Manage Parent/Student Accounts
Overview
This article covers various procedures for managing Parent and Student Portal Accounts
Security
| Table | Permission | Description |
| District Options | Admin Only | |
| Parent Web Accounts (PWA) | Admin Users with Administer to PWA | View Manage Parent/Student Accounts page Delete Portal Accounts |
Portal Account Passwords ↑
Navigate to School Info > School Options at the District Level
The District can choose whether to allow Portal Users to change their own passwords and emails.
Password requirements can be defined by each School on the Configure Password Requirements page.
Resetting Account passwords ↑
If a Portal User forgets their password, they can reset it by clicking the Forgot Password? link on the login page. After clicking the link, the parent enters their email address and clicks Next.
If the email address entered matches an existing account, an email is sent containing a link and instructions to reset their password. The text of this email is not customizable.
If the email address entered does not match an existing account, the User is presented with a message informing them that the email address could not be matched to an account.
At this point the User should contact the school for assistance. The school can check if there is an existing account. If not, they can provide the information necessary to create an account.
If Automatic Account creation is enabled, then enter the email address into the Contact record to automatically generate an account.
If the user has changed their email address, but still has access to their old email account, they could reset their password using their old email address, then change their email address after logging in.
Having Parents/Students reset their own passwords is the typical option, however, passwords may also be reset via a Change query. The password is stored in the PWA.PW field. After resetting their password in this manner, the parent can immediately log in without the need to verify an email. Changing a password to “welcome” or “changeme” requires the user to change the password the next time they log in.
NOTE: If a CHANGE Query is used to reset a password you need to take into account PWA.HT (HashType) and PWA.SLT (Salt)
Example:
CHANGE PWA PW TO "welcome" HT TO -1 SLT TO (( '' )) IF EM = "someone@parenting.org"
Admin users also have the option to reset all Parent/Student Portal Account passwords
Locked Portal Accounts ↑
Parent and student accounts can be locked out of the portal after 10 failed login attempts. The lockout lasts for 5 minutes before allowing the user to try again and a message displays on the login page. Refer to the password reset information in this document if a password reset is needed.
Changing account type ↑
Each portal account is tagged as either a Parent or Student. Occasionally there may be the need to change an account type from Parent to Student or vice versa. For example, a Parent may have set up their account as a Student account and cannot access Data Confirmation. Or a Student registered as a Parent. The account type can be modified via a Change query. The account type is stored as a “P” or “S” value in the TY field of the PWA table.
Manage Parent/Student Accounts ↑
Navigate to Portal Managment > Manage Parent/Student Accounts
The Manage Parent/Student Accounts form can manage several portal account-related tasks. The user can search either by account email address or student ID number. When searching, be sure to set the appropriate Account Type and Account Status, and click Refresh. Typically, users Show All to show all accounts.
Emulating a parent account – Clicking the blue person icon next to an account allows the current user to log in as the parent, without knowing the parent’s or student’s password. This is useful when troubleshooting account issues with parents, or when testing security setup.
Removing a student from an account - To remove a student from a parent account, click the red X on the right side of the screen. Clicking this disassociates the student from the parent account.
Note: if the student is at multiple schools, removing one school removes them all.
Removing an account - To remove an account altogether, click the red X on the left side of the screen next to the email address. This deletes the account completely.
Resending account verification email – Clicking on the envelope icon resends the account confirmation email. This is only applicable for accounts that are still Pending.
This page also displays other PWA related information including account ID, account status, account type, last login date, and last login IP address for easy reference.
Note: Users need Administer permission to the Parent/Student Portal Accounts (PWA) security area to access this page.
When deleting an account, an email is sent to the parent like the example below:
If a student is removed from an account, the below email is sent to the email address of the account:
It's also worth mentioning that the Student Profile Page contains a section showing any parent or student accounts linked to that student, as well as the last login date. This can be accessible by any user to see what accounts are linked to an individual student. The date displayed pulls from the PWA.CDT (Current Login Date) field.
Database Field Information ↑
Below is a list of common database tables and fields used with parent portal account management. These consist of the PWA table which stores parent and student portal accounts, and the PWS table which stores students associated to portal accounts.
PWA Table
PWA.AID – Account ID. Automatically assigned.
PWA.EM – Account email address. This is the username of the account.
PWA.PW – Password (hashed). Plain text is also accepted in this field.
PWA.MS – (not used)
PWA.ED – (not used)
PWA.MED – (not used)
PWA.PLC – Password Last Changed. The date and time the password was last changed. If set to NULL, the password was never changed by the user, and they may be prompted to reset it upon first login. See automated account creation for details.
PWA.PCC – Email Code/Password Change Code. Used in conjunction with the confirmation email, or reset password email.
PWA.AST – Account Status. P = Pending (did not confirm email yet) or (blank) = Confirmed
PWA.TY – Account Type. Valid values are P for Parent, or S for Student.
PWA.PID – Primary student ID. This student ID is shown first when the parent logs in. Typically, this is the first student added to their account.
PWA.LN – (not used)
PWA.FN – (not used)
PWA.LC – Login count
PWA.LIP – Last IP address
PWA.LDT – Date and time of last login.
PWA.CIP – Current IP address
PWA.CDT – Date and time of current login. When a parent/student logs in, the current value of PWA.CDT gets copied to PWA.LDT, then PWA.CDT gets updated.
PWA.LPR – Date and time of last page request from the parent portal. This field only gets updated when browsing the parent/student portal, not when using the mobile app.
PWA.CD – Creation Date.
PWA.XD – Expiration Date. If this field is populated with a date, the user is not allowed to login after that date. The user is presented with a message “This account has expired.” on the login page on after the date specified.
PWA.ADM – Admin Account Flag. Administrative account for testing. Accounts with this field set to 1 always see Data Confirmation, disables emailing, and is generally be hidden in the system. This flag must be set via a CHANGE query or SQL Server query.
PWA.CP - (not used)
PWA.SLT – Password Salt
PWA.FA – First Action. Used in conjunction with the School of Choice process
PWA.HT - Hash Type
PWS Table
PWS.AID – Account ID. Relates to PWA table.
PWS.ID – Student ID.
PWS.AST – Status
PWS.PCC – Password Change Code