Have you ever needed to add a one-time fee to a particular group of students? You can automatically add this fee to the group without adding the fee to records one at a time.
Adding transactions to a group is similar to adding a charge, and then copying it to the other records in a query. The key is grouping the records together using a field they have in common, such as grade level. For example, if all 5th graders will be going on a field trip and need to have a field trip fee added to their records, you can create a query using the criteria: Current Grade equals 5 to group the records. You can also add attributes to records for grouping purposes.
After you have your query, you can open the first record in the query, add a charge on the Activity tab, and save the transaction. After the charge is saved, select Transaction from the menu bar of the charge, and choose Add this Charge to a Group of Records. Select the query and check the box to ‘Skip the current record if they are included in the query.’ Select the desired options below and make sure to select ‘Preview Records Before Charges are Added.’ Then click Add Charges Now. This will pull up a preview, and records can be deselected if necessary. Then click ‘Add Charges Now.’
Now that you’ve added all the transactions at once, the only thing left is to decide what to do with all of your spare time!
Here's your forum roundup for January:
Last Month's Popular Posts:
Help out your colleagues by answering these posts:
January Forums Drawing Winner!!Congratulations to our January winner, Liz Appleby from Manlius Pebble Hill School, who won a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate! We're running this promotion again in February, so be sure to contribute to the forums to be entered in next month's drawing!
The principal called today and wants you to insert a 10 minute study period in between 2nd and 3rd periods. You're only in the second week of school, so this shouldn't be a big deal. Right? Remember the nursery rhyme
There was an old woman who swallowed a fly?
When setting up a new
Academic Year and
Session, the associated timetable may be changed up until course restrictions are added to course records for that academic year and session. At this point you've just swallowed the fly. Once course restrictions have been added on any course record, the timetable is in use, becomes grayed or locked down, and a different timetable cannot be selected for the session. This would be swallowing the spider, and now the poor fly is sitting inside of two bellies.
Typically, schools will enter course requests, create classes, and begin scheduling class meetings. Here, again, the cat, dog, and goat have been eaten. Once class meetings have been scheduled, no changes should be made to the timetable except to manually edit the start and end times of the existing periods. Once school starts, teachers are busy adding grades (cow) and attendance (horse) for their classes to the system.
Adding a 10 minute study period in between 2nd and 3rd periods after scheduling has occurred or students have just returned may sound as easy as going into the timetable and adding it in but it's not quite that simple. The fly is deep down in several full bellies and you can't skip straight to him without upsetting each of the other animals. In order to add this new period in, you can either modify the existing timetable or create a new timetable and associate it with the Academic Year. Either option requires a significant amount of change to the database. The following setup and data entry must first be removed from the system for the academic year and session:
Once all of this information is gone from the system, the timetable is “free” and you can modify it without error or associate a new timetable with the Academic Year. But then, you still have to replace all that you took out.
So, the moral of the story is don't be the old woman that swallowed the fly! Before copying the scheduling year or generating schedules, make sure your administrators understand how important it is to make a final decision about the upcoming year's timetable ahead of time (and plan to stick with it)!
Note: Blackbaud assumes no responsibility for feelings of wriggling or jiggling caused by product use.
Here is a stack of checks and credit card receipts. Enter then into Student Billing as fast as you can. Go! Is the Payment form slowing you down yet? Are you filling out everything or skipping through unnecessary fields? How many Payment distributions or applications have you had to stop and edit or change? Did you need to add a payer?
Alright Stop! Hammer time. 
During this time of year, there's a lot of data going into the system, so saving a few seconds when entering records can have a big payoff. Here are a few time saving methods that I hope will help you get payments and advance deposits into the system in a less painful way.
1. Update Student and Family records using the Manage Billing groups tool when possible.
This will help you to make a series of changes to several records in one family. You'll find this tool in Administration, Manage billing groups. Just select any record in the Record name field, and you can load all other records associated to it. Then, various changes can be made to each of the loaded records without having to actually search one by one and update them. A good example of this would be loading a student, adding a new payer for that student, and then updating all statement settings, relationships and payer distribution.
2. Use FAST!
This may be the quickest way to get payments into the system. Found right off the navigation bar, FAST! lets you create a custom data entry grid for Charges and Payments. Use only the fields you need, define default values, and enter data spreadsheet-style using just the keyboard. You can create as many templates as you need and records are committed as a batch.
3. Remove non-payer records from the payment search screen
This is one for those of you who enter payments onto Individual (parent) records. Take a look at Configuration, Business rules, Payment. You'll find a checkbox here called Limit Payment From search results to records designated as payers. Marking this will keep the search screen from popping up as often after you key in a last name or payer that has the same name as a student.
4. Add transactions to a group.
This is an oldie but goodie. You can access this feature when you have any charge or credit transaction form open. Select the Transaction menu and choose the option to add this [Charge/Credit] to a group of records. Now you can copy that item to a group of records in any query you have. Don't forget to mark the box to preview. This way, you will get an editable grid where you can change the amounts if they fluctuate. Note that you can't do this for Payments, but you can copy the advance deposit charge items.
5. Use the Advance Deposit record page to enter Advance deposits as Payments.
I'm not going to go into too much detail on this one. You'll find everything you need to know about this here. Anthony wrote a great blog on this last year.
Lastly, let me touch on a few things that will save you headaches down the road. Be sure to:
- Preview generation reports before running any process that adds or changes several records at once. As a bit of saving grace this year, we've added a "Globally delete transactions" tool found in Administration to help you back out these kinds of mistakes before you post them to General Ledger.
- Review and update your Application Restrictions. Save the time involved with manually applying items by creating a restriction. This feature is found in Configuration.
- Set the right rule for your organization to distribute payments. Look in Configuration, Business Rules, General, and review the options for "Distribute payments". This is will help you edit payments less when there are multiple students under one payer.
- Complete your End of year Processing before you start enter next year's data. Here is a great resource for an over view of these tasks. Be prepared.
On January 26, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. ET. we will conduct a Roundtable focusing on specific Education Edge topics:
Our product experts Courtney Grainger and Josh Dukes will cover the following topics, but the floor will be open the entire time for your questions and comments, so we encourage you to discuss anything Education Edge. The topics are:
- The cycle of grades
- Keeping addresses clean, which includes sharing in The Education Edge and through Integration
- Tips and Tricks for Navigating in the software
If there's something you know you want covered or you've lost your session registration information, email us at SupportRoundtables@blackbaud.com. We look forward to seeing you there!
Ever had days where it seems everything is going awry? You’re late for work, the coffee spills in the car, and then you completely forget about that really important meeting where you need to be 100%? I feel like sometimes those kinds of days come out of nowhere; its days like that when I completely relate to the Almond Joy situation, I literally feel like a nut.
I’ve talked to a lot of people having these types of days, especially around this time of year when you are changing the calendar year, entering information for the current fiscal year and getting ready for the upcoming fiscal year in Student Billing. This setup in addition to the normal day-to-day processes can definitely be a lot to handle, and can sometimes be a little frustrating. In particular, I get quite a few questions about advance deposits, especially because you are entering them now, but we want to make sure that they apply to next year’s information. The worst feeling is in July when you generate the credits from advance deposits and they don’t automatically apply to the next year’s tuition charges. Well, we can fix that, but we need to do it now during the setup process that drives us all a little nuts.
You have two options; an Application Restriction, which tells the system that the credits (Advance Deposit and even Financial Aid) can only apply to only certain types of charges, or you can specify the particular billing items individually on each advance deposit. I know, it’s fantastic, just a couple clicks now and July (or whenever you generate the credits) will go as smooth as a warm knife through butter. Here’s how it works:
Option A: You create the Application Restriction that identifies the dates and types of transactions that can be included. You can also identify that the credits generated can be applied to only transactions in the same month (that’s right, so if you schedule out your Advance deposits, you can tell the system to apply the scheduled amount to the scheduled tuition charge in that month). Then you’ll apply the Application Restriction to the Billing Item (this must be done before entering the advance deposits onto the records; otherwise, the restriction has to be added to the advance deposits on the records). Then you’ll generate the advance deposit credits.
Option B: You can select the specific restrictions on the billing items individually. You would open the Advance Deposit billing item, select the Restrictions tab, and in the Use From option, select Specific settings below. At this point, you’ll see the options for Products and Billing Items or Product and Billing Item Attributes. If you filter on the Product and Billing Item, you have to be sure to select the next year’s items to restriction the Advance Deposit to (otherwise, it could still apply to this year’s charges when you generate transactions).
Personally, I like Option A for two reasons: You can use Application Restrictions for Financial Aid Credits and you can use them when entering Payments, so if a parent writes a check that is to be applied strictly to a certain billing item; use Application Restrictions to make that happen.
So the long of the short of it is, you can avoid those crazy-hair brained Almond Joy days by using Application Restrictions. Instead, sit back, kick up your feet, and sink your teeth into a Mounds bar. They are surprisingly delicious.
For the next three weeks, we're holding Support Roundtables each
Wednesday from 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. ET to answer the top questions we've
received from the previous week. Join Charles Soderlund, Senior Product
Support Lead, as he covers those topics, then opens the floor to your
Student Billing questions. Register now for the sessions you can attend!
Our topic list for January 20 includes:
- End of Year Processes such as copying billing items, promotion of students, and adding new payment plans
- Advance Deposit Workflow
- Options when Posting to GL and Reporting
Have a topic you want covered? Email
supportroundtables@blackbaud.com.
We're trying something a little different for our roundtable on January 19...drumroll, please...
Just Kidding. It really isn't at the level of drum roll excitement, but we are
flushing the format. Rather than command your time with tutorials, we starting out with opening up the floor for your questions about anything in The Education Edge. For example, we know you call about Mark for Reenrollment, but what trips you up on this process? We'll also cover your top questions including status wizards, GPAs, and performance categories.
Register for the January 20 roundtable or future weekly wrap-up sessions. If you would like to summit a question before the roundtable, email
supportroundtables@blackbaud.comWe look forward to hearing from you!
The Education Solutions team would like to extend our sympathy to everyone who has been affected by the devastating earthquake in Haiti. It's inspiring to see so many of us look past our own struggles to provide aid to the Haitians. You can also help by making a donation to one of the many organizations supporting relief efforts. Here are a few:
View the growing list of organizations providing support and assistance on our
Haiti Relief page.
It's official. Winter has arrived and a new term has likely started. New class sections will be filled with fresh faces, and grades will be recorded in fresh marking columns!
It is common for teachers to see the incorrect marking columns as being available in their gradebooks when a new term begins (A class is scheduled for spring term, but the Q1 marking column is available)
To avoid the potential for confusion, make sure the Marking Column set has been defined with the correct term associations. If a spring course should not receive a grade in the Q1 marking column, make sure Q1 is not associated with the spring term. For additional information on defining terms, review BB145867.
Example:
The course Hist200 is a 1 term course, starting in both the Fall and Spring Semesters. Students in Spring should receive grades in Q1 and Q2. Students in fall should receive grades in Q3 and Q4. Notice in the example below that the Q1 marking column is available for the Spring Class. In this example, marking columns are associated with ‘All terms'
To prevent this, adjust the term associations.
Also, marking column term associations affect the ability to drop or transfer students from classes. If a class lasts for more than one term, even if you drop or withdraw the student from one of the terms, the student remains in the Faculty Access for the Web gradebook for the other terms associated with the marking column. Avoid this problem by ensuring that the term association is correct. (For more information, review BB181310)
Let's start the New Year off without a hitch! Make sure the Marking column term association is correct.
Over the next few weeks, we're holding Support Roundtables each
Wednesday from 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. ET to answer the top 5 questions we've
received from the previous week. Join Charles Soderlund, Senior Product
Support Lead, as he covers those topics, then opens the floor to your
Student Billing questions. Register now for the sessions you can attend!
Over the next few weeks, we're holding Support Roundtables each Tuesday
from 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. ET to answer the top 5 questions we've received
from the previous week. Join Willow Schultz and Nate Hall, Education
Solutions Product Support Leads, as they cover those topics, then open
the floor to your Education Edge questions. Register now for the sessions you can attend!
Here are the topics for the January 12 Roundtable:
-
Reenrolling students
-
Enrolling Applicants
-
Troubleshooting/defining GPA calculations
-
Drop/Withdrawal/Transfer Students
-
Performance Categories
We hope to see you there!
With a new year and a new term, there is likely going to be some shakeup in students' schedules. To go along with the reasons a student needs to be removed from a class. There are a variety of ways to move students: transferring, withdrawing, and dropping. So which option is right for you? While these words may be interchangeable in everyday conversation, they mean different things within the program.
The first question you can ask yourself is to withdraw or not to withdraw? When it comes to deciding whether or not to withdraw a student from a class, you have to make a few decisions on the future of the student's information you in your database. If you would like to retain attendance and grading information, then withdraw is right for you! For example, in many schools, students may need to be moved from a general class to an advanced class or vice versa. By withdrawing the student, you to retain all course information, but remove the student's enrollment so they may be enrolled in another course.
To be able to have the option to withdraw a student, you must first define a withdrawal date in the academic year. The withdrawal date is the last date a student can drop a class without penalty. You can withdraw a student only if the date is after the withdrawal date defined for the term. Before the withdrawal date, you will only have the option to drop the student.
A second option is transferring. This allows you to move a student from one section of a course to another (such as Beginner Tennis - 1 to Beginner Tennis - 2). When transferring a student, grades, skills and attendance entries are preserved with the original class section. The teacher of the new section to can then enter grades, skill ratings and attendance for the student in her own Faculty Access for the Web Gradebook.
In Faculty Access for the Web, the teacher of the new section will only see the posted grade from the previous section. She will not see previously entered assignment or marking column grades entered by the teacher of the original section. The student's assignments, assignment grades and category averages associated with the original class will not display in NetClassroom. In Grades, the course will show on one row, displaying both sections separated by commas - for example, Tennis 1, 2. When the course is printed on a report card, it will appear only once.
The third option is to drop a student from a class. Dropping a student removes all associated grades, skill ratings, and attendance entries for the student in the class for the term. After dropping a student, the course will no longer show on the student's record, nor will it show on report cards or transcripts. In FAWeb, the student will not show in Attendance and will show in red in the Gradebook only if we are showing students with historic information (you can find this under Options when logged into FAWeb). This option is often used at the beginning of a term if a student decides not to take a class or if a student decides to leave school completely. Please keep in mind that this option should not be used if you want to preserve any grading or attendance information.
If you're wondering what happens when there are schedule changes for a student who is enrolled in a multi-term course, there's a business rule for this. Check out BB178556.
If you need a quick reference to help you decide which option you should choose, you can find a handy chart in Knowledgebase solution BB376574.
Here's your forum roundup for December:
Last Month's Popular Posts:
January Forums Contest!
This month, each time you create a thread or respond to a post on The Education Edge forums, we'll enter your name in a drawing for a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate!
When you are surfing the web, do you have a
bookmark/favorites folder where you keep all of your frequented websites? Wouldn't it be great if The Education Edge
had a similar feature for accessing sections of the program that you use frequently? It does, and there are a lot of
ways to make navigating the software easier for everyday tasks.
You can use these favorites for the following tasks:
Open Specific Records
Reports
Report Cards/Transcripts
Queries
Statements
Etc.
You can create folders for Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly tasks. Daily tasks can be reports or queries. Weekly/Monthly tasks may include exports and imports. Yearly tasks can contain status
wizard parameters such as Mark for Reenrollment or End of Year Processing.
There are 3 main sections where you can view favorites:
- Click
favorites from the menu bar and you will see your favorites menu in this
drop-down window.
- You
can add favorites to the Navigation Bar as seen below. This gives you one click access to your
favorites from any section.
- Add
the favorites to the homepage of any module to access using the Home icon from
the Navigation Bar. Every module in
the program has its own home screen that can be customized.
You can find additional information about setting up
favorites in Knowledgebase solution BB55065.
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