Sending Forms to Student Document Folders

Overview

Report Writer can be used to create simple single page PDF documents with prefilled fields and then store those documents in a student's documents tab within Genesis.  

This page will walk you through creating a simple form in Microsoft Word, converting it to PDF, creating a report writer report with it, and then publishing the resulting documents to a set of Student's documents folder.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Create a permission slip form
• Save a copy of the form as a PDF
• Creating the form in Report Writer
• Grant your user the right to run reports to Student Document folders.
• Sending the output to document management
• Recalling documents that were published
• Creating a student list of documents that were published

Create a permission slip form

For this example; we will create a very simple permission slip using Microsoft Word 2010 on Windows 7.  

• Start Microsoft Word 2010.
• Click on the File tab in the ribbon interface
• Click on the New tab in the left pane of the File interface.
• Click on the Forms icon
• Click on the Academic Forms folder
• Double click on the School field trip permission slip template.

Customize the form to your needs.  My form looks like this:

Save a copy to your desktop using the usual File -> Save As dialog box in Microsoft Word.

Save a copy of the form as a PDF

To save a PDF copy of the template; just click File, Save As and choose PDF from the Save As Type drop down list.   I saved it to radiocity.pdf and placed it on my desktop.

Creating the form in Report Writer

In Genesis, go to the Report Writer>Reports tab; and create a new report.   I will call mine Radio City.

• Choose the Student table
• Click the Multi-Add button on the columns tab and add these fields: 
  • studentName
  • homeroom
• Go to the Filters tab and add a filter for Student ID. 
  • Choose one student in your database to use as a test; and put that student's student id in the filter
• Click on the Form tab.
• Using the filename field select the PDF that we created earlier from your desktop and then click the Upload File button. 
  • You should now see the form on the screen in Genesis.
• Go to the fields tab and add these two fields in:
  
• Go to the Sections and Totals tab - add a page break on STUDENT ID.
• Run the report; and see how the output looks.  You should see something similar to this:
  
• Scroll the page down and you should see the student's name and homeroom filled into the appropriate fields.   You may need to make small adjustments to the X and Y fields to make the data line up perfectly.

Grant your user the right to run reports to Student Document folders.

Before running this report and sending the output to student's document folders, you must grant your account the right to do this.

To do this; as a system administrator go to the Setup>Security>Modify User page.

Check the Export to Student Documents option on your logonid.

If you are logged in as that user; you will need to log out and back in for the change to take effect.

Sending the output to document management

You will now see new fields when scheduling a report labeled together as Store in Student Documents. 

You must choose a document type and a enter a title for the documents that this report will create.

If either of those fields are not filled in, the documents will not be exported to the students folder.

For information on DOC TYPES, click here.

Options available when running:

The report will now run as normal.   To verify that documents were created; go to the documents tab of any user that the report was run for; and you should see something similar to this:

Recalling documents that were published

In Report writer, go to the Published Documents tab. There you will see every run of this report.

Click the "Delete these student documents" button.

Creating a student list of documents that were published

In Report writer, go to the Published Documents tab.   There you will see every run of this report.

Click the "Create Student List" button.  Type in a name of for the list you wish to create.

A dynamic list will be created that has all of the students that received this document.