Planning & Approvals

Create Excursions (for Pre-Approval)

All staff users in Paperly can create an excursion proposal / pre-approval.

1. Navigate to Excursions → Add New Excursion.

2. Select the Excursion Type from the dropdown.

   • If the chosen Excursion Type has associated Activity Types, you can also select one or more Activity Types.

   • Note: Activity Types only display if they have been pre-associated with the Excursion Type in Settings.

3. Complete the excursion details:

   • Name – add a name for the excursion.

   • Description – provide a short description.

   • Departure & Return date/time – select using the date and time picker fields.

4. Work through the additional sections (sections visible may vary depending on admin configuration):

   • Activity Planning

   • Venue Details

   • Staff Information

     • Assign a staff member responsible for the excursion (this can differ from the creator).

     • Add all staff attending.

       • This list contributes to the student:staff ratio.

       • All listed staff will also receive an “upcoming excursion” notification in the Task Manager.

   • Activity Specifics

   • Expenses and Payment

     • Enter total expenses.

     • To on-charge families, enable Charge to Students and set the Charge per Student amount.

     • Note: Payments must be enabled to collect money when families give permission for excursions.

   • Attachments

5. Select an Approval Workflow → click Create.

6. The excursion is now submitted for Pre-approval.

   • If no pre-approval step is defined in the selected workflow, the excursion is automatically pre-approved.

7. The first approver in the workflow will be notified via:

   • Email

   • Task Manager notification

   • Their Excursion List (with their name shown in the Current Approver column).

Review / Pre-Approve Excursions

Notification of Approval Request

Once an excursion is submitted for pre-approval, approvers are notified in multiple ways:

• Paperly Task Manager notification

• Email notification

Steps to Review and Pre-Approve

1. Open the excursion from your Task Manager or notification email.

2. Review the Details tab and other sections as needed.

3. Choose an action:

   • Approve – click the green Approve button to pre-approve.

   • Reject – click the red Reject button if the excursion should not proceed.

   • Requires Resubmission – click the blue Requires Resubmission button if changes are needed before pre-approval.

Editing (During Pre-Approval)

• Only Approvers can edit the excursion directly as part of the approval process.

• Notifications of your decision will be sent automatically to the excursion creator and any other relevant users in the approval workflow.

Submit Excursion (for Final Approval)

Additional Information Requirements

Finalising the Excursion

1. Add Students

• Go to the Add Students tab → click Add Students.

• Select from the available options:

  • Individual students

  • All Students (tick box)

  • Year level

  • Class

  • Custom Group

• Click Add Students to confirm.

2. Complete the Risk Assessment

• Open the Risk Assessments tab.

• Click the Edit button to complete all required fields.

• Required fields are shaded red.

• The system auto-saves every few seconds to prevent data loss.

• (See [How to Complete the Risk Assessment] for full instructions.)

3. Review Medical Risks

• Medical risk data is automatically pulled from your Student Information System.

4. Work Through Checklists

• If checklists are associated with the Excursion Type, they will appear here.

• Click Edit and mark each item as:

  • Not applicable

  • Completed

  • Planned

• Click Save changes.

• You can also add additional checklist items specific to the excursion.

5. Add Forms (if Applicable)

• If a form has been pre-created with “Is this for an excursion” = Yes, it will be available here.

• In the Forms tab, click Edit and select the relevant form(s) from the dropdown.

• This allows parents to provide additional information (e.g. dietary requirements) as part of the permission process.

Submit for Final Approval

• Once all required tabs are complete, the Submit for Final Approval button will appear.

• Click to submit the excursion for final approval.

• Tabs that must be completed are marked with a red asterisk (✱).

• The asterisk is removed once all required information in that tab is complete.

Approve Excursions (Final Approval)

Once an excursion has been submitted for final approval, it progresses to the final approval workflow stage.

Steps for Final Approvers

1. Open the excursion from your Task Manager or email notification.

2. Review the excursion details.

3. Click the Approve button to proceed.

4. If needed, approvers may also edit the excursion before approving.

Status Updates

• Each approval advances the excursion one step further through the approval workflow.

• After recieving approval for the final step the excursion status will change from “Submitted for Final Approval” to “Approved”.

Notifications

Once the excursion is fully approved:

• The Excursion Creator and the Staff Member responsible are notified.

• Staff can then send the excursion to families for permission.

Pre-Configuration Options

Paperly comes preloaded with a set of default Excursion Form Sections and Fields, designed to reflect common compliance, risk, and operational requirements for school activities.

While the core structure ensures consistency and compliance, the flexibility allows schools to tailor excursion forms to suit local regulatory requirements, activity types, and governance expectations.

Customising form sections thoughtfully helps ensure staff are guided through a clear, repeatable planning process, reducing omissions and strengthening oversight across all excursions.

A note on terminology: