Shifts

Set the school's shifts: when the day starts and late and absent begin and the day closes, and whether guardians are told.

What it is for

Attendance is recorded for a class only if it has a shift that day. Here you set, for each school and for its stage or particular grades, the days a shift runs and when it starts, after how many minutes a pupil counts as late or absent, when the day closes by itself, and whether guardians are told.

Who uses it

The page opens for whoever holds “View shifts”, to look only, or “Manage Pupil affairs settings: shifts, message wordings and reason lists”, to work in it. In the built-in roles: Owner, Manager, Team member, Principal. They are granted to any role under Settings → Roles and permissions.

Step by step

1. Press “Add a shift”; the form is four steps: place and name, then times, then the rule, then a review in words before you save; “Next” says what is missing if something is, and nothing is saved before the review. When you change a shift every section is open and you can save from any of them. In the first, pick one school or more (a shift is made for each, with the same times, all together or none, and each is changed on its own afterwards), then from the tree of stages and grades pick “All stages”, a whole stage, or particular grades of one. A shift covers one stage or every stage; for two stages, add a shift for each.
2. On the first shift you add, the form suggests a time for the automatic close (an estimate of the shift's end: change it) and, if a messaging channel is connected, proposes turning the absence notice on, so the first close sends its notices. The “Default status” in the rule section is what used to be asked here: “Present” (what “on the register” was) or “Absent” (what “at the gate” was), and it is the same on every shift.
3. Type the shift's name and when it starts, after how many minutes from the start an arrival is late and after how many it is absent (a pupil who scans their card at the gate after that is recorded absent, their minutes late kept), and pick the days it runs and how long it is in force.
4. If you want the day to close by itself, set the automatic close time; every pupil nobody marked is then given the “Default status” you chose. The automatic close starts the day after the shift is saved; earlier days are closed by hand.
5. Turn on “Arrival notice after an absence notice” if a guardian should learn their child arrived after being told of the absence.
6. In the card “Telling guardians when a day is closed” turn on, for each shift, the notice of absence or of lateness, and set the least minutes after which a late pupil's guardian is told.
7. To stop a shift press the bin icon; it is not deleted but moved to the deleted tab, and can be brought back from there.

How it works

For each school and stage only one shift is in force on any day for any grade: two shifts that meet in days, dates and grades are not allowed, and the save is refused rather than letting attendance get mixed up. When several fit a grade, a stage's shift is chosen before the whole school's, a shift for particular grades before a whole stage's, then the earliest start. The automatic close waits for the gate tablet: if a tablet at the school sent a full batch of scans (500) less than thirty minutes ago, or is sending one now (say, a tablet that lost its connection and came back with a queue), that school's close is put off to the next run, so a pupil whose scan has not arrived yet is not recorded absent and no false absence notice goes to the guardian. The automatic close and the notices happen in the school's name without anyone pressing a button, so only someone holding the key for closing attendance and the key for sending notices at that school can set them. A notice goes only to the guardians recorded to receive messages, and never states the reason of any excuse.

On the page

• Pick a school, a stage or a grade to narrow the list (a grade fills in its stage). As your role's scope allows.
• The shifts: the name and days, the school, stage and grades, the start, the limits for late and absent, the closing time and how long it is in force.
• The notice rules: for each shift, and for the whole group, the notice of absence and the notice of lateness, with the least minutes late.
• “Add a shift” opens a form for a new shift in four steps, the last a review in words, and you can pick more than one school at once.

Questions

Why was the shift refused for clashing?

Because another shift of the same school and stage has days, dates and grades that meet this one's. Change the days, dates or grades, or deactivate the other shift first.

Why can't I set the automatic close time?

It needs the key for closing attendance at the school; ask the manager of the group for it.

Why don't I see every shift of the school, or why can't I change a shift?

Because your role is given to a stage, a grade or a class: you see your school's shifts that cover your place, and you add and change only a shift that lies wholly inside it. A shift for every stage is view only, and no shift is added for one class because a shift covers a grade at least. Ask the manager of the group for a role over the school if you need more.

Why is no attendance recorded for a class?

Because no shift covers its grade that day: add a shift for its stage or grade, and check the day is one the shift runs and that it is in force.

How do I delete a record in “Deleted” permanently?

From the “Deleted” tab: “Delete permanently” on the record, or “Delete all permanently” above the tab after typing the count, which takes every deleted record of the kind in all of {{customer.the}}, whatever the page's filter shows. It takes the “Permanent delete” permission, the owner's, and a fresh code from the authenticator app each time. A record other records still point to stays, and what holds it is named. A person's record has its personal data erased that night, and a row with no name stays in the records. The backups keep a copy for a few weeks, then it is gone.