Schoolzine's Session Keeper Platform is great way to organise Meetings and Appointments between your staff and community. This easy to use platform only takes minutes to set up and begin creating your appointments.

If you wish to start using Session Keeper, have any questions or wish to begin the setup for one of our other features, please don't hesitate to contact our Support Team and one of our members can assist you as soon as possible. 

Click here to learn more

Session Keeper Setup Tutorial

The following process will be used to create a Session in your Schoolzine account. Sessions can be created for things such as Parent Teacher Interviews and Room Bookings.

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Select the New Session.
3. Select your Session Type.
   

   Staff: Will record only parent details on the bookings.

   Student: Will record parent and student details on the bookings.

4. Fill in the Description field with any instructions or other information required.
   Note: You are also able to populate other media items, hyperlinks, and pictures within this section.
5. Click Save & Continue.

Importing Staff

Importing your staff will easily allow you to add multiple staff to your session.

1. Open and complete the Staff Template below.

2. Navigate to step 2 when creating a session and click Import Staff.
3. Browse for your Template and select the Session Keeper Staff group.
4. Click Import.

Availability

For this stage you will be creating the available appointments for your selected staff members.

1. Select a Start Date and Closing Date for your availability period.
2. Select a Start Time and Closing Time for your appointment time slots.
3. Populate the appointment Duration.
   Note: This field is measured in minutes.
4. Tick the box next to the staff member(s) you want the appointments to be added to.
5. Click Add to Selected.
   Note: If you wish to add the appointments to all staff then click Add to all.
6. Once all appointments have been created, click Save & Continue.

Adding a Staff Title

1. Log in to your Control Centreand select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Availability tab of your session.
4. Find the staff member you wish to add a title to and click the pencil icon in the Title column.
   Examples: Class 7B, Year 1A, additional staff names.
   Note: Ticking ‘Show title only’ will hide the Staff name.
5. Click Save.

Sharing your Session

Now that you have completed the setup of your Session, you can send out the Session URL (web address) to your relevant contacts. You can include the Session URL (web address) in a Newsflash, on your website, within the content of your newsletter, as an App Tile, or in the Side Panel of your newsletter.

The Session URL (web address) is located under the session title on the Details tab.

If you’d like assistance with sharing your Session with the community, please feel free to contact the Support Team.

The settings below are used when creating your session, they are used to control the way your session works.

Session Title

This field is the title for your session.

Example: Parent Teacher Interviews

Session Type

Staff: Will record only parent details on the bookings.

Student: Will record parent and student details on the bookings.

Session Status

This will indicate whether the session is active or not.

Booking Notes

This option will prevent parents from being able to add a note to their booking.

Allow Availability Management

This setting will turn on the option for staff to create their own timeslots.

User Availability Check

Session Keeper has a check in place to ensure that parents are not able to book themselves two appointments at the same time. This field has been added to turn off this function for specific sessions, allowing parents to book the same time for two different sessions. (Example: Book with your child's teacher and with a translator)

Open/Close Bookings

Open Bookings/Time: These fields will determine the open date and time of the session.

Close Bookings/Time: These fields will determine the close date and time of the session.

Always Open: The session will always be open to have bookings made.

Session Access Groups

Only contacts in the assigned access groups will be able to make bookings.

If no access group is set, all contacts in your account will have access to make a booking.

Session Manager

Session Managers will receive notifications and access request emails.

Web Form

Option to attach a Web Form to your session to request further details when a booking is being made.

Booking limit

Limit prevents multiple bookings within the selected time period.

Custom URL (web address)

Allows you to customise the URL (web address) that is sent out to Parents. The link is required to begin with ‘https://example.schoolzineplus.com/’ and whatever is entered in the field will appear after.

Example: https://example.schoolzineplus.com/term1bookings

Session Description

This field is used for the description of your session and where you can include any details parents may need to know.

Importing Staff

Importing your staff will easily allow you to add multiple staff to your session.

1. Open a new Microsoft Excel Document.

2. Populate the staff members first name, last name and email address in separate columns.
Note: Ensure there is only one email address per row.

3. Save your spreadsheet as a .CSV (comma delimited) file.

4. Import your staff in to the Session Keeper Staff group using the spreadsheet you created.
Note: Contacts added to this group will be available when creating a session.

Adding New Staff

This process is for adding a single staff member to your session.

1. Select the Contacts menu tab.
2. Once expanded, select View Contacts.
3. Select the New Contact button.
4. Populate the first name, last name and email address fields.
5. Add the contact to the Session Keeper Staff group.
   Note: Contacts added to this group will be available when creating a session.
6. Click Save.

Existing Staff Member

This process is for when your staff member is already a contact in your Schoolzine account.

1. Select the Contacts menu tab.
2. Once expanded, select View Contacts.
3. Search for your contact and click on their First Name.
4. Click edit and assign them to the Session Keeper Staff group.
5. Click Save.

Copying your Session URL (web address)

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Click on the Session URL (web address) under the Session Name.
4. Select Session in the top righthand side of the page.
5. Copy the URL (web address) in the address bar at the top of your page.
   Example: https://example.schoolzineplus.com/sessions

NOTE: you can also link to directly to a specific session by using the Session link such as the example below: https://example.schoolzineplus.co.uk/view-session/4

Creating a SZapp tile with your Session URL (web address)

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Manage SZapp menu tab.
2. Select the Tiles Tab and click New Tile.
3. Populate the Page Title and App Icon fields.
   Note: Colouring can also be applied in this interface.
4. Paste your Session URL (web address) in the URL field.
5. Click Save.
6. The page will then refresh to confirm your changes.

The steps below will assist you in creating Year Levels for a Student Session. Once created, the Year Level will be an option for parents to select when adding in their child’s details.

1. Log in to your Control Centre.
2. Click on Students in the Menu.
3. Click the blue plus icon.
4. Enter your Year Level and Display Name and click Add.

Adding Additional Time Slots for Staff

The steps below will assist you in adding additional time slots.

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Availability tab.
4. Click on the grey bulk add time slots bar.
5. Select a Start Date and Closing Date for your availability period.
6. Select a Start Time and Closing Time for your appointment time slots.
7. Populate the appointment Duration.
   Note: This field is measured in minutes.
8. Tick the box next to the staff member(s) you want the appointments to be added to.
9. Click Add to Selected.
   Note: If you wish to add the appointments to all staff then click Add to all.
10. Once all appointments have been created, click Save & Continue.

Making a Time Slot Unavailable

The steps below will assist you in making a time slot unable to be booked.

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Availability tab.
4. Click and expand the Staff Member you wish to book with using the arrow icon.
5. Find an Available time slot and click on Available, this will change the Time Slot to be Unavailable.

Deleting Staff Time Slots

The steps below will assist you in deleting time slots for your staff.

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Availability tab.
4. Click and expand the Staff Member you wish to book with using the arrow icon.
5. Click on the minus icon on next to the block of time slots you wish to delete.

Printing Bookings

The following process will step you through printing off bookings for all staff or individual staff.

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Bookings tab.
4. Click on Print Bookings.
   Note: If you wish to print an individual staff members booking’s, you can filter for them first in the Staff drop down.

Exporting Bookings

The following process will step you through exporting your bookings as an excel spreadsheet for all staff or individual staff.

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Bookings tab.
4. Click on Export Bookings.
   Note: If you wish to export an individual staff members booking’s, you can filter for them first in the Staff drop down.

Cancelling a Booking

If you need to cancel a booking on a parent or staff members behalf, please follow the process below.

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Bookings tab.
4. Find the time slot you wish to cancel and click the red X icon.
   Note: You can use the Search field or Staff filter to assist you in finding the time slot.

5. Once cancelled, an email notification will be sent to the parent and staff member.

Editing a Booking

If you need to edit a booking on a parent or staff members behalf, please follow the process below.

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Bookings tab.
4. Find the time slot you wish to edit and click the blue pencil icon.
   Note: You can use the Search field or Staff filter to assist you in finding the time slot.
5. After saving your changes, an email notification will be sent to the parent and staff member.

Important Session Setting - User Availability Check

If you require to book on behalf for the same date and time across multiple sessions or Teachers, you will need to tick Disregard on the User Availability Check field within the Session Settings.

The following process to book any available timeslot (for any teacher) on behalf of a parent.

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Availability tab.
4. Click and expand the Staff Member you wish to book with.
5. Click the Plus icon next to an Available time slot.

7. Search for the parent and click Add Parent.
   Note: The parent must be a contact in your Schoolzine account.
8. Add any notes you require for the booking.
9. Click Save.

Once saved this will then send a confirmation to the staff member with the booking details.

Booking on behalf of parents without an email address

The following process can be used to book on behalf of a parent that does not have an email address.

The first part of the process will be to create a generic school contact. This will be the nominated email for all contacts you are booking for.

1. Navigate to Contacts and select View Contacts.
2. Click New Contact.
3. Fill in the First Name and Email field.
   Note: we advise using a non-personal email address. E.g. Parentbooking@yourschool.com
   It is also not required to use a valid email.
4. Click Save.

You are now ready to book on behalf of contacts without an email address.

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Availability tab.
4. Click and expand the Staff Member you wish to book with.
5. Click the Plus icon next to an Available time slot.
6. Search for your generic contact and click Add Parent.
7. In the Notes field add in the Parent’s and/or Student’s details.
8. Click Save.

Once saved this will then send a confirmation to the staff member with the booking details.

Parent Booking Guide

Parents can also be supplied with the below link to be directed to a booking guide they can use to assist them with making an appointment via Session Keeper:

Marking as attended

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Bookings tab.
4. Click on the arrow icon to view the booking.
5. Click on the Mark Attended button.

Deleting an Attendant

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Bookings tab.
4. Click on the arrow icon to view the booking.
5. Click the Delete Button.

Adding an Attendant

1. Log in to your Control Centre and select the Session Keeper menu tab.
2. Click on the Session Name.
3. Navigate to the Bookings tab.
4. Click on the arrow icon to view the booking.
5. Click the Add Attendant button.
6. Then search for the contact and tick the box, then click ADD.

Please note Additional Staff Members must be included within the Session Keeper Staff group. See the Managing Staff Members guide for information.

1. Navigate to the Availability tab of your session.
2. Hover over the group icon in the Additional Staff column and click Link More Staff.
3. Select the staff member you wish to link.

You can also include the staff members name in the Title field, using the Pencil icon.

Reminders are used to notify your teachers or parents via email, prior to their booked appointment.

1. Navigate to the Reminders tab of your session.
2. Click New Reminder.
3. Populate Reminder Name
4. Select Reminder Type and follow the process below for which type you selected.

Date

Selecting this option will send an email notification on a selected date.

1. Select Reminder Date.
2. Select Reminder Recipient Type.
   Note: The Reminder Recipient Type is used to select who receives the reminder.

Timed

Selecting this option will send an email notification hours, days or weeks before their booked appointment.

1. Select Reminder Period Type.
2. Select Reminder Period.
3. Select Reminder Recipient Type.
   Note: The Reminder Recipient Type is used to select who receives the reminder.

Booking on behalf of a parent – Staff Session

Please use the following process to book one of your available timeslots on a parent’s behalf.

1. Log in to your Session via the Session URL (web address).
2. Navigate to Account and select My Sessions.
3. Click View Session.
4. Navigate to the Availability tab.
5. Find an Available time slot and click the Plus icon.
6. Search for the parent and click Add Parent.
   Note: The parent must be a contact in your Schoolzine account.
7. Add any notes you require for the booking.
8. Click Save.

Booking on behalf of a parent – Student Session

Please use the following process to book one of your available timeslots on a parent’s behalf.

1. Log in to your Session via the Session URL (web address).
2. Navigate to Account and select My Sessions.
3. Click View Session.
4. Navigate to the Availability tab.
5. Find an Available time slot and click the Plus icon.
6. Search for the parent and click Add Parent.
   Note: The parent must be a contact in your Schoolzine account.
7. Select a Student.
8. Add any notes you require for the booking.
9. Click Save.

Exporting Bookings

1. Log in to your Session via the Session URL (web address).
2. Navigate to Account and select My Sessions.
3. Click View Session.
4. Click the Export button in the top right-hand corner.
   Note: You can use the Start Date and Closing Date to export a specific date range.

Making a Time Slot Unavailable

1. Log in to your Session via the Session URL (web address).
2. Navigate to Account and select My Sessions.
3. Click View Session.
4. Navigate to the Availability tab.
5. Find an Available time slot and click on the Available This will change the Time Slot to be Unavailable.

Cancelling a Booking

1. Log in to your Session via the Session URL (web address).
2. Click View Session.
3. Find a confirmed appointment you wish cancel and click the Edit Pencil Tool in the Action column.
4. Change the Status field to Cancelled and click Save.
   Note: This will send the staff member and Parent a booking cancellation email.

Adding Available Time Slots

1. Log in to your Session via the Session URL (web address).
2. Navigate to Account and select My Sessions.
3. Click View Session.
4. Navigate to the Availability tab.
5. Click Add Session Times.
6. Select the Availability Type.
   Note: Selecting Break will make the time slot unavailable for booking.
7. Select the Start Date and Closing Date.
8. Select the Start Time and Finish Time.
9. Select the Duration of each available time slot.
10. Add or attach an existing Location to the booking session. (optional)
11. Click Add Session.

Attendants

An Attendant is the person who has made a booking. Attendants can be marked as attended or cancelled. Also, you can add a new attendant if required.

Marking as attended

1. Log in to your Session via the Session URL (web address).
2. Navigate to Account and select My Sessions.
3. Click View Session.
4. Click on the arrow icon to view the booking.
5. Click on the Mark Attended button.

Cancelling an Attendant

1. Log in to your Session via the Session URL (web address).
2. Navigate to Account and select My Sessions.
3. Click View Session.
4. Click on the arrow icon to view the booking.
5. Click on the Cancel Booking button.

Adding an Attendant

1. Log in to your Session via the Session URL (web address).
2. Navigate to Account and select My Sessions.
3. Click View Session.
4. Click on the arrow icon to view the booking.
5. Click the Add Attendant button.
6. Then search for the contact and tick the box, then click ADD.

Managing Your Bookings - Video Tutorial

Please watch the tutorial below on how to mange your session bookings.

The following will guide you through frequently asked questions about the Schoolzine Session Keeper feature. If you cannot find what you are looking for or are interested in enabling Session Keeper for your account, please Contact Support.

How does someone book?

Click here to view the Parent Booking Guide

What is the difference between Staff and Student Session Type?

• Staff can be used to just collect the details of the parent/caregiver attending the meeting/interview.
• Student can be used to record the details of both the parent/caregiver and student attending.

How do I add extra fields to the booking form?

Extra fields can be applied to the booking process by creating a Web Form/eForm and attaching it in the session settings.

View More Information on creating an eForm

What is the best way to have two or more teachers attached to one group of availability? / What does Linked Staff do?

You can link multiple staff members to one group of availability using the ‘Link Staff’ button on an already created teacher. Linked staff members will also receive booking confirmations and appointment reminders.

View More Information on Linked Staff

How do I book on behalf of a parent?

System Users can book on behalf of a parent, click below to view a step by step guide.

View more Information on Booking on behalf of a Parent

What is Buffer and how does it work?

Adding buffer to your availability will add the designated time to the end of each appointment. This allows for appointments to have overflow/changeover time.

How do I add a break?

There are two ways to add breaks to your availability.

When creating the availability, split your bulk add times into two imports. For example, if the appointments are to run from 3pm – 7pm with a break from 5:30pm – 6pm:

1. Add 3pm to 5:30pm
2. Add 6pm – 7pm

The other way is to create the timeslots and mark the time slots that fall within the break time as unavailable.

How do I make timeslots unavailable?

Individual timeslots can be made unavailable both from the Control Centre and Session Keeper staff sides of the system.

To make unavailable from the system, navigate to the session and click the vailability tab. Find the time slot for the teacher you would like to block out and click the available tab. This will adjust the timeslot to unavailable.

To adjust from the Teacher side of session keeper please see this guide:

Managing Your Bookings Guide for Staff

How do I add more staff to my session?

Staff can be added to an existing session by navigating to the session and clicking the availability tab. At the top of the page you can select either Add New Staff or Import New Staff.

• Add New Staff: Select Existing Staff from the Session Keeper Staff group to add to the session
• Import New Staff: Import new staff into the Session Keeper Staff group to be added to the session

What are Session Access Groups?

Applying Session Access Groups to your session restricts access to only email addresses that pre-exist in the selected groups.

Only contacts in the assigned access groups will be able to make bookings.

If no access group is set, all new and existing contacts will have access to make a booking.

Where do my Staff login?

To access the Staff Login page login to the Control Centre and select Session Keeper from the menu. At the top of Sessions List is the Staff Login button, this link can be copied and distributed to your staff.

How do my staff allocate a password?

When logging into Session Keeper, if it is the first time the email address is recognised and has not previously allocated a password, the system will prompt the user to create one.

How do my staff manage their own availability?

Please see this detailed guide on how your staff can manage their availability.

View more information on Managing Your Bookings – Guide for Staff

My parents / staff cannot login?

When logging into Session Keeper, if it is the first time the email address is recognised and has not previously allocated a password, the system will prompt the user to create one.

If a password is already set on your email address, it is likely you have accessed the system with your email address from another location. For example, if you have logged into the SZapp with the same address your password will be the same one allocated for the app.

If you cannot remember your password, you can request a reset from the Session Keeper login portal.

If you are still having login issues, please contact the Schoolzine Support Team.

The organisation of your bookings is key. We're aware that teaching is a busy profession and in the session keeper platform we've simplified the booking management aspect for your ease of mine.

Within the session keeper platform there are 5 statuses you can assign to your bookings:

• Available
• Unavailable
• Booked
• Cancelled
• Locked

For a more detailed insight into the full booking management suite check out:

Available

When a session is available, this means parents and carers are able to book for this time slot and finalize a session. You are able to review these and alter these via the Schoolzine control centre or alternatively, if you have the "Availability Management" option enabled for the session, individual staff can log in and adjust this via the Session Keeper Staff portal.

Unavailable

Unavailable defines time slots that have been marked as not open for bookings. Unavailable time slots cannot be booked by the parents until manually reactivated by a System User - Admin via the Schoolzine control centre or if the "Availability Management" option is ticked in the Sessions Settings allowing individual staff to manually adjust this.

Booked

Booked sessions are for finalized bookings completed by the parent/guardian or manually added by a staff member.

Cancelled

Cancelled bookings define previously booked sessions that have been cancelled. Bookings can be cancelled by pressing the red X next to the booked session or via the Staff Portal. The timeslot of the cancelled booking will automatically be made available. Parents will receive a confirmation email once a session has been cancelled.

Locked

Locked time slots refer to a user who has begun the process of a booking but has not yet finalized. These slots are automatically unlocked if the user after 1 hour or done by a system user by pressing the red X icon