SMS
Overview
Compass makes use of SMS messages throughout the portal to provide immediate notifications and for identity verification purposes.
In most cases the SMS message will provide summary information only, directing the user to the Compass Portal for more information and next steps.
Compass also offers Push Notifications when the Bulk SMS module is used. This feature is available for any Student, Parent or Staff Member who uses the Compass School Manager App.
Module, Function and Recipient
Module SMS Notification Recipient Push Notifications Attendance Late, Not Present and/or Unaccounted for SMS message Parents No Kiosk Visitor arrival SMS alert Staff No Chronicle Student Chronicle SMS message Parents/Students No Learning Tasks Overdue Learning Tasks SMS alert Parents No Events Composed SMS Message Parents/Students/Staff Yes Bulk SMS Composed SMS Message Parents/Students/Staff Yes Student Profile Page Composed SMS Message Parents Yes Parent Portal Access Password recovery SMS confirmation code Parents No
Attendance Notifications
Compass offers four options for automatic attendance alerts - Student Late to one or more Classes, Student Not Present in one or more Classes, Student Unaccounted For, and Student Not Present in one or more Classes (Irrespective or Unmarked Rolls).
These alerts now integrate with the Compass Student Chronicle to manage alerts.
Please refer to the 'Attendance Notifications' article from our Knowledge Base for details on setting up this function.
Kiosk - Visitor Arrival Notification
Schools using the Visitor sign-in functionality with a Compass Kiosk will receive SMS notifications when a visitor arrives.
If the staff member has a valid mobile phone number registered in Compass an SMS message will be sent to them advising that their guest has arrived. The message will indicate the name of the guest.
Changes to staff mobile numbers are to be made in your School Information System (SIS) and then imported into Compass (for those using Compass as a School Information System please update these via People Management).
This feature is automatically enabled when your Kiosk is provisioned, please contact the Support Team in writing at support@compass.edu.au if you would like this disabled for your school.
Chronicle Entry Notifications
Schools choose to enable SMS messages for any Chronicle template from the Student Chronicle where appropriate.
This allows a customisable/default message to be sent to the primary family for a particular student when a Chronicle entry has been made.
These messages can be enabled for any template when required by staff with the permission ChronicleConfigure. More information on how to set these up can be found in the Knowledge Base Article titled "Chronicle Admin".
Learning Tasks Notifications
Schools using the Learning Tasks module have the option to enable the Learning Tasks SMS feature. Learning Tasks SMS messages are managed, by staff with the permission ConfigureBase, from the Tools menu (cog icon) > Administration Tools > SMS - Learning Tasks Config.
This message is designed to notify a student's primary family that a learning task has been submitted late or not at all.
How do Learning Task SMS Notifications Work?
On weekdays, at the time defined in SMS - Learning Tasks Config, Compass automatically evaluates the Learning Tasks that were due, prior to that time, where a student has failed to submit the task or the task was submitted after the due date.
This page allows you to enable/disable this feature. It also allows customisation of this message. This message can be customised and allows one variable to be included in the message, the student preferred name.
To include the student variable:
Type your message in the SMS text field, as normal.
Include {student.preferredname} in the text, where you would like Compass to automatically insert the student's preferred name into the SMS message.
Any changes to the SMS - Learning Tasks Config. page must be made prior to the calculation time.
Do Not Contact
For user accounts set as 'Do Not Contact', if they are loaded as a recipient in an SMS message, you will see an icon indicating that the user is set as 'Do Not Contact' and they will not be issued the communication.
Event Notifications
Once an Event is published, staff with the permission BulkSMS will have the ability to send an SMS to Students, Parents and/or Staff associated with the Event.
The SMS options for an event are available on the Event's Dashboard tab (please note these SMS options will only display for staff with the BulkSMS permission).
Clicking the relevant SMS link will take you to the Compose Message screen, allowing you to compose a custom message to Students, Parents and/or Staff for recipients already included on the Attendees list.
You can add recipients using the Compass filtering options, the advanced option includes the options to bulk add students by ID code as well as entering numbers manually.
You can add any additional phone numbers for the message if needed.
Push with SMS Backup -
This will send a push notification to users who have the Compass School Manager App and an SMS to those who do not.
Push Only -
This will issue push notifications only to users. Users listed with a red 'x' icon under the push notification column will receive no message
SMS Only -
This will issue an SMS to all listed users with a valid mobile number on file
Once these steps are completed the SMS pricing will calculate the total cost of sending an SMS. This needs to be accepted* and sent - you can save as a draft, or click 'Send Message' if you're ready to send it out.
If you intend to only send a Push Notification, this 'Confirm SMS Pricing' section does not need to be completed, and you can click 'Send Push Notification' when you are ready.
* By accepting the cost of these messages and selecting the 'Send Message' option, the user is accepting this cost on behalf of the school and is agreeing that they have the authorisation to do so.
Bulk SMS
The Bulk SMS tool allows you to send custom messages to specified recipient groups and access templates set up by the school with pre-populated message content which can be useful in emergency situations.
For details on using the Bulk SMS tool, please refer to the 'Bulk SMS' article from our Knowledge Base.
Student Profile Page
If you need to SMS a specific student's parents, rather than use the Bulk SMS option, you can go to the student's profile page and click the 'Contact' option. From the list, choose to SMS the student's parents and a pop-up will open with the applicable parents as recipients.
Enter the content of your message.
Select your preferred delivery type from the drop down, tick the conditions acknowledgement box and then you can click 'Send Message'.
Push Notifications
Push Notifications allow you to send communications to iPhones, iPads and Android devices, with the Compass App installed. The Compass App is available to download for students, parents and staff for free and Push Notifications (unlike SMS messages) are also free.
To turn on Push Notifications on Android:
Go to Settings > Apps > Compass > Notifications > Allow Notifications
To turn on Push Notifications on iOS:
Go to Settings > Notifications > Compass > Allow Notifications
Information on how to Send Push Notifications from a News Feed item can be found in the Knowledge Base Article titled "News Feed".
Parent Portal Access
If a parent forgets their Compass username or password, they can use the link on the Compass login page 'Can't access your account?'. The parent will be prompted through a secure process to enter details. These details are then compared to the registered details against the child in Compass and a confirmation code is sent to the registered email address or mobile number (depending on the steps parent chooses).
If the details do not match against the registered details in Compass the parent will see an on screen message to contact the school.
Tracking Recent SMS Messages
Compass Administrators can monitor the last 5000 messages sent from Compass, for your school, using the SMS Outbound report. To access the SMS Outbound report, go to Tools menu (cog icon) > Administration Tools > SMS Outbound Report.
Managing Parent Mobile Numbers
Mobile numbers are initially imported from your School Information System (SIS) e.g. CASES21, Denbigh, Integris, etc or entered directly into People Management for schools set to use Compass as their SIS.
Parents can then update and manage their mobile phone numbers by logging into the Parent Portal and selecting the 'Update My Details' option from the Tools Menu (cog icon). If a parent updates their mobile number in Compass the school will be sent an email to the registered email address for Administrators to update the external SIS data. Please contact support@compass.edu.au to ensure the correct school email address is registered.
Administrators can also update mobile numbers via the People Management Module from the Organisation menu (grid icon) and via the Student Profile page on the Personal tab and selecting the 'edit' option for the parent.
Maximum Length of SMS Messages
The maximum length of any SMS message is 160 characters. Some special characters are not able to be included in SMS messages.
Depending on the module within Compass, an SMS may make use of placeholders - such as the name of the student or fields in a Chronicle observation. In these cases, the number of customisable characters may be reduced to accommodate long first names.
Default Sender ID
All messages are sent from 'Compass' by default, though this can be configured and personalised for your school.
In order to change who messages appear to be sent from, go to the Tools menu (cog icon) > Administration Tools > SMS - Sender ID Config.
The Sender ID must meet strict naming constraints, a full explanation of the requirements can be found on the page.
SMS Costs
All SMS messages issued are charged separately at $0.078 (exclusive of GST) per message and are invoiced at the end of every month providing that more that $5 worth of charges have been incurred.
Batch SMS messages, processed by Compass Education as a special or urgent request will incur a bulk message charge, this charge varies based on the length of the message, the number of recipients and the urgency.
Disclaimer
We are unable to guarantee delivery of any SMS messages sent through Compass.
We do use Australian SMS providers as we have found these to be more reliable than internationally routed messages.
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