Monthly Mentions... JULY

Each month, FastDirect provides a newsletter to help our schools stay on top of all things related to FastDirect. Click any of the headers below to find out more information than what was included in the most recent Monthly Mentions.

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download July

  • Coming Up This Month...

    • Summer Transition! On your Home screen, we have posted the Summer Transition steps. Here are some explanations of what your school will need to complete before the end of the summer:
      • Creating a statement to appear on report cards declaring that the student will be moving forward to the next grade level
      • Marking any students who will not be moving forward as 'Not Promoted'
      • Creating any new Homeroom teacher accounts
      • Establishing the Homeroom teacher changes for next year
      • Moving the students forward to their new homerooms and grade levels
      • Assigning courses to teachers and filling those courses with students
    • August is right around the corner! In addition to completing the Summer Transition steps, there are several other items that need to be addressed. Here are those items:
      • Fill Teachers' GradeBooks: This step involves assigning courses to your teachers and filling those courses with students. Assuming your system is moved into the 2012 school year, this step is preformed in 'Grades' then 'Show Who Teaches What'.
      • Edit Teacher Accounts: Make any neccessary changes in the staff list (found under 'People', and then 'Teachers'). Change Staff Type to Inactive for those who have left. Change Class ID, Class long description, and Order number if needed.
      • Set Up the Master School Calendar: Edit the 2012 calendar by going to 'Calendar' and then scroll down to the 'edit calendar options' box. The first option allows you to determine which days are not attendace days, such as a holiday or a holy day. Also, edit your Master Calendar entries by clicking the last button in the 'Edit Calendar Options' box labeled 'Edit Master Calendar Entries'. This will allow you to type in the information that will appear on all calendars, such as 'Noon Dismissal'.
      • Define Quarter/Trimester Dates: This step involves setting up the correct start and end dates for each of your school's quarters, semesters, or trimesters. First, go to 'Grades' then 'ReportCard Input Controls.' Next, change the start date for each term one at a time. The start date will determine the end date for the previous term.
      • Evaluate Grade Scales: This important step involves evaluating all the grade scales used at your school and making sure the right scale is being applied to the right course. To access the scales for your school, go to 'Grades' then 'View All Scales in Use.' Each scale has a corresponding number associated with it and 'Show Who Teaches What' will list the grade scale number applied to each course.
      • Review ReportCards: This step involves looking over each grade levels' ReportCards to make sure all courses, sub-categories, grade scales and layouts look correct. To view a ReportCard, go to 'Grades' then choose a homeroom instructor in the 'select instructor' drop down then click the 'view instructor's grade book' button. Click the button 'View ReportCards' and when the homeroom roster appears, click 'print' next to any child's name.
      • Examine Schedule Codes: This step involves evaluating all the schedule codes used at your school and making sure each homeroom teacher has the correct code applied to their account. First, go to the bottom of 'Defaults' and evaluate the list of all the schedule codes for your school. Then, go to 'People' then 'Teachers' and make sure each teacher has their correct schedule code.
      • Archive Finance Accounts: This step involves archiving old finance transactions from previous school years. Old Tuition and Registration accounts can be archived and removed from the list once all active and inactive families have a zero balance. Other accounts, such as General and Lunch can be archived, thus 'hiding' old transactions. Archiving is handled in 'Finance' then 'Show all family balances/batch receipts/charges'.
      • Set Up the Cafeteria Daily Menu: This step involves determing which menu items will be offered on which school days. First, go to 'Cafeteria' then 'Add/Edit items in the Master Menu' and make sure you have all the menu items created and prices assigned. Then, back in the Cafeteria main menu, choose 'Plan/Change the Daily Menu'. In this screen you will assign specific menu items to specific days. Each menu item has a corresponding item number and those numbers will be added to the daily menu. It is also important to mention that if you have lunch groups set up, such as Free and Reduced, you will want to revisit those groups to make sure they are up-to-date.
    • HelpDesk is dedicated to helping make the Summer Transition an easy process and allow you more time to enjoy your summer break. Please contact HelpDesk to set up a time when you will be ready to go through the steps. Once these steps have been completed, please notify HelpDesk so that they can move your school forward to the new school year.
    • On the Summer Transition steps, there are a few details to note:
      • After each step is a blue question mark, which are links. When you click one, the system will pull up an FAQ which will provide more information about that step.
      • There is a button underneath the Summer Transition title, which will allow you to 'hide' these steps. This is helpful if you have already completed the steps or will not start on the steps until later this summer.
      • The last and final step to ensure that your system is ready to operate for the 2012-2013 school year is to have HelpDesk move your school forward. This requires you to contact HelpDesk so that we can verify everything has been completed and confirm with you that your school is ready to move forward.

  • Did You Know...for Administrators

    • Archiving finance accounts can have many advantages for the school administrators and the parents. There are two types of archiving, depending on the finance account. Here are the types, what is required and what the end result will be:
      • Tuition and Registration accounts: These accounts are tied to a specific school year and all previous school years can be archived. In order for this to happen, all balances need to be zeroed out, which includes active and inactive families. Furthermore, once a Tuition or Registration account has been archived, that account will no longer appear on statements or on a parent's Home screen. The information will still be retievable, just not immediately displayed.
      • All Other Finance Accounts: This includes General, Lunch, and any other account that has been created for your school. These accounts, unlike Tuition and Registration, are not linked to specific years and the balances and transactions carry over from year to year. Therefore, if you archive these accounts (especially in July), then only a balance will appear for that account and not a long list of transactions from previous years. This feature is really great for accounts where there are a lot of deposists and charges, such as Lunch. The other great advantage is archiving will help with page loading time and reduce scrolling.
    • To have any of these finance accounts archived, please contact HelpDesk.

  • Did You Know...for Teachers

    • The Reports icon offers resources on a variety of information on the whole student population. These reports are especially helpful because it provides you with information on all students, not just those students in your HomeRoom.
    • Here are some of those reports:
      • Attendance
      • Birthdays/Baptisms/Confirmations
      • Mailing labels with Student names/information
      • Mailing labels with Parent names/information
      • Rosters for all grade levels
      • Contact information

  • Did You Know...for Parents

    • When viewing your finance account balances in FastDirect, each balance is a clickable link. When you click on a specific balance, you will see a list of all the transactions (deposits & charges) made to that account.
    • Once clicked, the list of transactions will give you the following information:
      • Finance account name
      • Date of transaction (when added to FastDirect)
      • Charge or Deposit label
      • Amount of money in transaction
      • Description/note of transaction (for example, check number)

  • What's New...

    • The bottom section of the staff list in FastDirect contains all of the inactive staff accounts at your school. FastDirect has created a new feature which allows you to hide any of those accounts. By 'retiring' those old, inactive accounts, you will increase performance time and reduce scrolling.
    • Here are the steps to retire inactive accounts:
      • Go to 'People' then 'Teachers'
      • Scroll down to the accounts in gray (near the bottom)
      • Click 'Edit' next to an account your would like to retire
      • The fourth line of their information allows you to choose 'Yes' for 'Really Retire'
      • Change the ClassID to something very unique (for example, by adding the person's initials)
      • Click the 'Change' button
    • Once a staff account has been retired, it will be removed from the list of staff, but can still be retrieved.
    • Here are the steps to retrieve a retired account:
      • Go to 'People' then 'Teachers'
      • Scroll down to the very bottom of the page
      • In the drop down next to 'Retire' choose a name
      • Click the 'Un-retire' button
      • The account will now appear in the gray section of inactive staff

  • Trimester Schedules

    • Summer Transition! On your Home screen, we have posted the Summer Transition steps. Here are some explanations of what your school will need to complete before the end of the summer:
      • Creating a statement to appear on report cards declaring that the student will be moving forward to the next grade level
      • Marking any students who will not be moving forward as 'Not Promoted'
      • Creating any new Homeroom teacher accounts
      • Establishing the Homeroom teacher changes for next year
      • Moving the students forward to their new homerooms and grade levels
      • Assigning courses to teachers and filling those courses with students
    • August is right around the corner! In addition to completing the Summer Transition steps, there are several other items that need to be addressed. Here are those items:
      • Fill Teachers' GradeBooks: This step involves assigning courses to your teachers and filling those courses with students. Assuming your system is moved into the 2012 school year, this step is preformed in 'Grades' then 'Show Who Teaches What'.
      • Edit Teacher Accounts: Make any neccessary changes in the staff list (found under 'People', and then 'Teachers'). Change Staff Type to Inactive for those who have left. Change Class ID, Class long description, and Order number if needed.
      • Set Up the Master School Calendar: Edit the 2012 calendar by going to 'Calendar' and then scroll down to the 'edit calendar options' box. The first option allows you to determine which days are not attendace days, such as a holiday or a holy day. Also, edit your Master Calendar entries by clicking the last button in the 'Edit Calendar Options' box labeled 'Edit Master Calendar Entries'. This will allow you to type in the information that will appear on all calendars, such as 'Noon Dismissal'.
      • Define Quarter/Trimester Dates: This step involves setting up the correct start and end dates for each of your school's quarters, semesters, or trimesters. First, go to 'Grades' then 'ReportCard Input Controls.' Next, change the start date for each term one at a time. The start date will determine the end date for the previous term.
      • Evaluate Grade Scales: This important step involves evaluating all the grade scales used at your school and making sure the right scale is being applied to the right course. To access the scales for your school, go to 'Grades' then 'View All Scales in Use.' Each scale has a corresponding number associated with it and 'Show Who Teaches What' will list the grade scale number applied to each course.
      • Review ReportCards: This step involves looking over each grade levels' ReportCards to make sure all courses, sub-categories, grade scales and layouts look correct. To view a ReportCard, go to 'Grades' then choose a homeroom instructor in the 'select instructor' drop down then click the 'view instructor's grade book' button. Click the button 'View ReportCards' and when the homeroom roster appears, click 'print' next to any child's name.
      • Examine Schedule Codes: This step involves evaluating all the schedule codes used at your school and making sure each homeroom teacher has the correct code applied to their account. First, go to the bottom of 'Defaults' and evaluate the list of all the schedule codes for your school. Then, go to 'People' then 'Teachers' and make sure each teacher has their correct schedule code.
      • Archive Finance Accounts: This step involves archiving old finance transactions from previous school years. Old Tuition and Registration accounts can be archived and removed from the list once all active and inactive families have a zero balance. Other accounts, such as General and Lunch can be archived, thus 'hiding' old transactions. Archiving is handled in 'Finance' then 'Show all family balances/batch receipts/charges'.
      • Set Up the Cafeteria Daily Menu: This step involves determing which menu items will be offered on which school days. First, go to 'Cafeteria' then 'Add/Edit items in the Master Menu' and make sure you have all the menu items created and prices assigned. Then, back in the Cafeteria main menu, choose 'Plan/Change the Daily Menu'. In this screen you will assign specific menu items to specific days. Each menu item has a corresponding item number and those numbers will be added to the daily menu. It is also important to mention that if you have lunch groups set up, such as Free and Reduced, you will want to revisit those groups to make sure they are up-to-date.
    • HelpDesk is dedicated to helping make the Summer Transition an easy process and allow you more time to enjoy your summer break. Please contact HelpDesk to set up a time when you will be ready to go through the steps. Once these steps have been completed, please notify HelpDesk so that they can move your school forward to the new school year.
    • On the Summer Transition steps, there are a few details to note:
      • After each step is a blue question mark, which are links. When you click one, the system will pull up an FAQ which will provide more information about that step.
      • There is a button underneath the Summer Transition title, which will allow you to 'hide' these steps. This is helpful if you have already completed the steps or will not start on the steps until later this summer.
      • The last and final step to ensure that your system is ready to operate for the 2012-2013 school year is to have HelpDesk move your school forward. This requires you to contact HelpDesk so that we can verify everything has been completed and confirm with you that your school is ready to move forward.

  • Archives - Old Monthly Mentions

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