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Skyward Updates – Summer 2022
#Product Updates
Kevin Duda
by
Kevin Duda
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Kevin Duda Vice President of Product |
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Listen to the SMS 2.0 updates article
Listen to the Qmlativ updates article
The Skyward Updates series offers a snapshot of the key features we’ve released and how they'll help you spend less time on tasks, so you can spend more time with students. Use the links below to jump to the section that interests you most.
SMS 2.0 Student
Parent-Teacher Conference Methods
You can now designate parent-teacher conference methods (in-person, phone, or virtual). You can set up a default method and allow parents to indicate whether they have a method preference.
New Student Online Enrollment Grade Level Restrictions
We added a configuration to New Student Online Enrollment to restrict which grade levels can be selected on a current year or next year application. We hope this will benefit any districts looking to collect pre-K or kindergarten enrollment applications before opening other grade levels for enrollment.
SMS 2.0 Business
Shop smarter this school year!We are excited to announce three new E-commerce vendors. Skyward has partnered with:
- Barnes & Noble
- Papco Supply
- Runco Office Supply & Equipment
Qmlativ Student
Gender Identity Updates
With the growing population of transgender and/or non-binary students, representing their identity is important in Skyward. Options now exist to maintain/display additional gender options beyond male and female. When enabled, a Gender Identity can be assigned to a student, staff member, or employee. In addition, we created the Mass Update Gender Identity utility to allow the field to be set on multiple names at once.
Health Office Visits Kiosk Setup
Simplify health office visits with help from a kiosk! To set up a health office kiosk, go to Health, then Entity Year Configurations. Here you can check out the setup requirements. When your kiosk is ready, students will be able to enter their student number into the device, select their symptoms, and check in. They will then be put in the Health Office Visit Queue for the nurse to select from and admit to the office.
Assignment Import Template in the Gradebook
We added a new Assignment Import Template feature to the Gradebook module of Administrative Access and Teacher Access. With this feature, users can create templates with one of two import types (Import Scores for Existing Assignment or Import Scores and Create Assignments) to identify field mappings tied to a CSV or XLSX file. Importing these scores will assist in data entry and save teachers time when they are tracking assignments and scores in a third-party system.
Qmlativ Business
Applicant Tracking Module
The Applicant Tracking module is here! Applicant Tracking gives your district the ability to post job openings, review applications, select candidates for hire, and move a new hire’s information to their new profile. The module is fully integrated with the existing Position Management system and is customizable to ensure applications are routed to the correct personnel during the hiring process.Process Management Module
We recently completed the Process Management module in Qmlativ. This is a feature that was shaped by the feedback of Skyward users like you—so thank you!With the Process Management module, you can create workflows in Skyward. For example, let’s say you’re looking to simplify the steps required to get a new hire set up in Skyward. You could use this feature to create a “new hire workflow” for your district. Within this workflow, you can create every step that must be taken, and assign each step to the appropriate people in your office. When one person completes their tasks, the process will automatically be assigned to the next person in the workflow.
We’re spotlighting this feature in its own article this month. Check it out here!
New Process to Handle Negative Net Checks
If your district has a lot of employees working less than normal hours, chances are, negative net checks have become a burden. After all, a lot of manual intervention is required. That’s why we created a way to automatically adjust negative net checks to zero, track which deductions were adjusted/omitted to make the check zero, and process the adjusted/omitted deductions in a later payroll run. We hope this enhancement saves your district time!
Benefit Management HSA and FSA Enrollment
Employees can now enroll in a health savings account (HSA) and flexible spending account (FSA) as part of open enrollment. Prior to this enhancement, HSA and FSA enrollment was handled manually or using a third-party solution outside of Skyward. We hope this new process will simplify open enrollment for employees and save time for HR staff.We’re also spotlighting this feature in its own article. Check it out here!
We hope you’ll enjoy these new features! Please share these notes with colleagues who might benefit from them.
Stay tuned for more updates! Subscribe to Skyward Insider at the bottom of any article or at www.skyward.com/subscribe.
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