Getting Started

Getting Started

This document will guide you through the necessary steps to get OPTIS up and running quickly. Although there are many different possible configurations, the following steps cover the basic setup and should be all that is needed for the majority of cases:

Updating School Information

Completing your school's information is useful in the case that a parent would like to contact the school, the information will be readily available to them from OPTIS. Also, when a parent logs out from OPTIS they will be redirected to your school's website.

  1. Click Tools from the main menu.

  2. Select School Information from the dropdown menu that appears.

  3. Complete the necessary fields in the form (School Name, Email, Website, etc.)

  4. Click Continue to save the details.

Adding teacher accounts

When parents are scheduling appointments they will choose from a list of Teachers that have been entered into your database. We'll populate that database now:

  1. Click Users from the main menu.

  2. Click the Add User button from the main action buttons.

  3. Ensure that Teacher has been selected as the User Type in the first field

  4. Complete the required information (First Name, Last Name, Room)

  5. Click Continue to save the teacher

    • if you'd like to add another teacher click the I want to add another teacher checkbox to repeat this step

although the Email Address and Password fields aren't strictly required to add a Teacher, we recommend you complete these fields; these details act as the Teacher's login credentials, allowing them to log in to OPTIS to access their schedule, among other features.

Adding interview periods

An Interview Period is the span of time during which teachers available for appointments. You can add as many Interview Periods as needed, as long as the date/time does not overlap with an existing Interview Period.

To accomodate the most typical use case, by default all Teachers are available during the entire Interview Period. If you need more flexibility/variability in teachers' schedules see Blocking off unavailable times and Selecting Available Teachers

  1. Click Interview Periods from the main menu.

  2. Click Add Interview Period from the main action buttons.

  3. Choose the desired Date from the calendar.

  4. Complete the form by choosing a Start Time, End Time, and desired default Interview Length

  5. Click Continue to save the interview period.

    • if you would like to add more than one Interview Period select the I want to add another interview period option to repeat this process

Configure settings

When your account is created, most of the configuration options are disabled. Before parents can properly access the system and book their appointments we'll need to do some configuration. There are many configuration options, which you can explore here, but for now we'll concentrate only on the necessary options to allow parents to book appointments:

  1. Click Tools from the main menu.

  2. Select Settings from the dropdown menu that appears.

  3. Check the boxes for Enable New Parent Registration and Enable Scheduling of New Appointments to turn them on.

  4. Click Continue to save the settings.

Distribute information to parents

Now that everything has been configured, you're ready for parents to access OPTIS and start booking their appointments. Parents will access the system from the same address as Administrators and Teachers: http://www.parentinterviews.com/[your-school-name] . Distribute this address along with the parent instructions to your parents through whichever medium you would like.

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