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External Gateway FAQs
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Other questions about the External Gateway have been answered in the FAQs below:
General Licenses Billing General Q. Can I trial the External Gateway? A. Yes. You can generate 5 Pupil and 5 Parent/Guardian licence keys. Using the generated licence keys you can create a Pupil Tracking account and see what pupils and parents will see when they login. Q. How do I get started with the External Gateway? A. Follow the quick guide below:
Q. What happens if a pupil/parent (external user) forgets their username and password? A. All account management is handled by the user themselves and no action is required by school administration staff. An external user's username is simply their email address. They can reset their password by clicking the 'Forgotten your password?' link on the external user login screen. Q. How do you recommend issuing licence keys to parents? A. This is best achieved as a mail merged letter using the Excel file produced when generating your licence keys through PTP. You may visit the How to mail merge from an Excel spreadsheet tutorial if you require general help with mail merging documents. Q. How do you recommend issuing licence keys to pupils? A. To be affective this should be achieved through a formal IT lesson where the use of the system, the data available and the registration process can be fully explained to pupils. All pupils require a valid email address before they can register an account on PTP. Less able pupils may require help with entering their Pupil ID and licence key correctly. Q. Can the school decide what data is seen by external users? A. Yes. Administrators can configure the portlets and the fields available within each portlet. Each licence type can be configured differently. For example, a pupil can be given access to different portlets and fields than a parent. Q. Can the school decide which reports are available to external users? A. Yes. Administrators can control which reports are available to external users through the Report Manager. Q. How are the archived reports made available to external users handled? PDF files are not physically stored on PTP but are re-compiled upon request. Reports are always compiled based upon a pupil's current year group, tutor group and set information. The Reports portlet displays both ended and archived reports. If parents wish to retain the exact contents of the report they should download the report and save a copy to their computer before a pupil moves up a year. For example a report 'Y8 Progress' for John Smith should be downloaded and saved whilst John is in Y8. This is rarely a problem, because data on PTP is naturally archived by the field structure. External users can easily view historical data fields through the Pupil Profile portal at anytime. Q. When using Pupil Tracking's External Gateway how do I know which parents have agreed to download their report online and which pupils still require a paper copy sending home? A. When producing a report for parents it is possible to use the report filter. Pupil Tracking will automatically work out which pupils still require a paper copy sending home and will compile a report for those pupils only. See the help section Report Manager >Producing a report > Licence holder type for more details. Licences Q. If a parent has more than one pupil at the school can they add both pupils to the same account? A. Yes. Parents can add any pupils for which they hold a valid licence to their account. Q. Can separated parents each have a separate account? A. Yes. Once a licence key has been generated it can be issued to both parents who can then create their own individual accounts. Q. Can multiple external users each use the same licence key? A. Yes. For example, the pupil John Smith's mother, father, grandma and third cousin twice removed can all create an account to access John's data on Pupil Tracking if they hold a valid licence key. Q. Can the school add different licence types for example 'Social Worker'? A. Yes. If you wish to add different licence types please contact Pupil Tracking Limited directly. There may be a charge for this depending on the intended use of the new licence type. Q. Our school has a pupil whose mother is a social worker at the same school. Can she add her son as well as the pupils she holds a Social Worker licence for to the same account? A. Yes. External users may add multiple pupils and multiple licence types to the same account. When they select a pupil using the My Pupils tab they will view that pupil with the permissions associated with the licence type used to register the pupil. Q. What do you mean by 'mass email'? A. Any facility which sends more than one email at a time is considered 'mass email'. Q. What is the difference between using Pupil Tracking's mass email facility and a 3rd party web based email facility? A.
Q. Why might our school want to use a 3rd Party email client? A. Sending mass email is a complex business. It cannot be done through a traditional windows-based email client such as Outlook Express. To be done effectively it requires the use of an email server. Many companies' sole business is selling such a facility to customers and developing their mass email application. You may consider using a 3rd party email facility if you want to:
Q. Can you recommend a 3rd party web based email client? A. Searching Google for 'web based mass email' will bring up a host of companies who will provide you with a web based mass email facility. We have had good experiences with the 2 companies below: http://www.pure360.com http://www.constantcontact.com Q. Do teachers have access to the email addresses of pupils and parents (external users)? A. No. Teachers may email external users through Pupil Tracking, but they do not have direct access to email addresses. Q. Can I produce HTML email templates incorporating graphics using Pupil Tracking? A. No. Pupil Tracking sends simple HTML email which can be converted to text-only email if the recipient's email client cannot receive HTML email. If the recipient's email client does not allow HTML email then a text-only version will be delivered instead. This ensures that email sent through PTP is received by all recipients regardless of their email client configuration. Q. When I send mass email it says that my email will be sent 'shortly'. What does this mean? A. Email on Pupil Tracking is sent every 10 minutes. Your emails are compiled and stored in a database. Every 10 minutes they are collected and delivered. Q. Pupil Tracking said that my email has been successfully delivered but I have not yet received it? A. If you do not receive email from Pupil Tracking then please check your spam or junk email folder and make sure that you set up the appropriate rules to allow email from the domain pupiltracking.com. Billing Q. Is the External Gateway subscription charged on an annual basis? A. Yes. External users will be logging into Pupil Tracking every year, therefore the subscription is due every year. Q. How is the External Gateway annual subscription calculated? A. The subscription is calculated at 50p per pupil based upon the number of pupils you have on roll at the time you wish us to activate your External Gateway. It will be expected that if you are, for example, a 7-11 school that you have years 7-11 on your system. You will not be charged for a year group you have retained for historical purposes e.g. Y11 pupils (now Y12) who have left the school but who are still on PTP to enable staff to access GCSE grades. The subscription amount will be based upon the amount of months remaining until your annual invoice is due when you will be charged for a full year. Example School X has 600 pupils on roll and wishes to purchase licences for the External Gateway on 1st February. Their annual invoice is due on 1st July. Their invoice will be calculated as follows: 600 x £0.50 = £300 (total amount due) 1st Feb - 1st July = 5 months (months remaining until annual invoice is due) £300 / 12months = £25per month (cost per month) 5 months x £25 = £125 (amount due) On the 1st July the pupils on roll will be re-calculated and this amount added to the annual invoice amount. Q. Does 50p enable both pupils and parents to access Pupil Tracking? A. Yes. For clarification 50p enables both pupils and parents to access Pupil Tracking. The school may issue licences to whomever they wish. For example, for 50p John Smith can access Pupil Tracking. For the same 50p John Smith's mother, father, grandma and third cousin twice removed can access Pupil Tracking. |