Using Contact Filters

You have the ability to change which contacts are used for your school or district without needing updated plugins in most cases. If your current contact filter is built into the plugin then changing them is very simple. If you’ve requested a non-standard filter that we had to customize for you then this will not apply to you.

To view/edit your filters

Navigate to System Management > Data > BrightArrow Settings

Click on Filters.
1. If you are in District Office (shown below) you will see several rows, click Filters in the row to view the settings for the specific school you wish or use the district row to see global settings.
2. If you are in a school you will only see the filters for that school.

The Filter options will slide in. Choose any of the 6 tabs to view the settings in that category.
1. If you're making changes to any of the categories within Lookup Rules specifically, see here.

If you make a change, click the Submit button at the bottom to save or just click the x to abandon changes.

What are the top fields for?

This section is primarily used by schools who share a server or those who want to have a school building with completely different settings from the District Office.

At the top you'll see a row letting you know what school (or district) you are viewing. Under that is a field with the label "Default Settings From: (linking changes all tabs)". This field is used to allow you to set up one school and copy the settings to another instead of setting it up again. In most cases it's easiest to set up district and let all schools use those settings. But in some cases one or two schools work differently than the others, this allows you to have separate settings at different buildings when needed. For more help with changing the filter settings for a particular school, see here.

Contact Settings Tabs

The contact settings tabs are now divided into four sections: Primary Contacts, Alt Contacts, Students, and Staff. These are the main filters telling the queries which data to use for messaging. Settings in these tabs also apply to current selections.

When a school is part of a district-wide setup you will get a message at the top of any tab that is district controlled. You will still be able to see the settings, but you will not be able to edit them.

Section 1: Select the source of your data

The top part is where you select where your data is coming from.

a. Label for primary filter set (Informational only):

This is where you can enter a label to give you a reminder of what this filter set is for. This is only for you and will not affect anything else.

b. Where should the primary contacts come from:

Here you select if your data is coming from the contacts module or legacy fields. There are 4 options:

- Legacy Phone/Email Fields : Stock query using legacy phone / email fields. No custom plugin needed for this
- Custom Query using Legacy : Custom query using legacy phone / email fields. Often used when there are custom phone fields or custom email fields or if there is a custom language field to be used.
- Contacts : Stock query using contacts for phone / emails. No custom plugin needed
- Custom Query using Contacts : Custom query using contacts but for some special situation such as a custom language field or custom filter

c. Use Custom Language Field (requires custom plugin):

If you have a custom language field that should be used you can label that here. For information on the language options see What are the Language Options in the Filter Settings

Language Field (Informational only):
If you do use a custom language field you can enter where it comes from here. This field doesn't do anything other than serve as a reminder of where the language is coming from. This is often a question that gets asked as people forget or weren't told and this and serves as a place to enter a reminder.

Section 2: Who to Contact

If you are using legacy fields for phone/emails there is no "who" as each field will only happen one time per student. However, if you are using contacts for your information then PowerSchool needs to know which contacts to send. When you choose a contacts method for data you will see a "Who to contact?" section.

When you choose to get information from legacy fields, the "Who to contact?" section is not available and it skips directly to the "How to contact?" section.

For more details on the who to contact section read Who to contact: Options for Contact Filters

Section 3: How to contact

Once you've said where the data is coming from and selected which contacts (if necessary) to use the next step is to determine which phones and emails to include. The options change based on if you're using legacy fields or if you are using contacts.

Options for Legacy Filters
When using legacy fields for contacts there are certain stock fields included. You may omit any here and they will not be used in exports or current selections.
Options for Contact Filters

Alt Contact Settings Tab

The Alt Contact Settings tab contains the settings for alternate situations. For example your main contact settings might be for everyday messages and maybe you want different settings for emergency situations. You can use the Alternate Contact Settings to define what happens in the alternate scenario.

Since there isn't an alternate option for legacy fields this tab has all the same options as Contact Settings tab except options that lead to or pertain to legacy fields.
What is the Alternate Filter?

Student Settings Tab

The Student Settings tab allows you to control where student phone/email information is coming from. Most of the time this will be legacy fields such as the student email field or the student cell phone field that comes with the BrightArrow plugins. However some schools are choosing to put student cell/email information into the contacts area. Here you can easily switch between legacy and contacts as your source for student data

If you want to use legacy fields for the student's phone/emails: Options for Student Filters: Using Legacy fields
If you want to use contacts for the student's phone/emails: Options for Student Filters: Using Contacts

Roster Settings Tab

The Roster Settings tab contains fields to control non-contact related options within the queries. While the default settings are set at the district level, each school can alter their own settings so that different cut offs for missing assignments or days before a student enrolls to show them in a teacher list can be set.
What are Roster Settings