Copy Classes to a new Session

For class registrations in NeatClubs.COM, classes are group into sessions, and sessions are grouped into years.  Every occurrence of a class in the system is unique and has it's own event identifier.  For example, Parents & Tots, Fall Session, 2008 is a different event then Parents & Tots, Fall Session, 2009.  They need to be different because the properties may be different - for example you may slightly alter the schedule from year to year or session to session, you may change the rates, you may change eligibility criteria etc.

It can take a long time to get registration for a sessions setup so that we're happy with it - for this reason it is important that we be able to copy events definitions as groups from session to session. A tutorial of the process of copying events from one session to another is included below.

Example: Copying All Events in a Session.

Consider a gym where we are running a number of programs in the Summer of 2008. In this example we'll copy the same event definitions from Sumner 2008 to the Summer of 2009.  Our schedule from summer to summer may be largely unchanged however we may need to tweak items including:

Step 1: Make sure our source classes for Summer 2008 exist in the database

First, while logged in as a system administrator, select the View Event & Class Listings option under Calendar & Events as shown.

Once you've done this, you'll see the complete list of events.

Step 2: Ensure there are not already Summer 2009 classes

You can verify that there is not already a Summer 2009 session setup by using the "Filter" functions. If you select only classes in the Summer session of 2009 and see nothing, this means it is safe to copy copy your previous years classes into this new session.

The result above confirms there are no summer classes

Step 3: Copy the Classes to the new Session

Now you can use the built in copy function to copy all classes definitions from one session to another.  Please note that when you copy classes, you are copying the definitions of the classes only - not the individuals who may have registered for those classes.  You can achieve the same thing by copying the events that comprise the classes individually and modifying their properties, but obviously is a lot more work!

Select the "Copy Classes to new Session" under "Session Related Functions" in the Calendar & Events menu as shown above.

Next you can indicate the schedule that you want to replicate.  For example, I may have a dozen or more programs in my summer schedule for 2008. Selecting 2008 and Summer Session as shown below will select 2008 / Summer Session as the source to copy from.  Obviously this assumes that you have already setup the names of the sessions for your facility.

Next click submit, and you'll see a screen like the one below:

This is where you provide date related details about your new session (Summer 2009 in this example) - We need to select the target year and the new session name from the pull-down menus as shown.  We also need to select a start date.  You can click on the calendar icon to help you navigate the dates.

We've purposely made this example a little tricky - In June 2008, June 30th is a Monday. Because July 1st is a statutory holiday, we had our schedule start on Monday even through Monday and Tuesday of the first week (June 30th and July 1st) were both excluded from the schedule. For 2009 therefore, we also want our schedule to start on a Monday (in 2009, the Monday falls on June 29th as we see when we click on the calendar icon) - For 2009 therefore we've excluded Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from our schedule so that our programs will actually start on the Thursday. (of course it would be simpler to start the Monday programs on July 6th, 2009 and avoid all these exclude dates, but then the example would not be as interesting! :-)

We've also excluded the holiday in August - again we use the calendar to determine that in August, the holiday appears on August 3rd.

When setting up our new summer 2009 session, it is helpful to be able to see how the summer 2008 session was configured - this information is provided on the same screen for reference only - this is telling us the name of our classes, the start dates, and the number of weeks long the sessions were.  Note the class start is simply referring to the start of the session (June 30th in this case event through June 30th 2008 was excluded from the schedule).  Even through we have an 8 week class, because June 30th was excluded and because August 4th was excluded (also a Monday in 2008), there are really only six classes in the 2008 summer session. There are seven Tuesday classes in the schedule since Tuesday July 1st is excluded as a holiday also.

Once you believe your dates are correctly setup (you can modify them later if they are not), click "Create New Session" to copy the Summer 2008 programs to Summer 2009. You see an indication (as below) that your classes were setup.  We had five classes in our summer 2008 session, so all five were replicated as summer 2009 classes with the appropriate dates for summer 2009.

Step 4: Modify the new Class definitions as necessary

Once we've selected the key dates for the new session and copied the session as describe above, we should verify that the sessions are there.

Under "Calendar & Events", "View Event & Class Listing", select the classes in the Summer 2009 session as shown below.

This shows us that the new classes have been copied. Next click on the "Calendar" icon for any of the classes to see the detailed date setup for the class. When you do this, you will see a screen like the one below:

This shows us that the classes have been setup properly for the new year.  Note that rather than start on June 30th as it did in 2008, the schedule starts on June 29th since is the Monday in 2009. The excludes dates are reflected on each line according to the day of week - for example, July 1st is affecting the Wednesday sessions and not the Monday & Tuesday sessions. The Start Time and End Time for the class are as they were for the previous year.  If there are any other changes to your schedule, they will need to be adjusted manually from here.

It is a good idea to ensure that registration is turned "off" for all these newly created events - you certainly don't want someone registering while you are still in process of defining the new schedule! You know that registrations are disabled when a red flag appears in the event listing for the classes as shown:

It is important that the new session setup be reviewed thoroughly for errors and changes that may have taken place from year to year.  You can use the "Bulk Edit of Class Properties" interface to make it faster and easier to change the properties for the class registrations.

Step 5: Update the descriptive date ranges for your session

The descriptive text that applies to the date range for each session needs to be updated from year to year.  This text appears on each of your class program descriptions. (By having this text in one place, it saves us having to modify the dates for every program every year). Use the Categories & Definitions interface under the System Setup menu to modify the session names and date ranges.

To make it easy to do this, if you are logged in as an administrator, a quick link will appear under the system supplied date for the session in question to allow you to update the date.  For example, in 2009 we would want to amend the descriptive date range for the summer session to say that the session runs in 2009, there are no classes on August 3rd (the holiday Monday) etc.

Step 6: Link our new classes to a menu where they are accessible to the public

Once you have setup your classes for the new session and are comfortable that they are "ready to do", you may want to link them to a menu so that the classes become visible to the public. You can get additional detail about managing top and side panel menus in the Menu related documentation.

As an example, we can add a new pull-down menu item under the Programs menu called "Summer 2009" schedule as shown.

Next, we click on "Action on Session" beside the Summer 2009 Schedule entry to control what happens when a visitor selects this menu item.

Here we indicate that when this items is selected, we want the menu to fan-out into a sub-category that includes all classes in 2009, Summer Session, in the event category called "Rec Programs".

Please sure that the Window mode is set to appear in the current browser window as shown and that the menu item is visible to the public.  Once you save this setting (and re-generate the menu if you're in a hurry!), the new menu item will appear under the Programs heading as shown below.   Of course you would never normally post your Summer 2009 schedule at the same time as you're Summer 2008 schedule - this is just shown as an example.

Congratulations! - if successfully managed to navigate these steps, you're now ready to take on-line registrations for your new session once you enable the registration events.