Sonia Online for Site Contacts

Sonia Online guide for site contacts

Nov 18, 2025
Knowledge

Title

Sonia Online for Site Contacts

Answer

Sonia Online for Site Contacts

Introduction

This guide is intended to be provided to Site Contacts who partner with an academic institution using Sonia as part of the management of field placements.

NOTE: This guide uses default Sonia terminology, which the University may have changed, depending on their business practices and preferences. For example, Sonia uses the word ‘Mentor’ for what some universities call ‘Field Instructor’ or ‘Site Supervisor’ or ‘Mentor Teacher’.

This guide covers parts of Sonia that the University may not have enabled and would therefore be unavailable to you.

Starting Sonia

To access Sonia, you will need a web (internet) browser (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer) and internet access.

Signing In

The University has created an account for you and will e-mail you a link to Sonia Online to create a password.

Once you have set your password, you will be directed to the home page to login.

Select 'Site' as your ‘Role’. Use the username provided in the e-mail from the University and the password you just created, and click ‘Sign In’.

Note that if you forget your password, you can click “Forgot your password?” and follow the prompts to have a reset password link e-mailed to you. If you continue to have login trouble, contact your University contact.

You should see the screen below. The University may have customized this page with text and/or a logo.

(1) If you see three horizontal lines next to your name, this means that your screen is not wide enough to accommodate all of the tabs. Be sure to click this to see additional menu items.

(2) You can sign out of Sonia by clicking the exit door (the rectangle with the right arrow) on the right side of the screen.

(3) The cog is your Settings where you can do the following, depending on the permissions enabled by the University:

Select a culture in which to view Sonia Online (This changes the language as well as other cultural differences; however, the forms will remain in English.)
Opt to take advantage of the accessibility features if you use a screen reader. To do this, click the “enhanced accessibility” box.
Change/upload a picture of yourself
Change your password

Students Tab

This screen shows a list of students you are currently supervising.

If you are listed as the Primary Contact or Student Contact, this page will list students who have been allocated to your Site(s), even if you are not the Mentor.

The list of students displayed on this page are ones who have an active placement on or after the date in this field. To see students whose placements included a date before [today], change the date in this field.
Click the View button to see details about the student.
Approve timesheets. Instructions here.

Placements Tab

This is a listing of placement groups in which your site belongs. The University has created these placement groups to keep students together who have something in common, such as their academic level, interest, placement term, etc.

In the screenshot below, the Site Contact can see that she has one student in the second placement group who is allocated to one of three available placements at BCDSS-Child Protection. The first placement group shows that three placements were available for the students in that placement group, but no students have been allocated.

Optional Buttons

Depending on the University’s settings on the placement group, you may see the following buttons on placement groups in the Placements Tab.

Timesheets: Approve individual interns’ timesheets for a particular placement and see totals of hours completed.
Student Ranking: Offer a student a placement or decline a student candidate
Manage Interviews: Create interviews for students in this placement group; individual appointments can be exported to an Outlook calendar
Advertisement: The University may ask you to either request or confirm placements for placement groups.

Forms Tab

If a form is assigned only to you, the name of the form will show on a blue horizontal bar. Click the red ‘Edit’ button at the right end of the blue bar to complete the form.
If the form has not been assigned to you, but the University wants it to be available for you as needed, the form will be visible in the “Form Self Selection” drop down. Once you select and add the form, it will appear with your other forms.

NOTE: The above two types of form retrieval are in the ‘Mine’ section.

If you are a “respondent” on a multi-user form (i.e. more than one person completes and/or approves the form), necessary forms will be in the ‘Students’ section below the ‘Mine’ section. Click the white paper icon on the row of the applicable student to complete the form.

If a form has been Saved but not Submitted, simply click the paper icon again to continue. Upon clicking ‘Submit’ on the form, the screen will take a couple seconds to save. Before closing the form, confirm the Submit was processed by scrolling down to where you hit Submit to see “Form actioned by [your name] on [date] at [time]" in green text. If a required field was not answered, it will be indicated in red text below the ‘Save Draft’ button.

NOTE: You will see two buttons at the bottom of each form:

“Save Draft” means you can save your work and come back to edit this form.

“Submit” is the button to the right of “Save Draft. It may have additional text besides just "Submit". Click this when you have completed the form.

My Details Tab

The My Details screen is used to display additional information about you. Most of the information on the My Details page is editable, and you may be expected to fill in some of the details. This will depend on the rules and processes of the University and field placement office.

The ‘Contact details’ section is what the University already has on record. Each university will vary as to what, if any, questions are in the ‘Other’ section.

Site Details Tab

The Site Details screen is used to display additional information about your organization. If you are a contact for more than one organization, you can switch between organizations by choosing one from the ‘Site/Subsite’ dropdown.

Click on the tabs on the blue bar to submit additional information to the University about your organization. (More information below.)

General Details

Update the contact information for the site.
Answer custom fields/additional information about the site

Attributes

To add a new Attribute, click “+ Add new…”. A dropdown list will appear; select the appropriate attribute from the list, and then click the checkmark at the right to save the selection.
To remove an Attribute, click the trash can at the right end of the row.

Notes

See Notes that have been added by Site Contacts or university placement staff.

Edit or delete Notes.

Add a new Note.

Documents and Links

List documents attached to the site, such as MOU’s/agreements.
List links to websites where the site is mentioned. (Your website is listed on your General Details tab.)

Associated Users

All contacts associated with this site are listed here, along with a summary (and legend) of their permissions. To edit a user’s information, click the edit pencil on the right end of their row.

Appointments

Displays all appointments/interviews as set up with the Placement Office.

Introduction Text

This text will display at the top of the General details tab as well as with the site’s information in the Site Directory for the students.

History Tab

This page lists the placements in which you have participated in the past. Placements will only appear in your History once the University field placement office has marked the placement as completed.

Calendar Tab

This calendar is maintained by the University field placement office to mark important dates. Events pertaining to you can be exported to your Outlook calendar and edited.

URL Name

Site-Contact-Guide