Managing school trips in Eduka

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The flexibility of the Request Management module allows you to manage all types of requests, whether they are triggered by the administration for the different actors of the school (staff, parents, etc.) or vice versa. Thanks to the two main functionalities proposed by this module, we will discover how a school can manage a school trip process:

A school trip project from a teacher, we will set up a type of validation request that will allow teachers to officially request a school trip. These requests can be validated by different levels of hierarchy.
If the project is validated, you will be able to launch a request for updated information to the parents so that they can submit the necessary information: wish to participate, form to be filled in, documents to be provided... And finally, you will even be able to invoice the parents for the trip thanks to the Finance module.

Reminder on the Request Management module

The Request Management module is divided into two main components:

Requests for validation: a request for validation is initiated spontaneously by one of the school's actors, who is thus responsible for filling in and submitting an information form and possibly supporting documents. This request can then be validated by different people. This can be for example: purchase request, request for school trip, request for leave, request for computer troubleshooting...
Update requests: an update request is triggered by the administration and sent to a set of pre-selected recipients. Recipients receive a link to access the form and are required to complete it. These can be launched at the beginning of the school year for parents to update their contact information, or in the middle of the year to confirm participation in an event, etc. The recipients receive a link to access the form and must fill in the form.

There is also a difference in treatment between these two components: with regard to requests for information updates, the school can create as many requests as it wishes per year at no extra charge. Conversely, for the creation of new types of validation requests (for example to set up the management of school trips in Eduka), please contact the Eduka Software sales department for more information about the pricing of this module.

Set the type of validation request "School trip".

The creation of a new type of validation request is therefore done by the Eduka Software team. Once created, you have access to the settings for this type of request. Three steps will be necessary: setting up the type of request, configuring the information and supporting documents requested on the form, and finally, giving access to the persons concerned to enable them to make requests.

Parameterization of the request type

From the Validation Request Repository menu, you will find the type of request created by the Eduka Software team (here: School trips). Click on School Trips to display the complete settings, explained below:

Here is an explanation of the different parameters:

Wording: the wording of the application type, which will be visible to the applicant from the application portal
Description: a description which is used for your internal management (useful for example if you have several requests with the same wording but for different recipients) and which does not appear to the applicants
Enabled: by default, this type of request is not activated; when your configuration is complete you can set the value "Yes" so that this type of request appears on the portal and in the management module with authorized profiles
Management visibility: this allows the selection of user profiles that will have access to the management of this type of request (attention: these profiles must have access to the icon Request Management to be able to consult the different requests)
Portal visibility: this allows you to select the user profiles that will have access to the creation of a request of this type from the Request Portal (attention: these profiles must have access to the Request Portal icon in order to be able to consult the different requests)
Number prefix: Each request initiated by applicants will be assigned a sequential number. This parameter determines the prefix of the application. In our example, for school trips, we will use VOY. The first request will have for number VOY000001
Use a heading / heading prefix: if you choose to use a heading, each request will need to be assigned a heading for creation. If this is the case, you can define a prefix, which must be completed by the user making the request. For a school trip, enable this feature and indicate as "Trip to": when a teacher wants to request a school trip, the teacher will have to enter a title for the trip, and the title will necessarily start with "Trip to": which will therefore give, for example, "Trip to Manila", or "Trip to Venice with the 5th graders", etc.
Maximum requests: this limits the number of requests per user. If you indicate 2, this means that a teacher will only be able to make 2 requests of this type. The types of requests are annualized, so a teacher will be able to submit 2 travel requests per year.
Colour: Assign a colour to this type of request in order to give a visual identity visible from the dashboard of the request management module, as well as from the request portal.
Email notifications: select the different scenarios in which users (whether applicants or validators) will receive an automatic email

Finally, at the top right is an icon associated with this type of request: click on the icon to change it. You will be able to make your selection among a library of 3000 icons free of rights. When you have finished the settings, don't forget to click on Save at the bottom of the page. You will notice the presence of 3 additional buttons:

The next step allows you to set up the form that you are going to propose to the users and the requested credentials. Click on "Configure the form" to make these settings.

Setting up the form and receipts

This section is divided into 3 parts:

General settings related to the form: customizable texts, checkboxes...
Form: the form parameters with the fields to be filled in
Supporting documents: the files to be put online by the applicant

The general parameters include a set of customizable texts, as well as an option to display a confirmation message when the form is sent with a checkbox. Click on "Edit" next to one of the options to make a change:

From the Form tab, set up the different form sections with the information that will be filled in by the applicant. The screenshot may give some clues on the nature of the fields that can be requested.

Don't hesitate to use conditional sections and fields: in the configuration of your section or field, use the "Conditions" tab to define under which conditions a field or section should be displayed. In the example below, if the total budget is more than 5000 EUR, a field "Budget justification" will be displayed:

Finally, in the Documents section, indicate the documents that must be provided by the applicant. The documents must imperatively be associated to a document container created beforehand in the Document Management module (please consult the documentation of this module for more information). To add a credential, click on "Add", then select the credential from the proposed list:

Then make the settings for the receipt, including whether the receipt is mandatory and the requirements. For example, if you wish to request a budget justification when the total budget for the trip exceeds 5000 EUR, you can use the following option:

Once you have set up your form and supporting documents, go to the next part: setting up validation tasks. Click on "Configure tasks" at the bottom of the page to access the task settings.

Setting up validation tasks

A request sent by a user can be subject to one or more validation levels. Each level of validation is called "task" and consists of the following elements:

A label to describe the validation task
One or more managers who will be in charge of validating this task. These managers will each receive an automatic e-mail when a new request is created, if the option is activated (see previous sections for notification settings). For requests initiated by school staff, the person responsible can be assigned dynamically by selecting the "Manager" option: when a user sends the request, the system automatically assigns the user's line manager (the "manager" assigned in the Personnel Management module) as the person responsible for the request.
A set of fields to be filled in by the validator. On the screenshot below, the first step "Validation secretariat" includes a checklist of points to be checked by the secretariat. But you can also ask for more advanced information such as a validation date, a comment, etc.
Supporting documents that must be put online by the validator. For example, if the validation requires a handwritten signature, you may require a signed document to be scanned and put online before the task can be validated.

This allows you to assign different managers to each task. These persons in charge can either all be in charge of the validation, and the first available operator will validate the request; but you can also define assignment conditions for the different persons in charge. Simply click on the name of a responsible person in the list and set the conditions. Here, the responsible person will be in charge of this task provided that the budget is equal to or greater than 5000 EUR:

The conditions for assigning a manager can be of different kinds:

Conditions linked to a field entered by the applicant: here the field "total budget".
Conditions related to the applicant itself: for a multi-campus school, one could imagine that, for a teacher assigned to campus A, one would assign the secretariat of campus A, and for a teacher of campus B, one would assign the secretariat of campus B
Conditions linked to a task: this only works from the 2nd task onwards. Allows you to assign a Manager to a Request based on a field entered at Task level.

Provide teachers with access to the application portal

You have set up the form, the validation tasks: your validation request type is now ready to use. All you have to do now is to give access to the concerned staff.

Setting up the profile

From the Request Management module, open the profile for which you wish to authorize the creation of "School trip" type requests. For example, here we will give access to the "Teacher" profile, a profile that is automatically assigned to the staff referenced as a teacher in the Personnel Management module. Then, make sure you provide access to the "Application Portal" icon:

Application Portal

Users with a Teacher profile now have access to the application portal:

The application portal offers the creation of new applications:

The teacher will then click on "School Trips", and will be prompted to enter a title:

A screen is then displayed with three tabs: Follow-up (of the application), Form (to be completed), and Supporting documents (to be provided):

The teacher must then enter all the required information and supporting documents before being able to send the application. Once this is done, the teacher clicks the "Submit" button and receives a confirmation message.

E-mail notifications are sent to the different users (applicants and/or managers) according to the chosen parameters. The applicant can return to the application portal at any time to consult the status of his application:

Validation of a project by the hierarchy

The persons designated as responsible for the first task (here: Verification Secretariat) have three ways of knowing that a new application has been made:

Automatic e-mail notification, if enabled in configuration
Dashboard of the request management module
List of requests

In the first case, here is a typical e-mail received by a manager assigned to a request:

From the dashboard, a global overview of the requests is available with status indicators for each request. If the operator has actions to perform, a "Actions to perform" button appears on which the operator can click to get the details:

Finally, the list of requests includes a set of search and filtering tools:

To process a request, simply click on a request in the list, or from the dashboard, or even on the link contained in the notification email. A window appears with all the information related to the request, as well as the different processing options:

When the operator decides whether or not to validate the task, he selects an option in the "Status" list:

The statuses can be the following:

Pending: this is the default status (waiting for operator processing)
In process: when the operator starts processing the task, he may decide to inform the applicant by changing the status to "In process". This is for information purposes only.
Validated: this validates the task and thus advances the request to the next task. If enabled, triggers an e-mail notification to the next task managers.
Rejected: this definitively rejects the application.
Forwarded : this returns the request to the previous task, with an explanatory message. If this status is set on the first task, then the request returns to the form stage and the user who made the request receives a notification email (if enabled).

When the last task is set to "released" status, the entire application is considered released. A notification e-mail can be sent if enabled in configuration.

Collection of information from parents

After the acceptance of the school trip project, it is time to collect the necessary information from the parents:

information on whether or not to participate in the trip
information about the student: passport number, visa, etc.
documents and supporting documents: signed authorization, scanned passports, etc.

To know all the details concerning the configuration of this type of request, please refer to the article concerned in this same category. More specifically for school trips, you can for example create an update request with a field "Would you like the student to participate in the school trip". If the parent's answer is "yes" a set of mandatory fields and supporting documents will appear.

You will then send this update request to the students in the class concerned. In the list of recipients, click on "Add Students" and select the students in the class concerned:

From the "Notify" screen, select the notification options you wish to use: send a system notification, send an e-mail, or download an Excel file to perform a manual mailing. You can also choose to display a yellow banner at the top of the page for concerned parents who have logged into the system and have not yet submitted their form:

Send information to providers

Once you have collected the information from parents, you may then need to send some information to your service providers: the canteen for preparing take-away meals, the bus service for transporting students, the travel agency for hotel reservations, etc. Eduka makes it easy for you to retrieve information about the students who will participate in the trip.

Get a list of students participating in the trip

From the "Lists and Searches" module, create a student list. Add as a criterion the property used on the form to ask parents if they would like their child to participate in the trip.

In the "data to be displayed" section, add the columns that are useful to you, including the information collected on the information update form:

You can then download this list and send it to your provider with the necessary documents (next section).

Download participating students' passports (or other documents)

Eduka allows you to easily retrieve the documents of the students who are going to participate in the trip. To do so, open the "Repository" page in the Document Management module. Click on the voucher you wish to retrieve, e.g. Passport:

A page opens: select the "Online" tab and click on "Add students". In the dialog box that appears, open the "Criteria" tab, click on "Add a criterion" and then select the criteria for participation in the trip. Finally, don't forget to click on "Select Students" to have the system search for students meeting this criterion:

You now have in front of you the list of passports of the students participating in the trip. Check off all the students on the list (by clicking on the box in the header of the table) and then click on "Download" at the bottom of the page:

The system prepares a .zip file containing all the files of the renamed students with the students' names, so that you can send it directly to the provider:

Billing the parents for the trip

In your finance settings, create an expense for the school trip (please refer to the Finance module documentation for more details), specify the tariff, and specify the trip participation property as a condition:

From this point on, the cost becomes eligible to students who have indicated that they wish to participate in the trip; this can be seen from the student finance sheet:

All you have to do now is to launch an invoicing batch (or to make a manual invoicing starting from the criterion "Participates in the school trip") with the newly parameterized cost:

Validation requests:

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