Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. System Settings - set the number of time blocks, the number of elective subjects to be taken by students in general and the elective subject allocation method to be used (by overall ranking or by elective subject queue)
2. Student Particulars - enter or import students' particulars into the SOP
3. Subject Information - select elective subjects that will be offered by school
4. Distribute Student Option Form and Input Student Options - collect students' preferred options and then enter or import the data into the SOP
5. Setup Elective Subject Group & Constraints - specify the number of groups for each elective subject offered and any elective subject constraints required
6. Generate and Maintain Time Blocks - arrange the elective subject groups into different time blocks either manually or generate by the SOP
7. Prepare Student Academic Results - import students' academic results (reference only)
8. Define Student Allocation order - specify the allocation orders of students for allocating elective subjects
9. Allocate Elective Subjects to Students - allocate elective subjects to students using different allocation choices according to the allocation orders
10. Reports - export relevant reports in different formats

The Satisfaction Rate (Top Priorities) only counts students’ top options based on the number of elective subject to be taken. The Satisfaction Rate (All Options) which includes all preferences is calculated based on their preferences for the allocated subjects. Please refer to the table below for details:

When calculating the Satisfaction Rate (Top Priorities/All Options), due to the forbidden combination of elective subjects/modules, for example, students cannot take M1 and M2 simultaneously. If a student chooses M1 as option 1 and M2 as option 2, the calculation of Satisfaction Rate will count option 1, skip option 2 and count the subsequent option.

Calculation of Average Satisfaction Rate:
Average Satisfaction Rate (Top Priorities) = Average of the Satisfaction Rates (Top Priorities) of all students
Average Satisfaction Rate (All Options) = Average of the Satisfaction Rates (All Options) of all students

CloudSAMS allows users to extract data as Excel files for the SOP under the module "Data Management". Data includes student particulars and student academic results. The Excel files can then be directly imported to the SOP.

"Next year class" is required for the SOP to print out students' individual timetables. The field must be filled in when printing timetables.

If a new student particulars file is imported to the SOP, all existing data will be replaced by the new data in the imported file.

The “Rank” in “Student Particulars” can be used to generate the allocation orders of students for elective subject allocation by overall ranking.

The SOP allocates subjects to students based on the "Allocation Orders”. "Student Academic Results" only provides a reference for users to manually determine the allocation orders of students with duplicated rank. It is applicable to elective subject allocation by overall ranking.

The SOP allows the number of preferences of each student to be fewer than that of the number of elective subjects offered but does not allow the number of preferences to be fewer than the number of elective subjects to be taken by the student and no duplicated preferences are allowed.

Before un-offering an elective subject, the user should ensure that no students choose this elective subject as their option and then set the number of group for this elective subject to zero. If the school is using elective subject queue for elective subject allocation, allocation orders should also be cleared. After that, the elective subject can be un-offered in “Subject Information”.

“Number of Requests” (NOR) is the number of requests received from students in selecting the elective subject as their top priorities, i.e. the top priorities of students’ options. It is calculated according to the number of electives students need to take. For students who take 2 elective subjects, their first two options will be counted by NOR. For students who take 3 elective subjects, their first three options will be counted. However, due to the forbidden combination of elective subjects/modules, for example, students cannot take M1 and M2 simultaneously. If a student chooses M1 as option 1 and M2 as option 2, NOR will count option 1, skip option 2 and count the subsequent option.

Starting from the SOPv2.0, the system allows users to set up different quotas of the groups for an elective subject.

Each school’s conditions and students' options in elective subjects are different. Thus, the system cannot guarantee a specific average satisfaction rate (top priorities/all options) that can be achieved by the generated time block combination (e.g. defining the average satisfaction rate for all students to be at least 96%). Users may consider setting a longer time limit for the system to automatically generate time block combinations that could achieve higher average satisfaction rate as alternative options to meet the school needs.

For elective subject allocation by overall ranking, the SOP provides the function of partial allocation that allows generating allocation results for different students using different allocation algorithms.

Yes. To allocate all students to a specific time block, click the option "Has Compulsory Block" and select one of the time blocks as “Compulsory” from the dialogue box of "Generate Allocation Results".

If the allocation orders of students are not specified, Elective Subject Allocation can still be performed while student numbers will be used as the default allocation orders.

The system will not allocate different modules of the same elective subject to the same student. Users are not required to set this manually.

SOPv2.0 can handle students taking different numbers of elective subjects. Thus, adding a dummy subject manually is no longer needed.

Schools should ensure that only authorised programme user(s) is eligible to access personal data in the SOP, and set a strong password to protect the data file. The authorised programme user(s) should take appropriate measures to protect the sensitive information and to avoid data leakage.

Please visit the website of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data for further details of the six personal data protection principles:Six Data Protection Principles