Importing and managing your Tes Timetable (Edval) timetable import

This article covers the importing and scheduling of your timetable imports from Tes Timetable (Edval).

The new Timetable Imports page allows you to administer your imports from supported third-party timetabling software once the connection has been set up. For information on setting up third-party connections, see our guidance here.

Please note: you must update to the latest version of the Edval software in order to do this. 

Importing

No action is required in Arbor to begin the import from the timetabling software, other than the usual approval of the API integration.

Once the timetable sync has started in the third-party software, a new Timetable Import Job will be created in Arbor. A list of these imports can then be seen by heading to School > Timetable > Timetable Integrations > Timetable Imports.

Import statuses

From start to finish, your timetable import will have an import status that denotes where in the process of importing your timetables you are up to. The statuses and what they mean are listed below in order:

• Import started - this status is applied when the import is first created. At this point, the timetabling partner will then send batches of timetable slots to Arbor's API.
• Validating import - This status is applied once the timetabling partner has sent all required batches to Arbor's API and has then sent a further request to 'finish' the import. From here, Arbor will then validate and process the slots that have been imported. This is to identify which slots already exist in Arbor with no differences, which slots are changed from those in Arbor, and which slots are brand new.
• Ready for review - Once the imports have been successfully validated and processed, this status will appear to confirm that the overall import job has been completed.

Please note: Depending on the volume of timetable slots received, import processing may take a few minutes to complete.

Scheduling

Once a timetable import has reached the Ready for review stage outlined above, you can then begin to take action with the slots that are imported.

In School > Timetable > Timetable Integrations > Timetable Imports, click into one of your imports to get started.

Summary

In the Summary section of the page, you will see the following fields:

• Timetable effective date - This is the date when a new timetable slot starts, when changes will take effect, and the date after ending slots will be ended.
• Total received timetable slots - This shows how many timetable slots were sent to Arbor, including any mistakes or duplicates.
• Total valid timetable slots - This shows the number of timetable slots Arbor accepted after checking for mistakes and duplicates.
• Warnings - Arbor will tell you if a timetable slot is missing important details such as who is teaching or where the slot is taking place. You can still create or change timetable slots, regardless of the warnings.
• Status - This shows where your timetable import is at, from setting up to finishing.

Ending

The Ending tab highlights when a course has timetable slots that were not included in the import. Existing slots in Arbor are marked as ending if they are not included in the imported data. Arbor identifies matching slots by comparing their start time, end time, day of the week, day of the cycle, and frequency.

New

The New tab shows slots that do not already exist in Arbor. Existing slots are identified based on their start time, end time, day of the week, day of the cycle, and frequency. Any changes to these parameters for an existing slot will result in a new slot being created.

For example:

• Existing Slot: Course 1, Monday A, 10:00-11:00
• Imported Data: Course 1, Monday A, 10:05-11:00

In this scenario, the existing slot would be marked as Ending, and the imported data would create a new timetable slot.

New timetable slots may have warnings on them, which can be viewed in detail by clicking on the slot in the table. Warnings are usually raised when a new slot does not have a staff member or room. However, warnings do not prevent the processing of new timetable slots.

Changes

The Changes tab shows staff, room, and effective date changes to existing timetable slots.

You can click on each of these to view more information about the changes, or you can tick the boxes next to these slots and then click Bulk Action to make several changes at once.

Please note: If an imported timetable slot has a different end date from the one in Arbor, we’ll update the slot in Arbor to match the imported end date when changes are processed.

Excluded

The Excluded tab shows all slots that will not be imported into Arbor because they already exist with the same details, location, and staff.

Errors

The Errors tab shows errors from the imported data which have resulted in a timetable slot being unable to be created or matched to an existing timetable slot in Arbor.

Examples of this include when a course, staff member, or room does not exist in Arbor.

Complete Import

This button is in the top-right corner of the Timetable Imports page. Clicking this button will mark the timetable import job as complete, and prevent any further action from being taken with course timetable slots. However, Repeating School Event timetable slots can still be actioned.

It is only possible to mark an import as complete when it has a Ready for review status.

When marking an import as complete, Arbor will show a pop-up window with details of the Ending, New, and Changing timetable slots, and counts of how many have been actioned. You can then consent to completing the import, and click Complete.

Additional functions

In the top-right of the page, there are two more buttons that allow you to complete further tasks 

Download Import Data

This button allows you to download the entire informational payload that we received from the timetabling provider in JSON format. With this, you can cross-check data within the import UI against what was actually sent to the UI. For example, if the wrong staff ID has been sent by the timetabling provider for a certain slot, this will be shown within the import data.

Please note: If any Repeating School Event data is sent as part of the import, this will not be included in the download - only timetable slots for courses will be included.

Manage Repeating School Events

Clicking this button will take you to a page where you can view and manage Repeating School Events timetable slots (e.g. slots for PPA, meetings, and other ad-hoc events).

On the Repeating School Event Timetable Slots page, you will be able to:

• View Scheduled repeating event slots, and end or delete them via a Bulk action.
• View any Provisional repeating event slots (that might have been sent in the import), and schedule or delete them via a bulk action.
• View any Scheduling/Rescheduling repeating event timetable slots.