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Timeline Cloning

Cloning copies an existing timeline, with all of its prompts, into another course. It saves rebuilding a term’s guidance from scratch when a course runs again with a new intake, or when several courses share the same weekly structure.

This page is for administrators. Cloning is the Copy Existing tab of the + Create Timeline dialog in Course Cadence → Timelines & Prompts.

When to use cloning

  • A repeat intake. The same qualification runs again next term. Clone last term’s timeline into the new course, then update the dates and anything term-specific.
  • Parallel courses. Several courses, such as the same unit taught at two campuses, follow the same weeks. Build one carefully, then clone it to the others.
  • A starting template. Keep a “master” course whose timeline you clone into each new course.

The source and destination must be different courses on the same site. You can’t clone a timeline into its own course, and you can’t clone between sites.

Cloning a timeline

  1. Go to Course Cadence → Timelines & Prompts.
  2. In the Course drop-down, choose the destination: the course that should receive the copy.
  3. Click + Create Timeline, then open the Copy Existing tab.
  4. In Select Timeline to Copy, pick the source. Each option reads “Course name — type (start – end)”. Timelines from every other course are listed, newest start date first. Rolling timelines show an end date in 2099.
  5. Check the summary under the drop-down: Timeline:, Date Range: and Total Prompts:.
  6. Set New Start Date. This is required and is the date week 1 begins in the destination course.
  7. Decide whether to keep Include approved edit suggestions ticked. It’s ticked by default. See below for what it does.
  8. Optional: click Preview Copy. The Copy Preview shows Total Prompts:, Student Prompts: and Trainer Prompts:, plus With Approved Edits: when any apply. A line underneath says either “N prompt(s) will use approved edits instead of original content.” or “All prompts will use their original content.” Prompts for the Both audience are counted in the total but aren’t listed separately.
  9. Click Copy the type timeline into destination course. This button stays disabled until a New Start Date is entered.
  10. You’ll see “Timeline copied successfully! Timeline ID: N”. The dialog closes and the new timeline is selected, with its prompts listed below.

If no other course has a timeline yet, the tab shows “No timelines available to copy. Create timelines in other courses first.”

What is copied

Item Copied? Notes
Timeline type (Fixed period / Rolling) Yes
Start date Replaced Set to your New Start Date
End date Recalculated New start date plus the source timeline’s length, so a 22-week source gives a 22-week copy
Break periods Yes, with the original dates Break dates are not moved to the new term. Update them afterwards
Email pause setting Yes If the source was paused, the copy is paused too
Every prompt’s week, day offset, audience, subject and body Yes
Prompt attachments Yes
Approved trainer edits Optional Controlled by Include approved edit suggestions
Linked lessons No Lessons belong to a specific course, so re-link them in the destination
Prompt version history No Copied prompts start with no history
Pending, approved or rejected suggestion records No
Email delivery records No Nobody in the destination course has received anything yet

The source timeline and its prompts are not changed in any way.

Include approved edit suggestions

When a trainer’s suggestion is approved, it is applied to the prompt at that moment. Usually, then, the source prompts already contain the approved wording and this option makes no difference.

The option matters when a prompt was changed again after a suggestion was approved, for example by a later admin edit or a restore. With the box ticked, the copy uses the most recent approved suggestion’s subject and body for that prompt, instead of the prompt’s current content. Untick it if you want the copy to match the source prompts exactly as they read now.

The form’s hint reads: “If enabled, prompts with approved edits will use the edited version instead of the original.”

After cloning

Work through this checklist for the new timeline:

  1. Check the dates. Click Edit timeline and confirm the Start date and End date. The end date is calculated, so make sure it lands at least a day after your final dispatch day.
  2. Move the break periods to this term’s dates. They are copied unchanged from the source, so a “Mid-semester break” from last year will otherwise sit in the wrong place, or before the new course has even started.
  3. Click Update timeline to save. Saving also tidies the start and end times so the timeline begins at the start of its start date.
  4. Re-link lessons on each prompt that needs them (see Linking lessons to a prompt).
  5. Review prompt wording for anything specific to the old intake, such as dates, venues, assessment due dates and trainer names.
  6. Re-order if needed with Move to another week… or Insert week… (see Prompt management). Freshly cloned prompts have no delivery history, so they always move freely.
  7. If the copy is paused because the source was, resume it (see Timeline management).
  8. Send a test email from Email Delivery → Test Emails (see Admin dashboards).

A note on cloned start times

A cloned timeline’s start and end times are stored relative to your site’s timezone. On sites east of UTC, such as Australian sites, the copy can start several hours into its start date instead of at midnight. If your dispatch runs early on the start day, the first email may then be missed. Step 3 above (Update timeline) resets the times to the start of the day. Checking the dates and re-saving straight after cloning avoids the problem.

Cloning a Rolling timeline

The copy is also Rolling. Students’ week numbers still count from their own enrolment dates. The New Start Date is when the copied timeline starts running, and trainers’ week numbers count from it. A Rolling copy with a future start date sends nothing until that date.

Permissions and audit

  • Only administrators can clone timelines. Trainers can’t see the timeline list or the Copy Existing tab.
  • Each clone is recorded in the audit log under Settings → System as Copied. The entry shows the source timeline, the destination course, how many prompts were copied, and whether approved edits were included.
  • The destination course can already have a timeline. Cloning adds a timeline and never replaces or deletes one. If the old and new timelines overlap in dates, delete or shorten the old one so it’s clear which one sends.

Troubleshooting

“Please fill in all required fields.” Choose a source timeline and a New Start Date.

“Failed to copy timeline: …” or “Failed to load preview: …” The request didn’t complete, often because the session has expired or the source timeline was deleted in another tab. Reload the page and try again.

“Failed to load timelines: …” The list of timelines you can copy couldn’t be loaded. Reload the page.

The source shows “Unknown course”. The course that timeline belongs to no longer exists in your LMS. You can still clone it.

The copied timeline’s breaks are in the wrong place. Breaks keep the source dates. Edit the timeline and update them (step 2 above).

Worked example: next year’s intake

A training college ran First Aid Trainer Pathway 2026 as a 22-week Fixed period timeline from 2 February 2026, with 40 prompts and a mid-semester break from 6 to 19 April 2026. A new course, First Aid Trainer Pathway 2027, starts on Monday 1 February 2027.

  1. On Timelines & Prompts, the administrator sets Year to 2027, selects First Aid Trainer Pathway 2027 and clicks + Create Timeline → Copy Existing.
  2. They choose “First Aid Trainer Pathway 2026 — Fixed period (2 Feb 2026 – 3 Jul 2026)”. The summary shows Total Prompts: 40.
  3. They set New Start Date to 1 February 2027 and click Preview Copy. It reports “All prompts will use their original content.”
  4. They click Copy the Fixed period timeline into First Aid Trainer Pathway 2027. The copy runs from 1 February to 2 July 2027.
  5. In Edit timeline, they move the break to 5 to 18 April 2027 and click Update timeline.
  6. They re-link the 2027 course’s lessons on the prompts that had links, then send a test email.

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