How to add or edit Terms, Buildings, Rooms, Departments, Grades, and Volunteer Roles through the Lookups table

To learn how to navigate through the application, please see How to navigate the Religious Education module. There you will learn how to access the various pages and learn about the available tools.

Once you have accessed the Religious Education module, you will begin to add the basic building blocks called Lookups:

1. Click the Settings button then select Lookups.
2. The Term page is displayed, and the other lookup category options may be selected from the tabs at the top of the page.
3. Each lookup category has an add button in the column header row at the far right.
   • Once you click the add button, each page will have a Name field, an Active checkbox, and Save and Cancel buttons:    
4. Each lookup page has an edit button (pencil icon) and a delete button (trash can icon) to the right of each item that has been added for each lookup category.
   • Use the edit button to make corrections or to make a lookup active or inactive.
   • Use the delete button to delete an unnecessary lookup that is not being used in any record. If the lookup is being used in any other record, you must instead make it inactive to remove the option so it can no longer be selected when adding new records.

Lookups are used to build other components in the Religious Education Module. For example, when adding a class, you will use the values added through the Lookup Table to select a term, location, and grade.

When adding the room lookup, you must already have defined at least one building as this field is used in the room record.

Once you use a term, a building, a room, a department, a grade, or a volunteer role to create a session or a class, the edit feature will be limited. For example, once you add a session or a class to a term, the Use Sessions option may not be changed. More on that later. 

Pro-tip: Lookup options such as Building, Room, and Department are optional. However, keep in mind that in some cases these categories may be used to sort or filter reports on different pages such as the attendance page, and therefore help narrow down the results on a page.

Term (Settings → Lookups → Term)

The "Term" is the broadest timespan classes are held throughout the year. Make sure your date range includes the earliest date as well as the latest date a class or a meeting may be scheduled in the term's timeframe.

The software uses a combination of term and session information to generate an initial class schedule for classes. If you don't mark the option to 'Use Sessions' on the Term page, you will be required to add each date the class will meet manually.

In addition to the Name field and Active checkbox that are available on each of the lookup pages, the Term page has the following options: Dates, Default, Use Sessions, and Show in Online Registration.

Name: Give your term a name that will inform you of the term's parameters.  At the very least, include the date range. 

Dates: Only dates within the entered term date range can be added to a class or a session and used to take attendance. When you click into the Dates field, a 'from and to' calendar will immediately display allowing you to select the date range for your term. The date span you select here will be used as the default date span when you add a session. You may modify and narrow down the session dates to a date range within the broader term timeframe:

Note: when you click into the year selector, it may be easiest to use the down arrow on your keyboard to select a future year.

Pro-Tip: To add a date beyond this initial term date span, you must edit the term and change the second date to a later date and then go to the class schedule and manually add the later date(s).

Term Options: Below are the additional term setting options. The can be activated back clicking on the checkbox to the left of the description:

Active: Mark the Active checkbox if you plan to use the lookup going forward.

• This option may be changed at any time. At the beginning of the next term, you may come back to a term and unmark the Active option and save it.
• Any term that has been used in a class or a session may not be deleted so to reduce clutter you may simply unmark the Active option.

Default: The term flagged as the default term will be the one that is automatically chosen when a staff member first logs into the Religious Education module.  

• When you mark this option and save the term, the software will automatically unmark any other term that has been marked as the default term.

Use Sessions: We recommend marking this option if you will have classes meet regularly and need to take attendance.  It allows the session information is used to generate a class schedule quickly without adding each meeting date individually.

• When sessions are not used to define a class, you are required to manually add every date the class will meet.
• Note: Once a term has been used in any of the other Religious Education building components (class, session), this option may not be edited (to mark or to unmark 'Use Sessions.' To select this option after components are added, you must delete all data associated with the term, then edit the term to change the option.

Show in Online Registration: This option will allow those who have Online Registration set up, the option of including all the classes in a term in the Online Registration feature. This feature is under construction and will be available in the near future.

• This option may be updated even after the term has been used in any of the Religious Education building components. So, if you want to add the term now but delay having it show in Online Registration until later, you may go back in and mark it when you're ready.

Room (Settings → Lookups → Room)

In order to define a room, you first must populate the building lookup. Add at least one building, then add the rooms that go in the building.

In addition to the Name field and Active checkbox that are available on each of the lookup pages, the Create Room page has the following options: Building and Capacity:  

Name: Add the name of your room here. This name may be changed even after the room is used in another building component.

Building: This required field must have been added via the Building lookup tab on the Settings page and then selected on this page before you may save the room.

Capacity: This is optional and should be used to specify the room's maximum capacity. The number may be the number of seats in the classroom or the number of people that the room can hold.   

Active: As long as the room may be used, the Active checkbox should be marked. Only unmark the checkbox if you no longer need to use the room.

Updated March 18, 2024 17:06