📚 User Guide

Brights Futures School – Primary Management System

English subsystem  |  Version 1.0  |  August 2026

This guide covers all modules, roles, workflows and troubleshooting steps
for the Brights Futures School web application.

Brights Futures School – User Guide

1. Overview

The Brights Futures School Management System is a web-based application that centralises school operations for the primary level. It provides role-based access so that each user only sees and manages the features relevant to their responsibility.

Application Modules

  • Users – Manage system accounts and role assignments.
  • Teachers – Maintain the teacher directory and profiles.
  • Subjects – Define and manage the curriculum subjects.
  • Rooms & Room Assignments – Manage classrooms and assign them to classes.
  • Timetable Editor – Build and version class timetables.
  • Teacher Payroll – Record lessons, validate them and generate monthly payments.
  • Teacher Dashboard – Personal weekly overview for teachers.
  • Student Talent Assessments – Weekly academic, behavioural and social evaluations sent to parents.
  • Auth Audit Log – Review login history and security events.
Two subsystems The application has an English subsystem and a French (Francophone) subsystem. Each operates independently with its own data and login. This guide covers the English subsystem.

2. Getting Started

Logging In

  1. Open the application URL in your browser.
  2. You will be taken to the Login page automatically.
  3. Enter your email address and password.
  4. Click Login.
  5. Administrators and principals are redirected to the Users list. Teachers are redirected to their Dashboard.
Too many failed attempts After several incorrect passwords, the system applies rate limiting. Wait a few minutes before trying again.

The top navigation bar contains dropdown menus grouped by module. Each menu is visible only to roles that have access to it. Hover over or click a menu label to expand its options.

  • Users – visible to Administrators only.
  • Subjects, Rooms, Timetable – visible to Administrators and Principals; Teachers can view.
  • Payroll – visible to all authenticated roles.
  • Teachers, Talent – visible to Administrators, Principals and Teachers.
  • Dashboard – visible to Teachers, Principals and Administrators.
  • Account – Login, My Profile, Logout.

Forgot / Reset Password

  1. On the login page, click Forgot password?
  2. Enter your registered email address and submit.
  3. Check your email for a reset link (valid for a limited time).
  4. Click the link, enter your new password (minimum 8 characters), confirm it, and save.
  5. Log in with the new password.

3. Roles & Permissions

Every user is assigned one or more roles. Permissions are enforced on both the navigation menu and at the server level.

Administrator ADMINISTRATOR

  • Full access to all modules.
  • Create, edit and delete users, teachers, subjects, rooms, room assignments.
  • Manage the timetable editor.
  • Validate lessons and manage payroll.
  • View the auth audit log.

Principal PRINCIPAL

  • Manage teachers, subjects, rooms and room assignments.
  • Full access to the timetable editor.
  • View the payroll module (no financial actions).
  • Access and perform student talent assessments.
  • View the teacher dashboard.

Teacher TEACHER

  • View subjects, rooms, and timetable (read-only for their assigned classes).
  • Submit delivered lesson records in the payroll module.
  • View their own lesson history and payment status.
  • Access their personal weekly dashboard.
  • Perform and share student talent assessments for their classes.
Important A teacher's login account must be linked to a teacher profile. Without this link, lesson delivery cannot be recorded.

Accountant ACCOUNTANT

  • Access the payroll module.
  • Approve or reject submitted lesson records.
  • Generate monthly payment batches.
  • Mark payment batches as paid and close them.

Permissions Summary

Module / Action Admin Principal Teacher Accountant
Manage Users✔✘✘✘
Manage Teachers✔✔✘✘
Manage Subjects✔✔✘✘
View Subjects✔✔✔✘
Manage Rooms & Assignments✔✔✘✘
Timetable Editor (edit)✔✔✘✘
Timetable (view)✔✔✔✘
Submit Lesson Records✘✘✔✘
Validate / Generate Payroll✔✘✘✔
View Payroll✔✔✔✔
Student Talent Assessments✔✔✔✘
Teacher Dashboard✔✔✔✘
Auth Audit Log✔✘✘✘

4. Users Module

Access via Users menu → All Users. Available to ADMINISTRATOR only.

Viewing Users

The user list shows all system accounts with their name, email, roles, status and linked teacher profile (if any).

Creating a User

  1. Click Users → Add User.
  2. Fill in Full Name, Email, Phone and Password.
  3. Select one or more Roles.
  4. If the TEACHER role is selected, choose the matching Teacher Profile from the dropdown.
  5. Set Active to Yes.
  6. Click Save.
Teacher profile required Saving a user with the TEACHER role and no teacher profile will be rejected. Always link the correct profile before saving.

Editing a User

Click Edit on any user row to update their name, email, phone, password (leave blank to keep the current one), roles, teacher link or active status.

Deactivating a User

Set Active to No in the edit form. The account will be blocked from logging in but the data is preserved.

Deleting a User

Click Delete on the user row and confirm. This action is permanent.

5. Teachers Module

Access via Teachers menu. Available to ADMINISTRATOR and PRINCIPAL.

The Teachers module maintains the master directory of teaching staff profiles, independent of the login accounts.

Viewing Teachers

The list displays all active and inactive teachers with their name, contact details and assignment status.

Adding a Teacher

  1. Click Teachers → Add Teacher.
  2. Enter full name, contact information and other profile fields.
  3. Save the profile.
  4. Then go to Users → Add User to create the login account and link it to this profile.

Editing a Teacher

Click Edit to update any profile field.

Inactivating a Teacher

Use the Inactivate action to mark a teacher as no longer active. Their historical records are preserved.

6. Subjects Module

Access via Subjects menu. Viewing is available to all authenticated users. Managing requires ADMINISTRATOR or PRINCIPAL.

Viewing & Filtering Subjects

Use the search bar and filter dropdowns to find subjects by:

  • Keyword – subject code or name.
  • Department – academic department.
  • Subsystem – Anglophone, Francophone or Both.
  • Mandatory – required or optional.

Adding a Subject

  1. Click Subjects → Add Subject.
  2. Enter the Subject Code (unique), Name and Department.
  3. Set the default Coefficient.
  4. Select Mandatory status and Subsystem.
  5. Save.

7. Rooms & Room Assignments

Access via Rooms menu. Managing requires ADMINISTRATOR or PRINCIPAL.

Managing Rooms

Each room has a unique code, building, capacity and type (classroom, lab, sports, etc.).

  1. Go to Rooms → All Rooms to view the list.
  2. Click Add Room to create a new room.
  3. Fill in Room Code, Building, Capacity and Room Type.
  4. Set Active and save.
Duplicate codes Room codes must be unique. An error is shown if you try to save a code that already exists.

Room Assignments

A room assignment links a specific room to a class for a given academic year. This is used by the timetable editor.

  1. Go to Rooms → Room Assignments.
  2. Click Assign Room.
  3. Select the Academic Year, Class and Room.
  4. Save the assignment.

8. Timetable Editor

Access via Timetable → Class Timetable. Full editing requires ADMINISTRATOR or PRINCIPAL. Teachers can view timetables for their classes.

Selecting Context

Before viewing or editing, choose:

  1. Academic Year – defaults to the current year.
  2. Term – select the school term.
  3. Version – timetable versions allow maintaining drafts.
  4. Class – the class whose timetable you want to view or edit.

Creating a Timetable Version

  1. Select Academic Year and Term.
  2. Enter a Version Name in the "Create New Version" form.
  3. Click Create Version.

Filling a Cell

  1. Select the version and class.
  2. In the timetable grid, click an empty cell (day × period).
  3. A form will appear. Select the Subject and Teacher.
  4. Click Save Cell.

Clearing a Cell

Click Clear on a filled cell to remove the lesson from that slot.

Printing the Timetable

Go to the timetable view and click Print Timetable. A printer-friendly version opens. Use your browser's print function to save as PDF.

9. Teacher Payroll

Access via Payroll → Teacher Payroll. All roles can view the module; actions differ by role.

Business Rules

  • Teachers are paid XAF 1,100 per hour of delivered lessons.
  • Each delivered lesson must be recorded individually.
  • Records go through an approval workflow before generating payments.
  • A closed (paid) payment batch cannot be re-opened.
Gross Amount = Approved Hours × 1,100 XAF

Teacher: Recording a Delivered Lesson

Roles: TEACHER

  1. Open Payroll. Select the month if needed.
  2. In the Record Delivered Lesson form, enter:
    • Date – the date the lesson was delivered.
    • Class – the class taught.
    • Duration (hours) – e.g. 1.00 or 1.50.
    • Lesson Summary – brief description of what was taught.
  3. Click Submit Lesson Record.

The lesson is saved with status Pending and awaits accountant review.

Accountant: Validating Lesson Records

Roles: ACCOUNTANT ADMINISTRATOR

  1. Open Payroll and select the month.
  2. Review the Pending Accountant Validation table.
  3. For each record, click Approve or Reject.
  4. Optionally add a Validation Note.
  5. Save the decision.

Approved lessons become eligible for payment calculation. Rejected lessons are excluded.

Generating Monthly Payments

Roles: ACCOUNTANT ADMINISTRATOR

  1. Open Payroll and select the target month.
  2. Click Generate / Refresh Month Payments.
  3. The system groups all approved unpaid lessons by teacher and calculates totals.
  4. Payment batches are created with status Open.

Marking a Payment as Paid

After physically paying the teacher:

  1. Find the payment batch in Monthly Teacher Payments.
  2. Enter the Payment Date.
  3. Optionally add a note.
  4. Click Mark Paid.

The batch status changes to Paid and is closed.

10. Teacher Dashboard

Access via Dashboard → My Weekly Dashboard. Available to TEACHER, PRINCIPAL and ADMINISTRATOR.

The dashboard provides a personalised weekly view of the teacher's lesson delivery activity, including:

  • Summary of lessons submitted for the current week.
  • Approval status of recent records.
  • Quick access to the payroll module.

11. Student Talent Assessments

Access via Talent → Weekly Talent Assessments. Available to ADMINISTRATOR, PRINCIPAL and TEACHER.

Teachers assess students weekly across three dimensions:

  • Academic – Mathematics, Reading/Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Art, Music, Physical Education.
  • Behavioural – Learning speed, questioning, memory, creativity, independence, leadership, focus, challenge-seeking.
  • Social – Empathy, cooperation, communication, conflict resolution, self-confidence, adaptability.

Performing an Assessment

  1. Select the Class and Week (Friday date).
  2. The student list for that class is displayed.
  3. Click Assess next to a student.
  4. Rate each dimension and add comments.
  5. Write an Action Plan / Recommendation (required).
  6. Save the assessment.

Sharing Assessment with Parents

  1. After saving, click Send Links for that assessment.
  2. The system generates a secure time-limited link (valid 14 days).
  3. Links are sent via the available contact channels (email / WhatsApp).
  4. Parents can view the assessment via the public link — no login required.
Parent contact required Links can only be generated if the student has a parent email or WhatsApp number on file.

Printable hard-copy form & teacher's guide

A printable hard-copy assessment form is available for teachers who prefer to record observations on paper before entering them online. It mirrors the online form (all 21 dimensions, comments and the action plan) and can be printed or saved as a PDF.

  • Printable form: use the User Guide → Printable Talent Form (PDF) menu, or the "Printable Form (PDF)" button on the Talent Assessments page.
  • Teacher's guide: the full guide explains the rating scale, each dimension, how to write strong comments and action plans. Open it via User Guide → Talent Assessment Guide.

12. Auth Audit Log

Access via Users → Auth Audit Log. Available to ADMINISTRATOR only.

The audit log records all authentication events including successful logins, failed attempts and logouts, with timestamps and IP addresses. Use it to:

  • Monitor suspicious login activity.
  • Verify that specific users have accessed the system.
  • Investigate security incidents.

13. Status Reference

Lesson Record Status

StatusMeaning
PendingSubmitted by teacher; awaiting accountant review.
ApprovedAccepted by accountant; eligible for payment calculation.
RejectedNot accepted; teacher may need to resubmit a corrected record.

Payment Batch Status

StatusMeaning
OpenPayment batch generated but not yet disbursed.
PaidPayment confirmed and batch closed.

14. Best Practices

  • Always link a teacher login account to the correct teacher profile when creating the account.
  • Change temporary passwords after first login.
  • Review and validate pending lesson records regularly — do not wait until month-end.
  • Reject unclear lesson summaries and ask the teacher to resubmit with more detail.
  • Do not mark a payment batch as paid before confirming the bank transfer or cash payment.
  • Create a new timetable version for each term; do not overwrite the previous term's timetable.
  • Assign a room to each class before building the timetable.
  • Inactivate teacher profiles instead of deleting them to preserve historical data.

15. Troubleshooting

A teacher cannot submit lessons

  • The account does not have the TEACHER role → edit the user and assign the role.
  • The account is not linked to a teacher profile → edit the user and choose the correct Teacher Profile.
  • The user account is inactive → edit the user and set Active to Yes.

The accountant cannot validate or generate payments

  • The account does not have the ACCOUNTANT role → check roles in the Users module.
  • There are no pending lessons for the selected month → confirm teachers have submitted records.

Login is blocked (rate limited)

Too many failed attempts have triggered the rate limiter. Wait a few minutes, then try again with the correct credentials.

Timetable cell cannot be saved

  • No academic year, term or version is selected.
  • No class is selected.
  • Subject or teacher fields are empty.
  • The user does not have edit rights for the selected class (teachers can only edit their assigned classes).

Parent link cannot be generated

  • No parent email or WhatsApp contact is recorded for the student.
  • Update the student's contact information before sending links.

Database unavailable error on login

The database server is temporarily busy. Wait a moment and try again. If the problem persists, contact your system administrator.

Need more help? Contact your school system administrator for account issues or technical problems not covered in this guide.