How to Change the Filters for a Specific School

All schools will obey the filter settings as set in the Default Settings From field by default, but what if you have a situation where your school differs from the default in some small way? Or what if you are on a shared server and needing different settings than the other schools on your server? You can have different filter settings for each school by following the instructions below. 

There are two different methods that can be used depending on what you want to accomplish.

Method #1 - Granular Changes. This method allows a school to have a different setting for a specific topic while following default settings for everything else. Good for small differences between buildings such as when one school needs multi-day attendance to reset every semester and another needs it to reset every trimester.

Method #2 - Change everything allowed for my setup. This method is the older method and was more than what was needed in most cases. How much can be changed depends on your setup. If you are part of a district setup then you can only change the settings in the Lookup Rules tab. But if your school acts as an independent "district" on a shared server then this method will give you the ability to change all filters.

Bonus: Exclude my school from a topic - If your district is using a topic but your school should be excluded from it. Only works on sections within Lookup Rules.

Method #1 - Change a single topic at the school level

Beginning with BrightArrow Base 26.01.06 you can now enable or disable a topic within the Lookup Rules tab on a building by building basis. This means you can have a school excluded from exports on that topic which wasn't possible before without hardcoding something in the export template (and then having to remember it's there if the situation changes). What's even more helpful is the new ability to override the main settings on just one of these topics. Previously you'd have had to use Method #2 and override everything which meant if a change happened district-wide you'd need to remember to make that change for the school as well. With this option, the school's settings will default to the district's settings for everything except for the specific filters you override.

When to use this method:

Use this method when you need to change the settings on one topic for one school where other schools are also sending information on that topic. If that school is the ONLY one doing anything in that topic then don't change the school, change the district defaults to match the new requirements.

Ex: The District filters are set up to use "AU" only for attendance but the high school would also like to include "A" codes. All other settings are the same as the district defaults. Previously you'd need to use Method #2 to make the change and then hope nothing else ever changed in any other settings. Now this new method allows you to make just the changes for current day attendance while leaving the rest to continue following the district defaults.

Ex 2: The elementary school would like to try using the Multi-Day attendance notifications and if they like it the other schools may use it as well. Even though the settings are for a single school out of many, the rest are not using that topic at all so make the changes in the district settings instead. Later if the other schools join in they can follow those settings or use the override to set different ones as needed.

What sections can be overridden by the school:

Only the sections in the Lookup Rules tab such as Enrollment, Attendance, Grading, and Fees.

Exceptions:

1. Lookup Rules > Health > Health Office Visit Settings
   Health Office Visits settings can not be overridden by a school. A school can choose to be excluded or included from those exports but can not change which fields are sent or how many days back to look. 

What if I need to change something in a different section?

If your school is part of a district setup (all schools on the server are part of one centrally controlled district) and you need to change something outside of the Lookup Rules tab such as what constitutes a parent/guardian contact or what the PDF password is, then you'll need to do that in the District filters. However, any change there will affect all schools on the server, not just yours.

If your school is on a shared server where each school acts as its own district (ex: charter schools, parochial schools) then you will be able to override all settings, not just certain topics, by using Method #2 in this article. 

How to change a single topic only for one school:

1. Navigate to System Management > Data > BrightArrow Settings


2. Click on Filters. If doing this from District Office (shown below), then select the filters in the row corresponding to the specific school you wish to alter. If you want to change the filter settings at the District Office level, click the Filters option in the District row.

3. The filter options will slide in. Click on Lookup Rules. Lookup Rules contains the various settings that can change by school, organized by topic.
4. Click on the tab that applies to the filters you want to change. With this method, you can change the school's filters for Enrollment, Attendance, Grading, Fees, and/or Health. Note that Health filters cannot be changed on the school level, it can only be enabled or disabled for the school.
   
   **In this example, we will look at the attendance tab, but you can follow the same steps for any of the tabs found in Lookup Rules, with the exception of Health. 
   
   

5. Navigate to the category of filters that you want to change. Click the drop-down arrow next to the corresponding section to open up the filters for that topic. 
6. Toggle ON the option to "override the default settings for this school" to customize the school's filters for the specific topic you're in. When it's toggled ON it will show as "Customize settings for [your school]."

7. Make any changes as needed to the filter settings. Proceed through the other topics following steps #5-6 above until you've customized all the filter settings as needed. 
   1. Note: if the "override the default settings for this school" toggle is OFF for any topic, that particular filter will obey the district / default settings. 
   2. Example: In the screenshot below, for the school building with the abbreviation AGHS1, the override toggle is turned on for Attendance Not Taken Reminder settings and turned off for Current Day Attendance settings. Therefore, the Attendance Not Taken reminders will obey the customized filters for that school and the Current Day Attendance reminders will obey the default / district-wide filters. The customized settings for Attendance Not Taken will only be applied to AGHS1. 

8. Once you are finished making all of your changes to the filter settings, click Submit at the bottom of the window to save your changes. 

Method #2 - Change information for all possible sections

A long time ago we realized schools on shared servers such as charter schools and parochial schools would need a way to have different settings than each other. The district settings could still be used as a default but since these organizations act completely independent from their counterparts on the same server they'd need a way to say "We want to include motherdayphone even if the other schools on this server don't" and since they are essentially their own "district" we should treat them as if they are the district office. In a district setup, having the PDF password be different depending on which building the student is in doesn't make sense, but on a shared server each school is an island so they should each get to set their own values. The Default Settings From option was added so that schools in this situation can say they don't want to follow the default settings and instead use settings that make sense for them.

As more settings were added for Attendance, Grading, etc there was a need for district setups to also have a way to make changes but on a more limited basis. Attendance codes may change building to building. One building may use semesters while another uses trimesters. The Default Settings From option is used for these setups as well but it only allows schools to change the information in the Lookup Rules tab. The rest remain under district control so families with students in 3 different buildings didn't have 3 different rules about which phone number to use or how a PDF password is made.

When to use this method:

It used to be that if you had different attendance codes that are to be used in different buildings but everything else is the same we'd have you use this method because it's all there was. Now there are more limited reasons to use it to maximize efficiency.

1. If you are on a shared server and your school needs different controls than the default settings such as changing what constitutes a Parent/Guardian for your independent school 
   1. This will give your school the ability to change all settings, not just Lookup Rules
2. You are on a shared server but there are more than one school in you "district" on that server
   1. Choose one school to be the "district" school and set all your settings 
   2. For the other schools, use this setting but pick "Use [that first school] Settings as Default" instead of "Do Not Link" so that they treat the first school as their district defaults 
3. If you are on a district server but all the Lookup Rules are different for you so overriding one a time doesn't make sense
   1. This will give your school the ability to change Lookup Rules only
4. If you are on a district server but have multiple things to change and there are other schools where you all follow the same rules
   1. Choose one of those schools as main school and have it go independent by choosing "Do Not Link." In a district setup this will only change the Lookup Rules, the rest will continue to follow the main District setup.
   2. For the other schools that follow the same Lookup Rules, set them to use the first school as their default by picking "Use [that first school] Settings as Default."
   3. Ex: A district has 10 elementary schools and 4 middle schools and 2 high schools. At each level they follow the same rules. Since there are more elementary schools than anything else you set the District to the elementary rules. For the high schools you pick 1 high school to be the main and Do Not Link it, allowing it to change the settings in the Lookup Rules section only. The other high school is set to "Use [high school #1] Settings as Default." Now you only need to make changes for high school #1 and the changes will also be applied automatically to the other high school. Repeat the process for the middle schools so that you only need to manually make changes to middle school #1 and it will apply to all 4 middle schools.
   4. This is more than what is needed most of the time but can be used to minimize management. The cleaner option is to use Method #1

How to set a school to as independent as allowed:

1. Navigate to System Management > Data > BrightArrow Settings


2. Click on Filters. If doing this from District Office (shown below), then select the filters in the row corresponding to the specific school you wish to alter.

3. The Filter options will slide in. At the top of the Filters window you will see the abbreviation for the school these filters apply to. Use the drop-down menu in the "Default Settings From" section to choose which filters should be applied to this school. 

What are the options? 

Default Settings From options:

• Do not link -> Settings are set here, not reliant on another school or district
  • If your account is a district account many settings will be district wide regardless of this setting. In that scenario the Roster Settings tab can still be adjusted while the others take the values from the district settings
• Use District Settings -> This is the most common setting as it simply says whatever is set for district applies to this building as well
• Use [school abbreviation] Settings -> Once a school has its own settings, another school can link to it. Unlike a copy where the values are copied and then can be changed separately, linking means the settings will continue to be controlled from the source school. A change there changes for the source school and all linked schools.
  • Ex: A shared server where 4 schools are really 1 organization. All the other schools may use their own settings but the 4 schools from the same organization can set up the settings from 1 building and then have the other 3 link to that building so they only need to manage 1.

Default:   Use District Settings as Default: the school will use the district settings by default with the exception of any changes you make using Method #1

Note: if you want to ONLY change the enrollment, attendance, grading, or fees filter settings for this school, this method is not needed. Instead, refer to the instructions above for Method #1.

What if my school building doesn't want to send reminders that the rest of the district sends? 

Beginning with BrightArrow Base v26.01.06 you can now exclude your school from being included in exports for a specific topic. It's as easy as clicking a toggle.

When to use this method:

Most of the time there's nothing to do. When we set up imports for topics such as current day attendance, we set them up for a single building at a time. This allows each school to have a separate message and for the reports to be school level. If your school doesn't want to participate in this topic we simply do not set up an import for your school. No import, no need to exclude anything.

If, however, you have automated messages going out from a district-wide list on a specific topic such as Attendance Not Taken or Health Office Visits and a school shouldn't be included in those for any reason, you can toggle the Include/Exclude option for that topic.

Ex 1: Your district sends multi-day attendance but your school doesn't want to do that
We simply do not set up a multi-day attendance import for your school and nothing else needs to be done.

Ex 2: Your district sends out teacher attendance reminders (to remind teachers they haven't taken attendance) from one list district wide. On your server you have an Outplaced school that helps you track students taking classes off campus and allows you to put classes on their schedule so things show up normally. Since these classes aren't really part of the district, they don't take attendance the same as if they were in a class on campus. You still need Outplaced included within BrightArrow for other things, just not this.
Exclude the Outplaced school from Attendance Not Taken section.

Ex 3: You have a school on your server that really doesn't need messages for any reason.
Don't use the topic Exclude options, instead turn off BrightArrow all together for this building by marking the Admin Functions as "Disabled" and make sure the "Only include Enabled schools in DEM Exports" toggle on the main settings page is set to On.

What sections can be excluded?

Only topics within the Lookup Rules tab can be set to include or exclude. 

What are the default statuses?

By default each topic within the Lookup Rules tab is set to Include this school. Since the most common setting would be to include the school we default them to Include this school and you can change them to Exclude this school if needed. By defaulting to the most common setting, it minimizes how many places you have to touch to be properly set up.

Exceptions:Lookup Rules > Enrollment tab:

1. There is no Include/Exclude as these settings are used in other places such as determining what classes to show teachers within PowerTeacher and PowerTeacher Pro. They must be included for other parts to work properly.
2. Lookup Rules > Health tab:
   Health Office Visits default to Exclude this school. Health information is very sensitive so we defaulted this so that you must definitively opt in to sending that data. For health office visits from a school to be included the default settings AND the school settings both have to be toggled to Include this school.

How do I exclude my school from a topic?

1. Navigate to System Management > Data > BrightArrow Settings


2. Click on Filters. If doing this from District Office, then select the filters in the row corresponding to the specific school you wish to alter. If doing this from within your school in PowerSchool, just click Filters (shown below). 

3. The Filter options will slide in. Click on Lookup Rules
4. Click on the tab that corresponds to the filter settings you want to exclude. This can be Attendance, Grading, or Fees. In this example we will look at Attendance. 

5. Notice the toggles to "Include this school" located to the right of any of the various settings you might want to exclude. Turn the toggle OFF to exclude your school from the reminder exports. 

6. Proceed with turning toggles off for each setting you want to exclude in Attendance, Grading, Fees, and/or Health.
7. Click Submit at the bottom of the Filters window to save your changes.