The grid displays the order the elements appear in the list along with a visual representation of whether each row is active or not along with how each item has been configured.

The toolbar to the right allows adding new items (Green + icon) and editing existing items (pencil icon).

The up/down arrows allow the re-ordering of items. The final button allows a custom field to be copied.

When creating or editing a custom field the following are the available configuration options:

Details tab

• Name: The identifier for this custom field
• Type: Defines what data should be stored in this custom field. Examples include single line text, radio buttons, lists, etc…
• Is active: Toggles whether the custom field is active or not
• Is hidden unless in placement group: This can be set when defining school-level custom fields and not university-level ones. It will hide the custom field from any of the roles mentioned under permissions unless it has been explicitly attached to a placement group.
• Is important: This defines where the custom field appears. When toggled on, the custom field will appear on the Details tab of the relevant module instead of under a separate page.
• Minimum/Maximum: Varies according to Type, although not supported by all types and can be used to control data provided. For example, a min/max character limit for text or a min/max date.
• Description: Allows the placement officer to provide a brief explanation of what is expected in the custom field value (response) and is shown as a tooltip wherever that custom field displays.
• Permissions: Can define the permissions for each role; this will impact whether they can see/edit it via Sonia Online.

Lists tab

When the custom field type allows selection from a list of options, those options need to be defined by the user. This screen can be used to define those items.

The grid displays the order the elements appear in the list along with a visual representation of whether each item is active or not. The toolbar to the right allows adding new items (Green + icon), editing existing items (pencil icon) and removing items (red minus icon). The up/down arrows allow the re-ordering of items.

Categories tab

Custom fields can be grouped into one or more categories. The categories are defined at the school level. To assign them to university custom fields, sign into the school with the desired category and then it will be visible in university options. A caveat is that a university custom field with a category from one school will appear as “uncategorized” in other schools since the category is attached to a specific school. This grid shows the name of the category assigned to this custom field. To add a category, select one from the drop-down list, then click the green plus icon. To remove a category, select it from the grid and click the red minus icon.

Client section

Authentication settings

• Authentication: A drop-down list to select which authentication method the Sonia client will use.

Note that if you have not defined an authentication method, you can only choose Sonia in the first instance. The Integrations section of this document will define other authentication methods.

• Enforce prompt for sign in: If using SSO (single-sign-on) or Windows authentication, Sonia can automatically sign the placement officer in using their already-authenticated operating system credentials. Enabling this setting will always require the placement officer to enter their username and password.

Client limits and restrictions

• Ensure that the From email address is read-only: Enabling this setting will not allow the From email address to be changed when sending bulk communications from the Sonia client.
• Max file upload size: Left at 0, this will allow any file size to be brought into the Sonia client. Setting a value can prevent large documents from being stored in the Sonia client.
• Allowed file uploads: Whitelists accepted file types placement officers can add into the Sonia client. This field accepts a comma separated list of file extensions.

Online section

The Online section has two tabs: one for general configuration and one to customise specific elements of Sonia Online University pages. This will apply to the Sonia Online portal interface for students, supervisors, and site contacts.

General tab

Web address and authentication

• URL: The university-level Sonia Online URL here. This will be used as the default for all schools defined within the university, unless the school overrides it with a different URL.
• Authentication: Due to the various roles that access Sonia Online, more than one method of authentication can be configured per role. The various modes are as follows:

• Active – user must enter username and password; e.g., Sonia Authentication
• Passive – the user is sent elsewhere to be authenticated, and then comes back; e.g., SSO
• Mixed – provides the user with the ability to choose; they can click to authenticate against SSO, or they can enter in their credentials. They must choose the sign-in method defined for them by the placement officer on their account in the Sonia client.

An example configuration is shown in the following table.

NOTE: If students need to continue to access their Sonia Online account after graduation and lose university credentials, we recommend Mixed mode for that role.

Role	Mode	Active	Passive
Students	Mixed	Sonia	SAML 2
Site Contacts	Active	Sonia
Supervisors	Mixed	Sonia	SAML 2

 

Home page settings

These settings pertain to the University landing page, not the Home page of a specific school.

To see the results for some of these options, please see Appendix.

• Show dynamic chart: Will display a graph totalling placements across Sonia schools, represented by colours, for the current year
• School list columns: The number of columns used to organise the links to the school login pages
• Can anonymous submit sites: Enabling this allows anyone accessing the Sonia Online landing page to submit a site without needing to log in to Sonia. The site submission will still require approval before being usable.
• Submission email address: The From email address for site submission notifications.

Display settings

To see the results for some of these options, please see Appendix.

• History page report: Choose which transcript report students can run from the History tab in Sonia Online
• Default grid page size: Define how many rows to show by default on grids that appear in Sonia Online
• Selectable grid page sizes: A comma-separated list of values which allows Sonia Online users to choose how many rows should appear on each page.

Online limits and restrictions

• Max file upload size: Left at 0, this will allow any file size to be uploaded to Sonia Online. Setting a value can prevent large documents from being stored in Sonia Online.
• Disable Raygun (Error and crash reporting): Leave this unticked to notify the Sonia Support team of issues to assist with providing resolutions; otherwise, it disables the link between Sonia Online and the error/crash reporting tool. Disabling would happen during events such as penetration testing.
• Allowed file uploads: Whitelists accepted files which can be uploaded into Sonia Online; this field accepts a comma-separated list of file extensions.
• Reset password email: The From email address for Sonia authentication password reset notifications
• Post sign out URL: The URL that Sonia Online will automatically navigate to when a Sonia Online users signs out
• Mobile QR code: Define how long until the QR code expires before being scanned. This code is generated in Sonia Online and allows students to link the mobile app to their Sonia Online profile.
• Web API token: Define how long until the Sonia web API token expires for authenticating a Sonia API account
• PDF export type: Choose what picture format to use when creating PDFs from electronic forms
• PDF export quality: Users can change the quality of the generated PDF only for JPG type. Higher quality will take longer to generate.

Text tab

The Text tab provides the HTML or text configuration for elements of the Sonia Online portal. As this content will potentially reach a wide audience, be mindful of accessibility. Consider the size of the content as larger sizes will take longer to load (based on internet speed) and should be avoided.

Culture drop down

Text can be defined across multiple cultures by selecting the appropriate culture from the drop-down list and then entering the appropriate content into the editing pane for the selected text element.

Text elements

These are the elements which can be defined across the Sonia Online portal, although some of these can be overridden at the school level. See Appendix for screenshots of where in Sonia Online these elements have effect.

There are three editing modes. Changes should always be checked in a web browser.

1. What You See Is What You Get mode (WYSIWYG): Content here will show in Sonia Online as-is.
2. HTML mode: Users familiar with HTML/CSS can further customise content here. Ensure content is accessible.
3. Preview mode: As content is input, perhaps using a mixture of the above modes, preview will show content as it would typically appear in Sonia Online.

Text editing

This is where the content can be input and formatted either with the WYSIWYG or HTML/CSS modes. Formatting tools include different fonts, colours, images, bullet points etc...

Highlighted below is the Paste the content copied from MS Word button. As MS Word has its own text formatting, this function helps translate the content into HTML that Sonia can understand. In cases where using this function still doesn’t render the desired result, it is suggested to copy just the text, paste it into Notepad (an application on your computer that will strip all formatting), copy from Notepad, paste into the WYSIWYG pane, and apply desired formatting in Sonia.

Defining links

Some of the text elements which can be defined are HTML links. For example, “Requirements link text”:

Notice that the editing tools are not present, and you simply have a single line. This text must be defined using an HTML link tag. Click here to visit W3 Schools and learn about HTML link tags. In the example above, it is simply linking to Google, but ideally, this would link to a university web-page detailing requirements for submitting a site. Below is where/how it will appear in Sonia Online:

Reports section

The Reports section allows configuration options for Reports in the Sonia Client and Sonia Online.

Web address

• URL: Enter the Sonia Report component URL here. This is required for reports to operate within the Sonia Client and Sonia Online.

Paper settings

Size: The report paper size defaults based on selected culture and defines the size for viewing, printing, and PDF generation.

Check Manager setting

The Check Manager section has three tabs: one for general configuration, one to customise specific elements of Sonia Check Manager header and footer, and the last tab is for user management.

The General tab

Web address

• URL: Enter the Sonia Check Manager URL
• Authentication: Choose the authentication method for Sonia Check Manager

Extra student information

• If no information: A drop-down list with the below options to determine whether to show the ‘i’ icon and how.
  • Hide icon
  • Show icon (hide tooltip)
  • Show icon (with tooltip)
• Display fields: Determines whether to show and how the various information elements.
  • Always
  • If (the value is) not blank ([show the field] with label)
  • If (the value is) not blank ([show the field] without label)
  • Never

Text tab

The Text tab provides the HTML or text configuration for elements of Sonia Check Manager. Changes should always be checked in a web browser.

1. What You See Is What You Get mode (WYSIWYG): Content here will show in Check Manager as-is
2. HTML mode: Users familiar with HTML/CSS can further customise content here.
3. Preview mode: As content is input, perhaps using a mixture of the above modes, preview will show content as it would appear in Check Manager.

Culture drop down

Text can be defined across multiple cultures by selecting the appropriate culture from the drop-down list and then entering the appropriate content into the editing pane for the selected text element.

Text elements

These are the elements which can be defined across the Sonia Check Manager.

Text Editing

This is where the content can be input and formatted either with the WYSIWYG, or HTML/CSS modes. Formatting tools include different fonts, colours, images, bullet points etc...

Highlighted below is the Paste the content copied from MS Word button. As MS Word use their own text formatting, this function helps translate the content into HTML that Sonia can understand. In cases where using this function still doesn’t render the desired result, it is suggested to copy just the text, paste it into Notepad (an application on your computer that will strip all formatting), copy from Notepad, paste into the WYSIWYG pane, and apply desired formatting in Sonia.

Users tab

The Users tab allows creating new Sonia Check Manager accounts and managing existing accounts. The grid provides various columns of data which can be hidden/revealed using the column picker. This grid, along with the data, can be exported to Excel or PDF. The toolbar to the right side allows adding new items (Green + icon) and editing existing items (pencil icon).

When adding or editing a Sonia Check Manager account, the dialog box below appears.

• Role
  • Placement Officer – Select this if the user has a Placement Officer account in the school from which you are accessing University Options
  • Supervisor - Select this if the user already has a Supervisor account in the school from which you are accessing University Options
  • Check Manager – Select this one if the user only needs access to Check Manager
• Existing User – Provides a list of users based on the Role selected and the school from which you are accessing University Options.
• Is administrator – Allows user to have administrative permissions in Check Manager

Dashboard section

The Dashboard section has three tabs: one for general configuration, one to customise specific elements of Sonia Dashboard header and footer, and the last tab is for user management.

General tab

Web address and authentication

• URL: Enter the Sonia Dashboard URL
• Authentication: Choose the authentication method for Sonia Dashboard

 

Report paper settings and user research restriction

Size: The report paper size defaults based on selected culture and defines the size for viewing, printing, and PDF generation

Restrict user search to school access only: When adding new users within Dashboard, enabling this will only show users from the same school

Text tab

The Text tab provides the HTML or text configuration for elements of the Sonia Dashboard. Changes should always be checked in a web browser.

1. What You See Is What You Get mode (WYSIWYG): Content here will show in Sonia Dashboard as-is
2. HTML mode: Users familiar with HTML/CSS can further customise content here
3. Preview mode: As content is input, perhaps using a mixture of the above modes, preview will show content as it would appear in Sonia Dashboard

Culture drop-down

Text can be defined across multiple cultures by selecting the appropriate culture from the drop-down list and then entering in the appropriate content into the editing pane for the selected text element.

Text elements

These are the elements which can be defined across the Sonia Dashboard.

Text editing

This is where the content can be input and formatted either with the WYSIWYG or HTML/CSS modes. Formatting tools include different fonts, colours, images, bullet points etc...

Highlighted below is the Paste the content copied from MS Word button. As MS Word use their own text formatting, this function helps translate the content into HTML that Sonia can understand. In cases where using this function still doesn’t render the desired result, it is suggested to copy just the text, paste it into Notepad (an application on your computer that will strip all formatting), copy from Notepad, paste into the WYSIWYG pane, and apply desired formatting in Sonia.

Users tab

The Users tab allows creating new Sonia Dashboard accounts and managing existing accounts. The grid provides various columns of data which can be hidden/revealed using the column picker. This grid, along with the data, can be exported to Excel or PDF. The toolbar to the right side allows adding new items (Green + icon) and editing existing items (pencil icon).

When adding or editing a Sonia Dashboard account, the dialog box below appears.

• Role
  • Placement Officer – Select this if the user has a Placement Officer account in the school from which you are accessing University Options
  • Dashboard User – Select this if the user only needs access to Dashboard
• Existing User – Provides a list of users based on the Role selected and the school from which you are accessing University Options.
• Is administrator – Allows user to have administrative permissions in Dashboard

Groups section

The Groups section is where Sonia schools are grouped together. The term group can be changed in school terminology; for example, to “faculty”. It is mandatory to have one group; all schools must belong to at least one group. New groups can be added, existing groups can be edited, and they can be ordered manually or alphabetically.

When adding or editing a group, define the name and select/deselect which schools belong to the group.

Schools section

The Schools section displays a grid of all schools within the university, along with various columns of information. Columns can be shown/hidden as desired, and the grid can be exported to Excel or PDF. The toolbar to the right side allows adding new schools (Green + icon), editing existing schools (pencil icon) and removing schools (red minus icon). The up/down arrows allow the re-ordering of items.

When creating a new school or editing an existing one, the following options are available for configuration:

Add School

• Name: The name of the school
  • Note: when adding a school to Test, append the name with “ - Test”
• Group: Select which group(s) this school should belong to.
• Country and Time zone: These will default to the options defined in the University section but can be changed here if desired, for example a campus in a different state or country.
• License key: If the school has paid for their own Sonia license key, it can be entered here, and their quota and expiration will be reflected accordingly within School Options.

General section

• Share sites with other schools: Allows the school to share its sites with other schools that have this enabled
• Share new sites by default: Shares newly-created sites by default
• Tax percentage: Set the school default tax percentage for all payments and invoices

Email provider

Details worked out with the Sonia team during initial implementation. When adding a new school after the initial school has been created, leave this section blank.

Application settings

• Client tab
  • Active: Makes the school available to users within the Sonia client who have access to this school

Online

• • Active: Provides students, supervisors, and sites access to the school from Sonia Online
  • Unlisted: Hides the school from the Sonia Online landing page; however, it remains active and, if the URL is known, will operate as usual
  • URL: Defaults to what was specified under the Online section URL, but it can be customised here, if desired
  • Authentication: This school can have authentication configuration that is different than that of the university level

• Check Manager

• • URL: This is the school-specific URL for Check Manager, if needed

• Dashboard

• • URL: This is the school-specific URL for Dashboard, if needed

Placement Officers section

The Placement Officers section displays a grid of all placement officer accounts within the University. Columns can be shown/hidden as desired, and the grid can be exported to Excel or PDF. The toolbar to the right side allows adding new placement officers (Green + icon) or editing existing placement officers (pencil icon). Configuring placement officer accounts is covered in another guide.

• Show administrators only: This is ticked by default to show only system or university administrators. Toggling this off would show all placement officer accounts across the entire university, which could be of a considerable amount and take a while to load/display.

 

Scheduled Jobs

The Scheduled Jobs section allows configuration of the various background jobs. All the jobs will have an impact on system performance.

• Notifications: Sonia will send all the automatic notifications at this time. No value means no date-based automatic notifications will be sent. Online or “triggered” notifications will still be sent.
  • Best practice setting: 7am (Best to start before the beginning of the working day)
• Geocode Optimization: Sonia will optimize addresses at this time. Applies to addresses bulk-imported into Sonia, as manually entered addresses will optimize upon saving. Optimization uses Bing map key; otherwise, it will fall back to the manually loaded geocode files.

• Best practice setting: After the student importer has run (Captures any new student addresses in optimization)

• Workflows: How frequently should the Workflow job check if date-based conditions have been met. For example, if a workflow has a date condition for the 1^st of July, the job will check every x minutes to see if that condition has been met.
  • Best practice setting: 30 minutes (it may be tempting to check every minute, but this will adversely affect system performance.
• External Providers: When should Sonia check and synchronize data with external providers, such as Sonia Central and SPOT. No time means this job is disabled.
  • Best practice setting: Keep blank unless Sonia has been integrated with either Sonia Central or SPOT.

Integrations section

The Integrations section allows the setup and configuration of the many different providers Sonia supports. The setup for each particular provider is beyond the scope of this document.

Authentication providers

Allows the setup of Sonia, SAML 2, Active Directory (AD) or Windows Authentication to be used for the Sonia Client, Sonia Online, Sonia Check Manager, or Sonia Dashboard, although not all providers will work with all Sonia applications. The toolbar to the right side allows adding new authentication providers (Green + icon), editing existing authentication providers (pencil icon) and removing authentication providers (red minus icon).

Email provider

• Provider: Required for all emails in the Sonia Client currently supports SendGrid (for cloud-based environments) or EASendMail (for on-premises).
• API Key: Only for SendGrid, this key authenticates Sonia applications to the correct SendGrid account.
• Default address: The email address used for sending Sonia Activation emails in the scenario there is more than one university configured.

Mapping services

• Bings Maps key: Used for optimizing address coordinates in Sonia.

Short Message Service (SMS)

• Provider: Select the SMS provider with which to connect via API integration; otherwise, Email to SMS can be utilized.

IMS Global - Learning Tool Interopability (LTI)

An education technology designed by IMS Global (now 1edtech) that enables Education Platforms, Apps and Tools to communicate with each other. It is a high-level form of integration that helps a user move from one application to another easily without logging in and out of multiple systems.

In standard LTI terminology, a platform/consumer can connect to a tool/provider. An example of a typical platform/consumer is a Learning Management System (LMS) such as Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle. Sonia is IMS Global-certified and can plug-and-play with other LTI-compliant tools. Sonia is unique in that it can act as either an LTI Provider or Consumer.

• Sonia Identity Server URL: Applicable in a specific version of LTI for authentication purposes.

The toolbar to the right side allows adding new LTI integrations (Green + icon), editing existing LTI integrations (pencil icon) and removing LTI integrations (red minus icon).

Placement providers

Sonia can integrate with other placement management tools such as:

• Australian Business Register for site mapping
• Sonia Central
• SPOT

The grid will show the name of the provider, whether it is active and currently connected via the status column along with other useful information. The toolbar to the right side allows

1. adding new LTI integrations (Green + icon)
2. editing existing LTI integrations (pencil icon)
3. removing LTI integrations (red minus icon).

Social media

Sonia can be connected to several social media platforms.

The toolbar to the right side allows adding new connections (Green + icon), editing existing connections (pencil icon) and removing connections (red minus icon).

Sonia API section

This section configures the Sonia API URL and user accounts. The grid shows usernames, their school access, and last sign-in for auditing. Accounts can be restricted to specific schools.

Toolbar functions:

• Add account (Green + icon)

• Edit account (Pencil icon)

• Remove account (Red minus icon)

 

 

Appendix

Show dynamic chart

In the Online section, the “dynamic chart” displays on the Sonia Online university landing page, indicating how many placements are active for the individual schools.

School list columns

Submit sites

History page report

Default grid page size / Selectable grid page sizes

Mobile QR code

 

Header/Footer/Welcome

 

Submission link text

Acknowledge requirements text

 

Requirements link text

Submission introduction/Submission notes information

 

Submitted site feedback