ATT - Absentee Types Tab (SU)

This tab is used to record your school's naming conventions for absentee records. TASS.web works with seven standard 'Absentee Types' that must be set up to use the system.

The 'Absentee Types' that are created here are then mapped into the 'Absentee Type Parameters' on the 'General' tab in this program.

Important!

Australian schools should only use the 'Absentee Types' below, to enable the exporting of attendance information to the Department of Education and Training's Non-Government School's Student Attendance System (STATS). For further information refer to the online help for TASS.web program Student Admin > Student Records > Government Returns > Student Attendance - STATS (Aus).

Absentee records that are entered using any additional 'Absentee Types' will not be included in the STATS returns and will not be included in Staff Kiosk Data Analytics.

The codes and descriptions in the example below can be slightly different at your school, as it is the mapping of these 'Absentee Types' into the 'Absentee Type Parameters' on the 'General' tab that is critical.

The seven 'Absentee Types' to use are listed in the table below.

Suggested Absentee Type Code	Suggested Absentee Type Description	Teacher Flag to Use
AFS	Absent from School	E - Only visible in the first roll call period (as defined in the timetable period setup).
AAM	Absent for Morning	D - Never Visible to teachers.
APM	Absent for Afternoon	D - Never Visible to teachers.
AFC	Absent from Class	F - Visible to teachers in roll call periods only (except first).
LFS	Late for School	D - Never Visible to teachers. By setting 'Late for School' to 'D', it means that the students have to go to the office if they are late or use the TASS ASR (Attendance Self Registration). This is the recommended way to run the software. Some schools (e.g. Primaries) may allow the students who are late, to go straight to class. If your school does this, you would use 'A – Visible to teachers in all periods'.
EDP	Early Departure	D - Never Visible to teachers.
APD	Absent Part Day	D - Never Visible to teachers.

These codes and descriptions will be pre-populated for new TASS.web installations.

Teacher Flag

These flags allow you to control the 'Absentee Types' that are available to teachers in Staff Kiosk program Rollcall > Class Rollcall.

Use the 'Teacher Flags' for each 'Absentee Types' indicated in the table above.

Although there are several other 'Teacher Flags' available in the system (B and C), they should no longer be used.

Teacher Flags 'E' and 'F' are usually used in conjunction with each other. Assigning the 'Absent from School' code as type 'E' means teachers (using Staff Kiosk) will only be able to mark students as 'Absent from School' in the first rollcall period. (Students marked as 'Absent from School' will continue to show as absent from school for the remainder of that day.)

Assigning 'Absent from Class' as type 'F' will only allow teachers to mark students as 'Absent from Class' for rollcall period 2 and onwards, but only if they were present for Rollcall period 1.

Acknowledge in Parent Lounge

To allow parents to acknowledge absentee records in Parent Lounge that have been entered using this 'Absentee Type', set this to 'Yes'. The 'View in Parent Lounge' flag below must also be set to 'Yes' for this 'Absentee Type'.

The absence acknowledgement function for parents is located in program Parent Lounge Homepage Menu > Absences.

To activate this functionality in Parent Lounge:

the Absence Type must be 'Active' with the 'View in Parent Lounge' option enabled in TASS.web program Student Admin > Attendance > Setup Information > Attendance Setup on the ‘Absentee Types’ tab,
the 'Allow parental acknowledgement of absences using Parent Lounge' option must also be enabled in TASS.web program Student Admin > Attendance > Setup Information > Attendance Setup on the ‘Parent Lounge’ tab, and
the 'Absence Acknowledgement' and 'Attendance' user security permissions must be enabled in TASS.web System Admin > Users > Portal Security Permissions for Parent Lounge.

Add in Parent Lounge

To allow parents to submit absentee notifications in Parent Lounge using this 'Absentee Type', set this to 'Yes'. The 'View in Parent Lounge' flag below must also be set to 'Yes' for this 'Absentee Type'.

The absence notification function for parents is located in program Parent Lounge top menu Student Details > Attendance.

To activate this functionality in Parent Lounge:

the Absence Type must be 'Active' with the 'View in Parent Lounge' option enabled in TASS.web program Student Admin > Attendance > Setup Information > Attendance Setup on the ‘Absentee Types’ tab,
the 'Allow parents to enter Absence Notifications using Parent Lounge' option must be enabled in TASS.web program Student Admin > Attendance > Setup Information > Attendance Setup on the ‘Parent Lounge’ tab, and
the 'Attendance' user security permission must be enabled in TASS.web System Admin > Users > Portal Security Permissions for Parent Lounge.

View in Teacher Kiosk

To exclude absence records that have been entered using this 'Absentee Type', from displaying in the Staff Kiosk program Homepage Menu > Today's Absentees, set this to 'No'.

View in Parent Lounge

To exclude absence records that have been entered using this 'Absentee Type', from displaying in Parent Lounge, set this to 'No'.

View in Student Cafe

To exclude absence records that have been entered using this 'Absentee Type', from displaying in Student Café, set this to 'No'.

Unexplained Absence Emails

Setting this value to 'Yes' will include absences with this Absentee Type when the automatic emails for Unexplained Absences are generated by the nightly TASS_master scheduled task. The template for this email is in System Admin > Utilities > Email Settings > System Email Templates, select the 'Unexplained Absences Reminder' template.

Active

An 'Absence Type' can only be set to 'Inactive' when:

It is not mapped in the 'Absentee Type Parameters' on the 'General' tab.
The 'Teacher Flag' is 'D' (Never visible to teachers).
The 'Acknowledgement in Parent Lounge' flag is 'No'.
The 'Add in Parent Lounge' flag is 'No'.

Untick this box if this 'Absentee Type' is redundant and not to be used anymore.

If unticked, it will not be available in the following TASS.web programs:

Student Admin > Attendance > Student Information > Student Attendance.
Student Admin > Attendance > Student Information > Daily Inquiry.
Student Admin > Attendance > Student Information > Student Absence Entry.
Student Admin > Attendance > Student Information > Bulk Absentee Entry.

…and Staff Kiosk program Rollcall > Class Rollcall.

The next tab you should complete during your initial setup is 'Absentee Reasons' tab.