Mar 1, 2021

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.

Where are Push Requests valid?

Push Request are valid on:

• Regular parent/teacher interviews
• Student led conferencing / Course counselling
• Enrolment interviews
• Parent meeting with a senior staff member
• MAI testing

They are not valid on other interview rounds.

Creating the Push Requests

To create a push request simply click on the “Push Requests” row

An additional screen of instructions will appear along with two buttons, one to import Push request data, and the second to manually enter a Push request.

The application will require four pieces of information, you can enter this manually or you can import it using a CSV file format:

1. The parent’s email address
2. The student’s first name
3. The student’s surname
4. The staff members username (SOBS login name)

Sending the Push Requests

Use the “Send…” option in the menu to email these requests to the parent.

If there are any email errors or late additions, you can modify the push request and resend individual entries.

Timing is important

This is the sequence of events we recommend:

1. Configure the interview rounds, access dates and times, etc. If all of your interviews are being imported as push requests set the parent access date after the interview round – this will block parents from making random bookings in this round.
2. Staff mark their availability / unavailability
3. 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. A push request will override the normal parent access date/time.
4. Parent access opens for general booking
5. Parent booking closes
6. The interviews take place

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 to make their booking. If a parent has multiple children involved in the round, they should receive two links, one for each student.  

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.

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 edit the details or 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.