Aeries™ Student Information System
Letters to Parents and Letter Log/Audit
May 14, 2008
The Letters to Parents is a program that will allow schools to create multipurpose letters. Currently these letters are only designed for use with
attendance for example to create SARB or Truancy letters.
The Letters to Parents form will allow the user to select which absence
codes are used to count towards each type of letter.
The Letter Text Editor will allow the user to setup these letters, and the
number of codes required for a student to receive a letter. A sequence of
these letters can be setup the same way that the Absent/Tardy Letters
program currently works within Aeries.
When the letters are generated each student that receives a letter will be
stored in the Letter Log table. The Count in Sequence (CIS) field is an
Active tag indicating whether a letter/part counts towards a sequence of
letters. A student must have an “active” tag in the letter log for the first letter
prior to receiving the second letter.
The Letter Log form will also display a Letter Audit which will be an exact
replica of the attendance data (ATT) that prompted each student to receive
each letter. The Letter Log form will also allow a Switch side to display
Letter Logs by Student, including a visual display of the letter audit for that
student.
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LETTER
TEXT EDITOR
The Letter Text Editor will allow you to setup any Multi-purpose letter.
A sequence of these letters can be also setup. Letters can be manually
added to this form and existing Absent/Tardy Letters can be copied
over from the LTR table to the LET table.
CREATE
NEW
LETTERS
FROM
EXISTING
LETTERS IN
LTR TABLE
To create new attendance letters from the existing absent/tardy letters,
click the mouse on the Create New Letters (LET) from the Existing
(LTR) button.
The following message will display. To continue, click the mouse on
the Yes button.
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All Absent and Tardy letters will be copied over from the LTR table to
the LET table and the button to copy the letters will no longer display.
ADD NEW
LETTERS
To create a new letter, click the mouse on the Add button. The
following selection box will display and default to create one attendance
letter. To create one letter, click the mouse on the OK button. To
create a sequence of letters enter a two and click the mouse on the OK
button.
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The following form will display if creating a sequence of letters. Enter
the Letter ID and press Tab. If there is a correspondence language
code for this letter click the mouse on the drop down and select the
code. Press Tab.
Enter the number of attendance codes needed for a student to receive
this letter and press Tab. To have all letters default to the Absence
Codes or Tardy Codes currently flagged to print on letters click the
mouse on the box.
Click the mouse on the OK button and the Letter Text Editor form will
display. Press Tab to the Correspondence Language Association
field. Enter a Language Code or leave blank if one does not apply.
Press Tab.
Enter the Total number of Attendance Codes needed for a student
to receive this letter and press Tab. Type the remainder of the letter
combined with text and field names. After the letter is complete, click
the Exit button at the bottom of the form.
NOTE:
ALL field names MUST have a square bracket surrounding them
with no space within the brackets. But there must be a space
between each field.
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LETTERS TO
PARENTS
The Print Letters to Parents form is utilized to select which
attendance codes will count towards the Letter ID to be printed.
Click the mouse on the Print Letter drop down and select the Letter
ID, for example Absent. To select the attendance codes that will
count towards the letter to print click the mouse on the absence codes
displayed on the right hand side.
Buttons are also available at the bottom of the list. The ALL button
will select every code setup in the Absence code table. The Abs
button will select ALL codes flagged as Absence codes and the Tdy
button will select ALL codes flagged as Tardy. After utilizing these
buttons you will need to de-select the codes that you do not want used
towards the attendance letters.
NOTE:
ONLY letters titled Absent or Tardy will update the Student Letter
Tags STU.LT and STU.L2 after printing as well as the Letter Log.
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The Print Options tab contains various options available when
printing this letter.
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Print Upper Case for both Addresses
Return Address – District, School or None
Whether or not to include the school/district name
Whether or not to include the school/district telephone
Select to print on double window envelopes with the option to
Center the Student Address
Print the date on the left, center, right or no date at all
Select to Print the Student’s name
Print letter to Contacts
Print all prior Letter Dates on the letter to parent
Sort letter by Student name, grade, zip code or counselor
name or number
Print Preview the letters before printing
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The Student Options tab contains various options available when
printing this letter.
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Use ALL Day attendance codes instead of period
Count individual period attendance codes for totals
Combine All Period Attendance Codes when calculating
absences
Use ALL Day and period attendance codes for totals and the
option to Require period codes to occur on different dates
Date range for absences
Update the Letter Log after printing letters
Update the Student Letter tag after printing
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After all options are selected click the mouse on the Part drop down
and select the part to print.
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Part 0 – Print All Parts for this Letter ID
Part 1 – print first letter according to the number of absences
Part 2 – print second letter according to number of absences
Part 3 – prints third letter according to the number of absences
To print the letter, click the mouse on the Print Letters button. The
number of absences will be calculated and a letter will be generated
for these students. The following is an example of an absent letter
generated.
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After the letters are generated and the form is Closed the following
message will display. Clicking the mouse on Yes will store the
students and their attendance in the LTL and LEA table.
To zero out the letter counters and re-run letters click the mouse on
the Zero Student button and Print Letters again.
Immediately after letters have been generated additional options can
be generated.
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NOTE:
Print School Copy – will print a copy of the absent letter in
English for the school
Print Labels – will print address labels for all students
receiving letters
Print List – will generate a list of all students receiving a letter
If the Zero Student Abs/Tdy Letter Counter is utilized the CIS field
in the Letter Log will be changed to NO.
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LETTER LOG
AND LETTER
AUDIT
The Letter Log form displays any student that received a particular
letter when letters were generated from the Letters to Parents form.
A Switch button is also available to display Letter Logs by Student.
The Letter Log and Letter Logs by Student will also display a Letter
Audit which will be an exact replica of the attendance data (ATT) that
prompted each student to receive each letter. This data will be stored
in the LEA table.
Please note that a Letter Audit CANNOT display for previously
generated letters prior to this new option. This is due to no
previous records created and stored in the LEA table.
After selecting the Letter ID the left hand side of the form will display
the Letter Log which will include the students that received the letter,
the date the letter was created and the individual that generated the
letters.
The school that created these letters will display under the Schl field.
If 000 displays these records were created prior to this new option and
the school code could not be saved.
The Count in Sequence field is an Active tag indicating whether a
letter counts towards a sequence of letters. For example, a student
MUST have a Yes in the letter log for the Absent 1 letter prior to
receiving the Absent 2 letter.
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After selecting a student from the Letter Log the Letter Audit will
display on the right side of the form. The Letter Audit contains
duplicate records of the attendance data that prompted the student to
receive this letter. If there is no data available for the student selected
a message will display.
The Letter Log form defaults to display in student number order and
includes all records from the LTL table regardless whether or not they
were flagged to count in the Count in Sequence field. Various
options are available to limit or sort the data to be displayed.
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The Letter Log can be Limited by Date to only display a particular
date that letters were generated. Select Limit Date at the top of the
form and click the mouse on the drop down. The dates displayed are
Letter ID specific. Click the mouse on a particular date.
The Letter Log form will now only display the records in the LTL table
for the date selected.
The Letter Log can be Limited by User to only display a particular
person that generated the letters. Select Limit User at the top of the
form and click the mouse on the drop down. The users displayed are
Letter ID specific. Click the mouse on a particular user.
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The Letter Log form will now only display the records in the LTL table
for the user selected.
There are also options at the bottom of the form that can be selected
to sort or limit records. Select the Sort by Student Name to change
the records to display alphabetically by student name instead of by
student number. Select Include Inactives? to also display inactive
students that have received letters.
Select Limit to Count in Sequence to only display students that were
flagged to count in the Count in Sequence field and only records with
a Yes in the Cnt? field will display
If data is limited and a different Letter ID is selected the form can
display records located based on the criteria selected. But if there is
no data available the following message will display at the top of the
form.
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There are options available at the bottom of the form to re-select a
different Letter ID. Clicking the mouse on the Forward button will
display the next Letter ID in alphabetical order. Clicking the mouse
on the Backward button will display the previous Letter ID.
Clicking the mouse on the Get button will display the following text box
to enter a specific Letter ID to be displayed.
The Delete button is utilized to delete a particular student from the
Letter ID displayed. Select the student and click the mouse on the
Delete button. The following message will display. Verify this is the
correct student. Click the mouse on Yes to continue and the student
will no longer display.
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A particular report can be generated for the Letter ID displayed. The
Limit options can also be selected to only print various records. Click
the mouse on the Print button. The following message will display.
To Include the Letter Audit records click the mouse on the Yes
button. To only print the Letter Log records click the mouse on the
No button.
The following is an example of the Letter Log report without Letter
Audit records.
The following is an example of the Letter Log report with Letter Audit
records.
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The Switch button in the far right hand corner will allow you to change
back and forth between the Letter Log form and the Letter Logs by
Student form.
Click the mouse on the Switch button to change to the Letter Logs
by Student form The following form will display and letters generated
will be displayed in Date order for the student selected.
There are options at the bottom of the form that can be selected to
limit or sort the records displayed. Select the Sort by Letter ID to
display the records in alphabetical order by Letter ID instead of by
date. Select Include Inactives? to also display inactive students that
have received letters.
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Select Limit to Count in Sequence to only display student records
that were flagged to count in the Count in Sequence field and only
records with a Yes in the Cnt? field will display
If data is limited and a different student is selected the form can
display records located based on the criteria selected. But if there is
no data available the following message will display at the top of the
form.
There are options available at the bottom of the form to re-select a
different student. Clicking the mouse on the Forward button will
display the next student in alphabetical order. Clicking the mouse on
the Backward button will display the previous student.
Clicking the mouse on the Get button will display the Select Student
from List option to select a specific student to be displayed.
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The Delete button is utilized to delete a particular Letter ID from the
student displayed. Select the Letter ID and click the mouse on the
Delete button. The following message will display. Verify this is the
correct student and Letter. Click the mouse on Yes to continue and
the letter will no longer display.
A particular report can be generated for the student displayed. The
Limit options can also be selected to only print various records. Click
the mouse on the Print button. The following message will display.
To Include the Letter Audit records click the mouse on the Yes
button. To only print the Letter Log records click the mouse on the
No button.
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The following is an example of the Letter Log report without Letter
Audit records.
The following is an example of the Letter Log report with Letter Audit
records.
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New Attendance Letters Tables
The following are detailed explanations for the new Attendance Letter tables added to
Aeries for the new Letters to Parents and Letter Text Editor programs.
LET - this table is similar to the LTR table. The fields are used in much the same way.
The main difference is that you no longer need a distinct letter ID for each part and
correspondence language (i.e. “Absent 1/Spanish”). Now the letter will be named
“Absent” (ID), “1” (PT), “01” (HL) with “01” being an example for Spanish Language
code.
This table is modified through the Letter Text Editor form and printed from the Letters
to Parents form. The Letter Type (TY) automatically sets to “A” for Attendance (field is
currently hidden). This field will eventually allow variations of Fee, Query, Scheduling,
Textbook and other letters as requested.
The Security Lock (SL) field was added to allow districts to lock changes and even the
ability to print certain letters from school sites. This field is not yet enforced, but will
work in the following manner:
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Unlocked (SL=False): Allow schools to print and change.
District Letter Locked (SC=0 and SL=True): Do not allow schools to print or
change.
School Letter Locked (SC<>0 and SL=True): Allow schools to print but not
allow changes to be made.
LEC - The new letter code table allows users to select which attendance codes count
towards the letter selected. The Absent/Tardy letter table is hard-coded with the codes
that count based on their definition in the Absence Code Table (ABS).
LEA - The new letter audit table is currently not in use. It is an exact replica of the
attendance data (ATT) that prompted each student to receive each letter. Logic to
update this table, along with a form and report to view it will be available soon.
LTL - The letter log table has two new fields relating to the new letter changes. Count in
Sequence (CIS) and School Received At (SCL). The CIS field tags whether a letter/part
counts towards a sequence of letters, basically an “Active” tag. Allan Abbott must have
an “active” SARB 1 letter in the letter log prior to receiving SARB 2. The SCL field
simply stores which School a student is attending when they receive a letter.
The Letter Log form will undergo a modification to allow the “Switch” side to display
Letter Logs by Student. The Letter Audit table information will also be available to view
from the “Switch” side of Letter Log.
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Tables, Fields and Permissions Setup
The LET Table is used by the new Attendance Letters program. Permissions should be
set the same as the current LTR table.
*SC
*ID
*PT
*HL
TY
NO
T1
T2
SL
School Code
Letter ID
Part
Home Language
Letter Type
Number of (attendance) codes to get this letter ID, part
Text 1 (top section)
Text 2 (bottom section)
Security Lock (True/False)
The LEC Table is used by the new Attendance Letters program. Permissions should be
set the same as the current LTR table.
*SC
*ID
*CD
IC
School Code
Letter ID
Codes
Include Code?
The LEA Table is used by the new Attendance Letters program. Permissions should be
set the same as the current LTR table but there should not be any delete permissions
because this is an audit trail type table.
*SC
*SN
DY
CD
PR
GR
TR
TN
AL
A0
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
A7
A8
A9
DT
RS
NS
AP1
AP2
School Code
Student Number
Day number
Enter/leave code
Program code
Grade level
Track code
Teacher number
All day code
Period 0 code
Period 1 code
Period 2 code
Period 3 code
Period 4 code
Period 5 code
Period 6 code
Period 7 code
Period 8 code
Period 9 code
Date
Enrollment Reason
Next School
Attendance Program 1
Attendance Program 2
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