Courses

The Courses area is where course templates are defined and managed. Course templates are structural definitions that set the requirements, exercises, and phases for a type of training programme. They are not student-specific -- a single course template is shared across all students enrolled in that course.

Understanding the role of course templates

Course templates are the backbone of training record consistency. When a student is assigned to a course, the template determines:

• How many hours the student must complete in each category.
• Which exercises the student must be trained on and graded against.
• How the training is divided into phases.
• What additional requirements must be met for course completion.

This means the course template directly affects what appears on the Summary tab (required vs completed hours) and what exercises are available for grading in the Gradings tab.

How to access the Courses area

1. Open Flight training from the main navigation.
2. Navigate to the Courses setup area. This is separate from the student training list -- it is a structural setup section, not a student record.

What a course template contains

Course name

A clear, identifiable name for the course. This name appears throughout the system wherever the course is referenced, including in the training list filters, student records, and exports. Examples: PPL(A), CPL(A), IR(A), Night Rating.

Minimum hour requirements

Course templates define the minimum hours a student must complete in each flight time category:

These minimums are used by the Summary tab to calculate and display the student's progress toward course completion.

Course requirements

Additional requirements beyond flight hours that must be met for course completion. These might include:

• A minimum number of cross-country flights.
• A specific number of night flying hours.
• Completion of specific navigation exercises.
• Passing a progress test or check flight.
• Any other regulatory or organisational requirement.

Exercises

The list of training exercises that make up the course syllabus. Each exercise represents a specific skill or manoeuvre that the student must learn and be graded on. Examples include straight and level flight, climbing and descending, circuit procedures, forced landings, navigation exercises, and instrument procedures.

Exercises defined in the course template become available for flight instructors to select when creating Gradings entries. The grading scores for these exercises roll up into the grading summary shown on the Summary tab.

Phases

Phases divide the course into logical stages of training progression. A typical course might include phases such as:

• Phase 1: Pre-solo training
• Phase 2: Solo consolidation
• Phase 3: Cross-country training
• Phase 4: Advanced exercises and test preparation

Phases help flight instructors and students understand where they are in the overall training journey and what to expect next.

How to create a new course template

1. Navigate to the Courses setup area.
2. Click the option to create a new course.
3. Enter the course name. Choose a name that is clear and follows your organisation's naming conventions.
4. Set the minimum hour requirements for total, dual, solo, and simulator time.
5. Add any course requirements that apply beyond the flight hour minimums.
6. Define the exercises that make up the course syllabus. Add each exercise with a clear name and description.
7. Define the phases that organise the exercises into logical training stages.
8. Review all fields carefully.
9. Save the course template.

How to edit an existing course template

1. Navigate to the Courses setup area.
2. Open the course template you want to modify.
3. Make the necessary changes.
4. Review the impact of your changes before saving (see the important warning below).
5. Save the updated template.

Before editing a course template that is already in use, consider the following:

• Check how many active student records are linked to this course.
• Assess whether the change is minor (such as correcting a typo) or structural (such as adding or removing exercises).
• For major structural changes, consider creating a new course template version rather than modifying the existing one, so that current students are not affected.

How to review a course template before assigning it

1. Open the course template from the Courses setup area.
2. Verify that the minimum hour requirements match regulatory and organisational standards.
3. Confirm that all required exercises are included and correctly named.
4. Check that the phases are logical and cover the full training journey.
5. Review the course requirements to ensure nothing is missing.
6. Only after this review, assign the course to new students.

Common tasks

• Set up a new training programme -- create a course template that defines all the requirements, exercises, and phases before enrolling the first student.
• Update minimum hours for regulatory changes -- edit the hour requirements on the course template. Be mindful of the impact on active students.
• Add a new exercise to the syllabus -- add the exercise to the course template so it becomes available for grading in student records.
• Review course requirements before an audit -- open the course template and verify that all regulatory requirements are correctly documented.

Good practices

• Use clear, consistent naming for courses, exercises, and phases. This makes the system easier to navigate for all flight instructors and improves the readability of exports and reports.
• Treat course templates as controlled documents. Changes should be intentional and reviewed, not made casually.
• When regulatory requirements change, update the course template promptly but carefully. Communicate the changes to all flight instructors who work with that course.
• Consider maintaining a version history outside the system (for example, a record of what changed and when) if your organisation requires traceability for course structure changes.
• If a course template needs major restructuring, create a new template rather than heavily modifying the existing one. Assign new students to the new template while existing students complete training under the original structure.