Tes Timetable for IT Managers

Modified on Thu, 14 Aug at 1:07 AM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Desktop Products
Cloud Online Products
FAQ

Introduction

Tes offers a variety of products which include desktop based software and cloud online products.

System requirements - Please see our Knowledge Base for information on Minimum System Requirements and Tes server addresses.

Desktop Products

Tes Timetable Application

E10.exe application is the executable application for running the timetable database ".etz file". It is used for cyclical timetable construction, maintenance and publishing as well as managing individual student timetabling-related information.

Terminology:

Edval10.exe: The Edval/Tes application

.etz file: The file type database created by using the Edval.exe application

Key points:

The Edval10.exe application reads and writes the .etz file.
A single user only may work in a particular .etz file at any one time.
Attempts to access the same .etz file at the same time will result in an onscreen message that the file is already open, and the opportunity to open a read only version of the file for the second user.

Edval10.exe can be used for class-list management, but because of the single user-at-a-time limitation, we recommend schools perform class-list management tasks using the alternate program ‘Edval Staff.exe’.

Setting up Tes Timetable Application

There is no installation program for Edval.exe. Installation simply consists of making the .exe program available to the relevant users, usually on the school fileserver.
For first-time use (or later if the auto-update feature is not working and a fresh version is needed), you can download Edval.exe via your browser by navigating to this URL:

Edval: https://update.edval.education/update/exes/Edval10.exe

Username: Humpty

Password: 2norilsk

Often timetable users will have local copies of Edval.exe because it is common for them to want to work offline on the data. In this case, it is important that all versions of the software are kept up to date with the latest versions.

Updating the Tes Timetable Application

Edval.exe has an auto-update feature, which can be triggered manually or automatically. Typically, users, not IT managers, manage this update process.
Further information can be found hereon our Knowledge Base.

The .etz file

Tes stores all data relating to the cyclical timetable in a single file, with the extension .etz. These files can be saved in any location, e.g. on the Timetabler’s desktop PC or on the school file-server.

Tes recommends naming the file: ‘<School name> <Academic Year>.etz’.

Eg. Edval High School 2022.etz

A single timetable file can store data for multiple semesters; however, if the timetable undergoes extensive change from one semester to the next, the Timetabler might create different files for each semester.

It is common for the timetabler to work with multiple files representing either multiple experimental versions of the timetable, or different semesters. However, there is one master version of the timetable at each point in time. Any copies of the master version should be given a meaningful name not to be confused with the live master file.

If you have a primary school attached to your school, and they also use Tes for their timetabling, but with different bell-times, then this may be stored in a different .etz file, or use the ‘multi-grid’ feature to manage all year levels in the one .etz file.

Invoking Edval.exe

Users of Edval.exe will open the appropriate .etz file, by:

double-clicking on the .etz file (recommended)
(Note: the first time you do this you may need to set up the file association to open with Edval.exe)
dragging the .etz file’s icon onto the Edval.exe icon
double clicking on Edval.exe icon and selecting ‘File > Open’ (not recommended)

Edval Staff Application

Edval Staff application is used for class list management, While timetablers can also do class list management in Edval timetable .etz file this application allows multiple users to use and perform class list management simultaneously. For more information on how to setup Edval Staff application please click here.

Folder Permission Set Up

The folder permissions of the locations where the Edval.exe application and the .etz files should be checked for desired preferences.

For example, files are stored in:

H:\Staff\Timetable\MyHighSchool 20XX.etz

If only the Tes users should be able to edit the timetable data, they should have READ/WRITE access to these files stored in H:\Staff\Timetable. Other staff can have READ-ONLY access.

All staff will obviously also need EXECUTE permission on any folder used to store the Edval.exe file. It is not important whether staff have LIST FOLDER CONTENTS permissions on any of these folders, or not, if they can see the ‘EdvalStaff.exe’ icon.

Folder permissions are the best way to control access to the Tes data. Tes does not have a concept of user accounts.

Edval.exe does have a ‘password-protect’ feature on .etz files. This will prevent unauthorised users from modifying an .etz file via Tes, and furthermore since the data in an .etz file is encrypted, this effectively means users cannot modify the data. But obviously this file-level password does not offer protection against unauthorised users deleting the files. So, this password protect feature is not recommended. Setting up the password in E10 is explained here.

Cloud Online Products

Please read our documentation on cloud modules here.

FAQ

Is it possible for the .etz file to get corrupted?

Every time the .etz file is saved, Tes will:

1. Output the data into a file with a .etz.new suffix

2. If that was successful, it will archive the .etz file and rename the .etz.new to .etz.

That means that you will never have ‘half a database’: the update should be automatic. If a network outage occurs while a user is using the program, they will get the “lastgood” saved version.

Additionally, the fact that the database is written out in full on each save means that the data is always in a consistent state, i.e., conforming to basic data integrity constraints. Data corruption can be introduced if a user or a program other than Tes modifies the .etz file, however this would be considered ‘malicious misuse’ and Tes does not have protection against malicious misuse.

Are there any possible causes of data loss we should be worried about in desktop timetable product?

Tes automatically creates a set of backup versions of each .etz file, in a folder called ‘Autobaks’. These versions cycle automatically. It is generally possible to find old versions of the data hours, days or weeks old. To have catastrophic data loss would require that all these files disappear.
The most common reason a user would go back to these files is because a large set of changes have been made which they wish to undo.

Is the Online Cloud modules backed up regularly by Tes?

Yes, Tes online school datasets are backed up regularly every night. Please contact Tes cloud support team for more information on edval-cloud.support@tes.com

Where is the school data stored online?

Tes stores schools' online data in one of Amazon's web service data center located in Sydney - Australia.

Can Tes Timetable damage other systems?

The Tes software only writes to the data-files as indicated above.

Tes software writes small amounts of data into the Windows registry of each user.

It writes into two locations:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Edval and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TFC

How can I export data out of Tes timetable?

There are many ways to export timetable and class list data out of the .etz file. One way is using the LISS protocol: www.liss.org.au . In addition, there are a wide range of flat file exports

(.csv or .txt) – see “File > Export data” and customised system exports – see “File > Synchronise”. Also, any screen can be exported to Excel.

See the Knowledge Base for detailed information on the available exports.

Tes online products support SAML single sign on functionality?

Yes we do support single sign on, more can be read here.

Does the cloud products run or utilize any systems that are vulnerable to Log4shell/Log4j (CVE-2021-44228) vulnerability? If yes, is there a patch for mitigating this vulnerability in place and need no updating?

All of our Java Cloud products were updated with framework releases that fix the Log4shell/Log4j vulnerability, we are keeping them updated regularly against other reported vulnerabilities.