self-paced eLearning series Creating and Sending POS letters

Creating and Sending POS letters During this lesson you will be asked to follow along in your Solana environment and complete a series of exercises. Please allow approximately 30 minutes to complete the course. ‘Community, focusing on Teacher and Adult Records’ was the previous lesson in the series.

Following this Lesson You will BE ABLE TO: Understand the difference between POS and Application letters Know how to create and edit letters Be able to send letters and emails

Creating and Sending POS letters Key Topics Letter Types Creating Letters Mailing Letters ***Font Size 40 & 22 - Corbel

There are 3 letter types in Solana: POS Application Verification Wrap up the topic *User Groups have identical rights that are all ON by default *Rights can be edited for each User Group *New User Groups can be created as needed Today’s lesson is on POS Letters.

4 Common POS letters include: Letter Types 4 Common POS letters include: Direct Certification notification Expiring Grace from Rollover (not reduction of benefits letters) Negative or Low Balance Refused Benefits Because Directly Certified and Free-Grace and Reduced-Grace students do not have a current Free and Reduced application, letters are managed through POS. Wrap up the topic *User Groups have identical rights that are all ON by default *Rights can be edited for each User Group *New User Groups can be created as needed Refused Benefits letters are also managed through POS letters. We’ll review Application letters in another lesson.

Browse to >Community>Letters and click Create Letter Creating Letters Browse to >Community>Letters and click Create Letter Wrap up the topic *User Groups have identical rights that are all ON by default *Rights can be edited for each User Group *New User Groups can be created as needed then choose POS. Letters for Direct Certification, Expiring Grace and Refused Benefits are POS, not Application, because they do not belong to an application processed in the current school year.

Be sure to Save when finished. Creating Letters Give your letter a Name, Description and select a Language from the dropdown. Place your cursor where you want the code, Click Insert Merge Code, then pick from the list. Be sure to Save when finished. Merge Codes pull data from each selected Student’s record. Give it a Name, Description and Language. Mouse over the function keys; a popup will describe they’re function. Type in the contents of your Letter or, if you’ve already got it in electronic format, simply Copy/Paste. Merge Codes will insert the appropriate data for your students into each letter. Choose the applicable code from the dropdown list. Be sure to Save when finished. Type in the contents of your Letter or, if you’ve already got it in electronic format, simply Copy/Paste.

Setting Margins is a familiar task when creating a letter. Creating Letters Much like Word, The function keys allow you to tweak your letter in numerous ways. Setting Margins is a familiar task when creating a letter. Mouse Over the function Icons to see a popup of their purpose. Give it a Name, Description and Language. Mouse over the function keys; a popup will describe they’re function. Type in the contents of your Letter or, if you’ve already got it in electronic format, simply Copy/Paste. Merge Codes will insert the appropriate data for your students into each letter. Choose the applicable code from the dropdown list. Be sure to Save when finished. Type in the contents of your Letter or, if you’ve already got it in electronic format, simply Copy/Paste. Mouse over the function keys; a popup will describe they’re function.

Create a POS letter of your choice. Creating Letters Time to exercise! Log into Solana, take a self-guided tour and log out again. Repeat 3 times! Create a POS letter of your choice. Helpful Hints! If you have existing letters, copy the contents and paste them into the Solana letter editor, then update the merge fields.

Letters belong to a Type. You can copy/paste from an existing letter. Creating Letters Key Takeaways Letters belong to a Type. You can copy/paste from an existing letter. Merge Codes add individual Student data to each letter. Wrap up the topic *User Groups have identical rights that are all ON by default *Rights can be edited for each User Group *New User Groups can be created as needed Next up, Mailing Letters

Mailing Letters Next, we’ll look at several ways to identify who you want to send a letter to. Solana has built-in Views for Directly Certified students and those with Expiring Applications. We’ll also offer suggestions for building custom views to select specific groups of students. Wrap up the topic *User Groups have identical rights that are all ON by default *Rights can be edited for each User Group *New User Groups can be created as needed

In Student Records, use the Views dropdown and select DC Only. Mailing Letters We’ll begin by selecting students to receive Direct Certification Letters. In Student Records, use the Views dropdown and select DC Only. Select All (by checking the top checkbox) or check individual records. Wrap up the topic *User Groups have identical rights that are all ON by default *Rights can be edited for each User Group *New User Groups can be created as needed Next, select Email or Print Letters

You are viewing the Select Letters page. Mailing Letters You are viewing the Select Letters page. Click Process Letters to finish. Select All or New Only (to exclude students who have already received a letter). Select the appropriate letter. And choose whether to Print One Letter Per Household. Note: Siblings must belong to the same household in Solana to be on the same letter. Wrap up the topic *User Groups have identical rights that are all ON by default *Rights can be edited for each User Group *New User Groups can be created as needed Only POS letters are displayed because you chose DC Only.

Mailing Letters If you chose to Print Letters on the Student Record page, they will be sent to your \Downloads folder. You can print them from there. If you chose Email*, they will be sent and Solana will give the option to print letters that did not email. Click on Print. *Note: Make sure Emails are importing from your SIS file!

Many of you will want to send a letter at the beginning of the year Mailing Letters Many of you will want to send a letter at the beginning of the year to remind households to apply for Free and Reduced benefits Wrap up the topic *User Groups have identical rights that are all ON by default *Rights can be edited for each User Group *New User Groups can be created as needed Create the appropriate Letter and choose Expiring Apps, to locate Students who have a temporary status, without a processed application for this school year. Select Students and Print Letter as previously described.

Click on Save as New View Mailing Letters To make sending Negative or Low Balance letters easier create and save a New View. Click on Save as New View Then, select Balance and Status and modify to your needs. To locate Active students with a Negative Balance Use the Filter option to Click on Filter It will be available in the View dropdown. Wrap up the topic *User Groups have identical rights that are all ON by default *Rights can be edited for each User Group *New User Groups can be created as needed Give it a meaningful name and Save.

You can use Filtering and Views for a many lookups. Mailing Letters You can use Filtering and Views for a many lookups. Here’s an example of Locating students with Refused Benefits by filtering Eligibility as shown. Wrap up the topic *User Groups have identical rights that are all ON by default *Rights can be edited for each User Group *New User Groups can be created as needed Saved Views are ‘per User’, so you won’t see Views created by other users.

You can use Filtering and Views for all kinds of lookups. Here’s an example of Locating students with Refused Benefits by filtering Eligibility as shown. You can use Filtering and Views for a many lookups. Here’s an example of Locating students with Refused Benefits by filtering Eligibility as shown Views are ‘per User’, so you won’t see Views created by other users. Click on the columns to sort your view. Your letters will print in the sort order. A useful example would be printing in Homeroom order. Views are ‘per User’, so you won’t see Views created by other users.

Mailing Letters Time to exercise! Log into Solana, take a self-guided tour and log out again. Repeat 3 times! (like Low Balance) for your Use Filters to create and save a View (perhaps Low Balance) for your future use. Helpful Hints! You can add as many filter criteria as you need. Use Status to choose Active or Inactive.

DC and Existing Apps are Saved Views that come with Solana. Mailing Letters Key Takeaways DC and Existing Apps are Saved Views that come with Solana. You create your own Saved Views and only you will see them. Letters are printed or emailed depending on your choice Wrap up the topic *User Groups have identical rights that are all ON by default *Rights can be edited for each User Group *New User Groups can be created as needed

Congratulations, Your mailman is proud of you! You can now: Create letters of different types Make and edit letters Send letters and emails to select groups

Thanks again for your time and effort. It’s appreciated!