Terms define how classes are blocked together. When you enter a student record, you will only see one Term's classes listed at a time. You can choose a different Term to view at any time, but you still can see only one at a time. This is also true when viewing classes under the Class Tab. You can only view one Term's classes at a time. 

Unless you have an overriding reason not to do so, I would define your Terms by the NRS fiscal year. This will make class management much easier during the year.

To create a new Term, follow these steps:

• Click on Term.
• Click on the Add New Term button.
• Enter the Term's name.
• Enter a Start Date for the Term.
• Enter an End Date for the Term.
• Click on Save.

This Term will now be available for selection when creating a new class. You need a Term to be defined before you can create a new class.

You will need to create at least one building in order to create a class. Building names will show up next to the the Course names when listing out classes.

Building abbreviations are one way that you can tell classes that have the same course definition apart.

To create a new building, follow these steps:

• Click on Buildings.
• Click on the Add New Building button.
• Enter the Building's name.
• Enter an abbreviation for the building up to 3 letters.
• Enter an End Date for the Term.
• Click on Save.

You will need to defiine rooms before you can set up classes. Rooms are assigned to a building, so you will need to define building first (see above). The room that a class is assigned to will be listed next to the class, so this is one way that classes can be told apart.

To define rooms, follow these steps:

• Click on Rooms.
• Click on Add New Room.
• Select the building.
• Assign the roon a name of 6 characters or less.
• Designate the room's purpose.
• Enter the capacity of the room.
• Click Save.

Many subject areas are already in MABE. If they don't fit the subject for a course that you wish to create, then add a new subject. Subjects are not currently used in any reports. This may change. Just understand that any new subjects will most likely not be seen on any general reports created for MABE.

To add a new subject, follow these steps:

• Click on Subject.
• Click on Add New Subject.
• Enter a subject name and description.
• Click Save.

Courses in MABE are like the courses you would see in an academic setting. They are used to define the underlying content of classes. You will then use courses to create multple class sections for a given course topic area. For example, you might create a course named AM High Beg ESL and then create two classes meeting at different AM hours from that course.

Do Not Delete Courses unless you are completely certain that they have never had a class associated with them, or if you remove all hours and students from all classes associated with the course first.

To define a course, follow these steps:

• Click on Courses.
• Click on Add New Course.
• Name the course.
• Choose a Subject Area.
• Click Save.

ABE uses many tests. You don't want all of these visible when selecting assessments from a list for entry into a student record. You only want to see those tests that you are using.

To choose your programs visible assessments, follow these steps:

• Click on Select Forms for Assessment.
• Click on the boxes next to the assessments that you want to be visible.
• Click on Save Selections at the bottom of the page.

This feature allows you to create new data fields for staff, volunteers, or students. There are two types of data fields that can be created.

• Check Boxes allow you to select a yes or no coice.
• Text Boxes will allow text entry.

This data will be unique to your program. If your database has multiple sites, only the site that creates a custom field will be able to see or use it.

General MABE reports will not use custom data. If you need access to that data for reporting purposes, speak with your consortium's Reporting Services people. Or, contact Garrett.

To create a custom field, follow these steps:

• Click on Add New Data Element.
• Enter the text to be associated with the custom field.
• Select the person type (where the field will reside).
• Select whether it will be a check or text box.
• Enter a group name. This is for your own tracking.
• Click on Save.

The new custom field will now reside at the bottom of the page that you selected under person type.