February 2023

If your school is approaching the end of the 2nd quarter, then these functions in FastDirect might need to be addressed.  Opening up teacher input for 2nd Quarter ReportCards will require:

  • Changing input for 2nd mid-quarter report cards from ‘Allow Input’ to ‘Input Complete’ in ‘ReportCard Input Controls’
  • Confirming the dates for 2nd quarter in ‘Grades’ then ‘Report Card Input Controls’
  • Changing input for 2nd quarter Report Cards from ‘Not Yet’ to ‘Allow Input’ in ‘Report Card Input Controls’
  • Having teachers go through the 2nd quarter report card input process
  • Closing the input process by changing ‘Allow Input’ to ‘Input Complete’

FDpay! Activate the online payment component to make your February even sweeter! Watch the video below to see just how simple it can be for everyone!

Registration! Registration is an important part of the school year and FastDirect can help make the process easier.  In FastDirect, you can track new student applications, re-registrations of returning students, as well as the charging and depositing of registration fees. Here is some of the information that is tracked in the Registration report:

  • The number of students for each grade level
  • The number of students returning in each grade level
  • The number of new student applications in each grade level
  • An estimated number of spots available in each grade level
  • A breakdown of each existing family and their re-registration status

Here are some other features involved in registration through FastDirect:

  • The ability to allow your parents to re-register their child online
  • A time-stamp for when the child was re-registered
  • Time stamps for when parents verify their parent information
  • The finance account for Registration 2021-2022
  • A report showing all families and if they have been charged their registration fees
  • A report showing all families and if they have paid their registration fees

Click here to watch the Registration video tutorial in MP4 format

Click here to watch the Registration video tutorial in Youtube

WildCards! WildCards are a good way to keep track of all the required forms and if parents have completed and submitted those forms to the office.  Here are other uses for WildCard:

  • Student immunizations
  • State testing scores
  • Protecting God’s Children

WildCard fields can be created for:

  • Students
  • Parents
  • Staff

Here are the steps to create a WildCard field:

  1. Click on the ‘Settings’ icon
  2. Click on the ‘People’ option in the left hand menu
  3. Click on the link that reads ‘Add/Change WildCards’
  4. In the drop down, select who you are creating the WildCard for: Staff, Parents or Students
  5. Type in the name of the WildCard field, such as ‘Immunizations’
  6. Click ‘Create New WildCard’

Registering students for next year often means forms and paperwork.  With the file upload function, you can add these forms to the Links page, send them as attachments or create links to them on the login screen.  Making these forms available online means you won’t be spending your time making copies and mailing them out. Additionally, by allowing your parents to upload files, you can have a paperless process!  After you have uploaded the forms and made them available online, your parents can fill the forms out and send them back to you through our secure FDmail eMessaging. Here is how to turn on file upload for your parents and ways to help get your parents started:

You can activate this feature either for parents or students or both. To do so, you’ll go to Settings and click on FDmail in the left hand navigation menu. Check mark the option to Allow Parent File Upload and click ‘Save Changes’.  To allow students, repeat these steps and check mark the option for Allow Student File Upload.  To learn more about file upload, click on your FAQ Icon (the blue question mark), click on the “Look in: All categories” drop-down menu, select File Upload/File Attachment and click “View FAQ”. To help teach you parents and/or students how to use the file upload tool, you can point them to the FAQ section under the heading of ‘File Upload/File Attachment’. HelpDesk would like to help you get your Registration processes set up in FastDirect. Please send an FDmail message or give HelpDesk a call when you are ready to get started.

If your school is approaching the 2nd trimester Report Card, then these functions in FastDirect might need to be addressed. Opening up teacher input for 2nd trimester Report Cards will require:

  • Changing input for 2nd mid-trimester reports from ‘Allow Input’ to ‘Input Complete’ in ‘Report Card Input Controls’
  • Confirming the dates for 2nd trimester in ‘Grades’ then ‘Report Card Input Controls’
  • Changing input for 2nd trimester Report Cards from ‘Not Yet’ to ‘Allow Input’ in ‘Report Card Input Controls’
  • Having teachers go through the 2nd trimester Report Card input process
  • Closing the input process by changing ‘Allow Input’ to ‘Input Complete’

FDpay! Activate the online payment component to make your February even sweeter! Watch the video below to see just how simple it can be for everyone!

Registration! Registration is an important part of the school year and FastDirect can help make the process easier.  In FastDirect, you can track new student applications, re-registrations of returning students, as well as the charging and depositing of registration fees. Here is some of the information that is tracked in the Registration report:

  • The number of students for each grade level
  • The number of students returning in each grade level
  • The number of new student applications in each grade level
  • An estimated number of spots available in each grade level
  • A breakdown of each existing family and their re-registration status

Here are some other features involved in registration through FastDirect:

  • The ability to allow your parents to re-register their child online
  • A time-stamp for when the child was re-registered
  • Time stamps for when parents verify their parent information
  • The finance account for Registration 2021-2022
  • A report showing all families and if they have been charged their registration fees
  • A report showing all families and if they have paid their registration fees

Click here to watch the Registration video tutorial in MP4 format

Click here to watch the Registration video tutorial in Youtube

WildCards! WildCards are a good way to keep track of all the required forms and if parents have completed and submitted those forms to the office.  Here are other uses for WildCard:

  • Student immunizations
  • State testing scores
  • Protecting God’s Children

WildCard fields can be created for:

  • Students
  • Parents
  • Staff

Here are the steps to create a WildCard field:

  1. Click on the ‘Settings’ icon
  2. Click on the ‘People’ option in the left hand menu
  3. Click on the link that reads ‘Add/Change WildCards’
  4. In the drop down, select who you are creating the WildCard for: Staff, Parents or Students
  5. Type in the name of the WildCard field, such as ‘Immunizations’
  6. Click ‘Create New WildCard’

Registering students for next year often means forms and paperwork.  With the file upload function, you can add these forms to the Links page, send them as attachments or create links to them on the login screen.  Making these forms available online means you won’t be spending your time making copies and mailing them out. Additionally, by allowing your parents to upload files, you can have a paperless process!  After you have uploaded the forms and made them available online, your parents can fill the forms out and send them back to you through our secure FDmail eMessaging. Here is how to turn on file upload for your parents and ways to help get your parents started:

You can activate this feature either for parents or students or both. To do so, you’ll go to Settings and click on FDmail in the left hand navigation menu. Check mark the option to Allow Parent File Upload and click ‘Save Changes’.  To allow students, repeat these steps and check mark the option for Allow Student File Upload.  To learn more about file upload, click on your FAQ Icon (the blue question mark), click on the “Look in: All categories” drop-down menu, select File Upload/File Attachment and click “View FAQ”. To help teach you parents and/or students how to use the file upload tool, you can point them to the FAQ section under the heading of ‘File Upload/File Attachment’. HelpDesk would like to help you get your Registration processes set up in FastDirect. Please send an FDmail message or give HelpDesk a call when you are ready to get started.

Exciting News! FastDirect Communications will be creating an app and plan to have it released for the 2023-2024 school year. More details to follow in the coming months!

New updates to FDmail! These updates include recipient fields for TO/CC/BCC, the ability for recipients to see other TO/CC recipients, and attaching multiple files!

Read this FAQ to learn more about the new updates!

In the Finance settings, finance accounts can be reordered and/or hidden, in addition to removing an account from the parents’ FDpay options. Hiding a finance account is used when you do not want parents to see any information about the account (the name, the balances, the transactions, etc.). Removing an account from FDpay only means that parents can still see the details of the account (the name, the balances, the transactions) but they can not make an online payment towards that account.

Here are the steps for reordering your finance accounts:

  1. Click the Settings Icon
  2. In the left hand menu, click on ‘Finance’
  3. Under ‘Account View Controls’ click ‘Change Account Views’
  4. For the account you would like moved, enter the new order number next to that account (when saved, all of the accounts after it will be moved down)
  5. Click the  ‘Save Changes’ button to the right of the account you are moving
  6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 for any other accounts you would like moved

Here are the steps for hiding a finance account:

  1. Click the Settings Icon
  2. In the left hand menu, click on ‘Finance’
  3. Under ‘Account View Controls’ click ‘Change Account Views’
  4. For the account you would like hidden, put a check mark under the ‘Hide’ column next to the account that you would like to hide
  5. Click the  ‘Save Changes’ button to the right of the account you are hiding
  6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 for any other accounts you would like hidden

Here are the steps for removing a finance account from the parents’ FDpay options:

  1. Click the Settings Icon
  2. In the left hand menu, click on ‘Integrations’
  3. Under  the  ‘Account Settings’ heading, there is a table showing all of the finance accounts. Place a check mark in the box in the far right column for the account you would like removed from FDpay
  4. Repeat step 3 for any other account you would like removed
  5. Click the  ‘Save Changes’ button at the top right hand corner of the page

If your school’s report cards have columns for Semester grades or Final grades, then it will be important to know how the system calculates those grades. Here is a breakdown:

  • MidTerm/Semester 1 grades are the average score of the 1st and 2nd quarter Report Card grades.
  • MidTerm/Semester 2 grades are the average score of the 3rd and 4th quarter Report Card grades.
  • Final grades are the average score of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarter Report Card grades.

If any quarterly grades are missing on a report card or if the system does not recognize the report card grade, the Semester/Final grade is computed with the average of the remaining quarterly report card grades.

Note: Semester or Final grades do not automatically import to the ReportCard! Each teacher will need to go through the ReportCard Import Process, just as they have done with each quarter’s report card grades. An administrator will need to allow input for semester or final report card grade input. If your school does not have a column for MidTerm, Semester or Final grades on their report card, please contact HelpDesk to have those added.

When viewing your finance account balances in FastDirect, each balance is a clickable link. When you click on a specific balance, you will see a list of all the transactions (deposits & charges) made to that account. Once clicked, the list of transactions will give you the following information:

  • Finance account name
  • Date of transaction (when added to FastDirect)
  • Charge or Deposit label
  • Amount of money in transaction
  • Description/note of transaction (for example, check number)

Watch this video tutorial to find out more about creating student groups for the Extended Care Log in Timer:

Download the Monthly Mentions Newsletter

Free Training and Tech Support

New to FastDirect Communications? Our newsletter is just one small way we help our schools. Our free training and tech support is a large part of what we offer. Read more!