How to Setup an Automated Attendance Alert

Transcription

1 Need Assistance? Phone: (877) Web: PowerSchool.AlertSolutions.com How to Setup an Automated Attendance Alert Please note: The default attendance query is set to contact students with a value of A based on daily attendance. The tardy attendance query is defaulted to look for the T value. If you need to change these defaults to different values (U, UA, etc.) or to only look at a specific period(s) attendance, please contact Support to adjust the default query prior to setting up the Automated Alert. How to setup an automated attendance message 1. Click on the Power Announcement link either located on the left navigation menu or in the special functions menu 2. Once in Power Announcement, mouse over the menu to display a drop-down menu and select Automated Alerts 3. Once the Automated Alerts screen loads, click the Broadcast button to the right of create new. Power Announcement Automated Messaging Broadcast 1. List Name: This is what you are going to call the Attendance order. The recommendation for this would be the following: Daily Attendance School Name. By using this naming structure it will make it easier to view the reports. 2. Choose a List: This drop down contains pre-created queries that the Technical Support department has made for your school. You will see at least three important ones as you click on the drop down. These are Absent Students, Tardy Students and Low Lunch Balance. By choosing one of these it will give you the ability to now use a pre-generated Attendance announcement. Note that if Alert Solutions creates a special attendance query for you, this will show up in the drop down box as well. 3. PowerSchool Login: This is the admin portal login the automated service will use to run the process each day. An example of this login would be ASadmin;password The login must default to the school building you are setting up the automated alert for to ensure only that building s students families are contacted. For example, the high school attendance alert should use a login that defaults to the high school in PowerSchool while an elementary attendance alert would use a login that defaults to the elementary school. Please note that if this username or password changes, you will need to update any automated processes created using the login. Many districts set up new logins specifically to use for the automated service so secretaries and other staff members do not get logged out of PS each time the automated process runs. If using a staff member s login they will be logged out of PS each day at the time the service is set to run. 4. Broadcast days: These check boxes are here to represent the days of the week. Select each day you would like to run this alert.

2 5. Run this on days when School is not in session? This is asking if you would like to run the attendance alert on non-school days. It is unlikely this is desired for attendance but you would check this box if you plan to send lunch alerts during breaks or over the weekend. 6. Broadcast Time: This is the time you would like to schedule the automated alert to be sent out. 7. Time zone: This dropdown box allows you to choose the time zone your school is located in so the automated alert time will run per your time zone. 8. Message Types: In this section you will see three tabs; each tab represents the message types that could be used for your automated alerts. Each of these tabs has a check box in it. Check off each message type you would like to use for your alert. You can potentially send all three types of messages voice, and text/sms. 9. Voice Tab: With the Voice tab checked off you will see in the shaded Blue box a few different text boxes. a. Voice Field Names: These are the fields that you can use to select which contact method is going to receive the phone call. These fields are called Phone1, Phone2, Phone3, etc. Please check with the and do not need changed. If you wish to limit the fields dialed, you may delete those that are undesired. b. Caller ID #: This is the 10 digit number that you want to use for the calls going out. This is the number that will show up on the recipient s phone. This must be 10 digits, no dashes, parentheses, slashes, spaces or special characters. For example the number should look like this: c. Message Body: This is the area you would type in your text-to-speech attendance call. Using textto- speech, this section allows you to be able to pull additional information from Power School to personalize the message being sent out. On a standard install you have access to the students first and last name as well as the date of the missed class. To personalize the text-to-speech message with the student s name you would type the following: #FirstName# or #LastName# or both to do first and last name. We also recommend using #Date# to date stamp the date of the absence. The #Balance# may also be used for lunch alerts. d. Use this body for all message types, has a check box next to it. This allows you to send the same

3 10. Tab: With the tab checked off you will see in the shaded Blue box a few different text boxes. a. Field Names: These are the fields that you can use to select which contact method is going to receive the . These fields are called 1, 2, 3, etc. Please check with the and do not need changed. If you wish to limit the fields ed, you may delete those that are undesired. b. From This is the address that you want to show up on the recipient s inbox to show who the is coming from. This needs to be in valid format. For example, attendance@schoolname.edu. c. Subject: This is what the subject line in your message will be. Typically schools would use Attendance Alert or Unexcused Absence. This will be the subject of the being sent. Merge fields can be used in the subject line too. For example, $$FirstName$$ $$LastName$$ Attendance $$Date$$ d. Message Body: This is the area you would type in your text for the . This section allows you to be able to pull additional information from Power School to personalize the message being sent out. On a standard install you have access to the student s first and last name and date. To personalize the message with the student s name you would type the following: $$FirstName$$ or $$LastName$$ or both to do first and last name. To enter the date, type $$Date$$. The $$Balance$$ may also be used for lunch alerts. Line breaks may be entered with. e. Use this body for all message types, has a check box next to it. This allows you to send the same 11. SMS Tab: With the SMS tab checked off you will see in the shaded Blue box a few different text boxes. a. SMS Field Names: These are the fields that you can use to select which contact method is going to receive the SMS message. These fields are called SMS1, SMS2, SMS3, etc. Please check with the and do not need changed. If you wish to limit the fields sent a text message, you may delete those that are undesired. Note: Parents must be opted-in to receive non-emergency text messages. b. Message Body: This is the area you would type in your text for the SMS message. Using text SMS messages, this section allows you to be able to pull additional information from Power School to personalize the message being sent out. Power School to personalize the message being sent out.

4 On a standard install you have access to the student s first name, last name and date. To personalize the message with the student s name you would type the following: [#FirstName 15#] or [#LastName 15#] or both to do first and last name. To enter the date, type [#Date 12#]. The [#Balance 10#] may also be used for lunch alerts. c. Please note that the number you are seeing in these fields is the maximum number of characters you would like to allow for that field. A single SMS message is limited to 160 characters. If this number is exceeded then multiple text messages will be sent. d. Use this body for all message types, has a check box next to it. This allows you to send the same 12. Automated Report Notifications: By checking these off, it will allow the system to a summary or in the event of an error. If any one of these is checked off, add an to the Send these to: text box. We recommend receiving both an error alert if there is a problem and a daily summary for automated alerts. For example, if a password has been reset but not updated for the automated service, you may wish to be alerted to the need to update the automated backup service. Many school staff appreciate the summary each day by , however full reporting is always available by clicking Reporting from the main menu. 13. Click save to Store 14. Click Back to Restart 15. Validate path is there for you in case you need to create a custom query and add this to a web server. It will allow you to validate that our automated system has access to the query file desired. For more information on custom queries, please contact support.

5 Sample Attendance Alerts: Call: Hello, This is a message from Sample High School. Your student, #FirstName# #LastName#, was absent from class today, #Date#. Please send a note with your student upon return or call the school office at with any questions regarding this absence. You may also press pound to reach the office now or press star to repeat this message. Thank you. Note: The phone number is spaced out so that it is read slowly and as a single digit at one time. Hello, This is a message from Sample High School. Your student, $$FirstName$$ $$LastName$$ was absent from class today, $$Date$$. Please send a note with your student upon return or call the school office at with any questions regarding this absence. Thank you. Text/SMS: [#FirstName 10#] [#LastName 10#] was absent from class today at SHS. Please send a note upon return or call the school office at with any questions. Thank you. Sample Lunch Alerts: Call: Hello, This is a message from Sample High School. Your student, #FirstName# #LastName#, has a low lunch balance amount of #Balance#. Please send payment with your student as soon as possible or call the school office at with any questions regarding your student s balance. You may also press pound to reach the office now or press star to repeat this message. Thank you. Note: The phone number is spaced out so that it is read slowly and as a single digit at one time. Hello, This is a message from Sample High School. Your student, $$FirstName$$ $$LastName$$ has a low lunch balance amount of $$Balance$$. Please send payment with your student as soon as possible or call the school office at with any questions regarding your students balance. Thank you. Text/SMS: [#FirstName 10#] [#LastName 10#] has a lunch balance of [#Balance 8#] at SHS. Please send payment as soon as possible. Call the school office at with any questions.