Before any timetable can be built, the school's structure has to exist in the system. This chapter gives the order in which to set things up, and explains the Setup Guide checklist that tracks your progress.

Each step depends on the one before it. Follow this order the first time, and again at the start of every new School Year.

@foreach ([ ['School Year and Term', 'Admin Settings', 'Create the School Year and its Terms with dates, then activate them.'], ['Tracks', 'Academic Setup', 'Add the Tracks offered by the school.'], ['Shift Timeframes', 'Academic Setup', 'Set the time slots and breaks of each Shift Type.'], ['Rooms and Sections', 'Academic Setup', 'Add rooms, then sections with their Track, Shift and default room.'], ['Subjects', 'Academic Setup', 'Add subjects and activities with their hours and Tracks.'], ['Teachers', 'Teacher Management', 'Add teacher records and assign the subjects each one teaches.'], ['Schedules', 'Scheduling', 'Build each section\'s timetable by hand or auto-generate it.'], ['Reports', 'Reports', 'Review, print and export the class and teacher programs.'], ] as $step => [$title, $where, $text])

@gi('geo-alt', '#64748b') {{ $where }}

@if ($step === 3)

@endif @endforeach

The active School Year and Term decide what every other page shows. Sections belong to a School Year, and schedules belong to a Term. If a page looks empty, first check that the correct School Year and Term are active in Settings → School Years / School Terms.

While the setup is incomplete, the system opens a Getting Started window after you log in as an administrator. It lists five steps that are checked automatically against your data, so they tick off on their own as you complete the work in the normal pages. There is nothing to mark as done by hand.

1 The first unfinished step is opened and marked Up next. Click any step to expand or collapse it.

2 Each checklist line is a link: clicking it takes you straight to the page and tab that fixes it.

3 Skip for now (or ×, or Esc) closes the window. It stays hidden for the rest of your session and appears again on your next login while steps remain.

Step	What is checked
1. School Year & Term	An active School Year and an active Term exist, and both have start and end dates.
2. Tracks, Sections & Rooms	At least one active Track; at least one Shift Type with time slots; Grade 11 and Grade 12 each have an active section; every active section has a room.
3. Subjects & Track Assignments	At least one active subject exists and subjects are assigned to at least one Track for the active Term.
4. Teachers & Subject Assignments	At least one active teacher exists and every required subject has a qualified (assigned) teacher.
5. Scheduling Readiness	No subjects without a teacher, no sections without a room, enough specialized rooms, and every section's grid can fit its subjects.

After you close it, reopen the guide at any time with the @gi('signpost-2') Setup Guide button in the top bar (it shows a Next badge while steps remain). Once every step is complete the button becomes a small round @gi('signpost-2') icon.