Getting Started Guide – Preferences Manager Lite
Part 1: Prepare the Management Portal

Required role: Global Administrator or School Administrator

Note:  

Preferences Manager is available in two editions: Lite and Manager.

In the Lite edition, some advanced features are not available. These appear as greyed-out (inactive) items in the task list and cannot be selected. View comparison

In the full Manager edition, all tasks in the task list are active.  A free trial of the Manager edition is available from our website 

Step 1: Sign in and confirm school settings

1. Sign in to the Management Portal at
   https://timetabling.education

2. Open [2A] Manage School.

3. Confirm the timezone is correct.

   • The timezone is used to record the date and time of student submissions on receipts.

4. Click Setup Using Timetable.

   • Select your current timetable file to import:

     • Students

     • Subjects

     • Year levels
       
       Note:
       If you do not yet have access to a timetable file, you can manually add or import data from Excel (XLSX) in later steps.

Step 2: Import users (students)

1. Go to [1A] Manage Users.

2. Click Import to add student accounts.

Tip – create test access:

• Consider adding:

  • A test student (If not using SSO, it can be a fake email address, and manually create a password)

  • A student code to your own user account (double-click your username on task 1A Manage Users to add a student code). This allows you to add yourself as a student to any group for testing purposes and works with SSO enabled.

Step 3: Add year levels (if you were unable to import them from your timetable file)

1. Go to [3A] Year Levels.

2. Add the required year levels.

   • These are used later to filter students when creating student groups.

Step 4: Assign year levels to students

1. Go to [3B] Students.

2. Ensure every student has a year level assigned.

   • This should be the year level the student is currently in.

3. Use Bulk Edit to update multiple students at once if required.
   
   If your roll class value includes the year level, from the top menu, click 'Bulk', enter the year level number in the top roll class field to filter the students, click the top left checkbox to select all students, click 'Edit', select Year Level and enter the vlaue and click Save.

Step 5: Add subjects

1. Go to [4B] Subjects.

2. Click Import to add subjects.

Recommendations:

• Add administrative subjects such as “Not returning next year” if required.

• Add subject descriptions — these can be displayed to students during subject selection.

Part 2: Create a Student Group in Preferences Manager

Required role: Preferences Manager

Step 6: Open Preferences Manager

1. Click the app selector (9 dot grid icon, top-right of the screen, next to the bell icon)
   
   

2. Open Preferences Manager, or go directly to:
   https://pm.timetabling.education

Step 7: Create a new student group

1. Click New.

2. Enter a clear, meaningful name, for example:
   “Students Year 9 – 2027”
   (Year 9 students making subject selections for the 2027 academic year.)

Add students

3. Click Filter Students.

4. Apply your preferred filters (for example, by year level).

5. Tick the top-left checkbox to select all listed students.

6. Untick any students who should not be included.

Add subjects

7. Click Filter Subjects.

8. Apply your preferred filters.

9. Tick the top-left checkbox to select all listed subjects.

10. Untick any subjects that should not be available to this group.

Step 8: Create and configure the group

1. Click Create.

2. Configure the group settings:

   • Maximum Units (excluding reserves)
     – The maximum number of units a student can select.

   • Maximum Number of Submissions
     – How many times a student can submit and revise selections.
     Recommended: 10

   • Subject Display preference

3. Click the Save icon (top-right of the screen).

Part 3: Configure Instructions

Step 9: Instructions

Preferences Manager Lite supports the following instruction types:

• Initial Instructions
  Displayed when students first sign in to the Student Portal, before subject selection.

• Selection Instructions
  Displayed at the top of the Preference Selection screen while students make selections.

• Offline Instructions
  Displayed if a student attempts to sign in while the group is offline.

Note:
Receipt / Confirmation Instructions are not available in the Lite edition.

Part 4: Manage Students and Subjects

Step 10: Students

• The Students screen lists all students in the group.

• Use the impersonation icon, located on the left of the student to open the Student Portal as that student.

• 
  

Key fields:

• Online

  • When enabled, the student can sign in and make selections.

  • Username is the student’s email address.

  • Students can reset passwords using Recover my account on
    https://timetabling.education

• Preferences

  • Shows the number of units selected (excluding reserves).

  • Double-click a student to:

    • View submitted preferences

    • Remove a submission receipt

Step 11: Subjects

• The Subjects screen lists all subjects in the group.

• Subjects can be:

  • Added manually, or

  • Imported from the Management Portal [4B] Subjects list

Importing from the portal ensures:

• Centralised subject descriptions

• Automatic updates if subject names change

Key fields:

• Unit Value

  • Used for subject weighting

  • Defaults to 1 if not imported

• Number of Sub-grids

  • Indicates how many sub-grids the subject appears on

• Enabled

  • Determines whether a subject is selectable by students

  • Disabled subjects can still be used in subject rules

• Gender

  • Restricts subject availability by gender if required

Example:
Year 9 Italian can be disabled (not selectable) but still used as a prerequisite for Year 10 Italian.

Part 5: Preference Groups

Step 12: Preference Groups

A Preference Group controls how students select subjects and ensures curriculum rules are met.

Key fields:

• Preference Group Name

  • Identifies the group and can include brief instructions

  • Example: “Please select one Mathematics subject”

• Preference Boxes

  • Number of selection boxes shown to students

• Subjects

  • Add or manage subjects in the group

  • If a subject is missing, check that it is enabled in the Subjects task

Part 6: Test the Student Portal

Step 13: Create a test student

1. Open the Management Portal.

2. Go to [1A] Manage Users.

3. Double-click your user account.

4. Enter a fake student code and save.

You can now:

• Import yourself as a student

• Add yourself to any student group

• Test the full student experience

Step 14: Test submissions

• Use Open Student Portal to log in as the test student.

• Submit preferences and confirm:

  • Instructions display correctly

  • Units and preference limits behave as expected

To view or remove a submission:

• Open [3] Students

• Double-click the student

• Open the Submitted Preferences tab

Part 7: Collect Preferences

Step 15: Advise students

Ask students to sign in at:
https://timetabling.education

Communicate clearly:

• How many times they can submit and revise preferences

• When the portal will close

• That submission receipts remain viewable after the portal closes

Step 16: Monitor progress and remind students

1. Open [16] Student Status Report.

2. Review which students have:

   • Submitted preferences

   • Not yet submitted

3. Click Share to generate a view-only link for other staff.

Part 8: Export Data

Step 17: Export preferences

1. Go to the Home page in Preferences Manager.

2. Select the student group.

3. Click Export Data.

4. Choose to:

   • Link to an existing Student Options file, or

   • Create a new V10 Student Options file

The exported data is now ready to be used in your timetabling workflow.