Where to find it
Core › Roll Number Series. It carries its own permission, so if you cannot see it, ask your school administrator to give you Roll Number Series in Users & Privileges.
What it does
Today somebody has to remember what the last roll number was and type the next one on every admission form. Set a series here and EDUBase does it: when a new admission is saved with the Roll No box left empty, it is given the next number in the series and the counter moves on by one.
Nothing happens until you switch it on
Two things have to be true before a single roll number is given out:
- Assign roll numbers automatically on a new admission is ticked, and
- there is a series covering the class the child is being admitted into.
Until then the screen changes nothing and admissions behave exactly as they always have. That is deliberate — a school that has been typing its own roll numbers for years should not find them being invented for it.
🔴 A roll number you type is always kept
The series only ever fills an empty box. Type anything into Roll No — a number, a code, anything — and that is what is saved. Nothing here ever changes the roll number of a student who already exists.
Choosing where your series lives
Each line on the screen is a series of its own, and they are arranged from the widest to the narrowest:
- Whole school — one running number for every child in the school. This is what most schools already do by hand.
- A campus — one running number per campus.
- A whole class — one series for the class, shared by all its sections.
- One section — that section numbers on its own, so every section can start again at 1.
🔴 The most specific line that fits the child is the one used — they are not added together. If you set a whole-school series and also one for Class 1 Section A, then a child admitted into Class 1 Section A gets the section's number and everybody else gets the school's. That is what lets you leave most of the school alone and treat one class differently.
Prefix, start and digits
Start at is the first number the series gives out. Prefix is put in front of it, and Digits pads it with leading zeros. So a prefix of RN-, 4 digits and a start of 501 gives RN-0501, then RN-0502, and so on. Leave the prefix empty and set digits to 0 for plain numbers.
Next number shows what the very next admission would get. It moves on its own as children are admitted — you do not need to maintain it. Changing Start at resets it.
Switching it on when you already use roll numbers
Highest in use on each line shows the largest roll number already given out there, so you can pick a start that is past it. And with Skip numbers already given to a student ticked (it is, by default), the series quietly steps over any number that is already on a child instead of handing out a duplicate.
Untick it only when you are deliberately renumbering and want the counter followed exactly.
Children who are already here
Fill blanks beside a class or section gives a roll number to every enrolled student there who does not have one, oldest admission first. It never touches a student who already has one, so it is safe to press twice.
Bulk admissions
Also number Add Bulk Students and the student file upload extends the same behaviour to those two screens — again, only for rows whose roll number cell is empty. Untick it if you want a spreadsheet to be taken exactly as it is written.
Switching a series off
Clear the Start at box on a line and save. That line goes back to roll numbers typed by hand. The screen asks you to confirm first.
This is not the Exam Roll Number screen
🔴 Extras › Roll No. Slip › Assign Roll Numbers is a different thing: it numbers the students already sitting in a section for an examination. This screen is about the class roll number a child is given when they are admitted.