PT: Push requests

Jan 23, 2018

When running regular parent/teacher interviews there are on occasion parents that we want to book interviews in order to discuss aspects of their child’s education.  To achieve this end we can configure a ‘push-request’ that will be emailed to the parent requesting them to make a booking.

Enabling Push Requests

This only needs to be done once.

  1. Go to the School Settings page and the PT tab
  2. Click the ‘Edit’ link (top right of the page)
  3. Check the option for ‘Push Requests’
  4. Click the ‘Save’ button
You have now enabled Push Requests for your school.

Where are Push Requests valid?

Push Request are valid on:

  • Regular parent/teacher interviews
  • Student led conferencing
They are not valid on other interview rounds.

Creating the Push Requests

To create a push request:

  1. Click the ‘Push Requests’ button in the Options column (below the ‘View my bookings’ button).  If you don’t see a ‘Push Requests’ button ensure you have enabled Push Requests and that this is a valid type of interview round.
  2. The application will display a list of all current Push Requests for this interview round.
  3. Firstly we need to identify the parent and student:
    1. If the parent has previously registered for interviews you can use the ‘Lookup’ button to search the current list of parents
    2. If the parent has not previously registered for interviews you can use the ‘Add’ button to add new details for this parent
  4. You are required to enter the parent’s email address (if not from an existing record).  This email address should be unique to the parent
  5. The parent’s name is optional, however it may help identify the parent
  6. You are also required to enter the student’s name and select a year level
  7. Click ‘Save’
  8. The following dialog will allow you to select the name of each teacher (one at a time).  As you select each staff member they will be added to a list of teachers the parent should book with
  9. The list of added teachers also have an ‘x’ next to each name – use this to remove an incorrectly selected teacher
  10. Click ‘Save’
There should be only one Push Request per student.  The parent may receive more than one request where they have multiple children at the school.

Sending the Push Requests

Once sent the options to delete the request or add additional teachers will no longer be available.  If you have accidentally sent a request and have additional teachers you will need to begin a new request.  Use the ‘Look up’ button to locate the parent and create a new request.

Timing is important.  This is the sequence of events we recommend:

  1. Configure the interview rounds, access dates and times, etc
  2. Staff begin marking their availability / unavailability
  3. Staff complete marking their availability / unavailability
  4. Send Push Requests at this point, a few days prior to the interview round opening for parents, allowing these parents a period of early booking access
  5. Parent access opens for general booking
  6. Parent booking closes
  7. The interviews take place
  8. Parent access closes
  9. Staff access closes
The important aspect to remember is that Push Requests are emailed to the parent, as soon as the parent receives the request they will have access to begin making those bookings.

The email and parent link

The emailed Push Request will contain a link that the parent will click in order to make the bookings.  The link contains all of the information necessary for booking the interview, with the single exception of the interview times.  When the parent clicks this link it should open a page in their web browser, taking them directly to the page where they click on available time slots.   The parent is not prompted for any identification, student information or staff names – all of this information is included in the link.
There is no need to await the parent access open date/time. The parent is encouraged to click the link as soon as possible to take advantage of this early booking access.
The email subject will be the same the interview round description.
The email contains text similar to the following:

{Your school name will appear here}

The school is requesting you to book an interview regarding {the student’s name is inserted here}

Please click the link below to make these bookings. This is a priority booking process that allows you to book prior to other parents having access, so please do not wait – book now for your most convenient time slots.

Select booking times

 

Resending the Push Request

At any time you can use the ‘Push Requests’ button to view the status of the push requests.  There are three states a request can be in.

  1. Building the push request: At this stage you can add and remove teachers and you can still delete the entire request.
  2. Sent request: At this stage an email has been dispatched to the parent, you can not undo this action.  The request can no longer be updated or deleted.
  3. Booked by the parent: This stage is only an indication that the parent has been in and clicked on at least one time slot.  However, the parent may also have deleted that booking, and may not have booked with all of the teachers requested.
You can resend the push request, however it will only be a copy of the original request sent, you can’t make any modifications.