Field Name
Or Term

Description

Abbreviation (of Calendar Type)

Is a short form of the Description of a type of Calendar used within the institution. Examples are ACAD YEAR (standard Academic Year), Semester 1 (Semester 1 Teaching Period), TRIMESTER 2 (Trimester 2 Teaching Period) and ENROLMENT 1 (Enrolment Period 1).

Abbreviation (of Date Alias)

Is a short form of the Description of an event (Date Alias). Examples are CENSUS DATE (DEST census date), END LECTURES (last day of lectures in Teaching Period) and WD CUTOFF DATE (last day to withdraw from unit without failing).

Absolute Value (of Date Alias Instance)

Is the real date value allocated to an instance of a Date Alias.

Alias Value (of Date Alias Instance)

Is the date value used by the System. It derives this, according to certain rules, from either the absolute value or a value calculated by offset. This value cannot be set or modified by a user.

Alternate Code (for Calendar Instance)

Is the alternate short reference code for identifying a Teaching or Academic Calendar Instance. This code is used for mass keying of Enrolments and Unit/Course Offerings.

Calendar Category

Is a System defined categorisation of Calendar Types. Each Calendar Type must be assigned a Calendar Category to enable the System to determine associated functionality for each type of Calendar. There are a limited number of Calendar categories and they are accessed via lists of values in the data entry forms.

A Date Alias may be linked to a Calendar Category, restricting the use of the Date Alias to Calendars of that category only. For example, linking the Date Alias ST_LECT (start lectures) to the Calendar Category TEACHING means that instances of the Date Alias can only be created in TEACHING Calendar Instances.

Calendar Instance

Is institution defined data. It permits the definition of specific occurrences of a Calendar Type. A Calendar Instance is created by assigning a Start and End Date and a Calendar Status to a Calendar Type. For example, a Calendar Instance representing the first semester of 2003 can be created by assigning a Start and End Date (say, 01/01/03 and 30/06/03) and a 'future' status to the Calendar Type SEM-1.

Calendar Instance Relationship

Permits the definition of relationships between Calendar Instances. For example, the Calendar Instance for Semester 1, 2003 could be a subordinate of the instance for Academic Year 2003. Similarly, the instance for an exam period in Semester 1, 2003 could be a subordinate of the Semester 1, 2003 Calendar Instance. It follows that the instance for Academic Year 2003 is the superior of the instance for Semester 1, 2003. It is possible for a Calendar Instance to have several superior Calendar Instances, as illustrated in Calendar Instance Relationships.

Calendar Status

Is the institution defined status of a Calendar, indicating its level of activity. Every Calendar Status must be assigned one of the System statuses ACTIVE, INACTIVE or PLANNED, which are the values recognised by the System for other functionality. For example, the institution defined status CURRENT may be mapped to the System status ACTIVE.

Calendar Type

Is the institution defined name of a type of Calendar used within the Organisation. Examples are ACAD-YR (standard Academic Year), SEM-1 (Semester 1 Teaching Period), TRI-2 (Trimester 2 Teaching Period) & ENROL-1 (Enrolment Period 1). Note that Calendar Type does not refer to a particular occurrence of a Calendar but rather to all like Calendars.

Each Calendar Type must be assigned a Calendar Category which is used to provide System functionality.

Date Alias

Is the institution defined name of an event (not an actual date value). Each Date Alias must be assigned a Date Alias Category and may be assigned a Calendar Category. Date Alias examples are CENSUS (DEST Census Date) and END-LECT (last day of lectures in Teaching Period).

Date Alias Category

Is institution defined data. Date Alias Categories are used to classify or group Date Aliases with common attributes, particularly for inquiry or reporting purposes. Each Date Alias must be assigned a Date Alias Category. Examples of Date Alias Categories are 'fee dates', 'unit withdrawal dates' and 'teaching dates'.

Date Alias Instance

Permits the creation of individual occurrences of events. A Date Alias Instance is created by assigning a Date Alias to the appropriate Calendar Instance. It is completed by assigning a date. For example, a Date Alias Instance could be created for the start of an examination period by assigning the Date Alias EXAM-ST to the appropriate Calendar Instance and then giving it a date, say 05/06/03.

Note that the date for a Date Alias Instance may be derived by calculating its offset from another Date Alias Instance. This is called a Date Alias Instance Offset. The Offset is the number of days, weeks, months, years between the two dates.

In the case of planned Calendars it is possible to create a Date Alias Instance without specifying a date of occurrence, as these Calendars are still under development.

The Data Dependencies diagram illustrates the creation of a Date Alias Instance.

Date Alias Instance Offset

A Date Alias Instance may be set up with a date (Alias Value) calculated as an Offset from another Date Alias Instance. See also Date Alias Instance, Offset Dates

Date Alias Offset

A Date Alias may be set up so that specific instances are calculated by Offset from another Date Alias. See also Offset dates

Date Alias Pair

See Paired Dates below

End Date (of Calendar Instance)

Is the date from which a Calendar Instance is no longer effective. For example, the Calendar Instance Semester 1 2003 may end on 11/6/2003.

Offset Alias Value

Is the 'base' alias value from which the offset has been calculated by the System. See also Date Alias Instance Offset, Offset Dates

Offset Date Alias

Is the 'base' Date Alias in an offset relationship - the event from which the date of another event is calculated by offset. See also Date Alias Offset, Offset Dates

Offset Dates

Instead of supplying an actual date for an event, it is possible to define it as being a certain time before or after another event. This is known as its 'offset'. For example, the submission date for DEST census information (SUBMIT-DT) may be set as 4 weeks after the census date (CENSUS). The System calculates SUBMIT-DT by adding 4 weeks (the Offset Duration) to CENSUS (the Offset Date Alias).

Offset Duration

Is the number of days, weeks, months, years between two Date Aliases, or two Date Alias Instances, which have an offset relationship. Values may be positive or negative. See also Offset Dates

Paired Date Alias

Is the name of the Date Alias with which the currently displayed Date Alias is paired. See also Paired Dates

Paired Dates

The pairing of two Date Aliases enables the definition of a period of time inclusive of the two Date Aliases. An example is the pairing of the Date Aliases for 'start semester break' and 'end semester break' in order to define the period of the break.

Start Date (of Calendar Instance)

Is the date from which a Calendar Instance becomes effective. For example, the Calendar Instance Semester 1 2003 may commence on 1/3/2003.

Subordinate Calendars

See Calendar Instance Relationship

Superior Calendars

See Calendar Instance Relationship

System (Calendar) Status

Is System defined reference data which is assigned to a Calendar Status defined by the institution, to indicate whether a Calendar is 'planned', 'active' or 'inactive':

• Planned Calendars are those Calendars which are still under development. They are not available for use by other Subsystems
• Active Calendars are those which are currently available for use by other Subsystems
• Inactive Calendars are those against which it is no longer permitted to add data