Jan 23, 2018

Every so often there is a parent without internet access where the school will be required to place a booking on behalf of the parent.

The regular parent access

The simplest method is for school staff to use the parent interface to make and adjust bookings as requested by parents.  You can access the parent interface using the same method as parents do, your school will have provided instructions to parents in this regard, there may be a link directly from your school website.

Access the Parent Interface from the staff interface (especially for office staff)

1. Log into Sobs normally, you should see a list of interview rounds
2. Click the ‘Make a parent booking’ button in the Options column – this will place your staff session on hold while you make these bookings.
   1. Accessing the parent interface from this button is slightly different to the one the parents use.
   2. You may be able to make bookings before the interview round is open
   3. You may be able to make bookings after the booking stops for parents
   4. If it is a pre-selected staff type of round, you may have the option to select a staff member
   5. Be sure to read the next section for important information about entering the parent’s email address
3. The screens that follow are the same ones the parent would use – refer to the next section below.
4. When you have finished the bookings click the ‘Return to staff access’ link in the bottom of the left hand menu to return to your staff session

Make a booking using the Parent Interface

1. The first screen should prompt you to enter an email address for the parent.  If the parent has provided an email address then enter this, otherwise you can enter the parent’s name, for example: John Smith
   If you enter the parent’s name be consistent in how you enter this value, for example, always use the ‘Firstname Lastname’.  If the parent contacts you later to make an adjustment you will need to reenter this value (exactly) in order to make any modifications to the current bookings.
2. The second screen will prompt you again for the parent’s name and possibly a contact number.  Enter the name again.  The phone number if prompted is optional.
3. The third screen will prompt for the first student’s name.  If the surname matches that of the parent you only need to enter the first name for the student.  Ensure the year level selected is correct as this will determine which teaching staff are available for interviews.
   If students have been entered previously for this parent then a list of students will be displayed.
4. Once the student is entered you will have an option to ‘Book Interviews’ or ‘Adjust Interviews’, click the appropriate button.
5. For regular parent/teacher interviews you will then be prompted to select which teachers the parent wants to meet with.  Place a check in the box next to each teacher.
   For predefined teachers (eg Set plan or Subject selection interviews) the list of teachers is already defined, therefore you will skip this screen.
6. The interview booking screen will display a column for each teacher.  Scroll down to a convenient time for the parent, and a location where there are available slots (green slots).  Click a slot in each column.
   You will not be able to click slots in a single row as this would indicate you are attending interviews with two teachers concurrently, therefore as you click a time slot the other available options in that time slot will be disabled.
   When you click a time slot the other options for that teacher will also be disabled as you can only see each teacher for one time slot.
7. Click the ‘Save’ button at the top of  the page.  This will return you to the list of students.
   Repeat the booking (steps 4-6) for each student.
   You can then click the ‘Print Interviews’ button to print a list of interviews for this parent.
   If you were able to enter a valid email address for this parent you could also click the ‘Email Interviews’ button to send the interview list by email to the supplied parent’s address.

Make a booking using the Staff Interface

This is no longer an option.  The button performs the same action as the “Make a parent booking” button on the list of interviews.