Site Name

How do I log in to my account ?

After you create an account, you will receive an email confirming that your account exists. This email will also contain both your account id (which is generated automatically), and a link via which you can log into your account. (An example account id is HY45UJ67P; yours will be different, of course).

Whenever you log into your account, you must supply your account id, and a suitable username and password; by default, an user account admin is created, but you can create other user accounts, if you so wish, after logging in.

I can't login to my account - why not ?

If you can't login to your account even when you are sure that you are supplying the correct username and password, it is most likely because you have disabled Javascript in your browser. You must enable Javascript to be able to login; this is because CourseControl incorporates a security feature in its login process that ensures that your password is never sent across the Internet in cleartext, even across unencrypted links (you'll notice the password change when you submit the login page - that is part of the security mechanism). However, this feature means that you must use CourseControl with Javascript turned on.

Another less likely problem is that you are using a password manager, such as supplied with FireFox; this may break the security mechanism described above, and you should not use the password manager, but should supply the password each time you login.

In addition, you will have to enable cookies in your browser since CourseControl uses cookies to remember which page you're trying to go to, and various other things concerning your login session.

Finally, you may simply be trying to login to the wrong account. When you login you have to supply the account id, and if you get this wrong, you won't be able to login at all. (You can refer to the original account creation email that was sent to you to see what your account id is.)

How do I create a new admin user ? I want someone else to be able to use the account

Go to the menu item User > Create a New User and fill in the requested details. Make sure that you create the user with access level Admin.

You can create as many new users as you wish; there is no predefined limit.

How do I incorporate CourseControl into my website ?

You can add links from your website to your CourseControl account to allow clients to view your training timetables and calendars, and to provide booking links for individual courses. The text for these links is automatically generated on the View Site Data and URLs page, in the admin area of your account.

To add a link to your website, go to the View Site Data and URLs page, and copy the text for the appropriate link into a page on your website.

Note that the information is shown in two forms, namely URLs and links; an example link looks like <a href=http://...>View Course Calendar</a> - you should copy from the links section, rather than the URLs section.

Is my account data backed up ?

Yes. A full backup of all account data is made every day.

How do I create a course ?

The short answer is that you go to the course creation page (Creation Pages > Create a New Course) and supply the required data on that page. You should note that, although, there are quite a few pieces of information that you could fill in, only one is required, and that is the course name: all of the rest is either already filled in or optional. So to create a course, go to the course creation page, supply a name, and submit the page. (After you've done that you can go back and edit the various course details at a later time, of course).

The longer answer is that you may want to create training locations, price profiles and upload some attachments and images before you create a course, because that will allow you to associate a training location page with your course, to charge for bookings, and to send out attachments with emails.

If you want to use such resources, it is easiest to use the Course Creation Wizard the first time (which is available on the Admin Home Page, or under General Course Admin Pages > Run Course Creation Wizard in the menu). This wizard will guide you through the creation of these resources in the most sensible manner, and culminates in the creation of a course itself.

What are forms for ?

Forms allow you to collect information from clients. You have probably used many forms on web page; they consist of text areas, drop down boxes, checkboxes and so on. CourseControl allows you to create forms using a built-in form editor, and this means that you can choose precisely what information your clients must supply.

You can specify that a form to be used to:

collect information about the person booking the course (the client)
collect information about each student who will attend the course
collect information during a post-course survey

CourseControl comes populated with some predefined forms (in the menu under Form Admin Pages). You can use these as-is, add new form elements to them, or copy them into forms of your own.

Where are my courses listed in the admin area ? I can't see them

The admin pages for individual courses are available under the links in the Course Group Admin Submenus section of the menu. When you create a course, you can assign it to a named group (of presumably similar courses) and the various groups each have a link in Course Group Admin Submenus. Once you click on one of the group names, you see a page displaying all of the course admin pages for that group, from which you can select the one you wish to work on.

How do I add presentation dates to a course ?

Once you have created a course, you need to add presentation dates to it. A presentation has a location and a start date and an end date. You will normally add many presentation dates to a course, one for each time that you intend to run the course.

To add a presentation date, go to the admin page for the course, and follow the link called Add Course Presentations. On that page, there is a section entitled Add new presentation; you should fill in the requested details (the most important of which are the start date and end date) and submit the page. You can create as many different course presentations as necessary on this page.

Why do I get an offline message when I try to book a course ?

When you create a course, it is an offline state by default. That means that no one can make bookings on it and a default message will be displayed if someone tries to view the booking page. In order to allow bookings, you must enable the course by going to the course admin page and changing the course status via the Enable/Disable button at the top of the page.

How do I change the text in client emails and client visible web pages ?

Most of the client visible text, be it in an email or a web page, is defined in template files that may be edited from the admin area. To see the available templates, go to Templates > Template Submenus on the menu, and select the appropriate template to edit.

Note that if you make a mistake when editing a template, you can restore the default version by clicking on the Revert to Default button at the top of the editing page.

How do I collect more details from a booking client ?

By default, CourseControl collects only the title, name and email address of a booking client. However, if you want to collect other information (such as the address, organization, date of birth, and so on) you can create an appropriate form, and allocate it as the Client Contact Details form on the course admin page. (There is an example Client Contact Details form available for you to edit or copy).

What is a student ? What is a student booking details form ?

CourseControl allows a single booker to reserve multiple places on a presentation. The people who will attend the course are called students. In this case, you may wish to collect information about each student, and you do this by allocating a Student Booking Details form to the course on the appropriate course details page. (There is an example Student Booking Details form available for you to edit or copy).

How can I send out attachments in client emails ?

On the course details page, go to the email attachments section. There you can allocate the set of attachments to be sent out in booking emails, in reminder emails, and in followup emails.

Bear in mind that if you have not uploaded any emails to your account, you won't be able to allocate any attachments, of course.

How do I charge for a course ? Can each course have a different price ?

To charge for a course, you must create a price profile and allocate it to the course. A price profile specifies the charging regime for a course. You can specify that the price varies depending upon when the client makes the booking, if necessary. (In the simplest case, though, the price profile will specify a fixed price that never varies).

The price profile also determines whether or not you charge sales tax (e.g VAT), and the sales tax rate. In addition, you can specify that multiple bookings for the same presentation attract a discount (e.g. you may want to offer a 20% discount if a client books more that 3 people on the same presentation).

Since you can create as many price profiles as you wish, each course can have a different price, if necessary. (Bear in mind though, if all of this seems too complex, that you can create a single price profile and use it for all your courses.)

What is a location page for ?

A location page is a structured client visible web page designed to describe your training location. You can specify the address and contact details, display an image of the facilities or building (if you upload it), describe the location in detail, and optionally display a Google map of the geographical address of the location (which also allows the client to get directions via Google maps).

If you have more than one training location, you can create more than one location page, of course. On the other hand, if you don't offer training at a specific site, then you need create no location pages at all.

How do I enable Google Maps on a location page

In order to use Google maps, each account must be configured with its own Google map key. To do this, you must first go to the Google Maps API site and sign up for a key; once you have a key (which Google displays on the sign up web page, you copy and paste it into the appropriate configuration page in CourseControl. Here are the details:

Go to the Google Maps API signup page in one browser window.
Log in to CourseControl in another browser window and go to the View Site Data and URLs page
Copy the URL called "Google Maps URL"
On the Google Maps signup page, paste this URL into the appropriate text box, the accept any Terms and Conditions that Google imposes and submit the page
You will now see a page which displays the generated API key; it is a long string of digits and numbers. Copy this key using your browser.
Go to the Site Settings > General configuration page and paste the key into the "Google Maps API key" text box (near the bottom of the page) and submit the page.

You will now be able to enable Google maps on your location pages.

Can I change the flat menu layout ? It's too big

Yes. Go to the Site Settings > General config page, and find the Admin Navigation Menu section. You can change the setting of the Admin Navigation Menu Style to either Hideable or Popup to get a different style of menu. Both of these reduce the amount of screen height that the menu occupies.

What are scheduled jobs ?

CourseControl runs several services automatically, even when you aren't using your account. For example, it sends out course reminder and followup emails at appropriate times, and can send you backups of your account data by email if you want. These services are known as scheduled jobs, and you control them via the Site Admin > Start/Stop Scheduled Jobs page.

What is the Client Visible Pages menu section for ?

This area displays all of the links that a client can see. It includes the course calendar and timetable pages, and allows you to access booking links for each course. Essentially they are convenience links, which allow you, for example, to make a booking on behalf of a client, while you are in the admin area.

Bear in mind that a client can't access the admin area, so you need to add any appropriate client links to your own website as described in the section How do I incorporate CourseControl into my website