Build a course template

A course template is the blueprint of a course: what it awards, what it requires and which sessions it consists of. Templates live under Course templates in the Resources group of the sidebar.

What the page shows

Each agency has one card of rows. A row shows the name (with Inactive beside it when switched off), the description cut to one line, and "Awards: ...", "Requires: ..." and the size of the course, such as "5 sessions · 3 days". The Active switch, the pencil and the Archive icon are on the right. A row with more to show (a cut description, waivers or sessions) has a chevron; the chevron, or a click on the row, opens it to show the full description, the additional waivers and the sessions day by day with start time, place and length.

Create a template

Press Add template. Once you have changed something, a click outside no longer closes the window; Cancel, the X and Esc still do.

• Name, unique within your dive center, archived templates included, and an optional Description.
• Awards level: the certification granted automatically on completion. Choosing it also sets the template's agency.
• Prerequisite level: the certification a student must already hold to enrol. Without an awarded level, the prerequisite's agency is used. When you edit a template later, both levels and the Description can be emptied again: choose No level awarded or No prerequisite.
• Additional waivers: pick templates with Add a waiver… that every student of courses planned from this template must sign on top of the general ones. Only templates that are not required, or required for fun dives only, are offered. Students are checked for them in a dive group on a boat trip; see Required waivers and the medical questionnaire.

There is no student limit on a template; the limit is set per course.

Neither the rows nor the window show prices: the course price, tax rate and included extras are set in the Price list under Settings, section Courses. If you may see prices, a line under the list on the Course templates page has an Open price list button that goes there.

Add the sessions

Under Sessions, start from a preset or add rows one by one:

• Open Water (1 pool + 4 dives), Advanced (5 dives) or Theory + pool + 2 dives, offered while the list is empty, fill in typical rows.
• One compact row per session: its name, a Location of Pool, Shallow water, Open water, Classroom or Custom, a Day from 1 to 366 counted from the course start, a Start time and a Duration (min) from 15 to 720 minutes.
• Add session, under the last row, adds a row with the location and day of the row above; if that row has a start and duration, the new one starts at its end.
• Drag the handle to reorder; Undo brings back the last row you removed while the window is open. Up to 50 sessions per template.

Start and duration prefill the times of a session scheduled from the template, which falls on its day when scheduled without a date. Open water sessions are the ones that later go onto a boat trip.

Every row has to be scheduled on a course before its students can complete. A row you add later also counts for the courses already planned from the template, which stay open until it is scheduled there.

Note: Saving a template keeps its rows linked to the sessions that courses already scheduled from them, also when you rename, retime or reorder rows. Only removing a row cuts the link: sessions scheduled from it keep working, but for a makeup session they are matched by their position only, which needs a note. See Track attendance.

The standard templates you start with

When you signed up, DivePilot created the Open Water, Advanced and Rescue templates of the agency you chose, with their levels set (PADI, SSI, SDI and NAUI only). They have no sessions; add them here before planning a course.

Deactivate, archive and restore

Switch Active off, on its row or in the window, to keep a template but hide it from the course and booking dialogs and from course start date requests on your booking page; it saves at once.

Archive asks you to confirm. An archived template can no longer be used for new courses; courses planned from it keep their sessions and students and still list their sessions not yet scheduled. The Archived tab shows each with "Archived on" and the date; Restore brings it back.