absence information and process the notifications.  Either use requires some information to be loaded, essentially student and parent information, optionally class information. Student, Parent and Class information You should import […]

May 4, 2020

Running your first round of interviews can be somewhat daunting to begin with.  It’s a new system to learn and may take you a little while to learn the idiosyncrasies of this particular application.  Be assured however that we have designed SOBS to be easy to use and will give you as much help as […]

Mar 27, 2019

Resource Booking requires some configuration before we can start making bookings. There are 3 steps: Enter your calendar / timetable details Configure your categories and resources Load your staff Setting up your calendar and timetables: Calendar setup Before setting up your resources, we recommend you have a quick brainstorm of the resources available at your […]

Jan 23, 2018

A general introduction to using the Detention System Core functionality The purpose of the detention system is to enable staff to record details about the detention event.  The recording of the event includes the ability to include a list of students.  The student names can be entered manually, or selected from a search result of […]

A short article that helps you understand the process to creating your first permission slip. What you need to know Until recently ‘permission slips’ were a paper based request passed to the parent to complete a set of questions required for an activity or excursion run by the school. Today our information centric world provides […]

If this is your first time using Sobs School Notices then this is the article for you.  We will try and step through the process and explain the various stages of configuring the system for your school, however we realise that many schools will configure the system in different ways and for their individual requirements. […]

Aug 5, 2024

Six months ago we implemented the disabling and/or deleting of inactive accounts – this is a “good practice” security measure recommended for all technology systems that care about security and data privacy.  The default policy is to disable inactive accounts after a period of six months, however each school can configure this period according to […]

Apr 11, 2024

Permission Slips includes the functionality to select from pre-defined lists of options.  Instead of adding all of the options into the Permission Slip, you can reference a pre-defined list, called a ‘Data list’. Creating a Data list Log into SOBS Permission Slips Click on your school name (bottom left) and then on “Data lists” Click […]

Apr 9, 2024

UPDATE: April 2024 we implemented the ability to include multiple different sessions, as might be run on a student free day.  After creating the booking round you can then add multiple Session Titles.  Lastly you configure the time slots for each session.  You can run the same session multiple times by creating multiple time slots.  […]

Mar 27, 2024

At times it is useful to be able to specify certain staff members that have special management options for a particular resource or two.  We call these peoples Resource Managers or RMs.  There are a number of reasons you might want to add an RM to a resource, and we have listed these below.  But […]

Feb 9, 2024

The enrolment form The first place to start is to configure your enrolment form.  The enrolment form is the series of questions that you want your prospective student to complete.   It can be a simple PDF with ‘fill-in-the-blank’ fields, or you can make the entire form electronic where the application captures the answer to each […]

Aug 30, 2023

We are regularly asked if it is possible to ask additional questions when a parent makes a booking using the Parent Booking application.  For example, when a parent is booking for an enrolment interview, a frequent question is in regard to the school (or pre-school) the child was attending prior to enrolling.  Similarly, a confirmation […]

Jan 10, 2023

The SOBS Car parking application is designed firstly to allocate staff parking on a fair rotation basis.  However, there are times when allocated parks may be released by a staff member if they are not at school, using alternative transport, or on leave.  To support this process we will prompt the staff member with a […]

Aug 15, 2022

Welcome to the SOBS School Calendar application.  Let’s begin by looking at the overall structure of the application. General Structure The structure of the Sobs Calendar application is somewhat different to many calendaring systems.  While Google and Outlook set up different calendars for different people and groups Sobs uses a single calendar and distinguishes events […]

Jul 18, 2022

By default we will always show the resource title on the booking – this is standard and you can’t change it.  It is however a good idea to keep those resource titles succinct, to avoid long wrapping names.   The other thing to remember is the difference between viewing your own bookings, and the bookings for […]

May 22, 2022

A voluntary classroom is one that doesn’t have any scheduled students.  Students therefore arrive and checkin, and then checkout at the end.  This function also works well with OSHC (Outside School Hours Care), as it supports a PIN number checkout process. Getting started You will need the Student Attendance application.  You can subscribe or start […]

May 4, 2022

The SOBS application does use SMS messaging as part of our application, this varies between the different applications, however when it does happen we do under certain circumstances invoice the school for these SMS messages. SMS charges When your school has generated SMS messages these will be charged at 10 cents + GST for each […]

Mar 23, 2022

Suppose you want to run some groups, perhaps tutoring, perhaps to play games, for debating, or just for discussions.  We want out groups to have four students each.  Each group is allocated to a random staff member.  How do we do this? Setting up Start with an MAI booking round – this allows multiple students […]

Mar 17, 2022

The school year levels are a bit like a spider web, they have connections to many areas within different SOBS applications.  Any change to the year levels setup will potentially have “knock-on” effects to each of the applications, so, before you rush into making lots of changes it would be a good idea to seek […]

Jan 31, 2022

We like to think as everything is available for booking, so limiting bookable times is a feature we have added somewhat reluctantly. How to setup the timetable We utilise the “multiple timetables” feature as the basis for limiting bookable times.  Essentially we are creating a timetable of bookable times.  For information on setting up multiple […]

Jan 27, 2022

This is a new feature as of January 2022. Previously we would manage this by setting up separate schools for each different timetable.  We are now supporting multiple timetables within one school.  Staff can be configured for a default timetable that will automatically apply when they log into Resource Booking, however there is also the […]

Sep 29, 2021

For the most part booking within SOBS is straight forward, a staff member has available time slots, and as the parent selects each time slot we automatically block them from booking the same time with another staff member, or the same teacher twice.  However, there are times when exceptional booking should be available, allowing parents […]

Aug 23, 2021

While the parent booking application allows the school to define ‘Open’ and ‘Close’ dates for parents to be able to access a booking round, we also needed a method for defining a current round but blocking parents from accessing it. The easiest method was to simply hide the booking button from the parent interface. So, […]

Aug 9, 2021

Moving a booking round is a complex task. For example, what happens when the original date range encompasses five days, but the new date range is only three days long – what happens to the additional time slots and bookings? Warning: if you are starting a new booking round, never reschedule a previous round. Use […]

You can easily extend a booking round by editing the booking round schedule. See this video for the simple steps: https://vimeo.com/582911895 This method works perfectly when you are extending the date range. However, if your new schedule does not include the original dates, then magical things begin to happen. See this help article for more […]

Aug 6, 2021

Firstly, start by copying the subscription URL from SOBS. Click on your name (in the bottom left corner) Click on “Profile” from the menu At the bottom of the profile you will find the “calendar subscription URL”, copy this URL (the whole line) Open up your Outlook Calendar On the Home tab, in the Manage Calendars group, and click Add […]

Firstly, start by copying the subscription URL from SOBS. Click on your name (in the bottom left corner) Click on “Profile” from the menu At the bottom of the profile you will find the “calendar subscription URL”, copy this URL (the whole line) Open up your Google Calendar page Ensure the main menu is visible […]

Firstly, start by copying the subscription URL from SOBS. Click on your name (in the bottom left corner) Click on “Profile” from the menu At the bottom of the profile you will find the “calendar subscription URL”, copy this URL (the whole line) Start your Apple Calendar application From the “File” menu select “New calendar […]

Aug 2, 2021

SOBS utilises a shared list of staff for use across all of the applications your school subscribes to. So if you are able to login into one application, it is very likely you have access to the other applications as well. When a school uses more than one application a “Switch application” link will appear […]

You can have multiple SOBS Administrators. You can allocate Administrator status to different staff for different applications. Only a SOBS Administrator will have access to the staff list, and only the SOBS Administrator can allocate a second SOBS Administrator for your school. Click on your school name (bottom left) Click on “Staff / Guests” in […]

The calendar year can only be deleted if there are no terms defined within this year. If you have accidentally created two years with the same description, simply edit the latter entry and change the description to the following year. Click on your school name (bottom left) Click on “Calendar” from the school menu Use […]

More often with primary school interviews the parent will be limited to selecting just a single staff member (or class) for each student. With secondary school interviews by default we allow parents to select multiple staff for each student. You can change this option. From the booking round settings page location the staff selection row: […]

Jul 26, 2021

Normally your classes will be identified automatically when the class data is imported from your Student Management System. However sometimes you may need to add these manually. In the above screen shot I have a single class “10E” listed, however I need to add an additional class. Click on “List classes” in the menu on […]

Jul 25, 2021

Select the booking round from those available. Click on the row to drill into the booking round settings. Scroll down to the “REPORTS” entry and click this row. A dialog will appear displaying a number of report options. Select the report you want. To view your bookings select “View by staff” – depending on the […]

May 28, 2021

LISS is a protocol allowing two different applications to directly exchange data using a standard format. (No CSV files involved) LISS supports two different modes, “PUSH” and “PULL”. This results in the protocol having four different flavours: Pushing data to some other application Receiving data that has been pushed from some other application Pull data […]

May 17, 2021

When a staff member books a room sometimes it is a change from the normal classroom the class is held in. In this instance the Room Change Notification can be used to generate a message in the School Notices. Requires Resource Booking and School Notices For this option to work you will need subscriptions to […]

Mar 2, 2021

We have applied our new style to the Student Attendance application. If you are still running version 2.3 then an upgrade option will appear for your SOBS Administrators when they login. About the upgrade We have applied the new look style to the application, so the look will be completely different, however all of the […]

Mar 1, 2021

When running regular parent/teacher interviews there are on occasion parents that we want to book interviews in order to discuss aspects of their child’s education.  To achieve this end we can configure a ‘push-request’ that will be emailed to the parent requesting them to make a booking. Where are Push Requests valid? Push Request are […]

Nov 16, 2020

Generally when staff members are adding a school notice there is no approval required. However, we are now finding instances where schools are requiring an approval process for staff (or students) to add notices. Enabling approval by Group Approval is enabled by turning on this function in a Group, and then registering the approving staff. […]

Nov 4, 2020

Generates an alert when a student exceeds a threshold number of detentions. The alerts are generated daily at 8am. Setting up your alert Click on your name in the bottom left of the screen Click on “Alerts” This will show a list of any existing Alerts you may have. Click the “Add an alert” button […]

Oct 30, 2020

This application is designed to help you with your Covid Safe plan to assist in the tracking and tracing of people who visited a particular location. Step 1 – Sign up for a trial If you are a current SOBS customer: Click on the name of your school Click on ‘view subscription’ Click on ‘view […]

Apr 18, 2020

When you first start using Permission Slips it is necessary to upload your student, parent and class data. We have a number of import options available, choose the most appropriate for your school. Import your student data, parent data, and any class data you have. This will provide the best selection options when it comes […]

We have applied our new style to the Permission Slips application. If you are still running version 2.3 then an upgrade option will appear for your SOBS Administrators when they login – you can choose to delay the upgrade a week, or apply the upgrade now. If you choose the “Upgrade now” option you and […]

Nov 19, 2019

The first question is why do we delay the booking notification? We don’t want to send you 5 different emails if you are making 5 different bookings – we want to send you a single email including all 5 bookings, including any other changes or deletions you make. Here is a sample email: How long […]

Sep 17, 2019

There are times where booking a resource is just the beginning of a process that often involves a number of other details being required.  For example when a staff member books a library space the library will have additional questions about whether a T/L is required or will A/V resources be needed.  How many seats […]

Jul 23, 2019

There are multiple options for loading staff. The most common option is to import using a CSV file. Adding each staff record manually Importing a CSV list of staff details Staff records automatically created when staff login (LDAP and SAML) Staff self-register Importing a list from OneSchool Importing a list from Kamar Importing using LISS […]

Jul 17, 2019

This option is for parents who struggle to communicate using English. The school can configure a list of translators they have available, allowing them to be booked as the parent makes their bookings. Configure the translation services you have available Select the “LOTE translators” menu entry. This will display a list of existing languages and […]

Jun 21, 2019

As a staff member you will have access to SOBS in order to perform one of these operations: View your bookings Create a list of favourite resources Book a resource Edit your own bookings Delete a booking Open this link to view / download a copy of these instructions: https://sobs.com.au/docs/sobs-rb3-staff.pdf

Jun 4, 2019

June 2019: We rolled out the first iteration of “Late Bookings”. We introduced late bookings to help manage the parents who were ringing after the booking window had closed. Sometimes there were valid reasons, sometimes they were just a few minutes late, however often they were the very parents that the teachers were wanting to […]

Mar 29, 2019

We begin with some considerations in regard to the resources you are wanting to manage within SOBS. You probably have a good idea of what needs to be managed so let’s start with those resources. Firstly we want to group these resources into categories. We suggest using categories that define resources with similar attributes. For […]

Mar 27, 2019

For many of our SOBS applications a school calendar is required so that we know when you will be at school, when you will be on holiday and possibly the timetable you are using. Below we will outline the setup for your school calendar. We will define the school year, the terms, the in-term holidays, […]

Feb 27, 2019

If you are using a multi-campus implementation of SOBS applications, you can connect the Parent Booking rounds from satellite campus’ to the main campus. Essentially this means parents will only need a single URL to make bookings at each campus. If you are using just a single school for SOBS then you don’t need this […]

Feb 4, 2019

Where you school has multiple campuses, or where a neighbouring school is also using SOBS you can configure this application to share certain resources, allowing them to be bookable by staff at the remote site. Identifying your campuses or neighbouring schools Before any sharing takes place you are required to define a relationship between the […]

Feb 1, 2019

Instructions for staff These instructions will assist your staff in marking their availability / unavailability.  There is also instructions on creating and managing time slots for those booking rounds where staff have the option of creating their own time slots: staff-instructions.pdf Instructions for parents These instructions will assist parents with the following steps: Accessing the correct […]

Jan 24, 2019

The Resource Booking application is used by many school staff, so when upgrading it is important to manage the change carefully.  The upgrade from version 2 to version 3 is a significant change to the look of the product and also the location of functions has changed. Step 1: Preparation We recommend that you start […]

Oct 7, 2018

Single Sign On (or SSO) is a fantastic option if you have the time and energy to implement it.  SSO allows your staff member to log in once and then access all your school based and web based applications without being prompted to login again. Configuration Firstly it is important to understand the configuration process […]

Jun 12, 2018

Creating an unload structure While we have the options of creating unload options for various Student Management Systems, currently the only option is to unload selected fields in a CSV format.  Below we document the process of how to create these structures and then how to select students for inclusion in the unload. Beginning from […]

Jan 28, 2018

Running your first round of interviews can be somewhat daunting to begin with.  It’s a new system to learn and may take you a little while to learn the idiosyncrasies of this particular application.  Be assured however that we have designed Sobs to be easy to use and will give you as much help as […]

Jan 23, 2018

The public display of room and resource booking information is dynamic and time appropriate.  You can use this, for example, outside a library or at the entrance to a number of computer labs or meeting rooms can be found.  The purpose is to show time critical information about what bookings exist for these shared areas, […]

The applications comes pre-configured with a number of subjects and co-cirruculars, however you can modify these as required. Building your subject / co-cirrucular choices In the Configuration menu click the “Subjects” link This page allows you to manage all of your subjects and co-cirriculars in one place.  Each subject and co-cirricular is grouped beneath a […]

The application requires an existing student list in order to provide identification and verification.  This is important to ensure students selections are not compromised. Importing student information We design the import process to handle student data in a number of standard formats.  The majority of schools are using a Student Management System, and the majority […]

We use the terminology of “a round” to refer to the process of requesting a selection from students.  This can be a selection of sports or co-cirriculars, or a selection of academic subjects or electives.  It can apply to the entire student body or a particular year level.  The rest of this article explains the […]

In keeping with some of the other documentation we have provided, below you will find links to a help document for parents and students.  You can download and modify these documents as you wish.  We have included documents in different formats for this purpose. URL access to the site We strongly recommend that you include […]

If your school is using both the Subject Selection and Parent/Teacher Interview applications then you might choose to use both applications together, allowing the parent/student to select the subjects and then book an interview to discuss this with one of the course counselling staff at the school. Linking your SS round with a PT round […]

The Student Attendance Register has two main components:  The roll marking and the absence notice processing. Roll Marking Simplify – when the staff member logs into SAR they are prompted with a list of classes they teach.  They select a class and the list of students in that class appear on the screen.  Each student […]

There are two ways of using the Student Attendance Register.  You can use it to mark rolls and process absence notifications, or you can import absence information and process the notifications.  Either use requires some information to be loaded, essentially student and parent information, optionally class information. Student and Parent information You should import your […]

There are always a few things to do in order to get started at the beginning of each new year, so this article should lead you through the necessary steps with regard to the SOBS Student Attendance Register. Updating Staff There will generally be a few staff changes each year so let’s start there. Adding […]

The following article explains the daily process the school will use to create SMS messages and responses, generate emails and print notices Updating the student and parent information SOBS relies on student and parent information being current.  If there are new enrolments or students exiting, it may be necessary to update the student and parent […]

We have included some generic instructions for staff to use this system.  You are welcome to share these with the staff at your school, or you may choose to use them as notes for training sessions with staff. URL access to the site We strongly recommend that you provide your staff a link to the […]

You can configure a short event list for display on your school’s home page.  The idea is appealing to many schools, however with so many different page themes to contend with we needed to implement this with the flexibility to handle anything the school’s web designer would throw at us. For this reason we publish […]

The structure of the Sobs Calendar application is somewhat different to many calendaring systems.  While Google and Outlook set up different calendars for different people and groups Sobs uses a single calendar and distinguishes events based on the category selected.  Categories are significant and therefore the first areas that we should consider when setting up […]

Providing student (or parent) access to the school notices is a great idea.  Now that they are online we want people to be able to access them electronically, however we are also concerned about the security that needs to be retained.  With a paper notice we would always know where the information was, and copies […]

You can configure Sobs to send school notices to your students, however there are a couple of different methods: You may have a generic email account for each year level; or You may have an individual email address for each student Simply put we configure a user account to receive these notices but we disable […]

Here at Sobs we do not condone or encourage the use of printed notices and the significant waste of paper caused by their printing.  We do encourage the use of electronic delivery. We do understand however that any system requires a transition period, and therefore the managed migration of school notices from paper to electronic […]

There may be occasions when you want to send out some notices to staff before the next school term starts.  Below we describe how to do this. How to send out notices during the holidays Ensure you are logged in as a Sobs administrator Enter the notice as normal (it will automatically schedule for the […]

At the beginning of 2016 we rolled out a new version of the School Notices application.  This document will help you migrate from the previous version to the 2016 updated version. The pre-2016 version grouped notices by year level. The 2016 update is designed to provide the ability for individualised notices to every staff member […]

We have included some generic instructions for staff to use this system.  You are welcome to share these with the staff at your school, or you may choose to use them as notes for training sessions with staff. URL access to the site We strongly recommend that you provide your staff a link to the […]

SOBS has a flexible but simple reporting tool that is accessible by all staff.  Staff can create and store their reports, or schedule them to run on a regular basis. Creating Reports When logged into SOBS, click on your name (bottom left) and then on ‘My reports’.  This will display a list of your reports.  […]

Writing reports is fairly straight forward, however there are times when staff find it difficult and they need some help.  Rather than writing more manuals with long and tedious descriptions it is easier to simply look at the user’s report and work out what they are doing wrong.  To do this we implemented an option […]

Where you school has multiple campuses, or where a neighbouring school is also using Sobs you can configure this application to share certain resources, allowing them to be bookable by staff at the remote site. Identifying your campuses or neighbouring schools Before any sharing takes place you are required to define a relationship between the […]

Booking Types is an optional component that you can configure for use in your school.  It is not activated by default. Enable Booking Types You will need to be logged in as a Sobs administrator. Click on your school name (bottom left) and then on “App configuration” Click on “Resource Booking” in the menu (top […]

You may define an additional text field that is displayed on the booking form. Currently Sobs includes a ‘Reason’ field for staff to record the reason for a booking.  This could be a class, a subject, or both, or something altogether different.  The reason field can also be left blank.  We don’t force the staff […]

There are times where booking a resource is just the beginning of a process that often involves a number of other details being required.  For example when a staff member books a library space the library will have additional questions about whether a T/L is required or will A/V resources be needed.  How many seats […]

Files can be attached to bookings.  You can add a single file to a booking or multiple files.  Originally the purpose of this feature was to attach risk assessment reports to science lab lessons.  However you can add files to bookings for multiple purposes.  They could be lesson plans, music or video files to be […]

The approval process is designed to require a booking to be passed by an appropriately authorised staff member for approval.  This staff member has the power to approve or cancel any booking for specific resources. The Resource Manager For a staff member to approve bookings they must have the security of a Resource Manager (or […]

A description of the process that Sobs uses for approvals Selection for approval processing Firstly, only selected resources will use the approval process.  The default in Sobs is that no approval is necessary, however if approvals has been enabled for a resource then all booking requests will initiate the approval process, with the exception of […]

You can create a group of resources, this allows you to book the entire group with a single booking. A good example of this might be a multi-purpose centre where there is also a stage area, a foyer and a kitchen.  You can book each area separately, or you can group the resources into a […]

Sometimes you may need to make a resource appear in two different categories.  For example, a computer lab may by part of the computer labs category but also a member of a category for rooms with IWBs or Audio/Visual capabilities. Overview Create the resource as normal in the first category (either). In the alternative category […]

Generally resources are bookable to all staff, however SOBS includes the facility to limit who can see or book a resource. Defaults By default a resource will be viewable and bookable by any staff member. Restricted staff access You can restrict access to a resource.  This will enable only specified staff to book this resource. […]

There are a number of options with regard to time constraints on bookings: Limit to how far ahead a user can book a resource Force bookings to be made a certain time in advance Booking ahead: Security roles vs Category This option allows the manager to configure how far in advance a staff member will […]

One of the questions we receive from a number of schools is how to stop teachers booking multiple rooms in a single period – surely they can only be in one place at a time. Our first question was to ask whether we do want to restrict a teacher to booking a single room, and […]

Time tabling applications are used within most schools to organise a schedule of classes, teachers and rooms.  There is an overlap between the time tabling application and our Room and Resource booking application, where some rooms may have scheduled classes and are therefore not available for general booking.  To support this we have developed a […]

There is a procedure for importing data from BookIt, however it is not designed for repeat use but an ad-hoc process. Import Steps In the ‘School settings’ page click on the ‘RB’ tab.  Click the ‘Edit’ button and scroll to the bottom, check the option for ‘Import from BookIt’ and then ‘Save’. (You should uncheck any […]

There are a number of ways of deleting bookings, depending on your available security. Delete a Single Booking To delete a single booking click on the booking in the calendar as though you are going to edit the booking.  When the edit screen is displayed you will find a ‘Delete’ button in the bottom right […]

Generally when a repeat booking is created the system will automatically remember the bookings and displays a repeat icon on the calendar display.  However, for some schools when their bookings are imported the repeat option is not available and individual bookings are generated.  Sobs can now attempt to identify a group of repeat bookings and […]

Firstly we should stress that SOBS is firstly a booking system and secondly an issue/return system.  This option will not have all of the functionality of a library system, in fact it is focused very much around having a booking in place before an item is issued. Purpose The purpose of the Issue/Return system is […]

When we originally designed the Room and Resource Booking system we wanted to keep the information and requirements flexible, however over time we are accepting there are times when we do want to make some information mandatory. The Reason Field (Since 2.1c) We now have an option to ensure the Reason field contains some (any) […]

There are a number of different methods of notification that we will try and explain in this article so you can choose the one that is right for you. Staff notification of today’s bookings Staff can select a ‘Notify-daily’ option on their profile.  When checked they will receive an email each morning notifying them of […]

In most instances the school rooms and resources will be booked using the standard timetable periods.  There are however instances when the booking of a resource benefits from using standard time-based schedule, ie booking specific hours or half-hourly slots. Configuring a time-based booking schedule Time-based booking schedules can only be configured for categories, they can’t […]

We were recently asked if there were any generic help documents that could be provided to staff.  We thought this was a good idea so we created an article on how to book a room or resource.  If you think this is useful and would like more articles that can be used by staff please […]