Automated Report Card Module Training Guide

Automated Report Card Module Training Guide

Thank you for choosing the Alert Solutions Report Card Module for PowerSchool! We are confident this module will help your school reduce paper, ink and mailing expenses by emailing documents to student families directly from within PowerSchool. The following is a step-by-step tutorial that will guide you through the Automated Report Card feature. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us at (877) 424-2987 or by email at Support@alertsolutions.com. 1. To get started, begin by logging into PowerSchool and click on System Reports or ReportWorks depending on the type of report you wish to use. The following walks you through the report setup using a PS default sample report. a. Now click on the Setup tab. b. Next, click on Report Cards to see the list of sample templates. c. We will be using Sample HS Report Card for example purposes. Click on Sample HS Report Card. Page 2 of 10

2. The screen shown below will appear. You will see the template setup. Notice the StudentID: Student_Number must be on the template. Below it is shown in the Heading. If needed, Heading could be edited to include this information. To do so, follow these steps: a. Click Heading. Add the coding needed to have StudentID: Student_Number merged onto the first page of each result file. StudentID must be all one word, all together and is case-sensitive. Be sure to follow this with a colon (:). If you do not want the StudentID:Student_Number visible to parents, use white font when adding it to the template. The format may be similar to one of the following and it is recommended that it be added to the templates header (although not required): i. <studentid>studentid:^(student_number)</studentid> ii. StudentID: ~(Student_Number) iii. StudentID: ^(Student_Number) iv. StudentID:@ID. Student_Number@ Page 3 of 10

3. Now, run the report for the student(s) desired. If you are not familiar with running PowerSchool reports, I recommend scheduling a training class at http://www.alertsolutions.com/training for additional assistance. Reports may be run for individual students, groups of students, the entire school or grade. Note: Some users like to practice this process by choosing a staff members child or using a test student. To practice, you may wish to update a student s information to your contact information temporarily. If you do not have the option to Print a Report, please contact your technical team to receive the correct PowerSchool security permissions. 4. From the Report Queue Job Detail screen shown below, once the Report Job is shown as complete (refresh as needed), click on the appropriate Job Name, example Sample HS Report Card a. Click on the Result File, Sample_-_HS_Report_Card.pdf. You may right click to save or mouse over the page (in certain browsers) to save the PDF to your computer. You will need to retrieve this file soon, so save it in a folder that is easy to locate again. Page 4 of 10

b. Once saved, click the back button in your browser to return to PowerSchool if needed. 5. Once back in PowerSchool, go to Alert Solutions. From the drop-down menu in Alert Solutions, select Automated Reports. Page 5 of 10

6. Once on the Automated Reports Page, complete the following: a. The Report Name is the internal tracking name that will show at the top of this page once sent. b. Click Choose File and Upload the PDF file just downloaded. c. Enter a Unique Email Subject Line for the message. We suggest using $$FirstName$$ and/or $$LastName$$ in the subject for parents of multiple children. d. The From Email Address should be a school email address you wish parents to see the report coming from when delivered to their inbox. Shown as an example is: person@yourschool.org e. Enter your address to receive a Confirmation Email. This allows you to review a sample of the PDFattached as parents will see it. f. The PDF password can be anything of your choice including a word typed in or a merge field. By default, $$StudentID$$, which is linked to the Student_Number field, may be used. If you would like to use another PowerSchool field, please let us know so we may customize your field mapping. Common merge fields used by others include $$DOB$$ or $$LastName$$$$GraduationYear$$. If using any merge field other than $$StudentID$$, be sure to check with Alert Solutions regarding necessary configuration changes that may be needed. g. Enter a PowerSchool login for the reports. If using your own PS login (username;password ) to run the automated report process, you will be signed out of PowerSchool. Many schools prefer to set up a generic login defaulting to the district office that is used by all buildings to run the automated report process. The login used must have permission to read student data. h. If desired, insert a template into the message editor. These are pulled directly from your template library and should be created first if planning to use. You may also type the body of the email in directly here. The email must have something in the body field. i. Select the email address(es) of the parent(s) desired to receive the email. j. Lastly, click Process Report. Page 6 of 10

7. After clicking Process Report, you will see a notice as shown below. You will also be receiving the email confirmation momentarily. This process may take several minutes depending on the number of students contained in the report file. The email sample will include a sample PDF that is not password protected. The email will also display the total number of students being contacted. If the sample is correct and you wish to send the report, go back to Alert Solutions. Click the Status box confirming the PDF is in the correct format then click Confirm Send. If the report shows a status of Preparing for a prolonged time then it is most likely caused by a typo in the PowerSchool login used to run the service. Please try again, and if desired, contact support to confirm. Page 7 of 10

8. The status will change to Sending Report once Confirm Send has been clicked. After refreshing, the status will change to Report Sent once all emails have been processed. Depending on the number of students, this could be immediate or may take up to several minutes. If practicing with sending to yourself, check your email and you should have the actual report card that is password protected. Page 8 of 10

9. As mentioned, the file is password protected. In this instance, I have chosen to use $$StudentID$$ as the password. For this example, the password is 1031 which is also the student s Student_Number. The final report will appear as follows: The Automated Report Card module can be used for much more than just report cards! This application can be used to send virtually any PDF the school or district can merge in StudentID: Student_Number. The reports do not have to come from PowerSchool. Page 9 of 10

FAQ: My report has been in status preparing for over 1 hour. Why is that? This is most likely caused by a typo in the credentials. Please resubmit your report and very carefully enter the email username;password to run the report. Email support@alertsolutions.com to confirm and have the one in preparing deleted. Please provide the building name and full report name with your correspondence. My report shows only a few students with valid contact information or none at all. Why is that? This can be due to a couple things. First, look at the PowerSchool email field(s) that you have the option to send to (page 6) and confirm that students have valid contact information in those fields. Secondly, the login used to run the service must have access to all the students contained on the report. Be sure to use a login that defaults to the district if running a report for children in multiple buildings. My report failed with inability to process the query, page not found. Why is that? This is most likely due to submission from an internal IP address. Since our system is outside your network, be sure to submit all automated services from your external PowerSchool address. Page 10 of 10