Using Cover Rotas

Use Teacher Cover Rotas when you want to setup a rota of teachers for covering lessons in a selected cover cycle. Once you have setup the use of rotas, allocate teachers to cover lessons for periods in your timetable.

Choose to:

• Setup Teacher Cover Rotas for use.
• Create cover rotas.
• Auto generate a cover rota.
• Delete a cover rota.

Setup Teacher Cover Rotas

To setup Teacher Cover Rotas for use, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Cover Manager module and select the Manage Cover tab.
2. Select the cover cycle you want to work with from the drop down list in the top right of the screen. The current cover cycle is selected by default.
3. Select Teacher Cover Rota Options from the right hand menu and choose Yes to use Teacher Cover Rotas.
4. Click Save Options. The screen is automatically refreshed and displays two additional tabs for you to use; Timetable Display and Auto Generate:
    

5. Select the Timetable Display tab and complete the fields available to setup the display of the cover rota. More information is shown below:

   Field	Explanation
   Show Cover Period on TTBs	Select Yes to display cover rota commitments on teacher timetables.
   Cover Period Display Name	Enter a concise and clear term to indicate that a teacher is on the cover rota. This is displayed in teacher timetables.
   Style Sheet Name	You cannot change the file name of the cover rota style sheet.
   Style Sheet Contents	Change the colours, font sizes and spacing in the style sheet to suit you. Use hexadecimal colour codes and common formatting terms.
   Cover Period Preview	A preview of how cover is displayed in teacher timetables is shown here.

6. Click Save Options. Cover Period Preview displays your selections. The cover rota is displayed in teacher timetables, an example is shown below:
   

7. Select the Auto Generate tab to setup options for an automatically generated cover rota. Use the Auto Generate function as an alternative to allocating teachers to the cover rota manually. The cover rota is automatically completed with unscheduled teachers.
   More information is shown below:

   Option	Explanation
   Cover Teachers Per Period	Select the number of teachers who want to be available on the rota for each period.
   Cover Per Day/Teacher	Select the maximum number of covers per day each teacher on the rota should take on.
   Cover Per Week/Teacher	Select the maximum number of covers per week each teacher on the rota should take on.

   Ensure that your selections do not conflict with each other. For example, a cover per day of 3 and a cover per week of 1 causes the module to use the cover per week figure and disregards the cover per day figure.

8. Click Save Options.
   You are now ready to start using the Manage Teacher Cover Rotas option to setup your rota. This option is available in the right hand menu.

   Bear in mind the following:

   • Use Reload Options, before you select Save Options, in any of the tabs available to reload the last saved settings in that tab.
   • Any changes to Auto Generate options after a cover rota has been created are not automatically applied. You must select to Auto Generate the rota again. The new option selections are only applied to periods in the cover rota that have no teachers allocated yet.

Create Cover Rotas

Use Manage Teacher Cover Rotas to allocate teachers to the cover rota for the cover cycle selected. This option is only available when you have selected to use teacher cover rotas from the Teacher Cover Rotas Option.

Select teachers to cover each period in your timetable for the cover cycle selected. You can also choose to automatically generate a cover rota, if required. See Auto Generate a Cover Rota for more information.

A breakdown of the Manage Teacher Cover Rotas screen is shown below:

To add a cover rota, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Cover Manager module and select the Manage Cover tab.
2. Select the cover cycle you want to work with from the drop down list in the top right of the screen. The current cover cycle is selected by default.
3. Select Manage Teacher Cover Rotas from the right hand menu.
4. Click Add Cover Rota to create your own cover rota.

5. Complete the sections available to add teachers to your rota. More information is shown below:

   Sections	Explanation
   Period Details	Timetable Week. Select a week from your rotating timetable for the rota to apply to. Timetable Period. Select a period for the rota to apply to.
   Teacher Details	Scroll through the list displayed and select a teacher for the cover rota. Hold Ctrl to make multiple selections. All teachers linked to the module are listed, even those scheduled to teach. Both permanent teaching staff and agency staff are listed.

6. Click Save & Close.

7. Click in a selected period in your cover rota to arrange the order that teachers are listed in the rota (the default order is alphabetical). Choose to move teachers to be used first to the top of the rota (teachers are not listed according to their cover rating in Cover Rota).
   An example of the window displayed is shown below:
   
8. Click on a teacher's name and use the arrows available to move them up or down the list.
9. Click Save & Close.

10. Repeat Steps 2 to 7 to complete your cover rota for each period in your timetable.
    The Cover Rota is now available to use in the Teacher Cover Timetable. An example of where the Cover Rota is displayed is shown below:
    

    A teacher is not displayed in Cover Rota when they have been selected for a cover period if any of the following apply:

    • They are already scheduled to teach a lesson. If the lesson they are teaching is suspended the teacher is displayed on the Cover Rota.
    • They are marked as unavailable for that period.
    • They are marked as absent for that period.

Auto Generate a Cover Rota

Use the Auto Generate function as an alternative to allocating teachers to the cover rota yourself. Periods in the cover rota which have not yet been allocated to covering staff are automatically completed with teachers not scheduled to teach during those periods.

The options setup from Teacher Cover Rota Options are applied. Any changes made to these options after a cover rota has been created are not automatically applied. You must select to generate the rota again.

To automatically generate a cover rota, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Cover Manager module and select the Manage Cover tab.
2. Select the cover cycle you want to work with from the drop down list in the top right of the screen. The current cover cycle is selected by default.
3. Select Manage Teacher Cover Rotas from the right hand menu.
4. Click Auto-Generate.
   You are prompted Are you sure you want to auto-generate the free cover rota?
5. Select Yes.
   Only periods in your cover rota which have not already been allocated to covering staff are completed automatically.
   A report is displayed of the cover rota for you to review, an example is shown below: Choose to print the report, if required.
   
   The Cover Rota is now available to use in the Teacher Cover Timetable. An example of where the Cover Rota is displayed is shown below:
   

A teacher is not displayed in Cover Rota when they have been selected for a cover period if any of the following apply:

• They are marked as unavailable for that period.
• They are marked as absent for that period.

Delete a Cover Rota

Use with care. This removes cover rotas from all cover cycles.

Choose to delete a cover rota which is no longer required, there is no option to edit a cover rota in the module. Choose to remove cover rotas for individual teachers or from the module in bulk. Deleting a cover rota does not delete any cover arrangements previously made using the teachers selected.

To delete cover rotas, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Cover Manager module and select the Manage Cover tab.
2. Select the cover cycle you want to work with from the drop down list in the top right of the screen. The current cover cycle is selected by default.
3. Select Manage Teacher Cover Rotas from the right hand menu.
4. Either:
   1. Click next to your selected teacher. You are prompted Are you sure you want to delete this cover period?
   2. Select Yes. Your selected cover rota is removed from the module. A log of the amendment is recorded in the Logging tab.
      or
   1. Click Delete All Cover Rotas to remove all cover rotas in the module. You are prompted Are you sure you want to delete all these cover rotas?
   2. Select Yes.
      All the cover rotas are removed from the module. A log of the amendment is recorded in the Logging tab.