Security

Adding and Editing Contacts

Edit Notification Preferences (Aeries Communications)

Copying Contacts

Linking Contacts

Contacts Header

Contact Field


Overview

Navigate to Student Data > Contacts


The Contacts page is used to store the contact information for Parents/Guardians, Emergency Contacts and others who are authorized to pick up Students.


Contacts page showing Emergency contacts


Security

TablePermissionDescription
Contacts (CON)Read
Insert
Update


Delete
View Contacts
Add Contacts
Edit Contact Information - Field Level Security is enforceable and recommended
Delete Contacts



Adding and Editing Contacts

Individual contact records may be added by clicking the Add button. Fields that have been defined as required fields are highlighted in Blue. Contacts may also be Added and edited by Parents in the Parent Portal during a Parent Data Confirmation window or when allowed by the settings in the School Options  > Contacts tab.


Form for adding and editing contacts


Both a First Name and Last Name should always be used. This automatically populates the Mailing Name of the Contact. The Verification Date is the Date the Contact Information, such as the Address, was verified. 


Contact record name fields


If the Lives With field is set to Yes, the user is prompted to populate the Contact's address with the Student's address.

Contact record address



The next section deals with Demographic information about the Contact



  • CON.RL - Relationship - Codes are set up on the Update Code Table page
  • CON.PC - Primary Contact - Yes/No
  • CON.ERH - Ed Rights Holder - yes/no
  • CON.CD - Record Type - Used to designate which Contacts are Parent/Guardians. Codes are set up on the Update Code Table page
  • CON.NP - Notification Preference - hard-coded dropdown used with Aeries Communications
  • CON.AN - Attendance Notification - Used with Aeries Communications. A "Blank" is treated like a "Yes".
  • CON.MT - Mail Tag - hard-coded dropdown. Generally used with Non-Guardian Contacts such as Parents that do not live with the Student.
  • CON.OR - Order the Contacts appear on the page. This updates when Contacts are re-ordered.
  • CON.ES - Enrolled the Student - yes/no 
  • CON.TL - Home Telephone
  • CON.WP - Work Phone
  • CON.WX - Work Phone Extension
  • CON.CP - Mobile Phone
  • CON.PA - Pager
  • CON.CL - Correspondence Language
  • CON.ELV - Contact Education Level - When the District requires Parent Ed Levels, this also updates STU.PED. Codes are set up on the Update Code Table page
  • CON.BD - Contact Birth Date
  • CON.TB - TB Test Status
  • CON.TBE - TB Test Expiration Date
  • CON.FP - Fingerprint Status


For Parent/Guardian Contacts, the Email address and Portal? fields should be filled out. Each Parent must have their own email address.  If the School is using Automated Portal Account Creation, entering an email triggers the creation of Portal accounts.  If Auto/Mass Create Portal accounts is not enabled the field has no effect on Portal Accounts. It is not recommended to enter Email addresses of other Contacts.


Contact portal information


  • CON.EM - Email Address
  • CON.AP - Portal? - yes/no
  • CON.ENM - Employer Name
  • CON.ELC - Employer Location


There are 8 User fields available for use.  Codes can be set up on the Update Code Table page in CON.U1-U8.  Custom captions can also be set for these fields.

Contact record User fields


When adding a new contact record, the Entered Date field is automatically populated with today's date. This date may be edited depending on the needs of the District.

Contact entered date



The Con Order field shows the order of the Contact in the page, however, contacts that have the Red Flag set always display at the top of the list.

Contact order field


The Drag and Drop icon can be used to change the Contact Order.  The icon does not display on contacts that have the Red Flag as they always display at the top of the list.


Contact record Sort icon


Choosing a Code for Lock prevent Parents from editing the Contact.  The codes can be added on the Update Code Table page for the CON.LK field.


Contact lock field


Locked contact record



Military fields are also available on the contacts page. These fields may be used to track information that may be useful for Schools that reside in communities with a high population of Parents enlisted in the military.  Codes can be set up on the Update Code Table page in CON.MU1-MU5. Custom captions can be set for these also.


Contact record military fields


Edit Notification Preferences (Aeries Communications)

For Aeries Communications customers - ParentSquare, there is a setting to be able to change a parents' Communications notification preferences. This will allow staff to change the way a parent receives Communications.  

This requires the following permissions: 

  • Read and Update to Contacts (CON). 
  • Read and Update to the Notification Preferences in Communications area of the Aeries Communication security section.
  • Read to the ParentSquare area of the SAML Service Providers section.


To add these permission to Users: navigate to Security > Groups and select the group(s) to add the permissions.

To add these permission to Parents: navigate to Security > Portal Groups and select the "Parent" group to add the permissions.



Also, on the Portal Options page, either the Contact editing or Parent Data Change Windows need to be open for parents to edit contact records.

The icon with the 'Cog' wheel will display for each contact record.



NOTE: The cogwheel icon will not display if Aeries Communications is not enabled for the district or a service provider record does not exist on the SAML configuration page in schools that have it enabled. See documentation Aeries Communications - Parent Square Initial configuration.


Clicking the 'Cog' wheel opens the Notification Preferences form. After selections are made, the preferences are updated in Aeries Communications after the Save button is clicked. Parents can also update their preferences through the Communications link found on the navigation of the Parent Portal or on the Contacts page in the Portal if permissions have been given.



If a parent updates their Notification Settings in ParentSquare (found on the My Account page), the changes will sync to Aeries and the changes will be reflected on the Notification Preferences window of their contact record in Aeries.




NOTE: Only Alerts that have been activated can be modified. For example, if a parent does not have the Text Messages or the App enabled in ParentSquare, they will not be able to edit this setting. Within Parent Square notification settings, a red symbol will display indicating that this feature is disabled for the parent's account.



Copying Contacts

Contacts may be copied by clicking the Copy button, navigating to another Student and clicking Paste.


Copy Contact icon


Contact paste record icon


Linking Contacts

If Contact Linking has been enabled for your District, two Phone numbers may be chosen to be displayed on the Contact tab of the Student information bar, the Demographics page and on various reports. These replace the Mother's Work and Father's Work phone numbers.


Contact phone numbers in student information bar


Note: This feature must be configured by enabling the rule on the District Settings page. When enabled, an initialization process runs that attempts to link the existing phone numbers on the Demographics page with a Contact.


Contact record linking icon


Clicking the Link icon displays a popup allowing the uUser to select which phone numbers from the selected Contact display in the Primary 1 or Primary 2 fields. Existing links are displayed and the Description can be edited.  The Description updates the label on the Demographics page.


When linked, the phone numbers are stored in CON.C1F and CON.C2F and copied to STU.FW, STU.FX, STU.MW, and STU.MX.  The Description is stored  in the CON.C1D and CON.C2D.  These four CON fields are not editable from the Contacts page directly but by using the Link button.


Contact record link form



NOTE: When deleting a contact, best practice is to unlink the contact prior to deletion. 



Contacts Header

The Student Contacts header contains a Full Contact List button  that displays the Contacts for a Student. 


Contacts header on student information bar


The information on the page can be printed with the Print button. 


Full contact list print button


Contact Fields

Below is a listing of all available Contact (CON) fields. Note: dropdown fields that are tied to code-table managed are noted.

  • CON.LK - Lock - code table dropdown
  • CON.PF - Prefix
  • CON.LN - Last Name
  • CON.FN - First Name
  • CON.MN - Middle Name
  • CON.SF - Suffix
  • CON.NM - Mailing Name
  • CON.VDT - Verification Date
  • CON.LW - Lives With? - yes/no
  • CON.AD - Address
  • CON.CY - City
  • CON.ST - State
  • CON.ZC - Zip Code
  • CON.ZX - Zip Code Extension
  • CON.AT - Address Type - code table dropdown
  • CON.RF - Red Flag
  • CON.RL - Relationship - code table dropdown
  • CON.PC - Primary Contact - yes/no
  • CON.ERH - Ed Rights Holder - yes/no
  • CON.CD - Record Type - code table dropdown
  • CON.NP - Notification Preference - hard-coded dropdown used with Aeries Communications
  • CON.AN -Attendance Notification - Used with Aeries Communications
  • CON.MT - Mail Tag - hard-coded dropdown
  • CON.OR - Order
  • CON.ES - Enrolled the Student - yes/no 
  • CON.TL - Home Telephone
  • CON.WP - Work Phone
  • CON.WX - Work Phone Extension
  • CON.CP - Mobile Phone
  • CON.PA - Pager
  • CON.CL - Correspondence Language
  • CON.ELV - Contact Education Level - code table dropdown
  • CON.BD - Contact Birth Date
  • CON.TB - TB Test Status
  • CON.TBE - TB Test Expiration Date
  • CON.FP - Fingerprint Status
  • CON.FPD - Fingerprint Date
  • CON.EM - Email Address
  • CON.AP - Portal? - yes/no
  • CON.ENM - Employer Name
  • CON.ELC - Employer Location
  • CON.OC - Occupation
  • CON.U1 - User field - code table dropdown
  • CON.U2 - User field - code table dropdown
  • CON.U3 - User field - code table dropdown
  • CON.U4 - User field - code table dropdown
  • CON.U5 - User field - code table dropdown
  • CON.U6 - User field - code table dropdown
  • CON.U7 - User field - code table dropdown
  • CON.U8 - User field - code table dropdown
  • CON.CT1 - Additional Contact 1 Code - code table dropdown
  • CON.CN1 - Additional Contact 1 Value
  • CON.CT2 - Additional Contact 2 Code - code table dropdown
  • CON.CN2 - Additional Contact 2 Value
  • CON.CT3 - Additional Contact 3 Code - code table dropdown
  • CON.CN3 - Additional Contact 3 Value
  • CON.CT4 - Additional Contact 4 Code - code table dropdown
  • CON.CN4 - Additional Contact 4 Value
  • CON.ME - Comment
  • CON.ED - Entered Date
  • CON.MBR - Military Branch - code table dropdown
  • CON.MRA - Military Rank - code table dropdown
  • CON.MTG - Military Status - code table dropdown
  • CON.MSN - Military Supervisor
  • CON.MSP - Military Supervisor's Phone
  • CON.MU1 - Military User 1 - code table dropdown
  • CON.MU1 - Military User 2 - code table dropdown
  • CON.MU1 - Military User 3 - code table dropdown
  • CON.MU1 - Military User 4 - code table dropdown
  • CON.MU1 - Military User 5 - code table dropdown
  • CON.C1F - Contact Linking 1 Field
  • CON.C1D - Contact Linking 1 Description
  • CON.C2F - Contact Linking 2 Field
  • CON.C2D - Contact Linking 2 Description
  • CON.DTS - Date Timestamp Last Updated