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Spreadsheet File Formats

To create a viable spreadsheet file capable of transition to the Silent Dismissal system, it is crucial to understand its components. As mentioned on the Getting Started page, the system does not have preloaded information. It is the responsibility of clientele to create their school's database, which includes all the information necessary to fully utilize our service.

With the assistance of this guide, the task of creating spreadsheet(s) for initial data load will be most efficient. A minimum of two sets of data should be provided: the facility & staff account list and the student list. Both of these accounts have fields (required or optional) that use their input values to determine aspects of account creation.

Ideally, the Groups, Locations, and Messages spreadsheet will also be created; if this information is not collected in a spreadsheet, it may be entered manually at the school directly into Silent Dismissal. For most schools, the Bus Stops spreadsheet will not be used, but this feature is available for later use if desired.

Faculty & Staff Accounts

User accounts are the first step to creating your school's database. These accounts should be accessible by faculty and staff. There are currently four types of accounts: administrative, classroom, dismissal, and extended care. Each account type reflects their function and serve different purposes.

  • Administrative accounts (denoted by letter “a”) can access and edit the information within the database, which you will be creating.
  • Classroom accounts (denoted by letter “c”) are to be used by teachers, and they allow for students to be registered to their predetermined classrooms. With this account, one can view their classroom roster and more.
  • Dismissal accounts (denoted by letter “d”) are to be used by staff conducting dismissal during the day. Persons using this account can retrieve information about a student's pick up status, like the location of their pick up or if they have left early.
  • Extended care accounts (denoted by letter “e”) are used for after school activities.

Syntax (Format)

A minimum of five columns of information is required to create facility & staff accounts. While it is constructive to fill each column with their respective value, many of these fields are optional. The information entered should be either in Title Case or lowercase, but not in all capital letters.

To maintain syntax structure, it is critical to include blank cells in your spreadsheet where information has been omitted (i.e. if first name is not included, leave that space blank and do not delete it from the spreadsheet). The following information should be entered into your spreadsheet as columns in corresponding sequence, with the relevant data entered into the next row:

  1. LAST NAME [required] - Legal last name of account user
  2. FIRST NAME [optional] - Legal first name of account user
  3. USER ID [optional] - User ID for account
    • By default, Silent Dismissal will create accounts with user IDs comprised of the first initial and the last name. If there is a special format desired for the user IDs, such as last.first@email.com, then include this value.
    • If more than one person exists with the same first initial and the same last name, then one of those persons must be explicitly given an alternate user ID. User IDs must be unique across all new and current accounts.
  4. GRADE [optional] - Grade associated with the account user
    • Use a numeric value corresponding to the grade level: zero for “kindergarten”, -1 for “4 year old pre-K”, -2 for “3 year old pre-K”, and -3 for “Other”, such as mixed grade special education classroom teachers
  5. ACCOUNT TYPE [optional; defaults to classroom] - Type of user account (refer to list above)
    • Use values of a, c, and d for this column for Administrators (usually including front office staff), Classroom Teachers, and Dismissal staff, respectively
  6. PASSWORD [optional; highly recommended] - Password for the account
    • Defaults to the user's last name in lower case if omitted. May optionally be specified with the same value for all staff during initial configuration

Creation

Once this data has been collected and input into a spreadsheet, it is transferable to our system. If you have previously created a spreadsheet, you may refer to it to gather the necessary data. To enter the information your spreadsheet to our system, do the following:

  1. From an administrator account, click on ACCOUNTS at the top of the page. You should see a dropdown menu. Click on BULK LOAD. This will direct you to a webpage with an empty textbox.
  2. Using your spreadsheet containing account data, select the columns & rows for each account that must be created, including columns that were left blank during data input as they will serve as a placeholder.
  3. Copy & paste your selection from the spreadsheet into the textbox on the page. Remember to review your entry to avoid errors in transfer.
  4. After verifying this data is correct, click on the “Submit” button below the textbox.

Student List

After creating user accounts for Silent Dismissal, the next step is to create your student list. This will allow for the creation of student profiles, which can then be assigned to their respective classrooms, groups, etc. While this process is similar to user account creation, please be aware there are important differences,​ mainly in syntax for the spreadsheet.

Syntax (Format)

A minimum of five columns of information is required to create student lists. While it is constructive to fill each column with their respective value, many of these fields are optional. The information entered should be either in Title Case or lowercase, but not in all capital letters.

To maintain syntax structure, it is critical to include blank cells in your spreadsheet where information has been omitted (i.e. if first name is not included, leave that space blank and do not delete it from the spreadsheet). The following information should be entered into your spreadsheet as columns in corresponding sequence, with the relevant data entered into the next row:

  1. LAST NAME [required] - Student'​s legal last name in Title Case
  2. FIRST NAME [​optional​] - Student'​s legal first name in Title Case
    • Strongly recommended to avoid confusion of students
  3. PICK-UP ID NUMBER [​optional​] - Numeric value from 1 to 4999
    • Strongly recommended that all students be assigned a carpool ID
  4. GRADE [​optional​] - Numeric value from -3 to 12
    • Strongly recommended to allows students to be directly loaded into grade rosters
  5. CLASS CODE [​optional​] - Numeric value that corresponds to a specific classroom.
    • This information can be located by clicking on REPORTS then under DATA REVIEW click STAFF REFERENCE. A reference list of staff and their classrooms should appear, and the class code will be present in the column farthest to the left.
    • Strongly recommended to allows students to be directly loaded into classroom rosters
  6. Student ID [​optional​] - Unique ID given to student
    • Recommended,​ however will be available for updates later

FIXME More details on how to generate carpool IDs and the class codes. If you don't have carpool pick up ID numbers assigned, then use your student information system to export the street address in place of the class code listed above.

Creation

Once this data has been collected and input into a spreadsheet,​ enter the information your spreadsheet to our system by doing the following:

  1. From an administrator account, click on STUDENTS at the top of the page. You should see a dropdown menu. Click on BULK LOAD. This will direct you to a webpage with an empty textbox.
  2. Using your spreadsheet containing account data, select the columns & rows for each student that must be created, including columns that were left blank during data input as they will serve as a placeholder.
  3. Copy & paste your selection from the spreadsheet into the textbox on the page. Remember to review your entry to avoid errors in transfer.
  4. After verifying this data is correct, click on the “Submit” button below the textbox.

Groups, Locations, and Messages

Now that the faculty & staff accounts and student lists have been created and reviewed, it is possible to create a spreadsheet with information on the school's Groups, Locations, and Messages for data load. This can be accomplished by using the format below to put together another spreadsheet.

Syntax (Format)

Groups, locations, and messages require two columns of data to be bulk loaded. The information entered should be either in Title Case or lowercase, but not in all capital letters. ​

The first column of the spreadsheet to define what type of entity is being loaded, followed by the name of the entity in the second column The following information should be entered into your spreadsheet as columns in corresponding sequence, with the relevant data entered into the next row:

  1. GROUP TYPE CODE [required] - Designates the type of group (refer to figure below)
  2. GROUP NAME [required] - Name of Group or Location; Body of Message
Figure 1. Group Type Codes
p - Carpool c - Club d - Date
i - Immediate b - Bus v - Daycare Van
w - Walking t - Tutoring o - Other
m - Message l - Location z - Zone Location

Creation

  1. From an administrator account, click on GROUPS at the top of the page. You should see a dropdown menu. Click on BULK LOAD. This will direct you to a webpage with an empty textbox.
  2. Using your spreadsheet containing account data, select the columns & rows for each student that must be created, including columns that were left blank during data input as they will serve as a placeholder.
  3. Copy & paste your selection from the spreadsheet into the textbox on the page. Remember to review your entry to avoid errors in transfer.
  4. After verifying this data is correct, click on the “Submit” button below the textbox.

Bus Stops

Finally, the last spreadsheet to be prepared for bulk loading is the bus stop spreadsheet. While some schools have used this feature, it is considered to be optional.

Syntax (Format)

Bus stops may be set by parents if desired by the school. To load the bus stops two pieces of information are required:

  1. BUS STOP NAME [required] - Name of the bus stop, usually an address
  2. BUS STOP ORDER [optional; recommended] - Numeric value that designates the stopping order of the bus
    • Generally not used when setting up a bus route for the first time. Each stop is offset in increments of 10 to allow for additional stops to be added at a later time.
    • Each bus stop list must be loaded individually for each bus and the ordering of the bus stops is predicated on the order of the list.

Creation

  1. From an administrator account, click on GROUPS at the top of the page. You should see a dropdown menu. Next, click on BUS. This will direct you to a webpage that looks like the screenshots below.
  2. Using your spreadsheet containing account data, select the columns & rows for each student that must be created, including columns that were left blank during data input as they will serve as a placeholder.
  3. Copy & paste your selection from the spreadsheet into the textbox on the page. Remember to review your entry to avoid errors in transfer.
  4. After verifying this data is correct, click on the “Submit” button below the textbox.

admin/spreadsheet_file_format.1562883157.txt.gz · Last modified: 2024/03/05 12:58 (external edit)