Work with workstation unavailability rules

You may need to temporarily make a workstation unavailable to delivery exams. This section of the documentation describes how to add an unavailability rule, edit an existing unavailability rule, and remove an unavailability rule from a workstation.

Note Users without the May edit site information using Site Manager role can view the existing list of workstations and workstation unavailability rules, but they are unable to add new workstations and rules or modify existing workstations or rules.

Note Date and Time formats display differently depending on which user interface language  you have selected for the Connect portal, and the selected browser display language. When you have selected English as your user interface language, and your browser display language is set to English (United States), the date format is Month DD, YYYY. The first day of the week is Sunday. The time format is AM/PM.  When you have selected English as your user interface language, and your browser display language is set to English (United Kingdom), the date format is DD Month YYYY. The first day of the week is Monday. The time format is 24 HR.  When you have selected Arabic as your user interface language, the date format is YYYY MMM D. The first day of the week is Saturday. The time format is 24 HR. When you have selected Chinese as your user interface language, the date format is YYYY/MM/DD. The first day of the week is Monday. The time format is 24 HR. When you have selected Japanese as your user interface language, the date format is YYYY/MM/DD. The first day of the week is Sunday. The time format is 24 HR. When you have selected Korean as your user interface language, the date format is YYYY.MM.DD. The first day of the week is Sunday. The time format is AM/PM.   You must enter the date and time format that matches the selected language.

Add workstation unavailability rule

It is assumed that workstations are available whenever your site is open. If a workstation is out of order or being used for another purpose, you can take it out of service by creating an unavailability rule. The workstation will not be scheduled for exam delivery when it is not available. For example, you can make a workstation unavailable beginning on a specific date because it is either out of order or you may be upgrading the equipment.

Note Workstation unavailability rules are removed weekly from Site Manager 93 days after the end date of the rule has passed. When it is removed, it is permanently deleted from the system and cannot be recovered. However, unavailability rules with no end dates are not removed and they remain in Site Manager.

Follow these steps to create or edit an unavailability rule for a workstation. You must have at least one workstation available before you can create a rule.

1. Expand  the desired workstation unavailability rules panel.

   

2. Click the Add rule button in the upper right corner of the unavailability rules panel. The Add unavailability rule page opens. 

   

3. Enter a Name for the rule.
4. Type in a Start date in the following format MM/DD/YYYY or click on the Calendar date picker  button and select a Start date when the workstation will be unavailable.
5. To change the year, click on the MMM YYYY  drop-down button in the upper left corner of the calendar date picker and click on the desired year in the list, and then click on the desired month in the list. 
   1. Click on the Previous Month  or Next Month  buttons to scroll through the months.
   2. Click on a specific date on the calendar to select the date. The selected day is displayed in the start date field. 

      

   Select year

   

   Select month

   

6. Workstation unavailability rules default to No end date. You can alternately select Specific date and enter the end date using the D/M/YYYY format or use the calendar date picker  to select the end date. 

   

   

7. Select the days of the week the workstation will not be available. Make sure and deselect any days of the week in which the workstation will be available.

Note If you specify no end date for an unavailability rule you may select every single day of the week.  If you specify a start date and end date and the date range is less than 7 days, the system identifies which days of the week you may select.

8. Select Time period in which the workstation will be unavailable.

Note Select All day if the workstation is not available for the entire day.  Select Specific time period and select the Specify a start time and Specify an end time from the drop-down lists if the workstation is not available for only a portion of the day.

9. Click Save. A message notifies you the rule has been added and the workstation's rules panel is expanded to display the unavailability rules. 

   

Note A message may appear asking you to confirm the rule creation if you set up the rule in the following scenarios: The rule makes the workstation unavailable for the next 45 days or longer. This message also displays for any newly created rule if the workstation is already unavailable for the next 45+ days.  The rule makes the workstation unavailable during a date range when the site is already closed.

Edit workstation unavailability rule

1. Expand  the desired workstation unavailability rules panel.

   

2. Click the Edit button for the unavailability rule you want to modify. The Edit rule page opens. 

   

3. Modify the rule Name.
4. Type in a Start date in the following format MM/DD/YYYY or click on the Start date Calendar picker  button and select a Start date when the workstation will be unavailable.
   1. To change the year, click on the MMM YYYY  drop-down button in the upper left corner of the calendar picker and click on the desired year in the list, and then click on the desired month in the list. 

      Select year

      

      Select month

      

   2. Click on the Previous Month  or Next Month  buttons to scroll through the months.
   3. Click on a specific date on the calendar to select the date. The selected day is displayed in the start date field. 

      

5. Select No end date or select Specific date and enter the end date using the MM/DD/YYYY format or use the calendar date picker  button to select an end date. 

   

   

6. Select the days of the week the workstation will not be available. Make sure and deselect any days of the week in which the workstation will be available.

Note If you specify no end date for an unavailability rule you may select every single day of the week.  If you specify a start date and end date and the date range is less than 7 days, the system identifies which days of the week you may select.

7. Select Time period in which the workstation will be unavailable.

Note Select All day if the workstation is not available for the entire day.  Select Specific time period and select the Specify a start time and Specify an end time from the drop-down lists if the workstation is not available for only a portion of the day.

8. Click Save. A message notifies you the rule has been successfully updated. 

   

Note A message may appear asking you to confirm the rule creation if you set up the rule in the following scenarios: The rule makes the workstation unavailable for the next 45 days or longer. This message also displays for any newly created rule if the workstation is already unavailable for the next 45+ days.  The rule makes the workstation unavailable during a date range when the site is already closed.

Remove workstation unavailability rule

You should get in the habit of removing unavailability rules when they are expired or no longer needed. Once an unavailability rule is past the end date and end time, a yellow caution symbol is displayed next to the expired rule in the workstation's expanded unavailability rules panel and a message is displayed at the top of the page notifying you that one or more workstation unavailability rules are expired and you should update or remove the impacted rules. 

1. Expand  the desired workstation unavailability rules panel.

   

2. Click the Remove button for the unavailability rule you want to delete.
3. Select Yes to confirm you want to remove the rule. 

   

4. A message confirms the rule was successfully removed. 

   

Warning When you remove a workstation unavailability rule, it is permanently deleted from the system and cannot be recovered.  You must re-add the workstation unavailability rule if it was mistakenly deleted.

 

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