Visit templates allow administrators to create bespoke templates tailored to the specific needs of your trust and schools. Now, MAT staff can select and use these customisable templates when recording visits, ensuring that all necessary information is captured in a structured and consistent manner. Flexible templates can be fully customised to suit any requirement, streamlining the process of documenting visits and improving overall efficiency.
Quick Steps
- Click Settings
- Scroll down and select Visits & Notes
- Select the Visit Templates tab
Visit Template Dashboard
To access the visit template screen, navigate to the Visit Templates tab via Settings > Visits & Notes.
You will then be taken to your visit template dashboard, which lists all the templates that are currently defined in your Observatory account.
When you first access this page, the only template available is our Default template. The list will grow as your administrators create custom templates.
In our example, we have three templates available: Default, Senco visit, and Summer Term.
Each template is listed with a description (hover over), the last person to update it, the number of visits that use that template, when it was last saved, its visibility status (on/off), and some action buttons.
You can use the filters across the top to narrow your search by keyword, updated by, audience or visibility. You can also click on each column heading to organise by that particular column.
More information on editing templates is available further down this guide.
When you no longer require a visit template, we recommend switching it off. This way, you don't lose any data but the template is no longer available for selection when creating new visits. Simply click the ON/OFF switch to toggle that.
If you need to delete a template permanently, you can use the actions menu on the right-hand side.
Please note that you can only permanently delete templates that have never been used.
Creating a New Visit Template
To create a new Visit Template, navigate to the Visit Templates tab via Settings > Visits & Notes.
Select New Template.
You can then decide whether to create a new template or copy an existing one. If you have a template in the system that you wish to duplicate, choose Copy from existing. If you want to create a brand new template, click Create New.
Give your template a title and select the audience. The For drop-down sets which teams can access the template when creating a visit.
If necessary, give your template a description and then click Create Template.
You are then taken to the template content screen, where you can start adding custom sections to your template.
Contextual information is shown on the right-hand side of the screen, including when the template was created or updated and by whom.
To add custom sections to your template, click Add New. A sidebar will appear, allowing you to insert the section name and guidance.
The guidance is a description that appears when a visit author is completing a section. Use it to assist your staff and ensure the relevant information is captured.
When finished, click Add New Section and continue adding sections as required until you are happy with the content.
To edit a section you have added, click the three dots alongside it and select Edit. If you need to delete a section, select the three dots and click Remove.
Please note that removing a section from a template will remove it from all recorded visits that used this template. See the Editing Visits section of this guide for more information.
To reorder your sections, click the icon on the right and drag and drop them into the required location.
Once you are finished, click Save Template.
Your new template will then be available for the appropriate audience to select from when creating visits, as shown below.
Editing Visit Templates
To edit a visit template, navigate to Settings > Visits & Notes and select Visit Templates.
Your existing templates will then be available via this page. You can use the filters across the top to narrow your search by keyword, updated by, audience or visibility. You can also click on each column heading to organise by that particular column.
To edit a template, click Edit.
Please note that you can only edit visit templates that have never been used. Once a template has been used, if you need to make changes, you will need to make a copy of it and switch the original version off.
If you click edit alongside a template that has visits recorded against it, a pop-up like this will appear.
You can cancel the request or click Make a Copy to proceed. The system will then create a copy of the template and take you into the content screen. You'll notice the template title is the same as the original with the cord 'copy' included. You can rename the template via the panel on the right-hand side.
Make as many edits as required to your copy and when done, please ensure that you click Save Template. Then, you can navigate back to the Visit Templates page and switch the original version off to avoid confusion.