Send Communications Page

On this page:

Use this page to create the merge file for attendance communications, send PLUS 360 notifications, or generate both.

The merge file generated for letters will include records for the selected dates. A student may have multiple letters for the same absences if multiple contacts have been selected to receive attendance letters. The system also updates the attendance letter record to indicate that a letter has been sent.

The name of the merge file is defined in the Mail Merge Data Source Filename field of your Attendance Building Configuration.

Once the merge file is generated, you can download it to a PC and merge the data file with a letter template in Microsoft® Word.

For more information on merging letters, refer to Mail Merge eSchoolPlus Letters. For a list of the available merge fields, refer to Attendance Letter Merge Fields.

Prerequisite

Calculate letters by running the Attendance > All > Attendance Communications > Attendance Criteria Calculation option.

Run process

Select Attendance > All > Attendance Communications > Send Communications.
Specify the report options.
Click Run.

Fields

Prompts Panel

Field

Descriptiopn

Building

Building of the students to include in the merge file.

Communication Method

Select whether you want to create the merge file for letters, send PLUS 360 notifications, or generate both. The Send Communications option is run if you select either checkbox.

Select:

Generate Letters For Parents/Guardians - to create the letter file. The file then can be downloaded to your PC and merged with form letters created in Microsoft® Word.
Send Communications - to send attendance notifications via the PLUS 360 Notifications engine to users configured to receive notifications and optional email notifications. This includes eSchoolPlus users who have the required security resource; the student's Counselor; and the SSP Coordinator.

Note

To re-send a letter or notification, run Attendance's Send Communications option with its Include Published Communications checkbox selected.

Field	Description
First Communication Date	The first date to use as an endpoint of calculations. Calculations always run from the beginning of the reporting cycle to this date. Select: By Date - to use a set date as the first end date. By Prior Days - to run the process for a set number of attendance days. Prior days count backward from the end date. For example, if the end date is Friday and you want the report to cover a full week Monday through Friday, enter 4. This option is useful if you schedule the process to run periodically.
Last Communication Date	The ending date of calculations. Select: Today - to use today as the last date to check. This option is useful if you schedule the calculation to run periodically. By Date - to use a set date as the end date for the calculation.
Generate Single Letter Per Criteria	Checked if you want to generate a single letter for the student using the most recent trigger date. This would be the absence date closest to the last notification date entered for the selected date range. For example, if you entered a date range of 10/26/2015 to 11/06/2015 and a student had letter records for 10/28/2015 and 11/05/2013, only the letter for 11/05/2013 would be included in the merge file. The merge file will still include the letter multiple times if more than one contact is defined to receive attendance letters.
Include Published Notifications	Checked if you want to include communications that have been sent previously. This option will include letter records and notifications that have been updated to indicate that the record was processed by the Send Communications option.

Sort Panel

Use the Sort panel to specify how records should be ordered in a report. You enter lines of sort criteria; the system compares your sort criteria against the corresponding fields in the records being searched and displays records in either ascending or descending order based on the sort fields.