Parent account set up is a somewhat involved process due to security concerns, divorced parents and blended families. As a result there are several ways of setting up parent accounts. These will be discussed from simplest to most complex.
Activation Codes look like the following where the first letters T, P or S stand for Teacher (staff), Parent or Student:
T-A06B-EE02-5F941-432
P-A06B-EE02-5F941-432
S-A06B-EE02-5F941-432
Once an activation code has been used an account has been created and the activation code is no longer useful. Many times users forget their user login and/or their password and want to have their activation code again. The activation code won’t help them. What they actually need to do is retrieve their user id and password (discussed elsewhere).
Creating Parent Letters with Activation Codes
This process requires downloading a file of parent codes to your computer. Before downloading files it is helpful to know where your files are being saved on your computer’s hard drive. As often as not your browser will export the file to your default download folder on your computer’s hard drive which most users are unable to find. For this reason we strongly suggest that you do the following in your browser’s setting prior to downloading the codes (this process will be described for Chrome):
Click on the update button in your browser:
Click Settings
Click Advanced
Click Downloads
Set Ask where to save each file before downloading to On.
Now you have control over where your downloaded files go. It is also a good idea to create a sub-folder called Parent Codes under C:\SchoolWise
Log in to SchoolWise Web with Admin Access:
Click on Export Parent Activation Codes
Navigate to C:\SchoolWise\Parent Codes and save the file there.
In SchoolWise Desktop open the Report Explorer and navigate to the Gradebook folder and run the report Parent Portal Setup Guide Letter
It will prompt you to provide the code file you just downloaded
Navigate to the Parent Codes folder and select the file and click Import. Be careful to select the correct file if you have saved other older files to that location by observing the file name and date.
Letters are then produced for each family with the correct activation code and URL. These letters need to be distributed to each family and then they can follow the directions and create accounts without having to have an email address.
Additional Parent Accounts
With divorced parents and blended families more parent accounts are often required. To understand this we have to look at how families are set up in SchoolWise Desktop. Families can have one or two parent/guardians living in the household and then contacts not in the household. Contacts not in the household can include divorced fathers, divorced mothers, grandmothers, etc.
The Contact not in the household wanting his or her own account must have an email on file in SchoolWise.
This is how access is controlled. The contact must also know the child’s birthdate. The following is the process where a Contact not in the household can create an account:
Choose the second option and click Continue…
If accurate information is entered then an account is created for the Contact not in the household. Your account will initially have access to only the child that you signed up with. You can link additional children to your account by logging into your account and using the “Link Student to Account…” button on your home page.
To link another student to your account, you will need the Student's personal Activation Code from the school. This is the same code that the student uses to sign up with their own student account. Once you have this code from the school (or from the student), you can enter it in the “Link Student” dialog, along with the child’s name and birth date.
