Giving your staff login access

Aug 2, 2021

SOBS utilises a shared list of staff for use across all of the applications your school subscribes to. So if you are able to login into one application, it is very likely you have access to the other applications as well. When a school uses more than one application a “Switch application” link will appear just below the SOBS logo.

Not all staff will require access to every application. Applications like Permission Slips, Enrolments, and Subject Selection will only require staff entries for those staff needing access.

For applications like Parent Booking, Resource Booking and Student Attendance you will be wanting to create entries for each staff member.

Adding staff manually

If you are adding staff manually in the “Staff list” area, then you will use the “Add a staff member” action menu option (in the action menu at the top right of the table)

The key elements of the staff record are:

  • Username: This is required and must be unique within your school. Normal rules apply for a username, such as alpha-numeric characters, plus some specials, but no spaces. It must be at least one character but no more than 255 characters long. Generally we recommend the first part of your email address as the username, this is unique and also easy for staff to remember.
  • Email: This is recommended. We do not send any spam email and we do not supply email addresses to any 3rd parties. The email address is required for the password recovery option.
  • The staff members first name and surname are highly recommended.
  • A password is also recommended, but if not specified a random password will be generated.
  • By default staff will be allocated a “Staff” security level.

On the staff entry form you will find these options:

The “Change-pw-flag” when checked will force the staff member to set their own password when they next login.

To specify a temporary password check the box for “Specify a password” – the check box will be replaced with a text field where you can enter a password.

In addition to the password text field there is an additional check box to email the user a copy of their username, password and a URL to access SOBS.

Reset all user passwords

From the staff list, use the action menu at the top right of the table to access an option that allows you to reset all staff passwords.

When you select “Reset all passwords” a dialog will appear allowing you to specify a temporary password.

You can select staff by their security level. The account you are currently logged into will not be impacted.

Specify the temporary password to be set for each account, and then use the checkbox to ensure staff be prompted to set their own password when they first login.

This option doesn’t email the staff member, you should use your own staff email facility to alert staff to their usernames and passwords, and the URL to login with.

When using an import file

The standard staff CSV import file requires a username and password in columns 1 and 2. From the documentation:

In addition there is a “Change-pw-flag” in column 8.

The import file option does not send any emails to staff. You will be required to inform staff of their username, password and the URL to login to SOBS.