E10 - Naming Convention for Course and Class Codes in E10

Modified on Thu, 14 Aug at 12:53 AM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preamble

Preamble

E10 has a naming convention for classes. It is important to understand this convention and how the information is used in other parts of the program.

The recommended format for a class code in our timetable product has three components:

<Year> <Course> <Class Identifier>.

Year: As per Setup > Year levels. Examples: 7, 07, 11. This could include other year levels set up such as SPT (sport), VET etc.

Course: The subject code. Examples: MAT, BIO, HG

Class identifier: The identifying character of the class. Examples: A, 1, S1

Examples: 7MATA, 7MATB, 11BIO.1, 08HG-01, 9ART.S1, 5+6GEN.A

Separators can be used to separate the course code and the class identifier. Accepted separators include:

dot . 8ENG.1
hyphen - 8ENG-1
underscore _ 8ENG_1

Course codes

Course codes need to be unique and should be easily recognisable. Most courses can be identified by using just 3 (or maximum 4*) letters for the short code.

Course codes are used in other areas, such as:

Setup > Subjects
Teachers > Subject teachers
Rooms > Subject rooms

Common errors in course codes

Single letter course codes
Single letter course codes are easily confused and cause issues referencing elsewhere. If a single letter is used, it can be applied to multiple courses, e.g. R could apply to both Roll call and Religion; M could be both Mathematics and Music. This causes problems in Subject teacher Subject room sets, as we are not able to create different requirements when it is the same code.
Different course codes for the same course
Schools sometimes set up different classes for different rotations (terms or semesters) and create different codes for them. This is ok if it is actually a different course, but if it is the same course then this can create extra work for the timetabler.
Examples of different courses: 10BIO1.1 might be a Biology Basics course, and 10BIO1.1 might be a Biology Advanced course. These may have different teacher or room requirements, or they may be the same, and importantly, they may need to be seen as different courses in external reporting programs.
10MAT1.A may be a Maths course running in Semester 1, then 10MAT2.A might run in Semester 2. This creates two course codes MAT1 & MAT2. However, it could be that they do not differ in teacher or room requirements, nor are they different courses for reporting purposes. Therefore, we want the base course code to be the same ie MAT. The course codes would be better as 10MAT.A and 10MAT.B.
Including the year level after the course code
For example: MAT7.A, MAT8.A, MAT9.A
As explained above, we suggest the year level appears at the front in order to use the Subject teacher and Subject room sets effectively. If year levels appear at the end, E10 will read them as three different courses, and therefore the user will need to enter three lots of Subject teacher and Subject room sets, when in fact they could actually be the same requirements.
Using the same course code but different subject names
For example: 10MAT.1 - Maths Semester 1 10MAT.2 - Maths Semester 2
The course codes above are both MAT. Therefore, they must have the same subject name. If they need different subject names, then they must have different codes. For example: 10MAT1.1 - Maths Semester 1 10MAT2.1 - Maths Semester 2
Using external official codes as courses in E10 . This is not usually required, as official course codes can usually be entered separately and mapped to the E10 course codes. This allows the ability to keep course codes in E10 meaningful (sometimes external course codes are not meaningful!)

Class identifiers

Every class must have a class identifier. This is easy to understand when there is more than one class of a subject; we need to differentiate the classes by the identifier. But when there is only one class of a subject, there is still the need to include a class identifier to keep associated information correct.

If a class identifier is omitted, E10 will remove the last character of a class code as the class identifier. This can upset the Setup > Subjects, Teachers > Subject teachers and Rooms > Subject rooms information.

Don't want a Class Identifier?

In some cases, a class identifier may not be used or required. However, to ensure that E10 understands this, add a full stop to the end of the code.
If the class code is 11MA E10 thinks the Course Code is 'M' and the Class Identifier is 'A'.

Instead, make the class code 11MA. so that E10 understands that 'MA' is the course code and '11MA.' is the class code.

Want more than one character for Class Identifier?

If more than 1 character is to be used for the class identifier, then a separator must be used.

Examples: 9ART.S1, 9ART-S1, 9ART_S1

Examples of course codes and class identifiers

E10 is looking for a class identifier for each class which has repercussions on its understanding of the course code. Consider the following examples:

Class code	Course code as interpreted by E10
7MAT1 7MAT.1 7MAT-1 7MAT_1	All have course code MAT and class identifier is 1
7MAT.2A 7MAT-2A	Both have course code MAT and class identifier is 2A
7MAT.3A 7MAT.	Both have course code MAT. One has a class identifier of 3A and the other has no class identifier.
7MATHS	The course code is MATH and the class identifier is S
7MAT	The course code is MA and class identifier is T
9MAT51-1 9MAT51.1 9MAT51.	All course codes are MAT51. Two classes have class identifiers of 1; the last has no class identifier.
11MA 11MG 11MU	All have course codes of M. Class identifiers include A, G and U.

E10 has a feature that can help understand courses and class identifiers. In Classes > Class Data (F6), choose View > Split class code.

E10 will display the Course code and Class identifier in separate columns.

It is best to place the course code and class identifier back into the same cell again if features such as Copy and Paste are used.

Subject Teachers and Rooms

Teachers > Subject teachers, Rooms > Subject rooms

The Subject Teacher and Subject Room sets are features that greatly enhance successful line generation and timetable construction. These sets are based on the Course codes. To keep these correct, all classes must be correctly set up so as not to inadvertently create new codes and separate itself from the subject data.

Default class code format

The class code format is defined in Setup > School Info. This is used when new classes are added in the Class data screen and when classes are created from the generated elective lines.

External systems

Most users sync their data on to other systems. Each system handles class codes in a different way and it is up to the user to check any external system requirements or limitations. For example, some systems do not allow separators in class codes, while another allows only underscore separators. It is wise to check your external system requirements early when setting up your timetable data, and definitely before performing a sync.

Refer also to E10: ADMIN: Setup: Subjects