How to set availability dates for a task and steps (exams) it contains?

In this article, you will find answers to how you can set access availability to your tasks and steps (tests) within your tasks.

1) Setting Task Availability Dates That Will Be Valid For All Users

From the ACCESS tab of the Task Editor, you can specify the date range for which the task will be accessible. The start and end dates that you specify on the Access tab for the task apply to all users.

If the date on which the user wants to access the task is after the end date set for the task, then he / she receives a notification on the Welcome Page that the task is not active anymore.

If the date the user wants to access the task is before the start date set for the task, then he / she receives a notification on the Welcome Page that the task is not active yet. On the welcome page, the user also sees the time remaining for the start of the task.

If the date the user wants to acces the task is within the start and end date set for the task, he / she gains access to the task by entering the required information according to the determined authentication method and is directed to the instructions page. The instructions page contains general information about the task and instructions about each step (exam) that the task accommodates and If availability dates are not specified for these exams, the user can start the exams at any time.

An Exam Room is created by the system on the ROOMS tab for each user accessing the task. The person administrating the exam has the right to open and close the exam room of the relevant user from the room settings. If a user’s Exam Room is closed, that user cannot access the task and the exams it contains. In addition, as we will touch on later, exam settings, including the “availability dates” can be changed specifically for the relevant user from the exam room.

2) Setting Validity Dates For a Ticket

You can specify the dates on which the ticket will be valid. Ticket validity dates have the same functions as task availability dates. In other words, it enables the user to access the task and when he/she accesses the task, an Exam Room is created by the system in the ROOMS tab for the relevant user. The only but important difference of ticket validity dates is that they are “specific” to the ticket holder.

You can set validity dates for a ticket from the Availibilty section of the ticket settings. You can access the ticket settings by clicking the three-dot icon on the left side of the relevant ticket and selecting EDIT.

• If an availability date range is set for the task from the ACCESS tab that will apply to all user and also a validity date is set for the ticket of a specific user,  In this case, the system gives the first priority to the availability date established for the Task (under the ACCESS tab), and then checks the validity dates established for the Ticket.
• If the user accesses the task within the dates established, but the validity date of the ticket is not compatible with the availability dates of the task, he / she can reach the Welcome Page of the task. However, when the user tries to enter the required authentication information and click the CONTINUE button, he / she will receive a notification explaining that the ticket is not active yet or the ticket is not active anymore, depending on the validity date of the ticket. Therefore, the user cannot access the task and an exam room is not created for the relevant user.

• If the availability dates of the task and the validity dates of the ticket are compatible with each other, then the user gains access to the task by entering the required authentication information and is directed to the instructions page. As we mentioned above, after the user accesses the task, he / she can start exams at any time if the access dates for the exams have not been set.

Overwrites Task’s Access Dates

In a task for which you have specified availability dates that will be valid for all user from the ACCESS tab, sometimes special situations may occur and the availability dates of the task may not be suitable for some users. Therefore you may need to specify availability dates specific to those users out of the current task availability dates. In such a case, what you need to do is to select the “Overwrites Task’s Access Dates ” option from the Availability section of the ticket settings and then specify the ticket validity dates for these users.

If “Overwrites Task’s Access Dates” options is checked, the availability dates you have set for the Task will be invalid for this ticket and the validity dates you have set for the Ticket will be used.

3) Setting Availability Dates For Steps (Exams) In a Task

You can set availability dates for each step (exam) in a task. If availability dates are not set for exams, any user who accesses the task can take the exams at any time.

You can set availibilty date for an exam from the Availibilty section of the Exam Settings. To open the Exam Settings window, click on the icon at the right side of the relevant exam that you added to the Task Steps.

• If the user has accessed the task but the start date of the relevant exam in it is not come yet, then the user receives a notification on the instructions page that the exam is not active yet and sees time remaining for the start of the exam.

• If the user has accessed the task after the end date of the relevant exam, then the user receives a notification on the instructions page that the step (exam) is not active anymore.

Some examples of combinations that can be made with task dates and exam dates:

• Do not set an access date for the task but set access dates for each exam within the task. Thus, users can access the task at any time and read the instructions of the exams. However, users have to wait to take the exams until the start date when the exams will be available.
• By keeping the end date of the exams shorter than the end date of the task, you can prevent users from taking the exams again, but in this way you can also enable users to see the results of the exams they have completed. Let’s say that the end date of a task is  “2020-10-25 17:00” and the end date of an exam is “2020-10-07 14:00”. According to these specified dates, the user will not take the exam after 2020-10-07 14:00, but the exam room created for the user will remain open because the task access date is longer. In this way, you can evaluate the exams and share the exam results with users in the remaining time. When users access the task, they can see the results of the exams they have completed on the instructions page.

Setting user-specific availability dates for exams through ticket

You can set user-specific exam avalability dates through the ticket created for the user.

To do this:

• Click on the three-dots icon on the left side of the relevant ticket and select EDIT.
• Scroll down and find the Custom behavior for this ticket section. Select the exam for which you will define the user-specific exception in the availability dates.

• Determine user-specific exam availability dates from the Availability Dates section of the exam settings.

• After determining the user-specific exam availability dates, click the UPDATE button at the buttom of the exam settings.

• Finally click on the SAVE button to save the ticket.

Setting user-specific availability dates for exam through room

When the user accesses the task through the ticket created for him / her, the exceptions that you have defined in the exam settings for the ticket are transferred to the relevant user’s room.

As a second choice, for used tickets; you can define user-specific exceptions in exam settings through the relevant user’s exam room as well. So it means that now you can set user-specific exam availability dates through the relevant exam room.

• To set user-specific exam availability dates through the room, click the three-dots icon on the left side of relevant room and select Settings.
• Select the exam for which you will set user-specific exam availability dates from the room settings
• In exam settings, repeat the same steps described in “Setting user-specific exam access dates through ticket”. That is to say, set the user-specific exam availability dates from the Availabilty Dates section and then click the UPDATE button.
• Finally click on the SAVE button to save the room settings.