Class Portal User Guide

Search and answers

Department resources, searchable from any device. Matching sections appear as you type, with your terms highlighted and the page they came from.

Three ways to search

• Plain words. "beard" returns the grooming standards; "taser" returns conducted energy weapons.
• Section numbers. Enter a number like 4-306.7 to open that section directly.
• Codes and streets. Ten codes, signal codes, the phonetic alphabet and hundred blocks come from a lookup table: no model, no delay.

The chips under the search bar limit a search to one document. All sources is the default.

Asking a question

Tap Ask (or Enter) and the matching sections are handed to a language model, which reads them and writes a direct answer.

• Quick answer is the default. Fast and free.
• More in-depth answer is offered beneath each quick answer. Slower, more thorough, and it quotes the source word for word, highlighting the exact lines in the section below. It costs a cent or two to run, so the app asks you to confirm first. Worth it when the quick answer was vague or missed the point; not worth it when the sections below already answer you.

Checking the answer

Every answer is followed by the sections it read, unmodified, with page numbers. Rely on the source text, not the answer. A language model can omit detail or word it loosely; verify against the cited page before relying on it.

• Save this answer keeps it under Bookmarks.
• Report this answer sends the question, the answer and the sections it read to the administrator. Use it whenever an answer looks wrong.

Note: Division maps, the street grid and the fitness standards are images. Tap one to enlarge it.

Calendar

Every hour of the academy on a grid. Open it from Next up on the home screen.

• Up next at the top always shows the single next event, whatever you are looking at below.
• Day, Week and Month views, and Schedule as a plain list. Use the arrows to move, Today to come back.
• Entries are sized by their length; things that overlap sit side by side; a line marks right now.
• Every heading carries the academy day number, so "day 47" means the same thing to everyone.
• Assignments with a due date appear on the grid too.

Put it in your phone's calendar

1. Scroll to the bottom and tap Add to your preferred calendar.
2. On iPhone, tap Subscribe and confirm. On Android, the link is copied: in Google Calendar, add it under Other calendars › From URL.

The academy's schedule then updates itself in your calendar app. The link is private to you; do not forward it. If it ever leaks, replace it under your account, Settings.

Class roster

Everyone in the class, numbered, with a search box at the top. Tap a phone number to call it, an email address to write.

• Each card shows the person's cell, department and personal email, plus anything they have chosen to add.
• The class commander badge follows whoever holds the role.
• Not signed up yet means the person has not activated their account.

Your card

Tap your initials, then My info.

• Photo. Choose one, position it in the circle, save. Initials are used until you do.
• Department email. Shown on your card; signing in still uses your roster email.
• The optional fields — goes by, squad, other phone, where you live, emergency contact, prior service, anything else. Each has its own Show this to the class switch. Unticked, only staff can see it. The switch is enforced by the server, not just hidden on screen.

Note: Your name, roster email and phone number are shown by default, because the roster already circulates inside the class. If you want one of them hidden, ask an admin.

Quick references

Links, documents and notes the class keeps reaching for: fitness standards, uniform standards, sign-up sheets, maps. Tagged, searchable, the pinned ones on top.

• The tag chips (Around the academy, Gear and uniform and so on) narrow the list; the search box finds anything.
• A reference with a file attached opens it in place.
• Any recruit can Suggest a reference; an administrator publishes it.
• Beat Book and Form Builder live at the top of this screen, and each has a chapter below.

Form Builder

The academy's blank forms, filled in on your phone and stamped onto the original PDF, laid out exactly like the paper version. Download it, print it, sign it by hand.

1. Tap a form.
2. Fill in the fields. Your name and details from the roster are already there.
3. Tap Download the PDF, or Save without downloading to come back later.

• What you type is kept to your account, so the next form does not start empty. Saved forms are listed under Your saved forms.
• Fields marked not saved — date of birth, Social Security number, driver's licence number — go onto the PDF and nowhere else. Reopening the form asks for them again. This is enforced on the server as well as in the app.

Bookmarks

Answers you chose to keep. Ask a question, then tap Save this answer under it; it is filed here with the question, the answer and the sections it came from.

• The search box finds a saved answer by any word in it.
• Tap one to read it in full; remove it when it is no longer useful.
• Bookmarks are yours alone.

Notifications

Announcements and assignments reach your phone the moment they are posted, without opening the app. It is how the class commander reaches everyone at once.

1. Open Class Portal from your Home Screen. On iPhone, Safari in a tab cannot deliver notifications; only the Home Screen app can.
2. Tap your initials, then Settings.
3. Under Notifications on this device, tap Turn on, then Allow when your phone asks.

• Notifications are per device. Turn them on for each phone you use.
• Below the switch you choose which other kinds you want. Announcements and assignments are always on and say so.
• Tapping a notification opens the post or assignment it is about.
• If your phone has blocked notifications for the app, the panel says so; turn them back on in your phone's Settings and reopen the app.