This part of the application enables you to read and manage the replies from family contacts about student absences. These responses can be by SMS, Email or telephone and voicemail.

This function is only available to SIMS users.

Opening The Attendance Response Screens:

• Log in to Schoolcomms.
• Click on the Attendance response bar on the left hand toolbar. The Process responses screen is displayed.
• You will see the list of responses received during the course of the previous week.
• To view responses over a different date range, use the drop down calendars to change the selection.
• Each response has an icon to identify whether it is an SMS, Email or logged telephone message.
  
  
  
  

Processing Attendance Responses:

• Click on Attendance response, Process attendance responses.
• Responses can be processed individually or in batches. In order to do this, select the message you would like to process or select a number of messages using the ctrl and shift keys. To select all the messages in the list, click on the Select all button. This will select all the messages within the chosen date range that have not yet been processed.
• When you have made your selection, click on Process response(s).
• The Process attendance explanation screen will open showing the oldest message from the selected list.
  
  
  
  
• The top box shows the suggested sender and their address/mobile number. If more than one person is linked to the school with the same contact details then it will show the names of all the possible senders.
• The names of the possible students are displayed as well. Choose the student from the drop down list using the text of the reply and of the original outgoing message to guide your choice.
  
  
  
  
• The date range shows the past week by default. If the parent’s response relates to an absence in a different period, change the date range as necessary by overtyping or using the drop down calendars.
• Click on Show tracked absences.
• Highlight the absence period which the explanation relates to.
  
  
  
  
• Click on Explain selected absence.
• You can record whether the parent was aware of the absence before notification by ticking the check box.
• Select the start and the end of the absence period that the message explains, using the drop down calendar and the radio buttons.
• Type in or use the drop down list to select the absence reason.
  
  
  
  
• When you are happy with your choices, click Write mark.
• If you wish to start again, click Cancel.
• When you click Write mark, the mark will be written to SIMS Attendance for the sessions covered by the period chosen.
• Marks can only be written to SIMS by Schoolcomms if they are currently an ‘N’ or ‘-‘. If an explanation has already been entered then it can only be amended through SIMS.
• If the explanation refers to a future absence, click on the Explain future absences button.
• Select the period of proposed absence and select the mark.
• Click Write mark when you are ready or Cancel to go back to the Process attendance explanations screen.
• If you have finished processing the message, tick the ‘I have finished with this message’ box. This will move the message from the list of current messages to the history screen. This can be reverted later if necessary.
• If you have more messages to process, click on Next message. If you want to finish or process the rest later, click on Close.

Logging a telephone or voicemail call:

• Click Log call.
• The Add attendance response box will open.
• Start typing the student’s name (forename then surname) and you will be able to easily select the correct student from the displayed list.
• Alternatively scroll down the drop down list to find the student that you need.
  
  
  
  
• Select the caller from the drop down list. This shows all contacts for that student in SIMS. Alternatively you can overwrite with another name.
• Today’s date and time are shown by default. If you wish to change it use the drop down calendar or enter your own choice.
• Type the message into the Description box.
• By default the date range shown for absences is for this week. If the call relates to a different range of absence, select the appropriate date range using the drop down calendars.
• Click Show tracked absences. You will be prompted to save or edit the message. When you are happy with your message, click Yes.
• At this stage you can Close and the message will appear in the list of messages waiting to be processed, or you can continue and process the explanation.
• The unexplained absences for that student in the date range are displayed in the box.
  
  
  
  
• Select the absence range that the call applies to.
• Click Explain selected absence.
  
  
  
  
• The Add attendance explanation box will open. You can see your description.
• If you wish to log whether the parent was aware of the absence, use the check box.
• Select the relevant absence session start and end using the drop down calendars and the radio buttons for AM and PM.
• Select the reason for absence using the drop down list or by entering the relevant letter.
• Click Write mark. The reason for absence will be written back to SIMS Attendance and the description will be shown in the comment box in SIMS.
• If the explanation applies to a future absence click on the Explain future absence button. Select the date range for the explanation and the reason as above. Click Write mark as above.
• When you have finished with the message, tick the ‘I have finished with this message’ check box. This will move the message to the history. This can be reversed later if necessary.
• Click Log another call to move straight on to another telephone or voicemail message, or Close to finish.

NB. You can only write a mark back to SIMS Attendance using Schoolcomms if the existing mark is either an N for unexplained absence or a – for no mark entered. If any other mark has been entered in SIMS, then you will need to make any alterations through SIMS.

Any logged messages will be shown in the Attendance response screen until you have marked them as processed or ‘finished’. They are then moved to the history.

Flagging a response message as Not Attendance:

You may receive messages which are not related to attendance, or not ONLY related to attendance. All received messages that have not been processed can be seen at Messaging, Received messages. Only messages flagged as Attendance can be seen on the Process attendance response screen. Schoolcomms flags a reply as attendance if they are from a contact that has been sent an attendance message in the last three days.

• To change a message from Attendance to Not Attendance, select the message from the list and click on the Not Attendance button.
• The message will be removed from the Process attendance responses screen.

Deleting a response message:

• Select the message(s) that you wish to delete.
• Click on Delete.
• Once a message has been deleted it cannot be retrieved.

Flagging a response message as processed:

• When a message is flagged as Processed, it is removed from the Process attendance responses screen and appears in the Attendance response history.
• When you tick the ‘I have finished with this message’ check box on the process message screen it will be moved to the history.
• Alternatively you can select a message from the list and click on Already processed. This will move it to the history.

Viewing Attendance Response History:

• Click on Attendance response and then Attendance response history bar on the left hand side.
  
  
  
  
• Set the date range as required. By default it shows the last week.
• Click Show.
• To flag a message as not processed, select the message(s), and click Reopen. The message(s) will be returned to the Process attendance responses screen.
• To review a processed message, select it and click Explained absences.
  
  
  
  
• The screen shows the entries that were written to SIMS Attendance when this response was processed the date and the username of the operator.