SIS 2000+ Attendance

Section 3, Phone Log Entry

This Attendance entry interface is specifically designed to record, in real time, absences reported via phone call from a parent, guardian, or contact of a student if a student will not be coming to school for the whole day or a range of whole days. Phone Log Entry does not work for partial-day absences. An administrator can enter the appropriate attendance codes directly into the system for that student as the call comes in.

An entry form is provided for each incoming call. Once the name of the student being reported is retrieved, fields are provided in the form to record the name of the person calling to report the absence(es), the relationship of the caller to the student, the date(s) of the absence, the attendance code to be used, and a note field for anecdotal remarks. The date and time of the call is automatically recorded according to the SIS 2000+ System Date and Time. A log of all incoming calls is stored for querying, viewing, editing, or deleting.

The advantage of this application is that it provides a convenient method for bulk assigning attendance codes to a range of dates for a selected student when it is known in advance that the student will be absent for an extended period. It should be noted, however, that the attendance code entered is applied to all scheduled periods in the date range selected; bulk assignments for specified periods are not allowed. Existing attendance codes for a student will be overwritten in the date range selected. All codes entered in this application will automatically appear in the other Attendance entry interfaces, such as Class Entry and Student History.

3.1 Open Phone Log
From the Attendance Menu, click on the Phone Log icon button. (If this application is used regularly, it will normally be left open by the attendance clerk in charge of receiving phone calls).

Fig. 1 - This screen will normally be left open by the attendance clerk during the day

Screen Layout:
The main screen (Fig. 1) displays Phone Log Query criteria fields in the lower half. These fields are not used to log in a call but rather for retrieving records of previous calls (See Step 3.3-3.3.3).
 

3.2 Add a Phone Log Entry

3.2.1 Initiate

When a call comes in, click on the Add command button to open the 'Add Phone Log' form (Fig. 2). When Adding, if there is a student selected in the Student field on the main screen, that student will be set in the 'Add Phone Log' form.


Fig. 2 - blank form in the read-only mode
 

Note:
When Adding, if there is a student selected in the Student field on the main screen, that student will be set in the 'Add Phone Log' form.  See Step 3.3.2. for instructions on how to select a single student from the main screen.
 
3.2.2 Find the Student

Click on the Find command button to open the standard 'Find Student' form (Fig. 3). Enter search strings, such as Last Name and First Name, to locate the target student record. Click on the List command button to begin the search (or Enter on the keyboard). (See Student Banner, The Find Command for more details on how to utilize the 'Find Student' form.)


Fig. 3

A successful search will retrieve the student's record and display it in the upper half of the 'Add Phone Log' form (Fig. 4) and at the same time activate the entry/edit mode of the form, indicated when the gray fields turn to white.


Fig. 4 - retrieved student record, ready for data entry

3.2.3 Enter Attendance Data
Use the Tab key to move from field to field. Enter data as follows:


Fig. 45 - sample Attendance data, entry mode
 

• Contacts -

Click on the Contacts command button to open a list of the student's contacts (as defined in the Student Editor) (Fig. 6). If the caller's name is included in the list of contacts, double click on the entry (or highlight the entry and click on the Select button). This action will cause the contact's name to be copied to the Talked To field and the contact's relationship to the student to be copied to the Relation field. If the caller is not on the contact list or there are no contacts at all, fill in the Talked To and Relation fields manually (see below).


Fig. 6 - Contacts list
 

• Talked to -

Enter the name of caller.
• Relation -

Select the relationship between the student and the caller. Choices available from the drop-down list have been pre-defined during the configuration of SIS 2000+.
• Date Range -

Enter a beginning date and end date (To) for the days the student will be absent by selecting dates in the drop-down calendars activated by the field buttons. The beginning date will default to Today's date.
• Single Day -


Fig. 7

Put a check in this field if the absence to be reported is for one day only. When this option is "On" the end date (To) field in the Date Range will be disabled (Fig. 7). The date selected in the beginning date field will represent the single day the student will be absent (defaulting to Today's date).
 

• Attendance Code -

Enter the appropriate attendance code. Remember that this code will be assigned to all periods of all days in the Date Range, overriding any existing attendance codes.
• Remarks -

A field for anecdotal comments.
• Call Time -

The current date and time is displayed. This is the date that will be used for in the Phone Log when this call is saved. This field can be edited now or later.
• Last Changed By -

A read-only field. Displays the user name of the person who made the last changes to this record.
• At -

A read-only field. Displays the date and time the last changes were made to this record.
 
3.2.4 Save the phone log entry
Click on the Save command button to save the phone log entry (or Undo to cancel).
 

Writing records vs. updating records:  Attendance records will be "written" if they represent the first time attendance has been taken for the selected day/period. Attendance records will be "updated" if there are any existing attendance codes entered in the selected day/period (not counting the default place holder attendance codes of all "Present" for negative attendance tracks or all "Absent" for positive attendance tracks; set up during the configuration of SIS 2000+).

If any attendance records are being updated by this action, a warning message will appear when the save is executed (Fig. 8). This is to remind the user what existing attendance codes will be changed by the phone log entry. Click on the Proceed command button to continue the save or Quit to cancel the save.


Fig. 8

If "Proceed", a confirmation message will appear displaying the number of attendance records that were updated and/or written by this action (Fig. 9). Either value represents the sum of the scheduled periods affected in the date range.


Fig. 9

If there were no attendance records updated by a phone log entry, there will be no warning message but rather a confirmation message only (Fig. 10), displaying a value for the number of records written (a zero will be displayed in the updated field).


Fig. 10

3.2.5 Repeat
Do not close the application if you are expecting more calls. Repeat Steps 3.2.1 - 3.2.4 for the next call that comes in.
 

Checks:  When a record is Saved after being Added or Edited, the following checks are made:  If the student has no classes scheduled for the date range, the save will not complete. If the student has no classes on either the beginning or ending date, the user is asked if the dates should be changed to the next date on which the student does have classes. If Adding, or if Editing and either the date range or the attendance code is changed, any existing attendance codes are displayed and the user is asked to confirm changing them. If editing and the date range is decreased, and attendance codes exist for the days no longer covered, the user is told that it may be necessary to change the attendance codes by hand.

Fig. 11
 

3.3.1. Select a date range to query
Enter a beginning date and end (To) date for the call dates to query by selecting dates in the drop-down calendars activated by the field buttons. The beginning date will default to Today's date. This date range refers to when the call was made (based on the Call Time field) and should not be confused with the date ranges defined in the call records, which refer to the days the student will be absent.

3.3.2 Select Student(s)
The default selection in the Student field is "** All Students **". With the default option selected, all students' phone log records will be retrieved for the selected date range. To select an individual student to query, click on the Find Student command button. Use the 'Find Student' form to select the target student (See Step 3.2.2). After a successful search, the view will revert to the main screen displaying student's name in the Student field.

3.3.3 Run a query
Click on the Query command button (or Reset to return to the default criteria). A list of call records will be displayed in chronological order according to the parameters defined in the previous steps (Fig. 12).


Fig. 12

3.3.4 View or Edit a phone log entry
Select an record to view or edit by clicking on the entry line in the log until it is highlighted by a small pointer arrow on the left (Fig. 13). Then click on the Edit command button to open the 'Edit Phone Log' form for that record (Fig. 14).


Fig. 13


Fig. 14 - edit mode

When viewing only, click the Done command button to exit the form (if no changes were made). To edit, use the Tab key to move from field to field. Click on the Save command button to save any changes that were made or Undo to close the form without saving changes.

If the attendance code is changed in the edit mode a warning message will appear when the save is executed (Fig. 15). This is to remind the user what existing attendance codes will be changed by the edit/save. Click on the Proceed command button to continue the save or Quit to abort the save.


Fig. 15

If "Proceed", a confirmation message will appear displaying the number of attendance codes updated by the edit/save (Fig. 16). The value is derived by multiplying the number of days in the date range by the number of scheduled periods for those days. ("# Attendance records written" is not applicable in this procedure, therefore always zero). Click on "OK" to close the message and return to the main screen.


Fig. 16

3.3.5 Delete a Phone Log Entry
 

Important:  A phone log entry can be deleted from the list but the deletion will not reverse or change the attendance codes that were originally entered in the process of the phone log.

Select a record to delete by clicking on the entry line until it is highlighted by a small pointer arrow on the left (Fig. 13). Click on the Delete command button to begin the delete. In the message box that appears (Fig. 17), answer "Yes" to confirm the delete or "No" to abort.


Fig. 17

If "Yes", another message will appear displaying the day(s) and scheduled periods that were affected by the phone log entry (Fig. 18).


Fig. 18

This message is to remind the user that the deletion about to take place will not reverse or change the specified attendance codes existing in the database. If the codes need to be changed they will have to be overwritten by initiating another phone log entry for this student or by editing the student's attendance records using the various other applications in the Attendance program module.

Click on the Proceed command button to complete the deletion, or Quit to cancel without deleting. If "Proceed" the view will revert to the log list. The deleted entry will have been removed from the list.