Calendar Glossary

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 1999 can be created by assigning a start and end date (say, 01/01/99 and 30/06/99) 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, 1997 could be a subordinate of the instance for academic year 1997. Similarly, the instance for an exam period in semester 1, 1997 could be a subordinate of the semester 1, 1997 calendar instance. It follows that the instance for academic year 1997 is the superior of the instance for semester 1, 1997. 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 05/06/97. 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
End Date (of Calendar Instance)		is the date from which a calendar instance is no longer effective. For example, the calendar instance Semester 1 1999 may end on 11/6/1999.
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 1999 may commence on 1/3/1999.
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.

Updated 30 January 2002