School Messenger

Modified on Fri, Nov 3, 2023 at 1:37 PM

SchoolMessenger

School Messenger Integration

Feature Overview

The School Messenger integration option for Genesis provides the following features:

Genesis automatically uploads changes to staff and student data to School Messenger on a user defined schedule.
Genesis automatically uploads daily attendance to School Messenger on a user defined schedule.
All communications with School Messenger is done via a secure encrypted link.

Prerequisites

Enabling the School Messenger screens in Genesis

Contact your Genesis account representative to enable the School Messenger integration feature at your district. There is a small yearly maintenance cost associated with the support of this feature.

Gather the SFTP information from School Messenger

Contact School Messenger for the following information:
Secure FTP...

Server Host Name or IP
Port
Username
Password

Configure Attendance Codes

Navigate to the Attendance->Codes screen and modify the attendance codes that you want to be included in your attendance file that is sent to School Messenger.

Attendance->Codes->Modify Code

Set the "Use For AutoDialer" option to Yes.
- Students with that attendance code posted for the day; will be included in the attendance file.

Attendance->Codes

When the the attendance file is created:

Any attendance code flagged as Excused or Unexcused Absence is translated to an A for School Messenger.
Any attendance code flagged as Excused or Unexcused Tardy is translated to a T for School Messenger.

Configure Contact Flags

Navigate to the Student Data->Student->Demographic->Contacts screen and modify the flags for contact information that you want to be included in your guardian file that is sent to School Messenger.

In the scheduler setup you can specify whether or not to only include contact info marked with broadcast or certain user flags

Generating Test Data

Once these screens are configured; you should perform a manual test run to ensure that the data files contain the data you want it to.

Attendance->Auto Dialer

Set the 'Select Format' field to 'Type 2 (School Messenger)
Select at least one school and edit the parameters to be how you want your test file to collect
Click the 'Create' button to generate and save the file to your local machine
Review the data inside the file to ensure that all of the data you intended to be include; is actually included.

Automating the sending of data

Core->Scheduler

School Messenger: Daily Attendance

This task automatically sends only the Daily Attendance file. The default settings send the file every day at 12:00pm noon.

School Messenger: Staff and Students

This task automatically sends the staff and students file. The default settings send the files every day at 11:00pm.

Core->Scheduler->Properties

You can can also choose to send an 'Activities' and 'Guardians' file as well
Check off which files you would like to send and click the 'Save' button at the bottom of the screen

Core->Scheduler->Properties

If sending an 'Activities' file you can choose where to include the data from
- 'Athletics' pulls from Student Data->Modify Student->Athletics
- 'Awards' pulls from Student Data->Modify Student->Awards

Enable and configuring the tasks

Enable the tasks; by placing a check box in the enabled column; then click the save button at the bottom of the screen. Optionally; you can change the time in the scheduler fields as well.

Core->Scheduler

Use the online help on the scheduler screen to learn how to re-configure the times.
Click the modify button to the right of the tasks and fill in the SFTP information provided from School Messenger here.

Core->Scheduler->Properties

Force the tasks to run

Click the "Run Now" icon to run the task immediately.

Core->Scheduler

Attendance.csv (Daily Attendance File)

Column	Field Value	Notes
1	Student.studentid
2	Attendance Code	A or T
3	Attendance Date	MM/dd/yyyy
4	Cumulative Tardies	(Only if option is selected)
5	Cumulative Absenses	(Only if option is selected)
6	Tardy Time	(Only if option is selected) in format: hh:mmaa

Students.csv- Contacts 2

Column	Column	Field Value	Data Acquired in Contacts2 (As reported in ReportWriter)	Notes
1	A	Student.studentid
2	B	Student.firstName
3	C	Student.lastName
4	D	Student.homeLanguageCode
The following will appear if you DO NOT choose "Use Custom Student File Options:". Using "Use Custom Student File Options:" will allow you to customize the numbers and emails that appear in the file
5	E	Primary Phone Number	StudentContact2Summary.guardian1PrimaryPhoneNumber
6	F	Guardian #1 Cell Phone	StudentContact2Summary.guardian1HomeCellNumber	This is a number flagged as 'mobile'.
7	G	Guardian #1 Work Phone	StudentContact2Summary.guardian1WorkPhoneNumber	This is a number flagged as 'work'.
8	H	Guardian #2 Primary
9	I	Guardian #2 Work Phone Number	StudentContact2Summary.guardian2WorkPhoneNumber	This is a number flagged as 'work'.
10	J	Guardian #1 Email	StudentContact2Summary.getGuardian1EmailAddress
11	K	Guardian #2 Email	StudentContact2Summary.getGuardian2EmailAddress
end of standard numbers and emails
		Current School Code	Student.currentSchoolCode
		Grade Level	Student.gradeLevel
		Gender Code	Student.genderCode (M/F)
		AM Bus route	StudentBusAssignment.busRouteCode
		PM Bus route	StudentBusAssignment.busRouteCode
*These columns* *will appear* *starting in* *column "R" in* *the following* *order if included* *in the task* *options.*		Homeroom (Optional)	Student.homeRoom
		Special Ed Code	Student.specEdCode
		Parent Email1 (Optional)	Will not appear with "Use Custom Student File Options:" enabled
		Parent Email2 (Optional)	Will not appear with "Use Custom Student File Options:" enabled
		Municipality Code (Optional)	Student.municipalityCode
		User Flag1 (Optional)
		User Flag2 (Optional)
		User Defined Phone1 (Optional)	Phone numbers marked with selected User Defined Code
		User Defined Phone2 (Optional)
		Next School Code (Optional)
		Student Email (Optional)	Will not appear with "Use Custom Student File Options:" enabled
		Custom Contact Flags (Optional)	Any number marked with selected Custom Contact Flag. Can be multiple rows.
		Next Grade (Optional)
		Student Mobile (Optional)	Will not appear with "Use Custom Student File Options:" enabled
		Student Primary (Optional)	Will not appear with "Use Custom Student File Options:" enabled
		Resident School Code (Optional)
		Lunch Period of Student (Optional)
		Team Code (Optional)
		Rotation Group Code (Optional)	Code of the student's current assigned rotation group/cohort

Staff.csv

All District Teachers are analyzed
Only teachers that have a school entry in one of the selected schools is included
If the teacher has no schools selected; the teacher is then always included
The employment status must be Active (Inactive teachers are not exported)
If the teacher has multiple schools; then a row for each school is created
Only teachers that do not have the shared check box on are exported.

Column	Description	Location in Genesis	Notes
1	Teacher ID	DistrictTeacher.teacherID
2	Last Name	DistrictTeacher.lastName
3	First Name	DistrictTeacher.firstName
4	Home Language Code		Always blank
5	Primary Number	DistrictTeacher.homePhone	( ) and - are removed
6	Cell Phone	DistrictTeacher.cellPhone
7	E-Mail	DistrictTeacher.email
8	Position Title		Always blank
9	School Code	SchoolTeacher.schoolCode	Can be blank if teacher is not assigned any schools
10	Teacher Code	DistrictTeacher.teacherCode	Option field

Activities.csv

The same selection of students is used from the students.csv file.

The data is exported from the student's awards tab and/or Athletics

Only records in the current school year are exported.

Column	Description	Location in Genesis	Notes
1	Student Id	Student.studentId
2	Activity Description	"ACTIVITY_CODES" or Season Sports Level Sport

Guardians.csv

Sends a line for 1 to 4 guardians depending on how many the student has.

Columns	Description	Location in Genesis	Notes
A	Student ID
B	Guardian ID
C	Guardian First Name
D	Guardian Last Name
E	Relationship
F	Mobile Phone
G	Work Phone
H	Home Phone
I	Email
J	Email 2
L	Home Language

NOTE: The Contact Relationship options are used to filter only contacts with the selected relationship are included.