Site Manager
Scope of This Article
This article presents core Site Manager functionality.
The Site Manager is used to enter data that are used later to run applications such as eWalk, eTeacher and mVal in conjunction with the specific details of your school and school district.
Entered data provide information about courses offered by the school, student demographics and classes, among other things.
A very important part of the Site Manager's functionality consists in entering data about students and staff. The Importer tool, which imports data from files, is the object of a separate article.
It is assumed that the reader knows the difference between subjects, courses and classes. Familiarity with MxWeb applications is not required.
Please be aware that an important subset of the Site Manager functionality has been taken over by the School Manager. In particular, it is the School Manager that is normally used to define courses and populate classes. The corresponding Site Manager capabilities are still available, but they are not presented here, as they are not recommended.
Some of the examples show lists of classes and courses, although the creation of classes and courses is only presented in the School Manager article. Although no familiarity with the School Manager is assumed, the reader should understand that not everything that is shown can be built using the knowledge presented here. So questions like, 'But how was this entity created in the first place?' are not always answerable based on information available within the scope of this article itself.
Site Management
Sites discussed in this document are schools and school districts.
Click the Site Manager icon under the Admin Functions. Select the Site tab if not already selected.
You may see in the left pane the name of your school, for example if you are a principal or school administrator:
Please note the Organization icon. Initially, no site is selected. By clicking the name of a site in the left pane, you select the site.
When a site is selected, its name and other basic data are displayed in the right pane:
For example, in the above figure, Bluejay Elementary School is selected. After being selected, sites can be edited or deleted and child sites can be created. The toolbar (blue strip) icons are used to this purpose, as will be explained below. The Edit icon beside a site can be clicked in order to to edit the site. Site editing will be explained later in conjunction with the toolbar Edit icon, which starts the editing tool just as the Edit icon does.
After clicking the Site Manager icon, you may see in the left pane the name of your school district, for example if you are a school district administrator:
Just as in the previous school example, you may click the school district to select it:
Click the Expand icon if you see the name of your school district and you want to select one of the schools. When clicked, the Expand icon is replaced by the Collapse icon and your district’s schools are shown.
NOTE: The Collapse icon can be clicked to collapse the list of schools i.e. reverse the action performed by clicking the Expand icon
Please note that after it is expanded and schools are shown, it is still the district which is selected. Click one of the schools to select it:
Click the New Site icon in the toolbar (the blue band which is enclosed in a red frame in the top figure, but not in the actual screen) to create a new site. The new site will be created as a child of the currently selected site. For example, if a school district is currently selected (as is the case in this page’s top figure), the new school is a child of the district, i.e. it belongs to the district.
Please note the screen name: New Site. Use the text boxes, drop-downs and radio buttons to make the respective selections and entries. Click the Save icon when you are done. Click the Cancel icon to abort the site creation. You need a certain user permission to assign or edit the size of a site. For example, in the image above, the user is not allowed to set the size of the new site, since the Size field is not present in the New Site screen. The new site in the above image is a school which will belong to the mxweb Demo District, since the selected site is this district.
Click the Edit icon in the toolbar to edit the selected site.
Please note the screen name: Edit Site. In the image, Bluejay Elementary School was selected prior to clicking the Edit icon. You may note the Size field which the user is allowed to edit in this example.
NOTE: The number of child sites of a site cannot exceed the size of a site.
Click the Save icon when you are done. Click the Cancel icon to abort the operation.
Click the Delete icon in the toolbar to delete the site.
NOTE: You need a special permission to delete the site, as this is a far-reaching, irreversible operation.
If you don’t have this permission, the Delete icon is disabled (grayed out).
The Importer tool, which is started by clicking the left Import icon, is described in a separate MediaWiki article.
A tool that moves people between two sites, which is described in one of the following chapters, is started by clicking the Move People icon.
The Report Card Setup tool, which is started by clicking the right Import icon, is used for eTeacher. This tool is not discussed in this document.
Click the Permissions icon if you want to set site-wide, role-based default permissions.
Click one of the roles (Administrators, Principals, Teachers, Students) to select it.
You can now define the permissions that will be assigned by default (i.e. automatically) whenever a new user having the respective role is created, i.e. whenever a new user is added to the site.
To do so, you may first choose a permission set using the Permission Sets: drop-down.
Click Load set to load the permission set, i.e. to have the On and Off radio buttons reflect the selected permission set.
If necessary, use the On and Off radio buttons to fine-tune the selected role's permissions.
Click the Save icon when you are done.
WARNING: It is necessary to click the Save icon in order to ensure that the permission defaults take effect.
Click the Done icon to revert to the previous screen.
Basic User Management
Listing and Creating Members
Click the Site Manager icon.
Click the name of your site (school or school district) to select it.
Click the Expand icon if you see the name of your school district and you want to select one of the schools. The Expand icon is replaced by the Collapse icon and your district’s schools are shown:
Click the name of the school of interest to you to select it.
Select the Member tab:
Click the Expand icon beside one of the four member types (Administrator, Principal, Teacher and Student) to see the members of that type. For example, click the Expand icon beside Teacher to see the selected school’s active (i.e. currently employed) teachers:
Click Create member to create a new member and add him/her to the site. When you do so, the right pane displays the following form:
Please note the New Member screen name. Start by using the Type: drop-down to select the new member type, normally one of the following: Administrator, Principal, Teacher and Student.
Fill the various fields and then click the Save icon when you are done. Click the Cancel icon to reverse the member creation. If you have the required permission, you can set two additional fields of the new member, Alternate ID #1: and Alternate ID #2:, as shown in the following figure:
NOTE: It is important to stress the fact that several people may be created, or their data updated, simultaneously. This important functionality is outlined in the [Importer] MediaWiki article.
Viewing, Deactivating and Editing Members
Click the Deactivate icon beside a member to deactivate him/her.
NOTE: The record of a deactivated member is not deleted, so that at a later time the member can be activated again.
Click the Edit icon beside a member to edit his/her data.
Note the Edit Member screen name. If you have the required permission, you can edit two additional fields, Alternate ID #1 and Alternate ID #2:
Click the Save icon when you are done. Click the Cancel icon to reverse the changes that you have made. Click the Permissions icon to grant permissions to the member. You are presented with the permission editor, which is described below in relation to the Permissions icon in the toolbar.
NOTE: You need a special permission in order to grant permissions. Moreover, you may grant only such permissions that you yourself have to other members.
Click one of the names to select the member. When a member a selected, you may view his/her data. Moreover, you may click the respective toolbar icon to edit, deactivate, modify permissions or assign the member to a class.
NOTE: If set, the Alternate ID #1 and Alternate ID #2 fields are displayed whether you have the permission to edit them or not.
Click the Edit icon in the toolbar to edit the member. Editing a member can be performed also by clicking the Edit icon beside a member, as previously explained. Click the Save icon when you are done. Click the Cancel icon to reverse the changes that you have made.
Click the Deactivate icon in the toolbar to deactivate the member.
Click the Permissions icon in the toolbar to grant permissions to the member.
You may click the On radio button, if not already selected, to grant the user the respective permission.
It may be the case that some permissions are granted by default when you a new user is created, or perhaps you are editing a user who was granted before certain permissions that you want now revoked:
You may click the Off radio button to revoke the respective permission.
Click the Manage Links icon in the toolbar if the currently selected site member is a teacher or student and you want to assign him/her to a class.
Click one of the classes listed under the Available header to add the selected member to the class. Since it is common practice to assign the same name to several classes corresponding to different courses, the Course that corresponds to each class is also displayed.
Please note the Member Assignments followed by the name of the member who is assigned to one or more classes. Note the classes to which the member is assigned under the Assigned header Click Refresh to view inactive members}} to list inactive members of the same type as the active members currently being listed. If, for example, active teachers are listed (as shown in the previous image), by clicking Refresh to view inactive members}} it is inactive teachers that will be listed:
Click View active members to display again active members.
Click the Activate icon beside a member to activate him/her i.e. make the member active again.
Click the Edit icon beside a member to edit his/her data.
Click the Permissions icon to grant permissions to the member.
NOTE: You need a special permission yourself to grant permissions. You may grant only permissions you have yourself to other members.
Click one of the names to select the respective inactive member:
You may view, edit and modify the permissions of an inactive member in the same way as with respect to an active member.
You may make active the member by clicking the Member Activation icon.
You may remove the member by clicking the Delete icon.
When you click the Delete icon, you are presented with two dialog windows.
Click OK and Cancel, respectively, to delete the member.
NOTE: You may only delete inactive members.
Directions for Moving People between Two Sites
Click the Site Manager icon.
If you are a district administrator you have access to a whole school district.
Click the school district's name to select the district:
Click the Move People icon.
Click the source site i.e. the school from which you want to move one or more people.
This is done inside the Source Site box.
The selected school is displayed against a purple background. The people are listed in the following order: Administrators, Principals, Teachers, Students.
Click the Expand icon in the People box to expand the respective category and view individual people.
When you click the Expand icon, it is replaced by the Collapse icon and the respective list of people becomes visible.
In the following image, the Teacher Expand icon has been clicked.
Select the people you want to move by checking the checkboxes beside them.
Once you've done this, hover over the target school inside the Destination Site box.
Click the target school. The following dialog pops up:
Click OK. The people selected to be moved disappear from the list:
Setting the Periods
Periods refer to school year terms, also known as marking periods. After selecting a school, as explained in the Site Management chapter, select the Period tab. If no term has been previously defined, when you click the Period tab you are presented with the No marking periods found message:
Click Create marking period to create a new period. The right pane displays the following form:
Please note the screen name: New Marking Period.
Type in the name and ID of the period and use the two calendars to select the start date and end date of the period.
Click the Save icon when you are done. Click the Cancel icon to abort the operation.
When the Period tab is selected, previously created periods, if such exist, are displayed:
You may remove a period by clicking the Delete icon. You may edit a period by clicking the Edit icon. The period editing screen is similar to the creation screen.
The name of the editing screen is Edit Marking Period.
Click a period to select it. Once a period is selected, you may view its ID, start date and end date, as well as the classes offered during the period.
You may click a class to view data related to the class.
You may edit a period also by clicking the toolbar Edit icon. You may remove a period also by clicking the toolbar Delete icon.
Setting the Grades
After selecting a school, as explained in the previous chapter, select the Grade tab. The left pane is displayed below:
Click Create grade to create a new grade. The right pane displays the following form:
Please note the screen name: New Grade. Type in the name of the grade.
Click the Save icon when you are done. Click the Cancel icon to abort the operation. When the Grade tab is selected, previously created grades, if such exist, are displayed:
You may remove a grade by clicking the Delete icon. You may edit a grade by clicking the Edit icon. The grade editing screen is similar to the creation screen. The name of the editing screen is Edit Grade.
Click a grade to select it. Once a grade is selected, you may view the courses associated with the grade:
You may click a course to view data related to the course.
You may edit a grade also by clicking the toolbar Edit icon. You may remove a grade also by clicking the toolbar Delete icon.
Setting the Subjects
After selecting a school, as explained in the Site Management chapter, select the Subject tab. The left pane is displayed below:
Click Create subject to create a new subject. The right pane displays the following form:
Please note the screen name: New Subject.
Enter the subject and code. Click the Save icon when you are done. Click the Cancel icon to abort the operation. When the Subject tab is selected, previously created subjects, if such exist, are displayed:
You may remove a subject by clicking the Delete icon. You may edit a subject by clicking the Edit icon. The subject editing screen is similar to the creation screen.
The name of the editing screen is Edit Subject. Click a subject to select it. When a subject is selected, you may view the courses associated with the subject:
NOTE: It is common practice that all the courses related to a subject share the subject name, e.g. Mathematics. In this article, the names of some of the courses include both the subject and the grade at which the courses are taught.
You may edit a subject also by clicking the toolbar Edit icon. You may remove a subject also by clicking the toolbar Delete icon.
Click on a course in the right pane to view information about the subjects, grade and classes associated with the course.
In the above image, two mathematics classes taken by eighth grade students are shown.
Click on a class to see data related to the class.
The course, marking periods, teacher and students may be clicked in order to view data related to them.
NOTE: You may have realized already that (i) entities (e.g. periods, subjects, courses and classes) are interrelated and (ii) you may navigate from an entity of a certain type to related entities of a different type. This interrelatedness is put in place by defining and managing links between entities.
The Manage Links and the Move Members toolbar icons will not be described, as the respective functionality has been taken over by the School Manager.
Setting the Data Set
Data Sets are used to store information about courses, classes and periods. This information is used primarily by eTeacher. There should be exactly one active Data Set per school and per school year if a Data Set is required by the MxWeb applications you run.
Data Sets can be defined and made active by selecting the Data Set tab.
Click Create data set to create a new Data Set:
Enter the Data Set name using the Data Set text input box. Click the Save icon when you are done. Click the Cancel icon to reverse the changes that you have made.
To set active a Data Set, start by clicking the Data Set in question the left pane in order to select it:
Please note that the currently selected Data Set is that which you have clicked.
Click the Set Active icon in order to make the Data Set active. The left pane shows that the Data Set that you selected is now active:
