August 2020
The beginning of school can be a crazy time but HelpDesk is here to make it easier. With the start of school quickly approaching, FastDirect wants to make sure your school is ready. In addition to completing the Summer Transition steps, there are several other items to be addressed. To stay on top of the many features and settings that need to be reviewed for the start of school, we have created a checklist for administrators, as well as separate ones for teachers and parents. Click the links below to view the checklists, as well as click here to view our Summer Timeline.
Here are the three different checklists we’ve created:
Click here to view the administrator checklist!
Click here to view the teacher checklist!
Click here to view the parent checklist!
HelpDesk is available to help guide you through these steps – just contact HelpDesk with an FDmail message or call our toll free number 866.805.3116.
Parents can now schedule automatic online payments in FDpay! If you have activated FDpay, our payments processing feature, then your parents can now set up and schedule automatic payments. We have released this process now so that automatic payments for tuition can be set up by parents as soon as possible. Following this update, we will also release the Admin functionality for scheduled payments.
Don’t have FDpay? Click here to find out more about it or Activate it here.
Click here to learn how to schedule automatic or recurring payments? (for parents)
Besides completing your Administrator Checklist for the new school year, you should also know that we can help with your Distance Learning Plan. We are offering virtual trainings as a part of the Distance Learning Initiative for the schools at a very affordable rate. These trainings are ideal for teachers or other staff members at your site who might need some extra support adapting to online learning. Some of the topics include Google classroom 101, Zoom, Flipgrid and many others.
If you think that your staff could benefit from this training, you can start by filling out this survey! You can also contact David at HelpDesk for any questions or concerns.
Besides completing your Teacher Checklist for the new school year, we also wanted to remind you that we have a Standards and Domains component for GradeBook. This component also contains grade book printouts (reports) that can include events as either ‘Formative’ or ‘Independent’ or neither. If you are interested in finding out more about the Standards and Domains component, contact HelpDesk either with an FDmail message or calling our toll free number 866-805-3116.
Besides checking out the Parent Checklist, we want you to know that FastDirect offers online payments. With FDpay, your school can accept credit card and debit card payments from parents for anything from tuition to yearbooks! Parents are able to pay for a variety of school-related fees without having to leave their FastDirect parent account!
Here are some of the great features of FDpay:
- Convenience for Parents – making online payments is fast and easy
- Schedule automatic online payments (click here to find out how!)
- Credit & Debit Card payments updated immediately in FastDirect
- Electronic receipts for parents sent immediately in their FDmail
If this is something your school could benefit from, let the school’s administrators know you’re interested in using FDpay!
- Archiving old finance accounts.
- How do I clock in and clock out a student in Timer?
- Distance Learning or eLearning Overview.
Helpful FAQs from August 2019:
- How do I add a new teacher, staff, or admin account into the FastDirect system?
- How can I clean up or re-order my staff list?
- How do I change the prices of a menu item?
- How to setup the cafeteria menu, even when using generic item descriptions.
Helpful FAQs from August 2018:
Watch this video tutorial to find out how to turn on File Manager for parents!
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