Technical manual
Human Resources Diploma Toolbox, version 1.1
BSB50801 Diploma of Business (Human Resources)
Technical manual...................................................................................... 1
Client technical requirements .................................................................. 2
Accessibility ............................................................................................ 3
File structure ........................................................................................... 5
Software for customisable assets............................................................ 7
Installation on a web server .................................................................... 7
Making a student CD .............................................................................. 7
Index of learning packs ........................................................................... 7
Known issues.......................................................................................... 8
Release notes for version 1.1 ................................................................. 9
Acknowledgements
This Technical Manual was developed by Grant Focas and Alison Woodage. July 2003.
Technical Manual, Human Resources Diploma Toolbox (v1.1)
 Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) 2003
Page 1 of 9
Client technical requirements
Browser compatibility
Netscape 4.7, 6.2, 7
IE 5 +
Mozilla 1.1 +
The HR Toolbox works best with JavaScript turned on in the browser.
Platform compatibility
PC and Macintosh.
The Toolbox JavaScript navigation does not work on IE5.0 on a Mac so
we use JavaScript to sniff out this configuration and replace a text-only
version. This does have a slight risk if the users of IE 5.0 on a Mac have
JavaScript disabled, but the number of these users will be very small.
Screen resolution
Minimum 800x 600 pixels
Plug-ins
Flash Player 6 (to support Flash MX files) build 29 +
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4 +
Problem playing sound files?
The sound player in the Toolbox is built in Flash MX. If you can see the
play bar but it does not move when pressing the play button, you may have
an early build of the Flash 6 player.
If this happens, delete the flash.ocx file from your computer(use the search
facility on your C drive to find and delete this file). Before deleting, all
browsers must be closed. After deleting, the file flash will automatically
install when you open the unit home pages via the Internet. Click 'Yes' when
asked if you want to install Macromedia Flash Player.
If you can’t see the play bar at all or if it is just a grey bar, you will need to
install Flash player.
Download times
A pre-loader is included in the Flash movies to facilitate handling of larger
Flash files.
Other than Flash and audio assets, the maximum page size is 50 kb. The
audio files are SWF files containing compressed MP3 files. The largest of
these is 323kb.
Technical Manual, Human Resources Diploma Toolbox (v1.1)
 Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) 2003
Page 2 of 9
Accessibility
The site is compliant with W3C Content Accessibility Priority 1 guidelines.
Navigation
The drill-down navigation uses JavaScript so we have used a text only link
inside <noscript></noscript> tags as an alternative for those who have
JavaScript disabled.
There is a text only version also available for those who have javascript
enabled but would still prefer a text version. This is intended for those
screen readers who have problems with javascript but who would not see
the version inside the <noscript></noscript> tags because they have
javascript enabled. The link to the text only version is invisible (rendered
the same colour as the background), so it doesn’t distract from the visual
design, but it is the first link in the navigation page a screen reader would
read.
Text equivalents
Alt tags are included on all images. Longdesc tags are also included where
necessary. Text alternatives to flash movies are also provided. Table headers
(where tables are not for formatting purposes) and summaries are included.
TabIndex keys
TabIndex keys have not been used for this site with the exception of the
sound pages (any page with an underscore followed by 'sd' in its filename).
These contain flash (SWF) files with embedded MP3 audio. A bug in Flash
means that once the flash object has focus, it won't let it go. Our solution has
been to use TabIndex= -1. This allows tabbing to bypass the Flash object. As
a result, if a user's only method of navigation is the keyboard, they will have
to follow the link to read the text alternative rather than hear the audio.
Access keys
The navigation utilises access keys for each Task page. Task 1 uses Access
key 1, Task 2 uses Access key 2 and so on.
Keyboard-only users are encouraged to use the latest version of
Internet Explorer, as the up and down arrow keys and PageUp and
PageDown keys are not fully supported in Netscape or Mozilla (not inside
<div> tags at any rate).
Links
1. Many links have title attributes which describe the link in greater
detail, unless the text of the link already fully describes the target
(such as the headline of an article).
2. Links are written to make sense out of context.
Technical Manual, Human Resources Diploma Toolbox (v1.1)
 Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) 2003
Page 3 of 9
Images
1. All content images used in this site include descriptive ALT
attributes. Purely decorative graphics include null ALT attributes.
2. Complex images include LONGDESC attributes or inline
descriptions to explain the significance of each image to non-visual
readers.
Visual design
1. This Toolbox uses cascading style sheets for visual layout.
2. This Toolbox uses only relative font sizes, compatible with the userspecified "text size" option in visual browsers.
3. If your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets at
all, the content of each page is still readable.
Technical Manual, Human Resources Diploma Toolbox (v1.1)
 Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) 2003
Page 4 of 9
File structure
The file structure of the Toolbox is set up so that individual Units in the
Toolbox may be loaded onto a web server or a CD-ROM.
root folder
shared folder
unit folder
See the next page for information about these folders.
Technical Manual, Human Resources Diploma Toolbox (v1.1)
 Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) 2003
Page 5 of 9
The root folder has the following folders:

shared which includes all scripts, styles etc that are used in more
than one unit – it must be on every CD or server copy of the
Toolbox, even if there is only one Unit on the CD or server

lo (Learning Objects) which contains all 'Learning Packs' as they are
called in the Toolbox; each is self-contained within their own folders

source which contains the Flash files, which are the source of all the
SWF files used in the course

units which contains all the unit case studies used in the course
At the root level you will find the following files:

index.htm

readme.txt

update_flash.htm, which checks to see if the required version of
flash player is installed

the technical guide

the teacher guide

the autorun files necessary for automatic play from CD.
The shared, LO and source folders can be copied along with whichever unit
folder is needed. Each unit has a folder inside the units folder. The units
folder can be copied as a whole by first deleting whichever units are not
wanted, preserving the file structure.
The navigation for each unit sits in a nav folder and can be easily
disaggregated so that the unit/s may be placed in a LMS such as WebCT,
Janison, etc.
All references to frames use _parent rather than _top so that if needed a
frameset may be constructed around the entire site.
Technical Manual, Human Resources Diploma Toolbox (v1.1)
 Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) 2003
Page 6 of 9
Software for customisable assets
A source code folder is provided for customising Flash files and other
assets.
If editing HTM files in Macromedia Dreamweaver, you may experience a
known bug with that software. If you open the page in Show Design View
and cannot see any content, switch to Show Code View and make any
change (for example, add a space then take it away again). When you switch
back to Show Design View you will see the content.
Installation on a web server
Copy the entire contents (except for autorun.inf and autorun.exe) of the
CD to the appropriate place on your web server (either in wwwroot or
elsewhere using a virtual directory).
If you are only copying selected Units to your server or CD, you must:

make sure the entire shared folder is also copied

make sure that the learning objects (learning packs) required for
those Units are also copied
Network administrators should ensure that the plug-ins and browsers list
above are available to users.
There are no server side technologies utilized in this toolbox, so no
configuration is necessary.
Making a student CD
If providing a CD for students to use, you may first like to delete the teacher
guide and technical guide from the CD, although this is not essential.
You can use CD burning software, but instead of copying the whole CD, use
the Data CD option to drag and drop all files, then delete the teacher guide
and technical guide from the destination (usually d: drive).
Index of learning packs
An index of learning packs is provided for the whole Toolbox and for each
Unit. Each index is accessed from the Toolbox and the nine Unit home
screens.
Each index contains:

the titles of the learning packs used in that part of the Toolbox

their file names, these begins with a serial number from
2001_329_001 through to 2002_329_053 (note: there is
intentionally no learning pack for number 2001_329_047)

a list of the Units and Tasks each learning pack is linked from.
Technical Manual, Human Resources Diploma Toolbox (v1.1)
 Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) 2003
Page 7 of 9
Known issues
The following are known technical issues that users may experience when
using the HR Diploma Toolbox.

The sound player in the Toolbox is built in Flash MX. If you can see
the play bar but it does not move when pressing the play button, you
may have an early build of the Flash 6 player.
If this happens, delete the flash.ocx file from your computer(use the
search facility on your C drive to find and delete this file). Before
deleting, all browsers must be closed. After deleting, the file flash
will automatically install when you open the unit home pages via the
Internet. Click 'Yes' when asked if you want to install Macromedia
Flash Player.
If you can’t see the play bar at all or if it is just a grey bar, you will
need to install or update the Flash player.
Note: the STAR logo on the Unit home screens should animate with
a fade in and out. If it appears but doesn't animate, that means you
have an early build of Flash 6, and you should update it.

Star Intranet window is a popunder instead of popup in Netscape 7
on a Mac. This means it sits under the main window rather than on
top.

When printing pages from Internet Explorer 5 or 5.5 sometimes the
page won’t print beyond what’s visible on the screen. We
recommend updating to a more recent browser.

When opening a Word document in some Netscape browsers, a
blank browser window also opens.

If an audio page does not play in Netscape 7, refresh the page. You
may have to do this twice.

Windows computers have settings which allow Microsoft Word
documents to be either opened in the browser rather than in
Microsoft Word or another word processor. If your computer does
this you can change the settings by opening Windows Explorer (not
Internet Explorer), click Tools, select Folder Options, then the File
Types tab. Scroll down to Microsoft Word Document. Highlight it
and see the details for ‘DOC’ extension panel at the bottom. It
should say opens with Microsoft Word for Windows (or your
preferred text editor). If it doesn’t click the Change button and
choose the application you want it to open in.

In Netscape 4.7 the Feedback button in the review quizzes will not
tell the user whether their answer was correct or incorrect, it will
show the user both the correct and incorrect feedback. We
recommend updating to a more recent browser.

In Netscape 4.7 the STAR Intranet sometimes has no vertical
scrollbar. If you are using a PC, maximize the browser window, if
Technical Manual, Human Resources Diploma Toolbox (v1.1)
 Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) 2003
Page 8 of 9
using a Mac resize the window. We recommend updating to a more
recent browser.

Double vertical scrollbars appear in Netscape 6.2 and 7. This
browser configuration also makes the up and down keyboard arrows
unusable for scrolling, although the mouse still works.

After opening the text version of a Match-it or Make-it activity on
Internet Explorer on a Mac, and then returning to the activity the
vertical scroll bar disappears. Refresh the page and it will reappear.
Release notes for version 1.1
Version 1.1 was released in July 2004 with the following issues addressed:

Links from task screens in all units (bsbhr501a_task1.htm etc) to
certain learning packs annotated to contain specific information for
the learner on how that learning pack is relevant to the task. Mainly
affects learning packs that deal with broad underpinning knowledge:
Apply legislation to HR processes; Develop and document HR
processes; Evaluate and improve HR processes and tools;
Implement the project; Link HR planning to organisational goals;
Outsource HR services; Plan the project; Train and support staff
who implement HR processes.

Errors fixed in textNav.htm for BSBHR502A, BSBHR504A,
BSBHR505A, BSBHR507A, BSBHR508A

Error fixed in link text to learning pack in bsbhr503a_task7.htm.

Link to Ready Set Go website updated in Teacher Guide and in all
Getting ready screens (bsbhr501a_ready.htm etc).

Links to various websites updated in bsbhr505a_ready.htm;
bsbhr505a_t4_pop11.htm; bsbhr506a_ready.htm;
2002_329_002_03.htm.

Broken links due to case sensitivity of some servers fixed.

Broken links to Thiagi website in Teacher Guide fixed.

Bug fixed that caused the browser to crash if the user followed a
certain pathway to enter the Documents or Message Centre sections
on the STAR Intranet.

Information in credits.htm updated.

Links to Word versions of Teacher and Technical guides corrected
in teachg_screen.htm and technicalman_screen.htm.
Technical Manual, Human Resources Diploma Toolbox (v1.1)
 Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) 2003
Page 9 of 9