1	Take2 Overview for Version 9
2	Using the overview Use the menu at the left of the screen to jump to a topic. Mouse clicking on some slides displays additional information. Click the Next Slide arrow to move on. Click on hyperlinks or menus to jump to a new section. Internet Explorer 6 or higher is required for this overview.
3	Take2 files When Take2 is installed a number of “system” type files are copied to your hard disk. Other files which are copied to your disk include the Take2 data files, the Take2 program files, a logo file, and the User Manual.
4	Data files There are two data files. One called Take2Data.mdb is the current data file. It contains all the data you enter into Take2 about current students. The other file is called Take2Archive.mdb. It contains data relating to archived students. Sometimes the data files are referred to as the “back-end”. You must back up the data files regularly and keep a back-up off campus for safety. A file called Backend.txt is stored in the same place as the data files. It remembers the location of the data files when you update to a new version of Take2.
5	Program Files The files called Take2.mde and Take2Admin.mde are the Take2 program files. These files are referred to as the “front-end”. You do not need to back up the program files because they can always be downloaded from the Take2 Web site. Take2 will even check for updates for you. New releases of Take2 require you to download and overwrite one or both of these files, but do NOT affect the data stored in the Take2 data files.
6	Networked Take2 You can run Take2 on a network. The data files (back-end) are normally located on a file server. Each Take2 user has their own workstation, on which the program files (front-end) are installed. Note – the back-end for the SQL Server edition of Take2 will be stored on a special server.
7	Logo file On installation a file called Logo.bmp is installed in the same directory as Take2Data.mdb. This is a graphics file which contains the Take2 logo. The logo is displayed on the Take2 Main Menu and can be printed on academic records. You can replace the Take2 logo with your own logo by simply replacing Logo.bmp. The best proportions for the graphic image are 1.00 to 0.42. The higher the resolution of your logo image, the better it will display.
8	User manual The Take2 User Manual is a Word document called Manual.doc. It is copied into the Take2 folder on installation. Updated versions of the manual can be downloaded from the Take2 Web site. The Manual is a reference work with a comprehensive table of contents and an index to help you find topics. Short, topic specific Tip Sheets are available from the Take2 web site. A SQL Server Companion manual is available for SQL Server edition users. This documents the extra features of the SQL Server edition.
9	Test data files When Take2 is installed a folder called “Test” is created in the Take2 folder. Test contains files called TestData.mdb and TestArchive.mdb. These files are a copy of the live data files. You can use the File Location button on the Additional Functionality view on the About System form to “point” at the test data files, rather than the live data files. This means you can practise using Take2 with dummy data. When you are pointing at the test data files the word “TEST” appears on the Main Menu.
10	Mail merge documents You can do mail merges from Take2 to Word documents. See the section on standard letters to learn how. Three Word documents are supplied with Take2 and installed in the same place as the Take2 data files. These are standard documents which you can copy and modify as you wish. They are called Standard Letter.doc, Standard Invoice.doc, and Standard Envelope.doc. The Take2 SQL Server Edition has additional standard letters available.
11	Setting up & basics When you first use Take2, you should set it up so that it suits your requirements. For example you can set “internal lookup” values, which are values used to classify persons and organisations. Setting up is done in the Administration Module.
12	Administration Module
13	Site details
14	Glossary
15	Internal lookups
16	Contact lookups Contact lookup values are set by you for your own needs. They are used to classify prospects and your interaction with prospects. You can also specify standard bring-up categories.
17	External lookups External lookup values are set by agencies such as the Ministry of Education and Tertiary Education Commission. You will not normally need to add or change values but, if you do need to do so, simply add a new record at the bottom of the relevant table. You will, though, need to update some values such as the funding rates for Student Component funding. From version 8 there are new lookup values specific to ERS (Electronic Receipting).
18	Datasheets
19	Single record forms
20	Mandatory field checking
21	Process overview Add students and curriculum. Enrol students. Then you are able to: Make the Single Data Return. Record and report academic outcomes. Record and report labour market outcomes via the Electronic Receipting System.
22	Students and student recruitment You can add students to the Take2 database on the Students form. How much data you need to enter depends on whether the student is going to be reported to the Ministry of Education/TEC.
23	Student Recruitment
24	Students form
25	ID numbers The internal ID assigned by Take2 is the ID reported to the Ministry of Education, NZQA and the IRD. If you make a Single Data Return you must also obtain a National Student Index number (NSN) for every student. This number doubles as the NZQA Record of Learning ID. You can also record an IRD number and a StudyLink ID (loans and allowances). A further field called “Other ID” on the Other Details tab can be used to store any other ID, for example an ITO ID, or the ID number of the student in an earlier student management system.
26	National Student Index The National Student Index (NSI) was implemented from the 2002 academic year. Take2 is enabled for the National Student Index so that you can search the NSI database and acquire National Student Index numbers (NSN). Before implementing the NSI you must undertake a “provider load” process in association with the Ministry of Education. To learn more about the NSI, visit the Ministry’s Web site.
27	Addresses
28	Extra fields & photos
29	ID cards Meta Office offers an ID card printing service. You select the students for which cards are to be printed and Take2 creates a single file that you send to Meta Office. The cards are printed and sent back to you. Cards can include students’ photos if you wish. These are the same photos that display on the Extras tab of the Students form.
30	Curriculum The Take2 prescribed curriculum is a register of the qualifications and courses for which your organisation has academic and funding approval. The offered curriculum is a register of when you teach these qualifications and courses.
31	Curriculum form
32	Transferring curriculum elements
33	Courses
34	Course register
35	Enrolment patterns
36	Curriculum status codes
37	Targeted funding trainee information By clicking on the Places button on the Offered Qualification form you can open a special form that provides information on the number of targeted funding trainees enrolled. You will see the number of trainees enrolled at a date that you specify (the ‘As At’ date) and on each of the preceding four Tuesdays. Information is also provided on the number of teaching weeks used and possible. This assists with managing flexi funded programmes.
38	Enrolments Enrolment is the process of linking a student to various curriculum elements.
39	Enrolment events Each time you add an enrolment you are creating an “enrolment event”. An enrolment event is the event which gives rise to a student fee and which enables a student to apply for a student loan/allowance. The enrolment event is associated with a qualification, and one or more courses (and/or Unit Standards). If a qualification has more than one stage or year it will be necessary, over time, to create more than one enrolment event for a student enrolled in that qualification.
40	Pattern enrolment
41	Enrolment defaults
42	Ad hoc enrolment
43	Enrolment log
44	Editing enrolments
45	Student withdrawal
46	Fees
47	Fee protection
48	External reporting You can send electronic returns to the Ministry of Education/TEC (the Single Data Return – SDR) and NZQA. You can also make paper-based returns to TEC (Electronic Receipting is yet to be implemented). Additional external reporting options – for example to ITOs – can be provided where defined standards exist.
49	Four monthly
50	Course register
51	Completion files
52	NZQA reporting From mid 2005 NZQA has required providers to report electronically. Enhanced systems have been put in place by NZQA Take2 accommodates all NZQA requirements and can report/request: Hook-ons Unit Standard outcomes NZ Diploma in Business outcomes (after Oct 2007) Summary of progress Issue of certificates Take2 can also report unit standard outcomes to various ITOs
53	NZQA Unit Standard outcomes After you have recorded Unit Standard outcomes you are able to make an electronic return of the outcomes to NZQA. Take2 validates the returned data in accordance with NZQA’s requirements checking, for example, that you are supplying a valid address for each student. It is possible to include outcomes for which your organisation is not accredited and functionality to reverse a NZQA batch. Upon clicking the Extract the Lock NZQA Export Batch form will be displayed and a reference and the name of the person processing the batch can be entered. Once the validation is complete you extract a data file and upload it on the NZQA web site. A schedule and cover sheet showing the fees payable are produced by Take2.
54	Reporting to ITOs Several ITOs have adopted the NZQA file format for collecting Unit Standard completion data. You can create a file for the ITO using the same mechanism as reporting to NZQA. Contact the Help Desk to find out about reporting to a specific ITO.
55	Hook-ons
56	Electronic Receipting System (ERS)
57	ERS View
58	Statements of Service Performance It is very difficult to keep up with TEC’s changing and inconsistent SSP definitions. Take2 however provides an SSP pivot table to help.
59	Assessment of Strategic Relevance (ASR) Take2 provides the ability to record and report Assessment of Strategic Relevance data. These reports can be read and interpreted by the provider and made available as evidence to TEC.
60	Internal reporting A wide range of pre-formatted schedules and reports are available in Take2 for printing. Many reports can also be sent to Microsoft Word or Excel. You can also use the Ad Hoc reports file to build your own queries and reports with Microsoft Access.
61	Student schedules
62	Selection Criteria
63	Office links
64	Ad hoc reports file A special file called “Ad Hoc.mdb” is supplied with Take2. The file, which is a Microsoft Access file, contains a number of additional reports. You will also find a number of pre-formatted queries in the file which you can use as the basis for building your own special reports – providing that you have an Access licence. The Ad Hoc reports file is being constantly updated, so contact the help desk for the latest copy.
65	Student outcomes & attendance You can record academic outcomes at various levels and in various ways. These outcomes can be reported to students in the form of result notices and academic records.
66	Unit Standard outcomes
67	Alternative result types
68	Course completions
69	Qualification completions
70	Result notices and records
71	Attendance records
72	Persons and organisations Although Take2 is a student management system you can add details of other types of persons – for example tutors and employers – as well as details of organisations. Classifying persons and organisations helps you to communicate with them more easily.
73	Overview Persons who are added to the Take2 database can be ordinary persons (added on the Persons form), prospects (added on the Persons or Prospects forms), or they can be students (added on the Students form). Caregivers are used in the pastoral care functionality. You can make an ordinary person/prospect into a student (and/or a tutor) by ticking the appropriate fields on the Persons or Prospects forms. Any person can belong to an organisation, and you can add details of organisations on the Organisations form.
74	Classifying You can classify persons and organisations with special codes. You set-up the codes on the Internal Lookups form. Classifying is very useful because it enables you to select particular groups of persons to report on, or to communicate with. For example, you may assign a person type called “Placement Provider” to persons in your database who provide work placements to students. You could then do a mail merge to send a standard letter to these persons, asking them if they are able to provide placements in the second semester.
75	Persons
76	Tutors
77	Organisations
78	Pastoral care Take2 helps you comply with the code of practice for the pastoral care of international students. The functionality in Take2 allows you to record details of students’ accommodation and the people and events that relate to organising, managing, and vetting accommodation. You are also able to produce a range of detailed and summary reports, and can also use the standard Take2 features to generate mail merges, sticky labels, emails, etc
79	Communication & bring-ups Take2 provides a standard interface to select persons and prospects with whom you want to communicate. You can then use various output options such as sticky labels or mail merge. Bring-ups are reminders to follow up students or other persons – for example a reminder that an assignment is due or a fee outstanding. Marketing bring-ups relate exclusively to prospects and can be used in the recruitment process.
80	Select contacts
81	Output options
82	Standard letters
83	SMS
84	Adding bring-ups
85	Viewing bring-ups
86	Archiving There is a requirement for your organisation to retain student, enrolment, and outcome data for audit and reporting purposes. However, over time this would make your database grow to an unwieldy size. The Take2 archiving process allows you to retain and access data by using a special archive file. This means that your current database remains at a manageable size.
87	Archiving criteria In order for a student to be archived certain criteria must be met. This ensures that you do not inadvertently send to archive students whose details have still to be reported to a central agency. It also ensures that students who owe you fees are not archived.
88	Getting ready to archive
89	Cleaning the curriculum Once students have been sent to archive you are able to clean the curriculum – i.e. delete redundant records from the offered curriculum. For records to be deleted they must have a status of “R – Retired”. Prescribed curriculum entries are never deleted because they are required to produce academic records.
90	Academic records Although a student is archived it is still possible to view and print an academic record for that student. Click Academic Record from Archive on the Archiving menu and select an archived student. The options available are those which apply when creating a result notice or academic record for a current student.
91	Retrieving from archive You can retrieve a student from archive by clicking Retrieve from Archive on the Archiving menu. The student’s previous academic outcomes are retrieved and visible on the Ex Archive tab of the Students form. Students who have been retrieved from archive can be enrolled into new qualifications and courses in the normal way.
92	System management There are a number of Take2 features which relate to managing and maintaining the database. Remember, before you do something which could change your database, it is sensible to make a backup.
93	About System Click Take2 Student Management System on the Main Menu and the About System form is displayed. This form tells you what version of the Take2 front and back-ends you have installed, and also the location of the Take2 data files. This information is useful if you need to contact the Take2 help desk. You can also open the Administration Module from this form.
94	NZQA curriculum updates When Take2 is delivered to you the curriculum will contain all Unit Standards for which you are then accredited. As your accreditations change you can update the curriculum by clicking on the NZQA Accreditations button on the Database Maintenance menu. You can also load National Qualifications into Take2 as Awards in the curriculum. Before you can import your accreditations and qualifications, however, you must first obtain three special files from the NZQA web site. The files are “Accreds.txt”, “Units.txt”, and “Qualifications.txt”.
95	NSI housekeeping Take2 provides a number of NSI housekeeping options: Merge – allows you to request the merge of NSI records. Change notifications – allows you to read and process change notification files. Locked records – allows you to mark in Take2 records that have been “locked” by being matched to the Birth Register.
96	Running another application You may find that you are often running another program whilst running Take2 – for example an accounting package. By specifying the path for the other program in a file called “Application.txt”, stored in the same directory as the Take2 front-end, you can run the program by simply clicking on the Application button on the Take2 menu.
97	Take2 support service Subscribing to the Take2 support service provides you with ongoing access to the help desk, and an annual upgrade of the software. Additional assistance, in the form of an SDR Checklist and our regular newsletter is available from the Take2 Web site.
98	What’s new Version 9 of Take2 introduces a number of new features. Some of these features relate to the requirements of Government agencies. Others are enhancements suggested by users. The Version 9 release notes list all features in detail.
99	SDR Changes Changes required for the 2008 SDR file formats have been implemented. The major change has been to accommodate three digit ethnic origin reporting.
100	Students Form The title bar of the Students form now displays basic details of a student’s most recent enrolment.
101	ERS Numerous small changes have been made to the ERS transaction reporting to accommodate TEC’s changing requirements. Provision has also been made for the mass withdrawal of trainees at year end. Redundant functionality relating to preparation of paper-based trainee withdrawal and labour market outcome forms has been removed from version 9.
102	Reporting The Demographics filter option for reporting has been modified to accommodate the new three digit ethnic origin codes. Also, summary reports have been modified to replace the priority-based method of tabulation with the total response method.
103	Attendance Module Up to version 8 a user had to use the Withdrawals button from the Attendance Module menu to change records after the withdrawal date to “N”. From version 9, if you have a licence for the Attendance Module, you will be asked at the time of withdrawing a student whether you wish attendance records to be modified.
104	Charging Fees A new more flexible option has been introduced to charge a standard fee for groups of students. It is also possible to charge a manually set fee, something that is relevant for international students.
105	Advanced Search The advanced search mechanism now searches phone numbers more intelligently. Non-digit characters are ignored so that brackets, hyphens, and spaces in phone numbers are ignored.