education edge conversion planning guide · 2015-03-04 · also want you to be aware of features in...

TheEducationEdge™

Conversion Planning Guide

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2013 Blackbaud, Inc. This publication, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Blackbaud, Inc.

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All other products and company names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective holder.

EE‐ConversionPlanningGuide‐102413

Contents

WELCOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Conversion Process: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3The Four Keys to a Successful Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Blackbaud Solutions and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

THE EDUCATION EDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Education Edge Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Differences Between Education Administration and The Education Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28A New Look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44New Features Common to The Education Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Admissions Office New Features and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Registrar’s Office New Features and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59New Optional Modules and Maintenance Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

PRE‐CONVERSION PLANNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

The Four Keys to a Successful Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Pre‐conversion Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Data Preparation Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

UNDERSTANDING THE PRE‐CONVERSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Understanding the Pre‐conversion System Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Understanding the Conversion Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Is My Organization Ready to Convert? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

SAMPLE CONVERSION PLAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

1chapter

Welcome

The Conversion Process: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3The Four Keys to a Successful Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Blackbaud Solutions and Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Data Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5School System Consulting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Technical Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Training Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Customer Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Blackbaud Forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2 CHAPTER

Welcome to the Conversion Planning Guide for The Education Edge, which provides important conversion information, as well as details to help familiarize you with the new features available. This guide can help current users of the latest version of Education Administration 6.8.3 (including Admissions Office, Registrar’s Office, or the integrated Admissions and Registrar’s Office), understand the preparation required for a successful conversion to The Education Edge, including Admissions Office 7 and Registrar’s Office 7.

This guide provides information you should carefully read before you convert your data or install The Education Edge, including the four keys to a successful conversion, pre‐conversion and data considerations, a pre‐conversion checklist, and an overview of new features. The information in this guide is organized into four chapters and an appendix.

Chapter 1: Welcome. This chapter is an introduction to the Conversion Planning Guide and provides an overview of the conversion process. This chapter also includes a brief discussion of the four keys to a successful conversion and a section detailing the various conversion solutions we offer.

Chapter 2: The Education Edge. This chapter provides information about the differences between Education Administration 6.8.3 and The Education Edge, the new look of The Education Edge, and new features in Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office. Please give special attention to the section “Differences Between Education Administration and The Education Edge” on page 28 so you can become familiar with changes in functionality before upgrading from Education Administration 6.8.3 to The Education Edge. We also want you to be aware of features in Education Administration 6.8.3 that are not available in The Education Edge.

Chapter 3: Pre-conversion Planning. This chapter emphasizes the four keys to a successful conversion and provides details about each. Also included is an overview of the conversion process, a section on what your school should expect in conversion, and a detailed list of pre‐conversion considerations. These considerations include technical considerations and school administration office considerations. This chapter also includes procedures for planning to re‐create queries and reports, including Crystal reports, and a checklist of data preparation tasks your school should complete before beginning the conversion.

Chapter 4: Understanding the Pre-conversion. The conversion utility contains a pre‐conversion system check and steps including selecting to convert to one or multiple schools, defining promotion schedules, determining how to convert attendance codes, and determining how to convert attempted and awarded credits. This chapter includes information so you can prepare for the system check and plan your choices on the conversion steps before you begin the conversion utility. This chapter closes with a section explaining how to request The Education Edge when you are ready to implement the conversion.

Appendix. The appendix includes a sample conversion plan to use as a guideline when planning your school’s conversion to The Education Edge.

Converting to The Education Edge is an important decision for your school. The benefits of using The Education Edge are tremendous, but you can take advantage of these benefits only if you take time to prepare for the conversion. Your school needs to regard the entire conversion process seriously, from pre‐conversion planning to post‐conversion cleanup. By carefully reading this guide and following the pre‐conversion suggestions, you can successfully convert your data.

Note: Because The Education Edge is a new product, the conversion process requires detailed planning. Carefully read this guide and follow the pre‐conversion suggestions we provide to prepare your school for the conversion.

Note: Information in this guide is subject to change. Please visit our website at support.blackbaud.com to view the most current information before you begin planning your conversion to The Education Edge. We recommend periodically visiting our website during your planning process to view updated requirements or additional conversion information.

Note: To help you successfully prepare for converting to The Education Edge, we have included a sample conversion plan for you to use as a guide when planning your school’s conversion. See the Appendix for more information.

WELCOME 3

Please remember The Education Edge is a robust new program expanding the current functionality offered in our 6.8.3 products. You should gain a good understanding of the new features available in The Education Edge and how your school can benefit from each so you can configure the program for your school administration needs. When we designed The Education Edge, we took into consideration hundreds of client suggestions and countless hours of research. As a result, we have implemented changes and added functionality different from previous versions. We believe these changes will improve the efficiency of your school administration offices and provide an overall benefit to your school. For detailed information about these improvements and new features, see “New Features Common to The Education Edge” on page 45.

Once you have thoroughly read each chapter of this guide and prepared for conversion, you can move to the next step, which is reading the Conversion Guide. The Conversion Guide provides step‐by‐step procedures for successfully installing the software and converting your data.

The Conversion Process: An OverviewTo prepare your data and convert to The Education Edge, you follow a process that requires a number of different steps. You can prepare for each conversion step by reading this guide and following the suggestions we provide. Once you have prepared and are ready to convert, you should read the Conversion Guide for step‐by‐step conversion procedures. This list gives you a basic overview of the conversion process and the steps we recommend.

• If your school currently uses separate databases for Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office in Education Administration 6.8.3, you must integrate the separate databases into one database using the EA Merge utility. Contact Customer Support at [email protected] to request the merge utility.

• If you use our accounting products (Accounting for Nonprofits or The Financial Edge), you must upgrade to version 7.82 or higher of The Financial Edge before converting to The Education Edge. The Financial Edge and The Education Edge now share a database.

If you have The Financial Edge, you convert your Education Administration 6.8.3 data into your existing database.

If you are using Accounting for Nonprofits, see the Conversion Planning Guide and Conversion Guide for The Financial Edge for information about converting to The Financial Edge.

• If you plan to use Student Billing 7, you should be aware that certain areas of Student Billing are shared with Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office, such as biographical information on student records. For information about converting to Student Billing 7, see the Conversion Planning Guide and Conversion Guide for The Financial Edge. For information about integrating Student Billing 7 with your Education Edge programs, see the Integrating Student Billing with The Education Edge guide.

• If you plan to integrate The Education Edge with The Raiser’s Edge, you must have The Education Edge 7.5 or higher and The Raiser’s Edge 7.83 or higher. For information about integrating The Raiser’s Edge with The Education Edge, see The Raiser’s Edge and The Education Edge Integration Planning Guide.

• If you use The Raiser’s Edge to integrate with General Ledger, you must have the latest version of The Raiser’s Edge before converting to The Education Edge. For information about integrating The Raiser’s Edge and General Ledger, see The Raiser’s Edge and The Financial Edge: An Integrated Solution for Nonprofits.

• Review and implement the four keys to a successful conversion. For more information about the four keys, see “The Four Keys to a Successful Conversion” on page 4.

• Make sure you and your staff are aware of the features and functionality that change when you convert to The Education Edge. Please give special attention to the section entitled “Differences Between Education Administration and The Education Edge” on page 28 for detailed information about the changes.

• Review the pre‐conversion considerations and complete the data preparation checklist. For more information about preparing your data, see “Pre‐conversion Considerations” on page 75 and “Data Preparation Checklist” on page 96.

4 CHAPTER

• Prepare for the pre‐conversion system check and plan your choices on the conversion steps before you begin the conversion utility. For more information about preparing for these parts of the conversion utility, see “Understanding the Pre‐conversion” on page 99.

• Install The Education Edge and start the conversion utility. Before the conversion starts, a pre‐conversion system check looks for problems. You must resolve certain errors the system check finds before continuing with the conversion. For more information about the conversion process, see the Conversion Guide.

• After converting your data, you need to perform post‐conversion tasks before allowing day‐to‐day operations in The Education Edge. For example, view the exception report (Except.txt) for Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office data, which is generated during the conversion and saved to your local drive in the Program Files\The Education Edge directory, re‐create reports and queries that you need, and establish business rules that affect the entire program.

The Four Keys to a Successful ConversionConverting to The Education Edge is a serious undertaking requiring careful planning on your part. The conversion is not a self‐contained update you simply insert in your CD‐ROM drive and run.

Because The Education Edge is a new product, the conversion process requires detailed planning and implementation. To help your school prepare, we have developed the four keys to a successful conversion. Each key is a component we feel is extremely important to the success of your conversion. We urge you to review the four keys and make sure your school considers each before beginning the conversion process.

Time. Before you convert to The Education Edge, consider the time required to complete the process. We recommend you convert data during a relatively slow time for your school. You cannot work in your database during the conversion process, so it is important that you schedule the conversion when you do not need to access your database.

If you also use our accounting programs, you must also upgrade to version 7.82 or higher of The Financial Edge. The Education Edge and The Financial Edge share a database. If you have The Financial Edge, you convert your Education Administration 6.8.3 data into your existing database.

Comprehensive Conversion Plan. The transition from Education Administration 6.8.3 to The Education Edge is a significant event requiring resource allocation and attention. Like building a home, the most important first step is a solid foundation. By carefully planning and preparing your data for conversion, you create a strong foundation for your new database. For this reason, you need to take as much time as necessary to make sure your school is ready to convert to The Education Edge and have a shared database with The Financial Edge.

Hardware. The hardware on which you are using The Education Edge affects the performance your school can achieve. If your hardware does not meet or exceed our requirements, you will not get the maximum benefit of using The Education Edge. Please review the current detailed system requirements for The Education Edge with your IT staff or the person responsible for maintaining your hardware. Visit our website at support.blackbaud.com to view the most up‐to‐date system requirements for The Education Edge.

Warning: To allow time to fix any problems, we recommend you run the conversion to go through the pre‐conversion system check well in advance of when you need to actually convert the data.

Note: For more information about the four keys to a successful conversion, see “The Four Keys to a Successful Conversion” on page 72.

Warning: The Education Edge does not support Windows 95/98, dot matrix printers, or NT 4.0 or Novell servers.

WELCOME 5

Services/Training. Moving to The Education Edge is a major conversion to a product that looks and feels totally different. The Education Edge includes new functionality along with many new and different ways of performing tasks. For a successful transition, all of your school’s staff must be trained on The Education Edge prior to conversion, regardless of their level of expertise with our version 6.8.3 products. The classes “Transitioning to Admissions Office 7” and “Transitioning to Registrar’s Office 7” are recommended for experienced users. Other classes are available to introduce new users to Admissions Office 7 and Registrar’s Office 7.

Clients who have converted tell us that training was key to their success with The Education Edge. Training is also an important component for employee morale and development. It helps employees with even mild anxiety about the change feel more confident and capable. Training is an important investment in every aspect of your school, staff operations, and mission.

You should also consider which of our services can best meet your organization’s needs. For example, we offer consulting services to assist you with every aspect of your conversion and implementation, including remote installation. We also offer secure Hosting Services, which can free your organization from the cost and upkeep of hardware concerns.

For information about the services and training we provide, send an email to [email protected] or call your account executive at 1‐800‐443‐9441.

Blackbaud Solutions and ServicesFor more than two decades, we have provided world‐class technology solutions to the nonprofit community, helping nonprofit organizations and independent schools of all sizes and types.

Software plays an important role in the Blackbaud equation for success. Our products set the standards by which others are measured. However, another essential part of our solution is services. As the largest and most experienced provider of services to the nonprofit community, we understand the unique challenges nonprofits face and help them overcome those challenges.

More than 12,000 nonprofit organizations have chosen to partner with us for the peace of mind that comes with one company providing an end‐to‐end solution of software and services. We focus our expertise on meeting your needs — so you can focus your resources on fulfilling your mission.

This section provides an overview of the services and training solutions we offer to help you successfully convert, implement, and use The Education Edge.

Data Services

We offer a wide range of data services. From database conversion to database consolidation, our staff of programmers and analysts have the experience, technology, and expertise to meet your school’s needs.

To request a quote for data services or database conversion, contact our Conversion Coordinator by email at [email protected] or call 1‐800‐468‐8996 and enter extension 4200 when prompted. Visit our website at www.blackbaud.com to find more information about our data service solutions.

School System Consulting

School System Consulting services help you get the most out of The Education Edge by aligning your school’s systems with its processes and objectives. We partner with you to learn about your school, identify issues, and plan a solution tailored to your needs.

Our consultants offer a unique blend of software knowledge and exposure to a wide variety of scholastic methodologies. Our consultants have held high‐level positions within our Support and Development teams and often have a background in teaching. They also have worked with hundreds of our clients to implement or improve the functionality of our software.

6 CHAPTER

To learn how your school can benefit from our School System Consulting services, send an email to [email protected] or call 1‐800‐443‐9441.

How We Can Help

• Assist with installing software.

• Evaluate and define historic data to convert.

• Serve as the liaison between your school and our conversion team.

• Assess whether you need to set up multiple schools.

• Review your application and enrollment steps and build your progression of applicant and student statuses.

• Streamline your admissions process by implementing applicant checklists and tracks, establishing actions for maintaining interviews, assessing mailing practices, and developing reporting procedures.

• Configure the basis of your scheduling system and assist you through the scheduling process of entering course requests, creating a master schedule, and enrolling students.

• Configure the basis of your grading system and assist you through the grading process, including setting up calculations for GPA, course average, rank, and performance.

• Set up your standard report cards and transcripts.

• Develop strategies to meet reporting needs.

• Establish system security.

• Build course catalogs.

• Review data entry methods and make recommendations on data entry practices to increase productivity in your office.

• Review job responsibilities to ensure optimal workflow.

• Set up and maximize your use of optional modules, such as Faculty Access for the Web and NetClassroom.

Technical Consulting

Let our knowledgeable consultants bring their technical expertise to your site and manage the implementation of your Education Edge products. By entrusting the nuts and bolts of implementation to one of our consultants, you ensure optimal setup of your program while keeping your time and energy focused on fostering your school’s mission.

Whether it is software installation or a detailed assessment of your current IT capabilities and needs, our team of Microsoft, Cisco, and Oracle certified engineers can help you meet your technical challenges head‐on.

To arrange for consulting services or to simply request additional information, send an email outlining your specific needs to [email protected] or call our Sales Department at 1‐800‐443‐9441.

Training Solutions

Because we understand how important training is, we offer a variety of options to meet your different needs. Training is a vital part of realizing the full potential of your software. It not only increases efficiency, accuracy, and saves time, but you’ll also see a boost in your staff’s job satisfaction as they become more confident and valuable in their roles.

For information about the best training option for your organization, check out our Training page on Blackbaud.com at https://www.blackbaud.com/nonprofit‐training/, or call your account representative at 1‐800‐443‐9441. You can also send an e‐mail to [email protected].

This section provides a brief description of the training solutions we offer.

WELCOME 7

Start Learning. As a Blackbaud customer, you have access to Start Learning ‐‐ a collection of free online training videos. Use these short product lessons to help you develop and maintain the essential skills you need to make the most out of your Blackbaud solutions. You can access Start Learning from the Training page of Blackbaud.com.

Blackbaud Learn. Blackbaud Learn is an annual subscription that provides the ongoing skill development and job knowledge training your staff wants and needs, including strategy and best practices, role‐based curriculum, exclusive “Q&A” sessions, and new classes every month. There is a distinct Blackbaud Learn for each of the following Blackbaud solutions: The Raiser’s Edge, The Financial Edge, The Education Edge, and both Internet solutions Blackbaud Net Community and Blackbaud Sphere. For more information about Blackbaud Learn, go to the Training page of Blackbaud.com.

Instructor-led Training. With Instructor‐led training, you can interact with our instructors via interactive online classes or regional classes at any of our more than 50 locations across the United States and Canada, including our training facility in Charleston, SC. We offer sessions on strategy and best practices, as well as personalized custom trainings. For more information about Instructor‐led Training, go to the Training page of Blackbaud.com.

Self-paced Training. Self‐paced training gives you access to the eLearning Library ‐‐ a collection of online lessons that take you step‐by‐step through key concepts and tasks in your Blackbaud products. You can choose from hundreds of pre‐recorded lessons 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and take them at your own pace. Plus, the eLearning Library is included with any Blackbaud Learn subscription. For more information about Self‐paced Training, go to the Training page of Blackbaud.com.

Role-based Training. Whatever your role, we’ve designed a curriculum pathway to best meet your needs. With Role‐based training, you can take advantage of classes grouped specifically to help you in your day‐to‐day job. For more information about Role‐based Training, go to the Training page of Blackbaud.com.

Customer Support

Our Customer Support department endeavors to provide the industry’s best customer service. Through education and support, we focus on empowering clients to use our software in a manner that achieves the maximum benefit to their schools, thereby advancing each client’s individual mission. We continually strive to meet our commitment to “help you make the world a better place” through friendly, swift, and knowledgeable assistance to each client upon every contact with any member of Customer Support.

Our customer support department is staffed by dedicated analysts who take seriously their mission to provide the very best in ongoing support. Support analysts are available to assist you from 8:30 a.m. ‐ 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Thursday, excluding holidays, and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday.

Software Maintenance Services

Our maintenance programs supplement your software purchase by providing you with tools, resources, and support so you can use the software at its fullest potential. To meet your school’s needs, we have several plans from which to choose. Visit our website at maintenance.blackbaud.com to find more information about the maintenance plans.

Contacting Software Support

For the fastest response, access create a case on Case Central at casecentral.blackbaud.com. From Case Central you can also view notes on your school’s cases, add notes to your open cases to communicate with the support analyst assisting you, or request that we reopen a closed case. Your school’s cases are confidential.

You can send us an email at [email protected] if you prefer. Please include your name, your school’s name, site ID, and as much information as possible in your email so we will be prepared to assist you quickly. If you would like to speak with a Customer Support analyst, you can call 1‐800‐468‐8996. You can also contact Customer Support via fax at 1‐843‐216‐6100.

8 CHAPTER

Blackbaud Forms

Blackbaud Forms offers high‐quality, customized report cards and transcripts featuring state‐of‐the‐art, tamper‐proof backgrounds. Our forms are guaranteed to align correctly and can be customized to your school’s specifications, using your logo, special inks, and print styles. Preprinted forms from other suppliers are not guaranteed to align properly. You can send an email with questions to [email protected] or visit the forms section of our website at forms.blackbaud.com for more information. You can also call 866‐4‐BB‐FORMS (866‐422‐3676) toll‐free to speak with a member of the Blackbaud Forms team.

2chapter

The Education Edge

Education Edge Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Differences Between Education Administration and The Education Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28A New Look. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44New Features Common to The Education Edge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Admissions Office New Features and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Registrar’s Office New Features and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59New Optional Modules and Maintenance Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

10 CHAPTER

This chapter provides information about the new look and features of The Education Edge and includes detailed information regarding changes in functionality from previous versions of Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office, including optional modules. In addition to new features and improvements, this guide also details functionality available in Education Administration 6.8.3 that may have been removed and explains what replaces it in The Education Edge. To help you gain a good understanding of The Education Edge, we have included examples of how new features are used, how each feature can benefit your organization, the differences, where applicable, between Education Administration 6.8.3 and The Education Edge.

Education Edge DefinitionsThis section defines critical areas of The Education Edge. Familiarizing yourself with these definitions can help you better understand the differences between Education Administration 6.8.3 and The Education Edge and give you a head start on planning your setup in The Education Edge.

Concepts defined in this section include: Academic Year, Session, Term, Cycle, Timetable, Pattern, Scheduling Rule, Marking Column, Translation Table, Student Progression Entry, Course Category, and Other Course.

Academic Year

You create an academic year record to define a year’s start and end dates. An academic year’s dates cannot span more than 365 days or overlap the dates of another academic year.

Note: We recommend that you read this chapter carefully to become familiar with the new features and design of The Education Edge. It is especially important that you review the new features replacing 6.8.3 functionality so you can prepare for the conversion accordingly.

THE EDUCAT ION EDGE 11

Session

A session is the longest time span for scheduling during an academic year. For example, you may define a Regular session and a Summer session within an academic year.

On the General tab of a session record, you select the days of the week the school is in session. You also associate a marking column set, timetable, and patterns with the session.

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On the Terms tab of a session record, you define the relevant dates for all terms, such as start date, withdrawal date, end date, and first day of cycle. It is important to select the correct first day of cycle, because you cannot change the cycle day assigned to a date after attendance is entered on that date (though you can adjust subsequent dates without attendance entered).

Term

A term is the shortest time span for scheduling within an academic year. Examples of terms include:

• Trimester 1, Trimester 2, and Trimester 3

• Semester 1, Semester 2

• Fall, Spring

Do not confuse terms with marking columns. A marking column is a time frame in which you can record grades, comments, and skill ratings for students. For example, you can have a Semester 1 term with marking columns Quarter 1 and Quarter 2, or you can have a Fall term with marking columns Quarter 1, Quarter 2, and Semester 1.

Cycle

A cycle is the definition of the days of the schedule. Examples of cycles include:

• Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri

• A, B, C, D4, D5, D6

• Red, Blue

• A, B, C, D, E


• A, B

Timetable

A timetable is the bell schedule for class periods and lunch during each day of a cycle. You associate each timetable with a cycle.

Determining whether class meetings must meet in periods or not. If you mark the Allow class meetings to occur only using periods checkbox, patterns you associate with the timetable are restricted to full periods. The columns available on each block’s screen are:

• Cycle Day

• Period

• Length in Periods

You can define a meeting to last multiple periods (for example, enter 2 in the Length in Periods column), but you cannot define a meeting to overlap any period (for example, all of period 1 and part of period 2).

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If you do not mark the Allow class meetings to occur only using periods checkbox, patterns you associate with the timetable are not restricted to full periods. The columns available on each block’s screen are:

• Cycle Day

• Start Time

• End Time

Using the Start Time and End Time columns, you can define a meeting to occur outside of the defined periods. For example, if the timetable defines Period 1 on A Day as 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and Period 2 as 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., your block can define the first meeting on A Day as 8:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.

Examples of Timetables

This section explains two common timetable setups.

Example 1. Every day, the Middle School bell schedule includes four periods. Period 1 spans 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., Period 2 spans 10:00 a.m. to 12 p.m., Period L (Lunch) spans 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., and Period 3 spans 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Because lunch has its own period, the Lunch tab is left blank.


Example 2. On Monday, the Upper School bell schedule includes seven periods each lasting 55 minutes, with a 5 minute break inbetween each period. Note that you can define different start and end times for periods on each day.

Lunches meet “using entire periods” and can take place in Periods 3, 4, and 5.

Setting Up Lunch

There are various ways you can schedule lunch. As noted in a previous example, if lunch is always in the same period, you can set aside a period for lunch and not use the Lunch tab to define lunches. You could also set up a mandatory course for lunch so you can take attendance during lunch. For more information, see “Taking Attendance During Lunch” on page 25.

On the Lunch tab of the timetable, you can set up lunch using entire periods or parts of periods. This section explains both of these options.

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Scheduling lunch using entire periods. If you select “using entire periods” in the Lunches will meet field, lunch scheduling is student‐based and processed when generating student schedules. Lunches are scheduled after classes, so it is possible that a student will not be scheduled into a lunch.

You can view a student’s lunch assignments from the Edit Student Schedules screen or by printing the Schedules report or Schedule List report.

Scheduling lunch using parts of periods. If you select “using parts of periods” in the Lunches will meet field, lunch scheduling is class‐based and processed when generating the master schedule.

In this case, lunch is not a separate entity, but is part of the class. Students are not enrolled in a specific lunch period. If there are two lunches in the period (such as First Lunch and Second Lunch), the teacher must know which students go to which lunch.

To confirm that lunch exists during a class, look in the Lunch field on the Meeting screen (accessible from the Meetings tab of class records).

To confirm the times of the lunch, check the Lunch tab of the timetable record.


Pattern

A pattern is a scheduling template that defines when classes of a course can meet. Each pattern is associated with a timetable. Each block in a pattern defines the rhythm of the pattern across the cycle. Therefore, each block is an option used when generating master schedules to schedule classes of courses associated with the pattern.

Examples of Patterns

This section explains two common timetable setups.

Example 1. Does the class meet in the same period each day of the cycle? If so, Block A would look like this:

Block B would look like this:

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Example 2. Does the class move from period to period each day of the cycle? If so, Block A would look like this:

Block B would look like this:


Making Patterns Available

When you define a session, you select the patterns that are available for the academic year and session.

You can choose from these selected patterns when defining restrictions for that academic year and session on the Restrictions 2 tab of course records.

Scheduling Rule

A scheduling rule defines a relationship between courses. When generating master schedules, the program uses scheduling rules when scheduling classes of courses.

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Examples of Scheduling Rules

This section explains two common scheduling rules.

Example 1. Spanish 1 and Spanish 1 Lab are corequisites so they must be taken in the same term.

Example 2. Health and Physical Education are one‐term courses that must be scheduled in different terms, on the same day, at the same time of day, in the same room, with the same section number, and with the same teacher.

Associating Scheduling Rules with Courses

You add scheduling rules to courses on the Rules tab of course records.


You can also define prerequisites on the Rules tab. When you select a prerequisite for a course, you can check for Enrollment, Full credit earned, or Full credit earned with Specific grade.

Marking Column

A marking column is a time frame in which you can record grades, comments, and skill ratings for students in an academic year. You define marking columns in sets so you can use different marking column sets for different schools.

Note: If you use the same marking column in multiple marking column sets, such as FINAL, be sure to use the same table entry in each set (for example, not FINAL in one and Final Grade in another), so information lines up correctly on report cards and transcripts.

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You can associate each marking column with one or more terms. For example, you can associate 1st Semester and 1st Semester Exam with Fall, then associate 2nd Semester and 2nd Semester Exam with Spring, but associate FINAL with all terms.

As another example, associate all Quarter 1, Quarter 2, and Semester 1 marking columns with the Fall term, all Quarter 3, Quarter 4, and Semester 2 marking columns with the Spring term, but associate FINAL with all terms.

Translation Table

A translation table is a template you define so the program can translate letter grades into numeric grades and numeric grades into letter grades. For each letter grade you define in a translation table, you must assign two numeric values: a numeric equivalent and a cutoff value.

In the Numeric Equivalent column, you enter the value to use in calculations, such as GPA calculations. For example, A+ = 100, A = 95, and A‐ = 92.


In the Cutoff Value column, you enter the lowest possible value that can translate into the letter grade. The Numeric Equivalent and Cutoff Value columns are NOT a left to right range. The Cutoff Value column is a range row to row. In the following example, an A+ is awarded for a grade of 96 or above, an A is awarded for a grade of 93 to 95, an A‐ is awarded for a grade of 90 to 92, and so on.

There is also a GPA View of the translation table. To switch between views, select View, Grade View or View, GPA View from the menu bar, or click a button on the toolbar:

Grade View

GPA View

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In the GPA View, the numeric values and grade equivalents defined in the Grade View appear in the first two columns.

For each GPA type, you define the GPA Equivalent, Cutoff Value, and mark a checkbox if the grade should be included in GPA calculations. You can add new GPA types by clicking New GPA Type on the action bar.

In the GPA Equivalent column, enter the grade point value to assign to each letter grade.

The Cutoff Value column appears only if a business rule to show this column is set. In this column, you can enter the lowest grade point value to translate back to the grade. The program determines the highest grade point value from the cutoff value in the row above.

Student Progression Entry

Student progression entries are key components of student records. Student progression entries record a student’s school, grade level, advisor, homeroom teacher, and homeroom for an academic year.

You can manually add student progression entries to student records but will likely generate most of them automatically:


• You can automatically generate student progression entries for accepted applicants when running the Enroll Applications wizard (this creates the student side of their applicant records).

• You can automatically generate student progression entries for students returning to your school in the next year by running the Mark for Reenrollment wizard.

A student progression entry must exist for an academic year before student requests can be entered, students can enroll in classes, or grades and attendance can be entered.

Course Category

You can create courses in three different categories. You select the category on the course record, and cannot change the category after you save the record.

Standard. Most of your course records will likely be in the Standard category. You can schedule classes of standard courses and enter grades and attendance.

Transfer. Create a course in the Transfer category to record grades for the course but not include it in scheduling, because the course is taken elsewhere such as a local community college.

Mandatory. Create a course in the Mandatory category if the course is required to be taken by all students in one or more grade levels, for example, Chapel or Assembly. The program automatically generates requests for mandatory courses based on grade levels associated with the course. The program includes mandatory courses when considering term limits. You can set scheduling restrictions for mandatory courses, and enter grades and attendance. You cannot associate scheduling rules with mandatory courses.

Taking Attendance During Lunch

If you need to take attendance during lunch, you can create a mandatory course called Lunch. For example, if lunch always meets in period 4, you can create a Mandatory course and restrict it by pattern with one block that includes the same period each day of the cycle.

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If the lunch can meet in either period 3 or period 4 of each day, for example, you can create a pattern with two blocks, one for period 3—

And one for period 4.

Other Course

An “Other Course” is a course you can add to a student record just for the purpose of entering grades for the course. The student is not scheduled into a class of the course. You can use Other Courses to record grades for courses taken at other schools or to record grades awarded at your school before you began using The Education Edge.

Note: You can set a user option to display Other Courses in a different color in the grid.


Create a course record for the Other Course in either the Standard or Transfer category. To add the course record as an Other Course for a student, on the Grades page, click Enter grades by student. On the action bar of the Enter grades by student screen, click Add Other Course.

Allowing historical entry for marking columns. The marking columns selected for use on a standard course record may not encompass all the marking columns used for the course as an Other Course. On grading information on the course record, you can mark the Allow historical entry for all marking columns available in this session checkbox to activate all marking columns ONLY when the course is added as an Other Course.

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Differences Between Education Administration and The Education EdgeThis section provides a look at the differences between specific Education Administration 6.8.3 and Education Edge functionality. You should review this information thoroughly to familiarize yourself with changes in functionality, including new features, removed features, and terminology changes. By understanding the differences between the programs, you will smooth the transition from Education Administration 6.8.3 to The Education Edge.

Common Differences Between Education Administration 6.8.3 and The Education Edge

The Education Edge is a new software product developed with new technology and hundreds of client suggestions. Our goal is to provide the best solution for your admissions and registrar’s office needs. To provide the best solution, we have changed certain functions from previous versions of Education Administration. As a result, you may find it necessary to explore a different approach within The Education Edge to complete this functions. As with any new software, you should expect a learning curve when working in The Education Edge. For the best guidelines to following a smooth conversion, see “The Four Keys to a Successful Conversion” on page 4.

We recommend reading this list to become familiar with specific common changes that may affect Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office. These changes include functionality and features that are different from previous versions and affect how you accomplish specific tasks.

User Licenses

You no longer purchase separate Admissions Office or Registrar’s Office licenses or mark the program license to check out when logging into a module. Now you have individual licenses to The Education Edge as a whole. You can limit access to programs within The Education Edge in security. For more information about security, see the Administration Guide for The Education Edge.

Academy Integration

The Education Edge does not support Academy Manager. Academy Manager is replaced with integration among Admissions Office, Registrar’s Office, and Student Billing within the same database, and a method to integrate this one database with The Raiser’s Edge.

For more information about planning to integrate Student Billing with your Education Edge programs, see the Integrating Student Billing with The Education Edge guide. A merge records utility is available in Administration so you can search for and merge duplicate applicant, student, individual, organization, and faculty/staff records among Admissions Office, Registrar’s Office, and Student Billing. For example, after converting to Student Billing 7, you can search for duplicate records using criteria such as Academy ID, First Name, Last Name, Current Status, Student ID, and SSN.

For more information about planning to integrate The Education Edge with The Raiser’s Edge, see The Raiser’s Edge and The Education Edge Integration Planning Guide.

You can download these integration guides from our website at userguides.blackbaud.com. You can find them in the Integration section of The Education Edge User Guides page.


Education Edge Supervisor Security

In The Education Edge, a user with supervisor rights, as set up in Security, has access to The Education Edge and The Financial Edge. If you have The Financial Edge, after converting we strongly recommend you set up a separate security group for Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office named, for example, “AORO Administrators”. Grant the necessary rights to this group, such as full access to Admissions Office, Registrar’s Office, and the applicable shared components. You can have a single user, your system administrator for The Education Edge, in this group. This single user would then be able to manage the user accounts for everyone with access to The Education Edge. With this setup, you can avoid other users having access to all programs, including sensitive accounting data. However, be aware that users with access to Security in Shared Components can change their own security rights and those of any other user or group.

Faculty Access for the Web Supervisor Security

Users with Supervisor rights to The Education Edge also have Supervisor rights to Faculty Access for the Web. However, you can give Supervisor rights to Faculty Access for the Web to users without granting them Supervisor rights to The Education Edge.

To grant a user Supervisor rights to Faculty Access for the Web only, mark the FAWeb Supervisor Rights checkbox on the user’s security record in Administration. Once you mark this checkbox, you cannot access the Faculty Access for the Web settings on the Online Security tab. If a user needs to log into Faculty Access for the Web as both a Supervisor and a teacher, advisor, or administrator, you must create two different security records for the user. However, you can still assign the user to security groups for accessing The Education Edge.

A user with Supervisor rights to Faculty Access for the Web does not need to be a member of a Faculty Access for the Web security group or have access to online modules.

User and System Preferences

User preferences are now called Options in The Education Edge. User preferences were previously accessed in each module. Options are now consolidated in one area. To access Options, select Tools, Options from the menu bar of the shell or a record. Options are specific to a user, regardless of which workstation the user is logged into.

System preferences are now called Business Rules and play a more integral part in defining how the system functions. Business rules are accessible from Configuration.

Academic Year Records

Users who have access only to Admissions Office cannot access the registrar‐specific session information on academic year records. This allows the admissions office to create the basic academic year record before the registrar’s office needs it, without having to define detailed session information. A Registrar’s Office user can define the session information on the academic year record at a later date and can even copy the information from previous sessions.

Mail

Mailing label and envelope preferences are no longer available, because in The Education Edge you can save labels and envelopes and reuse them.

Currently in The Education Edge, only labels, cards, label truncation reports, action letters, and checklist letters are available.

Status Wizards

In the integrated version of Education Administration 6.8.3, you used the Enroll Wizard to generate applicant sides of student records and to generate student sides of applicant records. In The Education Edge, you use the Enroll Applications wizard to generate student sides of applicant records and the Mark for Reenrollment wizard to generate applicant sides of student records.

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Table Security

For some tables in Education Administration 6.8.3, you are prevented from deleting a table entry that is in use, but for other tables you are just warned and can continue. In The Education Edge, when you select to delete any table entry, the program checks if it is used on any records. If the table entry is in use, you cannot delete it.

Phone Numbers

Phone numbers in The Education Edge must be entered with either 7 digits or 10 digits (including the area code). If you include an extension, you must enter the 10‐digit code including the area code first, then enter “Ext” before the extension code. After conversion, if you see a phone number incorrectly formatted, edit the phone number according to this rule.

Crystal Reports

Crystal Reports is no longer installed along with Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office. The Education Edge includes one license for Crystal Reports Standard. You should receive a separate Crystal Reports CD‐ROM along with your Blackbaud product’s CD‐ROM. However, clients creating custom reports using Export in The Education Edge with Crystal Reports will need a license for each person creating custom reports. In addition, each license is associated with a particular product, which means if one person is reporting off both The Education Edge and The Raiser’s Edge, that individual needs two Crystal Reports Standard licenses. For information about purchasing additional Crystal Reports Standard licenses, send an email to [email protected] or call your account executive at 1‐800‐443‐9441.

A Crystal Reports Professional license is required if you intend to use Crystal Reports to run reports directly off a SQL Server database, running an edition of SQL Server. For information about purchasing additional Crystal Reports Professional licenses, send an email to [email protected] or call your account executive at 1‐800‐443‐9441.

Using the Enter Key to Navigate Between Fields

In Education Administration 6.8.3, you could use either the ENTER key or the TAB key to navigate between fields on records. This functionality was necessary when our programs were DOS‐based instead of Windows.

With The Education Edge, we have removed the ability to navigate fields using the ENTER key, which is reserved for completing and processing actions. As always, you can use the TAB key to navigate fields. Using the TAB key, which is traditionally used to navigate fields in Windows‐based software, is the ideal method to navigate from field to field. You can, however, use the ENTER key to navigate cells in specific grids, such as the attendance entry grid.

Applicant and Student Attributes

Applicant and student attributes are not shared in The Education Edge. You now manage these attributes separately. Your existing student/applicant attributes convert to both applicant attributes and student attributes.

Relationships

The Relationship Tree view and the Relation has Legal Custody checkbox are not in The Education Edge.

Field Characteristics

Field characteristics for addresses and actions are not in The Education Edge.


Import

Address import types are not available in The Education Edge. For information about the improvements to Import, see “Import” on page 51.

Automatically Generating IDs

This setting has moved from the General tab of Configuration to business rules.

Differences Between Admissions Office 6.8.3 and Version 7

Admissions Office is a new software product developed with new technology and hundreds of client suggestions. Our goal is to provide the best solution for your admissions office needs. To provide the best solution, we have changed certain functions from previous versions of Admissions Office. As a result, you may find it necessary to explore a different approach within Admissions Office to complete this functions. As with an new software, you should expect a learning curve when working in Admissions Office. For the best guidelines to following a smooth conversion, see “The Four Keys to a Successful Conversion” on page 4.

We recommend reading this list to become familiar with several key Admissions Office functionality changes that may affect how you use the program. For more information about new features and benefits, see “Admissions Office New Features and Benefits” on page 58.

Adding Tracks to Applicant Records

In Education Administration 6.8.3, when adding a new applicant record, you could select a track to add to the record. In The Education Edge, when you define a track, you can designate that the program automatically adds the track to an applicant record upon a specific applicant status.

In The Education Edge, an applicant cannot have the same track added more than once in an academic year. This helps prevent data entry errors.

You should also reconsider your use of tracks to take advantage of new functionality, for example, associating an action with a checklist item and associating an action to add upon adding or completing a track.

Application Holds

Application Holds are not in The Education Edge. You can use actions or checklist items instead and report on incomplete actions or checklist items. Your existing application holds convert to actions.

Fast!

Fast! is not included in The Education Edge. You can use Import to import large numbers of applicant records into the database. Also, in The Education Edge, you can manage multiple default sets of record information to use, and click Save and New on records to speed up entering data on multiple records.

Admissions Office Reports

We have made a number of changes to the reports available in Admissions Office 7. These changes improve the usability of the program, while still enabling you to retrieve the same information you always have.

New Reports and Changes to Existing Reports

This section lists new reports, as well as current reports with new features, available in Admissions Office 7 and explains the information your organization can gather using each.

Action Reports. The Action by Assignment Report and Action by Record Report replace all action reports.

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Activities Report. The Activities Report replaces the Student Activity Report. The Activities Report is now in both Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office.

Applicant Summary Report. The Applicant Summary Report replaces the Statistical Reports and Tallies.

Checklist Reports. The Checklist Report replaces the Checklist Detail Report and Checklist Status Report.

Enrollment Directory. The Enrollment Directory is replaced by the Family Directory and the Faculty/Staff Directory. A Student Directory also appears if you have Registrar’s Office.

Financial Aid Report. The Financial Aid Report is now split into two reports: Financial Aid Detail Report and Financial Aid Summary Report. These reports appear in both Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office.

Medical Report. The Medical Report replaces the Student Medical Treatment Report and is in both Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office.

Rooms List. The Rooms List report now appears in both Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office.

Test Score Report. The Test Score Report has moved from the Miscellaneous Reports category to the Applicant Reports category.

Removed Reports

This section lists each report we removed from Admissions Office 6.8.3 and explains how you can gather the same information more efficiently in Admissions Office 7.

Applicant Hold Report. Application holds are not included in Admissions Office 7. To indicate an applicant’s application is on hold, you can use actions or checklist items. Create a status that is changed either by the action or checklist item. You can run a query that includes applicants without the action or checklist item completed. You can run an action or checklist report using the query.

Action Reports. The Action by Record Report and Action by Assignment Report in Admissions Office 7 replace all action reports in Admissions Office 6.8.3.

Feeder School Report. The Feeder School Report is not in the initial release.

Comparing Report Categories

The following table compares the reports and report categories available in Admissions Office 6.8.3 and Admissions Office 7. You should review the table to become familiar with the new categories and reports included in each.

Admissions Office 6.8.3 Reports Admissions Office 7 Reports

Action Reports:

• Action Crosstab Report

• Action Detail Report

• Action Schedule Report

• Action Statistical Report

• Action Summary Report

• Missing Action Report

• Potential Action Conflict Report

• Tickler Report

Action Reports:

• Action by Assignment Report

• Action by Record Report


Differences Between Registrar’s Office 6.8.3 and Version 7

Registrar’s Office is a new software product developed with new technology and hundreds of client suggestions. Our goal is to provide the best solution for your registrar’s office needs. To provide the best solution, we have changed certain functions from previous versions of Registrar’s Office. As a result, you may find it necessary to explore a different approach within Registrar’s Office to complete this functions. As with an new software, you should expect a learning curve when working in Registrar’s Office. For the best guidelines to following a smooth conversion, see “The Four Keys to a Successful Conversion” on page 4.

We recommend reading this list to become familiar with several key Registrar’s Office functionality changes that may affect how you use the program. For more information about new features and benefits, see “Registrar’s Office New Features and Benefits” on page 59.

Attendance

Class attendance replaces period attendance. You no longer define fractions on timetables, associate attendance codes with fractions or occurrences, or enter units in attendance entry. Units, fractions, and occurrences are now obsolete. In The Education Edge, you record attendance by class or day. You set the attendance tracking method by academic year, either (1) class and day or (2) day only.

Checklist Reports:

• Checklist Detail Report

• Checklist Status Report

• Track Status Report

Checklist Reports:

• Checklist Report

• Track Status Report

Statistical Reports:

• Statistical Reports

• Status History Summary

• Tallies


• Status History Summary Report

• Applicant Summary Report

Miscellaneous Reports:

• Applicant Hold Report

• Applicant Status Report

• Enrollment Directory

• Feeder School Report

• Financial Aid Report

• Test Score Report

Applicant Reports:

• Activities Report

• Applicant Status Report

• Financial Aid Detail Report

• Financial Aid Summary Report

• Medical Report


Directories and Lists:

• Faculty/Staff Directory

• Family Directory

• Rooms List Report

• Student Directory (appears only if Registrar’s Office is installed)

Admissions Office 6.8.3 Reports Admissions Office 7 Reports

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You can select whether to allow class meetings to occur only in periods on a timetable. This means that you choose whether or not to track period attendance by synchronizing class meetings and periods.

When setting up attendance codes by class and day, you designate whether a code can be used for class entry only or can also be used for day entry. Day attendance translates to class attendance, and vice versa.

When setting up attendance codes by day only, you designate a weight for each code, either half day or full day.

You define separate absence and tardy codes. For each code, you designate whether the code can be used in attendance calculations. For a tardy code, you can enter the number of tardies that equal one absence. When converting to The Education Edge, you specify which codes to convert to absence codes and which codes to convert to tardy codes.

You can enter attendance only on days school is in session. The preference Show Holiday Warning Dialog is no longer needed. Days that are not in session do not appear on attendance entry screens.

Calculating Cumulative Credits

The Calculate cumulative credits checkbox is not on the course average calculation, this is now handled during grade entry.

Common Periods

In Education Administration 6.8.3, you defined common courses as common periods in an academic year. In The Education Edge, you define mandatory courses using course records. Select Mandatory as the course category and define what grade levels to associate and how to schedule the course. Common periods do not convert from 6.8.3.

Conduct

In The Education Edge, you manage conduct by infractions and consequences. Conduct types convert to infractions. Each conduct action converts to a consequence.

Course Requests

Course requests are now included in Scheduling.

Course Restrictions

You no longer have to mark a Terminate After checkbox to prevent a course from appearing when entering course requests for future years. A restriction record must be on the course record for the course to be available, and if you mark Course no longer offered, you cannot create new restriction records for the course.

Courses

Courses are now included in Records.

Create Master Schedule

The optional module Create Master Schedule is now a standard part of the program. In The Education Edge, you use the Generate Master Schedule utility in Scheduling. You can save Generate Master Schedule parameter files.

Data Entry Scanning

The optional module Data Entry Scanning is not available in The Education Edge. You can use Faculty Access for the Web to enter grades and attendance.


Determining Applicant and Student Ages

This setting has moved from the General tab of Configuration to applicant and student business rules.

Exporting Report Cards and Transcripts to NetClassroom

In Education Administration 6.8.3, an Export to NetClassroom checkbox appears on report cards and transcripts in Report Cards and Transcripts. By marking this checkbox and running the report card or transcript, you allow this information to be viewed in NetClassroom.

In The Education Edge, you select to publish report cards or transcripts to NetClassroom by clicking a link on the Grades page. You can select an existing report card or transcript parameter file to publish or create a new one. From the Grades page, you can also remove published report cards and transcripts.

Faculty Access

Faculty Access for Windows is no longer a part of the Faculty Access optional module. The optional module is now Faculty Access for the Web only.

Faculty/Staff Actions

You now use actions, instead of assignments, to track a faculty/staff member’s additional duties.

Global Delete Facility

The Global Delete Facility for applicants and actions is not available in the initial release of The Education Edge.

Gradebook

The optional module Gradebook that interfaces Jackson Software’s Grade Quick! with Registrar’s Office is not available in The Education Edge. You can use the gradebook in Faculty Access for the Web.

Honors

Honor categories, designations, and calculations defined in Grades in Education Administration 6.8.3 are now performance categories in Registrar Setup in The Education Edge. In a performance category, you name the category such as “Honor Roll”, define performance levels such as “A Honor Roll”, and define the criteria for each performance level.

Keeping Teachers in Same Room

The Homeroom and First Room Assigned options you could designate as “Always” or “If Possible” on the Create Master Schedule screen in 6.8.3 are replaced by the Keep teachers in homeroom if the room is a resource for the course checkbox on the General 2 tab of the Generate Master Schedule screen in The Education Edge. In The Education Edge, processing always attempts homeroom and previously assigned rooms first. There is no need to restrict a teacher to a room that is not the teacher’s homeroom.

Letter Grades Only

“Letter grades only” functionality is no longer specified on the translation table. This functionality is now within grading information on course records. When you associate a translation table with a marking column, you can designate whether to allow grade values, numeric values, or both. This allows you to easily see and control what values are allowed per marking column per course.

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Load Master Schedule

The optional module Load Master Schedule is now a standard part of the program. In The Education Edge, you use the Generate Student Schedules utility in Scheduling. You can save Generate Student Schedules parameter files.

The Include Courses Marked to be Scheduled Manually checkbox functionality on the Load Master Schedule screen in 6.8.3 is handled by the Restrictions to Override box on the Advanced tab of the Generate Student Schedules screen in The Education Edge, where you can select “Course scheduled manually”.

In 6.8.3, you could enter a class overload percentage to allow. In The Education Edge, this is handled by target class size versus maximum class size. Generating student schedules only allows classes to be filled to their target class size. You can override the “Target class size” restriction to allow classes to be filled to the maximum class size.

Marking Columns

The Credited column formerly on the Marking Columns tab of Grades in version 6.8.3 is now located in Defaults.

Master Schedule

The Master Schedule in The Education Edge replaces the Course Request Tally in Course Requests and the Edit Classes, Edit Class Timetable, and View Master Schedule screens in previous versions.

Online Setup for NetClassroom

Using Online Setup in Configuration in Education Administration 6.8.3, you could (1) automatically generate user IDs and passwords for existing records which meet selected criteria and (2) instruct the program to automatically assign user IDs and passwords to new and updated records that meet selected criteria in the future.

These tasks are separated in The Education Edge. Using business rules in Configuration, you can instruct the program to automatically assign user IDs and PINs to new and updated records that meet selected criteria in the future. Using the Generate NetClassroom IDs link in Administration, you can automatically generate user IDs and PINs for existing records which meet selected criteria.

Posting from Faculty Access for the Web

The Validate process checkbox has been removed, you can run a Preprocessing Report instead.

Promote Relations

The Promote Relations utility is not available in The Education Edge.

Ranks

Decimal places are not allowed in ranks in The Education Edge. The decimal and any numbers after the decimal are dropped when converting. These are listed on the conversion log. If you use decimals in ranks in Education Administration 6.8.3, consider changing these to numbers without decimals before converting to The Education Edge.

Report Cards and Transcripts

Report cards and transcripts are now included in Mail.


Rooms

Rooms are now included in Records.

Roommate

You can now enter a roommate in boarding information for a student.

Scheduling Page

The Scheduling page in The Education Edge contains the tasks from Course Requests and Scheduling in Education Administration 6.8.3. This table shows you the corresponding link on the Scheduling page in The Education Edge for the tasks in 6.8.3.

Scheduling Conflicts

The conflict options Exclude Periods Using Student Schedule Conflicts and Maximum Schedule Conflict Percentage on the Create Master Schedule screen in 6.8.3 are replaced by Exclude meetings where at least [ ] percent of students requesting the course have a conflict on the Generate Master Schedule screen in The Education Edge.

Module and Task in 6.8.3 Link on Scheduling Page

Course Requests, Requests by Course Enter course requests by course

Course Requests, Requests by Student Enter course requests by student

Course Requests, Group Assign Core Curriculum

Globally add requests

Scheduling, Create Classes Create classes

Scheduling, Edit Classes Edit master schedule, and select Summary View

Scheduling, Create Master Schedule Generate master schedule

Scheduling, View Master Schedule Edit master schedule, and select List View

Scheduling, Load Master Schedule Generate student schedules

Scheduling, Edit Student Schedule, By Group and By Student

Edit student schedules

Scheduling, Copy Scheduling Year Copy scheduling year

Scheduling, Saved Scheduling Years, Save

Save a scheduling scenario

Scheduling, Saved Scheduling Years, Restore and Delete

View, edit, or restore scheduling scenarios

Scheduling, Clear Student Schedules Clear student schedules

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When editing class sections on a class timetable in 6.8.3, you could select whether to display no conflicts, actual conflicts, or potential conflicts. All conflicts optionally appear in The Education Edge.

Set Calculations

Set calculations have been removed.

Single Gender Institution

This setting has moved from the General tab of Configuration to school records.

Student Schedules

The Schedule a Student screen in The Education Edge replaces the Course Requests by Student screen in Course Requests and the Edit Student Schedules screens in Scheduling in previous versions.

Timetables

Timetables serve a different purpose in The Education Edge than they did in Education Administration 6.8.3. In The Education Edge, the timetable serves primarily as a bell schedule.

• In Education Administration 6.8.3, you defined separate timetables in an academic year if you needed to manage different schools. You were required to use the same setup information for each timetable, including cycles, periods, and terms, though you could define separate period times.

In The Education Edge, you can define separate school records. You can define entirely different setup information in each timetable. You associate timetables with the sessions of the academic year for the school as needed. If you used multiple timetables in Education Administration 6.8.3 for this purpose, you can convert timetables to multiple school records when converting to The Education Edge.

• In Education Administration 6.8.3, you defined periods and timetables separately. This is combined in The Education Edge. You also control whether or not class meetings need to occur in periods. By synchronizing class meetings and periods, you can track period attendance.

• In Education Administration 6.8.3, you could use different academic years and timetables to define different time periods in an academic year to schedule differently, such as Regular School and Summer School. In The Education Edge, you handle this by defining session records within an academic year that can be scheduled separately. You can convert timetable names to sessions when converting to The Education Edge.

Translation Tables

If Include in Course Avg is marked on a translation table in 6.8.3, Numeric Grade Value was not required, but if Use in Course Avg is marked in The Education Edge, Numeric Equivalent is required.

Withdrawing Students from Classes

When removing a student from a class in Education Administration 6.8.3, if a withdrawal date is not entered for the term, a message appears asking if you want to drop or withdraw the student. In The Education Edge, you must enter a withdrawal date for the term to be able to withdraw students from a class. If a withdrawal date is not entered, you can only drop students.

Registrar’s Office Reports

We have made a number of changes to the reports available in Registrar’s Office 7. These changes improve the usability of the program, while still enabling you to retrieve the same information you always have.


New Reports and Changes to Existing Reports

This section lists new reports, as well as current reports with new features, available in Registrar’s Office 7 and explains the information your organization can gather using each.

Academic Achievement Report. Report on student performance, GPA, and rank information. This replaces the Honors Report, Rank Report, and Scholastic Ratings Report.


Activities Report. The Activities Report replaces the Student Activity Report. The Activities Report is now in both Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office.

Attendance Worksheet. The Attendance Worksheet is split into two worksheets: Daily Attendance Worksheet and Weekly Attendance Worksheet.

Class Attendance Summary Report. The new Class Attendance Summary Report provides class attendance summaries for academic years set up to track attendance by class or day.

Class Report. The Class Report replaces the Class Enrollment Summary and Class Roster.

Consequence Detail Report. Use the Consequence Detail Report to list details of conduct consequences in a date range you select.

Consequence Summary Report. Use the Consequence Summary Report for an overview of conduct consequences in a date range you select.

Course Request Report. The Course Request Report is a combination of the Course Requests report and Course Requests Tally.

Daily Attendance Report. The Daily Attendance Report now includes both detailed and summary reports.

Financial Aid Report. The Financial Aid Report is now split into two reports: Financial Aid Detail Report and Financial Aid Summary Report. The Financial Aid Report now appears in both Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office.

Free Periods Report. The Free Periods Report replaces the Free in a Period Report, Free Periods Tallies, and Periods Free Report.

Grade Distribution Report. The Grade Distribution Report is now called the Grade Analysis Report and supports more than one marking column.

Infraction Detail Report. Use the Infraction Detail Report to list details of conduct infractions in a date range you select.

Infraction Summary Report. Use the Infraction Summary Report for an overview of conduct infractions in a date range you select.

Print Master Schedule. In place of the Print Master Schedule report, you can use the Master Schedule Grid to print a grid view and the Schedule Lists report to print a list view.

Print Schedules. The Print Schedules report is renamed Schedules.

Schedule Lists. Use the Schedule Lists report to list schedules by teacher, room, course, student, or time.

School Directory. The School Directory is replaced by the Family Directory, Faculty/Staff Directory, and Student Directory.

Student Attendance Report. The Student Attendance Report replaces the Student Attendance Activity Report, Student Attendance Summary, and Student Period Attendance Summary.

Student Summary Report. Use the Student Summary Report to list counts of students in multiple columns filtered by student status and broken down by selected fields.

Removed Reports

This section lists each report we removed from Registrar’s Office 6.8.3 and explains how you can gather the same information more efficiently in Registrar’s Office 7.

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Alternate Periods Report. You can use the Master Schedule screen in Scheduling and other scheduling reports.

Attendance Statistical Analysis. The Attendance Statistical Analysis is not in the initial release.

Attendance Summaries. The Attendance Summaries report is not in the initial release.

Class Assignments. You can use the Class Report.

Class Information. You can use the Class Report.

Classes Created Report. You can use the Class Report or print the master schedule.

Conduct Reports. All conduct reports have been replaced by the new Infraction Detail and Summary reports and Consequence Detail and Summary reports.

Course Resource Report. The Course Resource Report is not in the initial release.

Course Roster. You can include additional course information in the Course Catalog Report.

Daily Attendance Summary. The Daily Attendance Summary is combined with the Daily Attendance Report.

Faculty/Staff Tickler. You can use the Faculty Profile Report to select information to print from faculty/staff records. The Faculty Profile Report is not in the initial release.

Failure Report. The Failure Report is not in the initial release. You can use the Grade Report.

Honors Report. You can use the new Academic Achievement Report.

List School Holidays Report. You can print holidays from the Events page. Create an event category for holidays. You can filter the grid on the Events page by your holiday category and right‐click the grid to format and print a list of holidays.

Potential Classes Report . The Potential Classes Report is not in the initial release.

Potential Conflicts Report. The Potential Conflicts Report is removed. You can use other request and scheduling reports.

Rank Report. You can use the new Academic Achievement Report.

Scholastic Ratings Report. You can use the new Academic Achievement Report.

School Calendar Report. The School Calendar report is not included in the initial release. However, you can print the School Calendar from the program.

Student Attendance Reports. The Student Attendance Activity Report, Student Attendance Summary, and Student Period Attendance Summary are combined into the Student Attendance Report.

Student Birthdays. You can use the Student Directory.


Comparing Report Categories

The following table compares the reports and report categories available in Registrar’s Office 6.8.3 and Registrar’s Office 7. You should review the table to become familiar with the new categories and reports included in each.

Registrar’s Office 6.8.3 Reports Registrar’s Office 7 Reports

Action Reports:

• Action Crosstab Report

• Action Detail Report

• Action Schedule Report

• Action Statistical Report

• Action Summary Report

• Missing Action Report

• Potential Action Conflict Report

• Tickler Report

Action Reports:

• Action by Assignment Report

• Action by Record Report

Attendance Reports:

• Attendance Detail Report

• Attendance Statistical Analysis

• Attendance Summaries

• Attendance Taken Report

• Attendance Worksheet

• Daily Attendance Report

• Daily Attendance Summary

• Perfect Attendance Lists

• Student Attendance Activity Report

• Student Attendance Summary

• Student Period Attendance Summary

Attendance Reports:

• Attendance Detail Report

• Attendance Taken Report

• Class Attendance Summary Report

• Daily Attendance Report

• Daily Attendance Worksheet

• Perfect Attendance List

• Student Attendance Report

• Weekly Attendance Worksheet

Course/Class Reports:

• Class Enrollment Summary

• Class Roster

• Course Catalog

• Course Roster

Course/Class Reports:

• Class Report

• Course Catalog Report

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Conduct Reports:

• Conduct Detail Reports

• Conduct Statistical Reports

• Conduct Tallies

• Faculty/Staff Conduct Assignments

• Faculty/Staff Conduct Report

• Student Conduct Report

Conduct Reports:

• Consequence Detail Report

• Consequence Summary Report

• Infraction Detail Report

• Infraction Summary Report

Grade Reports:

• Course Withdrawal Report

• Failure Report

• Grade Distribution Report

• Grade Entry Sheet

• Grade Report

• Honors Report

• Rank Report

• Scholastic Ratings Report

Grade Reports:

• Academic Achievement Report

• Course Withdrawal Report

• Grade Analysis Report

• Grade Entry Sheet

• Grade Report

• Requirements Audit Report (with optional module Graduation Requirement Management)

Request Reports:

• Conflict Matrix

• Course Requests

• Course Requests Tally

• Potential Classes Report

• Potential Conflict Report

• Potential Student Schedules

• Student Requests

Request Reports:

• Conflict Matrix

• Course Request Report

• Potential Student Schedules

• Student Requests



Scheduling Reports:

• Alternate Periods Report

• Class Assignments

• Class Information

• Classes Created Report

• Conflict Reports

• Course Resource Report

• Course Waiting List

• Free In a Period Report

• Free Periods Tallies

• Periods Free Report

• Print Master Schedule

• Print Schedules

Scheduling Reports:

• Conflicts Report

• Course Waiting List

• Drop/Add Report

• Free Periods Report

• Master Schedule Grid

• Schedule Lists

• Schedules

Student Reports:

• Student Activity Report

• Student Birthdays Report

• Student Medical Treatment Report

• Student Status Report

Student Reports:

• Activities Report

• Financial Aid Detail Report

• Financial Aid Summary Report

• Homeroom Roster

• Medical Report

• Student Status Report


Faculty/Staff Reports:

• Advisor Assignments

• Faculty/Staff Tickler

Faculty Reports:

• Advisor Assignments

Miscellaneous Reports:

• Homeroom Roster

• List School Holidays

• Rooms List

• School Calendar

• School Directory


Directories and Lists:

• Faculty/Staff Directory

• Family Directory

• Rooms List

• Student Directory


• Student Summary Report


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A New LookA primary goal of The Education Edge is to improve module management and navigation throughout the program. To accomplish this goal, we designed The Education Edge with the look and feel of a Web browser, which simplifies manuveuring among programs, modules, and functions. This new interface provides many benefits, including the ability to move back and forward with a click of your mouse and centralized modules.

We refer to this common interface as the “shell”. From the shell, you can easily access other programs and modules in your system. This new and efficient design means you no longer access other programs and modules from the Windows Start menu as was the standard in previous versions of our school administration products.

The title bar at the top of the shell displays the name of the program and includes buttons to minimize, maximize, and close the program. The menu bar under the title bar displays menus you can access containing commands for various functions. The commands available depend on the area of the program you have open.

The toolbar appears under the menu bar and provides Back and Forward buttons you can use to quickly move through screens and modules. The toolbar also displays the name of the database and program in which you are working. To quickly access another program in your system, simply click the name of the program to access a submenu of choices. For example, if you are working in Admissions Office but need to quickly access Registrar’s Office, click Admissions Office on the toolbar and select Registrar’s Office from the submenu.

The navigation bar, located on the left side of the screen by default, contains links to all main modules of a program. When you click a link, that module appears as a page in the shell. On this page you will find additional links to the utilities found within that module. For example, if you click on the link to Administration, the Administration page opens displaying several more links including Import records and Globally change records. You can hide the navigation bar or move it to the top, bottom, left, or right side of the shell.

Note: Because Crystal Reports is not a Blackbaud product, it is accessed outside of the shell. You should receive a Crystal Reports installation CD‐ROM along with your Blackbaud product’s CD‐ROM.

Note: You need one user license to The Education Edge as a whole, not separate licenses for Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office.


New Features Common to The Education EdgeThis section provides information detailing the new features that are common to Admissions Office 7 and Registrar’s Office 7. Becoming familiar with these common features will help you feel more comfortable with the new look and features available once you convert to The Education Edge.

Actions

Improvements to actions include the ability to associate actions with tracks and checklist items, include a date range for the action instead of a single date, and view actions both for and assigned to a person’s record.

Action reminders appear on the Home page. You can open and edit actions on the Home page and on the Action Reminders screen accessible by selecting View, Action Reminders from the menu bar of the shell. You can mark actions complete in the grid on the Actions tab of a record and on the Action Reminders screen.

Addressee/Salutations

You can associate an unlimited number of addressee/salutations with a record. You can also enter freeform addressee/salutations. For example, on a student record, you may want to include Diploma Name and Directory Name in addition to the primary addressee and primary salutation you selected.

Attributes

In Education Administration 6.8.3, you could define applicant, student, faculty/staff, organization, action, course, and room attributes. In The Education Edge, you can also define address, class, education, financial aid, and individual attributes. When setting up attributes in Configuration, you can require that a value be entered for an attribute on a record. You can also designate that an attribute can be entered only once on a record.

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Blackbaud Management Console

You use the Blackbaud Management Console with both the standalone and network versions of The Education Edge to manage your database. The Blackbaud Management Console provides helpful wizards to guide you through specific database and network‐related tasks.

Using the Blackbaud Management Console you can send email messages to network users, efficiently attach and detach databases, schedule maintenance, and take databases offline so they are unavailable to workstations and cannot be modified until you bring them back online. For more information about the Blackbaud Management Console, see the Database Administration Guide.


Business Rules

Although similar in concept to “preferences” in Education Administration 6.8.3, business rules have a broader scope affecting settings throughout the program. You access and set up business rules in Configuration.

With business rules in Admissions Office, the administrator can configure custom settings for organization, faculty/staff, individual, and applicant records. For example, you can enter duplicate criteria for each record type so the program checks for duplicate records when you save a new record.

With business rules in Registrar’s Office, the administrator can configure custom settings for organization, faculty/staff, individual, and student records and registrar setup, course request, scheduling, grades, and attendance processes. For example, you can set a maximum number of classes that students can take per term and how many floating teachers to allow in a room per day.

Custom Reports

Custom Reports make it easy for you to access and share reports you create using Crystal Reports. Using Custom Reports, you can link a Crystal report file with a Education Edge export file and then save the linked report in your Education Edge database. Once the files are linked, you and other Education Edge users can easily view or print custom Crystal reports directly from The Education Edge without having to open Crystal Reports. For more information, see the individual Reports Guide for each program.

Clients creating custom reports using Export in The Education Edge with Crystal Reports will need a license for each person creating custom reports. In addition, each license is associated with a particular product, which means if one person is reporting off both The Education Edge and The Raiser’s Edge, that individual needs two Crystal Reports Standard licenses. For information about purchasing additional Crystal Reports Standard licenses, send an email to [email protected] or call your account executive at 1‐800‐443‐9441.

Warning: Business rules affect all users in the entire program. It is very important to review and set business rules before allowing users into the program.

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Dashboards

Dashboard organizes information in your database into a “snapshot” you can easily view with the click of a mouse. Quickly and effortlessly, Dashboard summarizes your organization’s most valuable information.

A dashboard contains panels of summaries, lists, and graphs that efficiently compare and analyze information. You can create a variety of panels on the Dashboard page. From most panels, you can open a record in The Education Edge and view or edit information in the actual record.

Dashboard is ideal for managers, business officers, executives, or other users who need to quickly access information about your organization. Because Dashboard does not require a complete working knowledge of The Education Edge, it is ideal for occasional users. You can create dashboards with panels containing information from Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office and information shared throughout The Education Edge.

Default Sets

In Education Administration 6.8.3, you could define one default record for each record type. In The Education Edge, you can manage sets of default information for each record type. With default information you can quickly enter duplicate information in fields on records. Creating and using default sets is optional, but we recommend using them to speed data entry and improve consistency. For example, you can set up several applicant record default sets before you start creating applicant records and then use those default sets to quickly enter standard information into the applicant records.

To access default sets, select Tools, Organize/Create Defaults from the menu bar of the shell.

Warning: The dashboards in The Education Edge require certain Web components installed with Office XP and higher to work. If you do not have Office XP or higher, you can access www.microsoft.com to download the XP Web components from the Download Center.


Events

You can define records for events such as open houses, athletic competitions, and holidays. Events can span more than a day in length. You can set a recurrence for the event, including an end date. You can associate an event with one or more schools. You access events from the Events page in Configuration.

If you have both Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office, the programs share event records.

Export

In The Education Edge, you can save export information in a parameter file. You can then run the same export again later using the saved file, or modify the parameter file creating a new export with similar characteristics.

Export is also integrated with Microsoft Word features so you can use information exported from your Education Edge database to create custom documents such as form letters, mailing labels, envelopes, and mass email and fax distributions directly from Export. You can create both simple and conditional Word merges.

Faculty/Staff Notes

You can include more than one note on faculty/staff records.

Favorites

With the new favorites functionality available in The Education Edge, you can create links to the items you use most often or want to access quickly from the Home page, navigation bar, or Favorites menu.

You can designate any saved record, such as applicants, students, queries, and reports, as a favorite. You can create a favorite that links to a website you access often.

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To conveniently manage the favorites you designate, you can open the Organize Favorites screen from the Favorites menu of the shell. From this screen, you can edit, copy, and delete favorites. You can also group favorites in folders.

Financial Aid

More fields are available on a financial aid record, including Adjusted family income and Cost of attendance. You can also attach attributes and notes to financial aid records, and designate whether the financial aid was accepted.

Formatting Notes and Comments

You can use rich‐text formatting for all notes and comments in Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office. You can also spell check text and check a thesaurus.

In business rules, you can select a font type and size for grade comments posted from Faculty Access for the Web or entered in Grades. You can also select a font type and size for notes entered in The Education Edge.

Global Add

In The Education Edge, you can restrict security within global add to allow separate access to actions and checklist items/tracks.

The global add utility is accessible from the Administration page in Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office. From Admissions Office, you can add actions, checklist items, or tracks to a group of records. From Registrar’s Office, you can add actions to a group of records.

Global Change

A new feature in The Education Edge is the ability to save global change information in a parameter file. You can then run the same global change again later using the saved file, or modify the parameter file creating a new global change with similar characteristics.


Home Page

In The Education Edge, you have a Home page for efficient access to program links and favorites. On the Home page, you can add and organize shortcuts to functions you use regularly and view recently accessed files. You can also view action reminders, which are reminders you can set up that prompt you to do a specific task.

Import

In The Education Edge, we have improved the usability of Import by making several changes and enhancements.

• We have added the Create import file option which you can use to create a header file of field names. You can use the header file as a template for formatting a new import file in another program, such as Excel.

• We have added the Export records option, which you can use to export field names and records from the database.

• You can designate whether table entries are imported with long or short descriptions.

• You can override pre‐defined business rules in each import.

• Pre‐defined record defaults, such as applicant defaults, are now automatically applied to missing field information when importing records.

• An address can be imported as a single field or as individual address fields. The first address is set as the primary address if no other address is designated as the primary.

Individual Records

You can now create records for individuals. You can use individual records to track persons affiliated with your school but who are not applicants, students, or faculty/staff. For example, you can create individual records for:

• Relations of applicants, students, or faculty/staff

• Potential applicants, students, and faculty/staff

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• Contacts at other organizations

• Persons submitting recommendations for applicants or students

• Volunteers

By creating relationships, you can link individual records to applicants, students, faculty/staff, organizations, and other individuals. You can also convert individual records to applicant, student, or faculty/staff records.

Linking Phone Numbers

When you copy and link address information from another record, you also designate whether to link each contact type. In a contact grid on a record, you can easily view whether each contact type is linked or not.

For example, you can share a home phone for siblings and their parents, but enter unique email addresses for each person.

Management of Multiple Schools

In The Education Edge, you can define one or more school records. This is especially important in Registrar’s Office, because if your organization has multiple schools, you no longer need to use timetables to manage scheduling for these different schools. You can now define multiple school records within your organization, such as for your lower school, middle school, and upper school. By defining separate school records in Configuration, you can easily schedule multiple schools with different setups during the same time. For example, your middle school may use Monday through Friday but your high school uses A and B days.

Medical Information

More information can be tracked on the Medical tab for an applicant or student, including medications, conditions, history, immunization, emergency contacts, and insurance. You can also view a medical summary for the applicant or student.

Microsoft SQL Server Database

The Education Edge includes Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 Express.

If you are using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard/Workgroup/Enterprise Edition, Service Pack 3 must be installed. This is a Microsoft patch required to keep your system current with Microsoft’s security recommendations. If you have not installed Service Pack 3, you can download it from Microsoft’s SQL Server 2005 Downloads page.

The Education Edge is compatible with Microsoft’s SQL Server 2012.

Note: Define contact types in the Phone Type table in Configuration. When you define a contact type, you designate whether the type can be shared.


Multiple Database Access

If your organization has multiple databases, you can quickly and easily switch between them without leaving the program shell. If your user name and password are the same for each database, click the name of the current database and select the database you want to access. If your user name and password are different, you will need to reenter that information to switch databases.

Name Presentation

On records, you now enter a person’s name using a grid in Edit mode. Once the name information is complete, you click OK to display the name in the View mode. This can prevent accidentally editing name information.

Note: There is no interaction between separate databases.

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Promotion Schedules

In Configuration, you set up a promotion schedule for each school to define the progression of grade levels within a school and, if you have multiple schools, across schools. During the conversion process, you will be prompted to define a promotion schedule for each school.

If you have both Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office, promotion schedules are shared between the programs.

Query

In The Education Edge, you can create additional query types, including individual queries. More criterion fields are available for you to create more detailed queries. From the Results tab of a query, you can open and edit records. You can also export queries.

Because the program bases the results of queries on field criteria you specify, queries do not convert. We recommend you print a control report for the queries you use on a regular basis before you begin the conversion process. You can use the information in the control reports to create the same queries in The Education Edge. For more information about printing a query control report, see “Preparing to Re‐create Queries” on page 96.

Relationship Records

Relationships are familial, social, or business associations with other persons or with organizations. Relationship records connect other records. Relationships can be easily linked and unlinked. For example, in the case of divorce, you can update the marital status and unlink the records. Both parents remain linked to their child’s record.

You can add new records from the Relationships tab of an existing record and search for duplicate records first. You can select to copy and link address and phone information.


Reports

In The Education Edge, we have improved the overall usability of Reports and the intuitiveness of the report categories. You now access all program‐specific reports from the Reports page of the shell. For example, you access the Reports page for Registrar’s Office by clicking Reports on the navigation bar. The Reports page provides links to all reports available in that program.

The Education Edge includes many other new and enhanced features affecting reports, such as:

• Enhanced filtering in Reports allows for more specific and detailed reports.

• Include “fuzzy” dates in a report, such as Yesterday, This Week, and Calendar Year‐to‐Date.

• Multiple levels of sorting and breaking are available for most reports.

• On the Columns tab of a report, you can select what fields to display as columns and select how to format the column.

• “Superheadings”, which are headings across multiple columns.

• You can save report information in a parameter file. You can then run the same report again later using the saved file, or modify the parameter file creating a new report with similar characteristics.

• Custom reports are new to The Education Edge. In a custom report, you can share Crystal reports you have created from exported data with all users.

For detailed information about report and category improvements in Admissions Office, see “Admissions Office Reports” on page 31. For detailed information about report and category improvements in Registrar’s Office, see “Registrar’s Office Reports” on page 38.

Resize Screens

In The Education Edge, we have added functionality throughout the system to make records resizeable. For example, you can grab a side or corner of a screen and expand the record, or maximize a screen by double‐clicking the title bar.

Saved Column Sorting, Width, and Order

The program saves changes you make to sort order and column widths on tabs. On some tabs of records, you can click and drag column titles to reorder columns and the program saves those changes as well.

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School Calendar

You can access the school calendar from the shell, from an event record, or from an academic year record. You can view events and, if you have Registrar’s Office, you can view cycle days, days of the term, and days not in session on the calendar. You can view the calendar for a specific school or for all schools at once.

Security

For new installations of the program, and when you add a new database, you have three ready‐to‐use security groups to help you start quickly with maintaining system security. These groups are accessible on the Set up system security page. You can assign users to the Reporting Only group if they need to create report parameter files and run reports; the Read Only group if they need to view data in the system; and the Data Entry group if they need to view, enter, and manipulate data but not administer the system. The pre‐created groups do not include users. You assign users to the groups. (Your existing users do convert to The Education Edge, though your existing groups do not.) It is very important to review these groups to ensure they are appropriate for your organization. For more information about security groups, see the Administration Guide for The Education Edge.


Set Up Pages for Each Program

Set up pages appear in Administration in both Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office. The pages list links to the tasks you need to complete when first installing or converting to The Education Edge.

To access a checklist of these steps with links to the related help topics, press F1 on your keyboard when on the Set up page.

Shared Database and Interface with Accounting Programs

The Education Edge and The Financial Edge are one database. If your school currently uses Education Administration 6.8.3 and The Financial Edge, you will no longer have separate databases when you convert to The Education Edge. You will convert your Education Administration 6.8.3 data into your existing Financial Edge database. The product name changes to The Education Edge with the addition of Admissions Office or Registrar’s Office.

The user interface is also shared. For example, you can access both Registrar’s Office and General Ledger from the same shell. We recommend you review all security settings after converting, to ensure that users can access only the programs and areas they need. Keep mind that a user with Supervisor rights can see all education and accounting data.

If you plan to use Student Billing 7, you should be aware that certain areas of Student Billing are shared with Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office, such as biographical information on student records. For information about converting to Student Billing 7, see the Conversion Planning Guide and Conversion Guide for The Financial Edge. For information about integrating Student Billing 7 with your Education Edge programs, see the Integrating Student Billing with The Education Edge guide.

Note: To access help topics for the specific program area in which you are working in the program, press F1 on your keyboard.

Note: You need one user license to The Education Edge as a whole, not separate licenses for each program within.

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Status Wizards

The Update Applications, Enroll Applications, Mark for Reenrollment, and End of Year processing wizards are known collectively as the Status Wizards in The Education Edge. You can access the status wizards from an applicant or student record, the Applicants or Students pages, or the Administration page. If you have Admissions Office, you can access the Update Applications and Enroll Applications wizards. If you have Registrar’s Office, you can access the Mark for Reenrollment and End of Year Processing wizards.

A new feature in The Education Edge is the ability to save wizard information in a parameter file. You can then run the same wizard again later using the saved file or modify the parameter file creating a new wizard with similar characteristics. You can also update additional fields using the wizards, and restrict security to all of the wizards as group.

Table Cleanup

On the Tables page in Configuration, you can use a Table Cleanup tool to merge duplicate table entries and delete unneeded values.

Tests

A second percentile and a Stanine column are on the Tests tab for applicants and students.

Windows Authentication

System administrators can give users the right to use Windows authentication when they log into The Education Edge, bypassing the program login. For example, if you are using Windows authentication, once you are logged into a workstation, you can open The Education Edge without entering additional login information, so there is no need to remember a separate Education Edge password.

Windows authentication permissions are granted from Security. If a security user’s Windows authentication information changes, the change is automatically recognized by The Education Edge.

Admissions Office New Features and BenefitsThis section presents the new features available in Admissions Office 7 and describes the benefits these new features can provide.


Applications Tab

The Applications tab is new to applicant records. On this tab you can manage information about the current, active application, and also store inactive applications. For example, you may have applicants that were denied one year but apply for the next year.

Tracks

In The Education Edge, tracks contain more options to automate your admissions process. You can set up a track to be automatically added to an applicant record based on change in status, associate an action with adding or completing a track, associate an action with a checklist item, and allow a checklist item to be waived on an applicant record.

Registrar’s Office New Features and BenefitsThis section presents the new features available in Registrar’s Office 7 and describes the benefits these new features can provide.

Advisees

You can add, edit, and remove advisees from the Advisees screen of a faculty/staff record. To access the Advisees screen, click the Advisees button on the Bio 1 tab of the record.

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Attendance Entry Methods

Class attendance replaces period attendance in The Education Edge. Per academic year, you control whether to allow class and day attendance or day‐only attendance.

You define separate attendance and tardy codes. For each code, you designate whether the code can be used in attendance calculations. For each tardy code, you determine the number of tardies that equal one absence.

When setting up attendance codes by class and day, you designate whether a code can be used only for class entry or also for day entry.

When setting up attendance codes by day only, you designate a weight for each code, either half day or full day.

Course Requests and Scheduling

You access all tasks that were in the Course Requests and Scheduling modules in Education Administration 6.8.3 on one Scheduling page. In previous versions, to complete your scheduling process for an academic year, you followed the Scheduling Checklist in the documentation to complete the process. Now you follow the tasks in order on the Scheduling page, including Pre‐scheduling tasks, Course Requests tasks, Class Scheduling tasks, and Student Scheduling tasks. You can also print a new Scheduling Checklist from the page to record your progress through the process for each academic year and session.

The following lists other enhancements throughout course requests and scheduling:

Optionally include alternates. You can enter alternate course requests but choose whether to include the alternates when generating student schedules. You can first generate student schedules using main requests only, then generate again considering alternates too.

Requesting specific teacher for a course. When entering course requests, you can select a preferred teacher. This is only a preference, the course request can be fulfilled without the preferred teacher. To ensure the student receives the teacher, you must manually enroll the student in the teacher’s class.

Target class sizes. On course records, you can enter a target class size in addition to minimum and maximum class sizes. This allows you to attempt the target class size before allowing the maximum.


Flexibility in course requests. You can enter main and alternate requests in different terms and with different course lengths. You can allow partial requests on the course record. You can override exceptions for alternate requests. You can add global alternates.

Flexibility in copying scheduling years. You have more flexibility in copying scheduling years, based on sessions and schools. Also, when copying a scheduling year to another year, terminated courses are not included.

Flexibility in saving scheduling scenarios. You have more flexibility in saving scheduling scenarios (called scheduling years in previous versions). You can save certain parts (meeting times, room, teachers) and save an entire year (including more than one school).

Globally adding and deleting course requests. You can globally add course requests for one or more selected courses, not only based on courses in a core curriculum. You can also globally delete requests.

Clearing student schedules by term. You can filter by term when clearing student schedules.

Generating master schedules. You can save parameters of a generated master schedule in a file to reuse, preview results of a run, save a scheduling scenario before and after each run, and create an output query of missing classes. You define the algorithm the program uses, for example, you can give the highest priority to classes with a single teacher or room resource and the lowest priority to estimated class size.

Master schedules. In addition to viewing the master schedule in a List View, you can now edit the master schedule in the List View and view and edit the master schedule in Summary and Grid Views.

In the Summary View, you can edit total classes, classes per term, and class sizes. From this view, you can also update these numbers on course records.

In the List View, you can view classes by time, period, or block, and add or edit classes.

In the Grid View, you can view the schedule in a grid format. From this view, you can add or edit classes, and even drag and drop classes in the grid.

Group transfer. When editing students in a class, you can select multiple students at once to transfer to a different class section.

Generating student schedules. You can save parameters of a generated student schedule in a file to reuse, preview results of a run, save a scheduling scenario before and after each run, and create an output query of students with incomplete schedules. You define the algorithm the program uses, for example, you can give the highest priority to the sum of weighted request priorities and the lower priority to total enrollment.

Note: You can edit class section IDs.

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Student schedules. A Schedule a Student screen appears when you click any of the following links from the Scheduling page: Enter requests by student, Edit student schedules, or Walk‐in scheduler. There are different views of the Schedule a Student screen depending on how you access it (Request View, List View, and Schedule View), and you can switch among views on one screen.

In the Request View, you can easily add courses to the grid by selecting courses from a list or loading courses from a core curriculum. You can also enroll students in classes.

In the List View, you can view multiple terms on the grid at once, which is useful for editing purposes. You can also add requests and enroll students in classes.

The Schedule View is an interactive version of the Potential Student Schedules report. For each request, the possible classes that can fulfill the request appear in a grid with codes indicating the status, such as the class is full or the class conflicts with another class in which the student is enrolled.

Class notes. You can now enter notes about each class for each marking column, for example, providing detail about what students worked on in the class during that marking column. These class notes can be included on report cards and transcripts.

Course Rules

Using course rules, you can link two courses with a rule, such as corequisites. The program uses these rules when creating classes, scheduling meetings, and enrolling students.

You define rules in Scheduling Rules in Registrar Setup in Configuration. You associate rules with courses on the Rules tab of course records.


Enrollments Tab

The Enrollments tab is new to student records. On this tab you can manage information about the current, active enrollment, and also store inactive enrollments.

Faculty/Staff Scheduling Restrictions

You can specify more restrictions on a faculty/staff record. You can set a room restriction for the faculty/staff member, set maximum numbers of classes, meetings, and consecutive meetings, specify students who cannot be scheduled with the faculty/staff member, and restrict availability by cycle day, period, or time of day.

Grades

In The Education Edge, we have improved the usability of Grades by making several changes and enhancements, for example, you can control whether to require grade comments to be entered by a comment code or allow free‐form comments to be entered, per academic year. You can format grade comments and enter a comments separator. You can view comments and marking column grades on the same screen. You can show or hide both the Grades grid and Skill grid. You can “fill down” a grade column to repeat a grade down the column. You can also fill down a blank grade to delete grades. You can enter historical grades easily from the Enter grades by student screen along with regular grades. You can edit credits attempted per grade.

You can now also include grades from courses taken at other schools in GPA, performance, and rank calculations without having to record the grades as awarded at your school. You can open student records directly from the grade entry screens when entering grades by teacher, course, or student. You can include GPAs, grades, and skills in the criteria for performance levels.

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Registrar Setup

You manage critical grade and scheduling setup information in one Registrar Setup location in Configuration. You can associate this information with other records in the program as needed.

Registrar Setup information includes cycles, timetables, patterns, marking column sets, translation tables, scheduling rules, skills, default comments, course average calculations, GPA calculations, performance categories, rank interval sets, and rank calculations.

Cycles. You can create as many cycles as you need. The program contains a default Standard Cycle of Monday through Friday.

Timetables. You can create as many timetables as you need. In a timetable, you define the periods and start and end times in each cycle day. On each timetable, you control whether class meetings must have the same start and end times of periods defined on the timetable. You control this by marking or unmarking Allow class meetings to occur only using periods on the timetable.

You can define lunch times using entire periods or parts of periods.

Patterns. Patterns now contain “blocks”, each of which contains a group of meeting times. Each block is an option used when generating master schedules to schedule classes of courses associated with the pattern. You can set up blocks manually or use the Pattern Wizard to automatically generate blocks of the pattern based on the associated timetable using different scenarios, such as “Same period each day” or “Rotating”. You can define as many patterns as you need.

Patterns are now based on meeting times, not periods. You can overlap meetings. You can also define different numbers of meetings and meetings of different lengths within each block in a pattern.

Marking column sets. Marking columns are now defined in sets. You can create as many sets as you need. For example, you can associate a marking column set containing semesters with the high school and a marking column set containing trimesters for the lower school. You can associate more than one term with a marking column.

Translation tables. Translation tables have a Grade View and a GPA View so you can easily define numeric and GPA information for the same grade values in different views.

Scheduling rules. Scheduling rules are new. Scheduling rules define relationships that courses can have when you create classes, schedule meetings, and enroll students. In Education Administration 6.8.3, you could enter corequisites on course records. In The Education Edge, you can define many rules, including corequisities.

We provide you with two standard scheduling rules to get started, “Corequisite” and “Cannot take during same year”. You have many flexible options in defining scheduling rules. For example, you can define a rule to use with a Spanish IV/V class to occur on the same days with the same teacher in the same room.

Performance categories. Within each performance category (formerly Honors), you can now define the levels to award and the criteria for the level.

Skills can now be included in determining performance levels. For example, you can now record Effort exclusively as a skill and run performance calculations including skills for multiple marking columns. Be sure to review your skill ratings tables to be sure that your skill ratings are ranked from lowest to highest in each table before defining performance levels.

Report Cards and Transcripts

You can now save multiple parameters of report cards and transcripts to reuse. You can also format the layout and appearance to meet your school’s needs, for example, you can:

Warning: You must rank skill ratings in each table from lowest to highest before including skills in performance levels.


• Select the paper size and font style and size in addition to setting the orientation for report cards and transcripts.

• Add your school crest or logo on report cards and transcripts.

• Print both letter and numeric grades on report cards and transcripts.

• Print comments for multiple marking columns on report cards.

• Print signature lines on report cards and transcripts.

• Print student attendance totals on transcripts.

• Print the homeroom teacher’s name on transcripts.

• Format transcripts with up to four columns.

Sessions

Sessions are a new concept. With sessions, you can define separate time frames within an academic year, such as Regular School and Summer School. Classes can span only one session, and you schedule sessions separately.

You do not have to set up cycle days, timetables, patterns for each academic year. You now define this information in Registrar Setup in Configuration. When you define a session, you associate a timetable, mark the calendar days in session, and mark the patterns to allow. You can also designate that specific marking columns are uneditable in grade entry for the session. This is useful in preventing data entry into calculated marking columns.

Within each session, you define terms. For example, a Regular School session may have Fall and Spring terms and a Summer School session may have Summer 1 and Summer terms. Terms are the smallest time frames in which classes can meet.

Instead of the academic year’s calendar, you now have a scheduling calendar for each session. On a session’s scheduling calendar, you can designate dates when classes do not meet, such as holidays. You can easily skip or repeat cycle days and readjust the cycle day sequence.

For example, if you have a 5 day cycle which consists of A Day, B Day, C Day, D Day, and E Day, and the sequence designates a day as an E Day, you can select to reset the sequence by designating that day as an A Day. Or, you can decide to have three A Days in a row by designating three scheduling days as A Day.

When you save a new event record, if the event’s dates are not yet on the scheduling calendar, a message appears asking if you want to create scheduling calendar entries for the event’s dates.

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Student Progression Entries

In Records, students need student progression entries for each academic year in which you are planning to enter student requests, enroll students in classes, enter grades, or enter attendance. A student progression entry records the student’s school, grade level, advisor, homeroom teacher, and homeroom for the year. You can enter student progression entries either manually on student records or by running a status wizard to enroll applications (creating the student side of applicant records) or to mark students for re‐enrollment.

You can schedule a student in a different school and grade level than specified for an academic year in special cases, for example, a middle school student can take high school courses. You can set a business rule for the program to consider students as exceptions when in different grade levels and schools than specified for the course. The program generates the exceptions when entering course requests, but you can override these exceptions when necessary.

Faculty Access for the Web

Various improvements have been made throughout Faculty Access for the Web.

Supervisor can view gradebooks. Supervisors can now view teacher gradebooks for troubleshooting purposes. Supervisors cannot change grades, but can change the posting status from “Posted” to “Ready” or “Not Ready” if necessary.

School-specific announcements. Supervisors can associate each announcement with a specific school or schools.

Marking column access. Supervisors control marking column access by school, academic year, and session. View and edit rights can be controlled separately. This allows you to hide marking columns teachers do not need, such as interim marking columns, and lock marking columns from editing when the marking column is finished.

Supervisor-defined marking column calculations for multiple schools. In addition to allowing teachers to create their own customized calculations or automatically using only supervisor‐defined calculations, the Supervisor can now allow teachers to use only supervisor‐defined calculations but require them to assign the calculations to classes. This allows multiple calculations to be assigned per marking column to accommodate multiple schools.

View class statistics. Teachers can view class statistics on each assignment, including Average and Median.

Enter day or class attendance. Teachers can enter both class and day attendance, or day‐only attendance, depending on the setting for the academic year in Registrar’s Office. Even if teachers enter day‐only attendance, they can view attendance for all of their classes.

Enter conduct records. Teachers, advisor, and administrators can now add, edit, and delete conduct records for students.


“Fill down” in grid. You can “fill down” a grade column to repeat a grade down the column. You can also fill down a blank grade to delete grades.

View entire skill name. You can view the current skill of the skill column with focus in a field above the grid. This is useful is you have long skill names.

View attendance entries changed in Registrar’s Office. If attendance entries are changed in Registrar’s Office while you are editing an attendance grid in Faculty Access for the Web, the affected attendance entries now appear in red after you receive the message that attendance entries have been changed.

View student photo. Users can now view a student’s photo as stored on the student’s record in Registrar’s Office.

NetClassroom

Various improvements have been made throughout NetClassroom.

New look. The look and feel of NetClassroom has been improved for students and parents, including a new navigational menu. You can also enter multiple announcements and additional website links to appear on users’ Home pages.

Online course requests and enrollments. Students can now enter course requests and enroll in classes through NetClassroom. Parents can view and approve a student’s requests through NetClassroom. Teachers, advisors, and department heads can view, edit, and approve student requests through Faculty Access for the Web.

Report cards, transcripts, and statements are easy to publish. By publishing report cards, transcripts, and statements from The Education Edge, you export PDF files that are automatically accessible in NetClassroom.

New Optional Modules and Maintenance OptionsWe have specially designed several new optional modules and maintenance options to complement The Education Edge. These new options expand the capabilities of The Education Edge and can help you customize programs to meet the needs of your organization. With the optional modules, you can perform specialized tasks that may benefit your organization and improve the efficiency of your school’s administrative offices.

Queue

Using the optional module Queue, you can schedule a sequence of tasks to run automatically and unattended. Because you can set up a queue to run overnight or while you are at lunch, you save time on many tasks. Using Queue frees critical resources — workstations and printers — for other tasks during normal working hours.

Tasks you can perform in Queue include globally changing applicant and student records; creating report cards, transcripts, labels, and envelopes; importing; exporting, printing, or emailing reports and queries; and refreshing queries and dashboards.

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NetSolutions

NetSolutions is currently comprised of NetInquiry and NetMail. With NetInquiry, you can customize an inquiry form on your website for prospective applicants and parent/guardians to complete to receive more information about your school. With NetMail, you can create, send, and track email messages to applicants, students, faculty/staff, and individuals. With NetMail, you can also enable email in Faculty Access for the Web for teachers and advisors.

To keep your hardware requirements to a minimum, Blackbaud servers host NetSolutions. For NetInquiry, this includes hosting your Web pages and collecting the data entered on your Web pages for you to download. For NetMail, this includes processing your emails and allowing you to download information about undeliverable emails and people opting out of receiving emails.

Graduation Requirement Management

With the new optional module Graduation Requirement Management, you can review students’ progress toward meeting the requirements of their diploma.

You define the requirements for diplomas in Registrar Setup in Configuration. On the Requirements tab of student records, you associate diplomas with students. The requirements for the diploma are then visible on the Requirements tab and you can review the progress a student is making on the requirements. You can also use the Requirements Audit Report to review students’ progress.

Using NetClassroom, parents and students can review progress on requirements. Using Faculty Access for the Web, advisors and administrators can review progress on requirements.

Residence Life

Residence Life is an optional module in Registrar’s Office and Admissions Office that enables you to enter housing and meal plan information for students. If you have Student Billing, you can also set up charges for student’s residence life information.

The Residence Life page in Registrar’s Office is the central location for the entire Residence Life process. You can perform all tasks necessary for residence life, including creating residence halls and residences, creating meal plans, entering residence requests, and printing housing reports. You can copy residence life information from one academic year and session to another.

Application Programming Interface (API) and the Plug-Ins Page

Using the optional module Application Programming Interface (API), experienced programmers can write fully functional “standalone” programs that have complete access to Education Edge data and services. API is the right solution if you want to write your own “front‐end” to the program or create customizations that meld The Education Edge with some other specialized functionality.

You can use the Plug‐Ins page to run your customized API application directly from the shell. You can host HTML or Active X documents in a variety of formats to work in conjunction with The Education Edge. For more information about plug‐ins and API, see the help file reference when you install API.

Read-Only Database Assistance

Read‐Only Database Assistance is a maintenance option you can use to gain supported read‐only access to your Education Edge database. With Read‐Only Database Assistance, you have full access to related support resources, including database access, which you can use to issue SQL statements, export data, create import files, and create custom reports without exporting a query. For more information about Read‐Only Database Assistance, send an email to [email protected] with questions.


Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)

Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is an industry standard macro/scripting programming language widely used in software products, including all Microsoft Office applications, for rapidly customizing and integrating packaged applications. Using this optional module, you can customize The Education Edge to interface more directly with other Windows applications. For more information about VBA, see the help file reference when you install VBA.

Note: We provide various services to make these modules work for you if you lack staffing resources with programming skills for Application Programming Interface and Visual Basic for Applications.

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3chapter

Pre-conversion Planning

The Four Keys to a Successful Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Comprehensive Conversion Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Pre‐conversion Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75School Administration Office Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75What to Expect When Converting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Setup and Data Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Data Preparation Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

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The conversion process requires detailed planning and thorough implementation. To prepare successfully for your organization’s conversion to The Education Edge, you should read and understand the planning considerations we provide in this chapter, including the four keys to a successful conversion. We emphasize the four keys because in our experience we have found that clients who excelled in these areas had successful and efficient conversions.

Also included in this chapter is a section on what your organization should expect when converting and a detailed list of pre‐conversion considerations regarding your admissions and registrar’s office practices. You will also find procedures for printing Crystal report parameters and query control reports, as well as a checklist of data preparation tasks your organization should complete before running the pre‐conversion utility.

Please carefully read this chapter and follow the pre‐conversion suggestions we provide before you convert your data or install The Education Edge.

The Four Keys to a Successful ConversionConverting from the latest version of Education Administration 6.8.3 to The Education Edge requires careful planning. We urge you to take the time to develop a comprehensive conversion plan. There are four key components to a successful conversion, and your plan must include all of them for you to realize the full benefits of The Education Edge. In order to smooth the process of converting to The Education Edge, we have established the four keys to a successful conversion.

Time

Comprehensive conversion plan

Hardware

Services/Training

Your organization should review these keys to success and strive to obtain each. All four keys are essential to successfully converting to The Education Edge. To smooth your transition, we are ready to assist you with support and training services. Please visit our website at www.blackbaud.com for more information about our services.

Time

Before you convert to The Education Edge, you need to consider the time required to complete the process. We recommend you convert data during a relatively slow time for your organization. You cannot work in your database during the conversion process, so it is important that you schedule the conversion when you do not need to access your database.

The approximate time to run the conversion varies depending on your hardware and the size of your database. The process of modifying your converted data to take advantage of new features can require additional time. It may be beneficial to begin the conversion late in the afternoon and allow it to run overnight. The following list provides recommendations relating to the amount of time your organization should set aside for the pre‐conversion and conversion process. We recommend allocating a minimum of three days of down time for the conversion itself and for making adjustments to your converted data.

• Plan your conversion when you and your staff can devote sufficient time to the conversion.

• Allow time for you and your staff to become acclimated to the new program. The Education Edge is an entirely new product with a new look and feel, significant changes to functionality, and hundreds of new features.

• Allow time to re‐create your Education Administration 6.8.3 queries, report parameters, report cards, transcripts, and reports created using Crystal Reports because these do not convert.

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Comprehensive Conversion Plan

The transition from Education Administration 6.8.3 to The Education Edge is a significant event requiring resource allocation and attention. Like building a home, the most important first step is a solid foundation. By carefully planning and preparing your data for the conversion, you create a strong foundation for your new database. For this reason, you need to take as much time as necessary to make sure your organization is ready to convert to The Education Edge.

Before you convert, take time to thoroughly research and plan for the new features and functionality available in The Education Edge. To help you, we provide many transition resources such as written documentation, online support, consulting services, and classes at Blackbaud University.

During the planning process, you must carefully consider how your organization’s data converts to The Education Edge, as well as how your organization can use the program’s new features and functionality. Please carefully read and follow the suggestions provided in the list below.

• Create a cross‐functional conversion team including technical staff, end users, and management under the direction of a designated lead and an executive sponsor. Study this guide (the Conversion Planning Guide), and develop a conversion plan using the sample provided as a resource. For more information, see “Sample Conversion Plan” on page 113.

• Secure commitment from all personnel involved.

• Understand the modules, features, and third‐party integrations that are not currently available in The Education Edge and how they may impact your organization. This includes some Education Administration 6.8.3 functionality.

• Understand the changes that will need to be made in preparation for the conversion. For more information, see “Understanding the Pre‐conversion” on page 99. Allot time to prepare your data before beginning the conversion. We also recommend allocating a minimum of three days of down time for the conversion itself and for making adjustments to your converted data.

Hardware

The hardware on which you are using The Education Edge affects the performance your organization can achieve. If your hardware does not meet or exceed our requirements, you will not get the maximum benefit of using The Education Edge. Please review the current detailed system requirements for The Education Edge with your IT staff or the members of your organization who handle hardware. It is important to review the system requirements because many have changed due to the resources required to run The Education Edge. Visit our website at support.blackbaud.com to view the most up‐to‐date system requirements for The Education Edge.

When reviewing the detailed system requirements, be aware that program performance depends on many variables, including the number of users, network specifications, size of your database, and various other hardware and network considerations. Although our recommendations provide a generic guideline, you should examine your organization’s unique situation to determine the correct hardware and network configuration you need to run The Education Edge efficiently. Without adequate hardware configuration and memory, you may encounter problems and experience diminished performance.

In many cases it is beneficial, or even necessary, to exceed the minimum system requirements we provide. Exceeding hardware recommendations may be prudent for your organization’s ability to accommodate future needs, such as an increased number of users or a larger database. As you perform subsequent program updates and upgrades, we recommend you periodically check the current recommendations because enhancements to software often increase demands on hardware.

You must determine the amount of free disk space needed for each database you convert. These recommendations are subject to change, and we strongly recommend you review these frequently on our website at support.blackbaud.com for the most current information.

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Services/Training

The transition from Education Administration 6.8.3 to The Education Edge is a major conversion to a product that looks and feels totally different. The Education Edge includes new functionality along with many new and different ways of performing tasks. Even if you have experience with Education Administration 6.8.3, you are risking an inefficient and difficult conversion unless you receive specific training for The Education Edge. Clients who have converted tell us that training was key to their success with The Education Edge. Training is also an important component for employee morale and development. It helps employees with even mild anxiety about the change feel more confident and capable. Training is an important investment in every aspect of your organization, staff operations, and mission.

Because we understand how important training is, we offer a variety of training options to meet your different needs. We also offer several specialized classes on The Education Edge at our headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina and in cities across North America. As an alternative, you can arrange for a trainer to come on‐site to your organization to deliver classroom‐style or individualized instruction. You may prefer to have one of our consultants guide you through the implementation process, discuss your system configuration, and tailor the software to meet your specific needs.

We strongly recommend you complete training before you implement The Education Edge. Consider the time frame for advance registration and class length, so you can incorporate that time within your overall timeline. Visit our website at www.blackbaud.com for more detailed information, schedules, class content, and pricing. We offer several training options, so you can select the one that best suits your organization’s needs.

You should also consider which of our services can best meet your organization’s needs. For example, we offer consulting services to assist you with every aspect of your conversion and implementation, including remote installation. We also offer secure Hosting Services, which can free your organization from the cost and upkeep of hardware concerns. Visit our website at www.blackbaud.com for more detailed information about the services we provide.

Blackbaud University

Allow for a three to four‐week advance registration period as well as the length of the courses you plan to attend. After completing any of these courses, you should understand how the software works and be able to apply that knowledge to both the implementation and daily operations. You receive a workbook that serves as a valuable resource during implementation and operation of the program.

Regional Training

Allow for a four to six‐week advance registration period and the length of the course(s) you plan to attend. Blackbaud offers regional training throughout the United States and Canada. These regional locations are equipped with state‐of‐the‐art classrooms, and each student is provided with a workstation for hands‐on learning.

On-Site Training

You need to allow for a 10 to 12‐week advance registration period as well as the length of the courses you plan to attend. On‐site training is similar in structure to Blackbaud University training, but an instructor travels to your organization, and the class can be tailored to the specific needs of your group.

Note: You can read more about training options in the Training Solutions Guide you receive with your software.


Pre-conversion ConsiderationsThis section presents information to consider when creating a conversion plan, including considerations for the installation process and details about the information that converts.

When you upgrade to The Education Edge, most of your Education Administration 6.8.3 information converts. But because The Education Edge is an entirely new program, the underlying data structures are very different from Education Administration 6.8.3; therefore, some information and settings do not convert. Please read these considerations carefully so you know exactly what information converts from 6.8.3 and what information does not convert so you can take precautions.

School Administration Office Considerations

You must examine and understand your organization’s processes and needs to effectively plan and convert to The Education Edge. You should begin by examining your organization’s workflow and processes, such as accepting applicants, enrolling students, scheduling for an academic year, entering grades, and entering attendance.

Without first understanding the processes of your organization, implementation is more difficult to accomplish and becomes increasingly inefficient. By analyzing your processes, you determine the best possible fit between the program and your organization, which increases your satisfaction, ensures long‐term viability of the program, and decreases program maintenance requirements.

Analyzing Your Academic Year Requirements

By analyzing your academic year needs, you will be better prepared to configure the program to meet your requirements once you convert to The Education Edge. If you document your needs, you can select settings that reflect those needs during the implementation of the software.

Please remember it is important that you examine these requirements prior to implementation, regardless of how basic or advanced those requirements may seem.

When establishing your requirements, you should carefully consider a number of issues.

• Do you need to define multiple schools, so you can schedule schools with different setups during the same time frames?

• What sessions of the academic year should you define? Sessions are the largest time frames in which classes can meet. Classes cannot span across sessions. You schedule per academic year and session.

• What terms of each session should you define for classes to meet? Terms are the smallest time frames in which classes can meet.

Analyzing Your Status Progression

By analyzing your status progression needs for applicants, you will be better prepared to configure the program to meet your requirements once you convert to The Education Edge. If you document your needs, you can select settings that reflect those needs during the implementation of the software.

When establishing your requirements, you should carefully consider a number of issues.

• What are the statuses that an applicant goes through at your school, from first inquiry to enrolling if accepted?

• What are the tasks involved in reaching each status? Who completes each task (staff member or applicant)?

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Reviewing Your Grade Levels and Other Shared Tables

Before converting, your school administration office should confer with your billing office to standardize certain tables that will be shared among Admissions Office, Registrar’s Office and Student Billing. This is necessary to avoid duplicate table entries that mean the same thing, because these tables are merged when converting. For example, your Relationship table may include Stepfather and Step‐father. Table entries that match exactly will not be duplicated.

One important table to review is the Grade Level table. It is very important that grade levels are standardized among the programs before converting, to prevent students from converting into the wrong schools and their enrollments converting incorrectly. When you standardize the table entries, make sure each grade level has the same long description and short description in each program.

We recommend you print these tables from both Admissions and Registrar’s Office and Student Billing and compare the table entries. Add, edit, and delete table entries as necessary.

Tables to standardize include:

You should also standardize your country names and abbreviations on the International tab in Configuration in both Admissions and Registrar’s Office and Student Billing either before or after converting.

Warning: Both the long and short descriptions in the Grade Level table must match in Admissions and Registrar’s Office and Student Billing. In Admissions and Registrar’s Office 6.8.3, you could have up to two characters in the short description, but in Student Billing 6.42 you could have up to five.

Admissions and Registrar’s Office Student Billing

Address Types Address Type

Counties County

Ethnicities Ethnicity

Grade Level Grade Level

Industries Industry

Marital Status Marital Status

Phone Types Phone Type

Professions Profession

Regions Region

Relationships Relationship

Religions Religion

Student/Applicant Status Student Status

Suffixes Suffix

Titles Title


What to Expect When Converting

When you upgrade to The Education Edge, most of your Education Administration 6.8.3 information converts. However, even the simplest conversions may require you to make some changes in order to take advantage of the major enhancements available in The Education Edge.

What Information Converts?

The majority of your 6.8.3 data converts smoothly, including records and configuration settings. The following lists, by module in The Education Edge, what information converts from Education Administration 6.8.3.

Configuration

The following section details what information converts from Education Administration 6.8.3 to Configuration in The Education Edge.

General. The organization name and address information converts.

However, if you currently have The Financial Edge and you are converting your Education Administration 6.8.3 data into your existing database, your organization name from Education Administration 6.8.3 does not convert. The organization name in the existing database remains. This name should be the same as the name in Education Administration 6.8.3. To request a change to the organization name in the database, create a case on Case Central at casecentral.blackbaud.com.

Schools. When converting, you have the option to convert to one school in the program or to multiple schools based on timetables defined in 6.8.3. For example, you managed High School and Middle School timetables in 6.8.3, you can now manage separate schools for High School and Middle School.

However, you automatically convert to multiple schools if you have more than one timetable and either the timetables’ terms have overlapping dates or you have scheduled classes in more than one of the timetables.

If you convert to one school, the School ID is the same as the Name on the General tab in 6.8.3. The address converts from the organization address. The current year defaults to the current academic year determined by the program.

If you convert to multiple schools, the School ID for each field is the same as the Timetable name in 6.8.3. This name will be shortened by the program if necessary. All the schools have the same address as the organization address in 6.8.3. The current year defaults to the current academic year determined by the program.

Each academic year present associates with each school upon conversion.

Registrar Setup - Cycles. Each set of cycle days from each academic year in 6.8.3 converts to a cycle day set in Registrar Setup. When converting, the program checks for a cycle already converted containing the same cycle days. If a cycle with the same days already exists, a new cycle is not created and the year uses the existing cycle. Numeric display codes are added by default.

Registrar Setup - Timetables. Each existing timetable defined for an academic year in 6.8.3 converts to a timetable in Registrar Setup. The timetable has the same name, plus the academic year name. For example, a Regular School timetable defined for 2000‐2001 converts to “Regular School 2000‐2001”. The name may be truncated.

When converting a timetable, if a timetable already exists with the same name, the program checks if the information in the timetable is the same. A duplicate timetable (all of the same periods with exactly the same times) does not convert. You should review and rename your timetables after conversion because one converted timetable name may represent several timetables from 6.8.3 if the timetable information was exactly the same.

The converted cycle is associated with the timetable.

The Only allow class meetings to occur using Periods checkbox converts to marked for all timetables.

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Periods defined for the academic year in 6.8.3 convert to table entries in the Periods table. The periods appear on the timetable and are the same for each cycle day. The start and end times of each period converts from the timetable in 6.8.3. If a period does not have a start and end time in the 6.8.3 timetable, the period does not appear in the new timetable.

Registrar Setup - Patterns. Each pattern associated with an academic year in 6.8.3 converts to a pattern in Registrar Setup. When converting a pattern, the program compares the meeting times of the pattern to patterns already converted to determine whether the pattern exists. If the pattern exists, the academic year uses the existing pattern; the current pattern is not converted. If the pattern exists with the same name, but the defined meetings are different, the program creates a new pattern with the same name and adds the academic year to the name.

“Fraction” as defined for timetables in 6.8.3 does not exist in The Education Edge.

Each letter in a pattern converts as a block. The program determines the meeting times of each occurrence by using the defined periods and times of the timetable. The program creates an entry in the block for each occurrence of the letter in the pattern. For example, start with the following timetable and pattern.

Timetable (Monday through Friday have the same meeting times)

Mon ‐ Fri

P1 08:30 am

09:17 am

P2 09:20 am

10:09 am

P3 10:10 am

10:24 am

P4 10:25 am

11:14 am

P5 11:15 am

12:05 pm

P6 12:06 pm

12:44 pm

P7 12:45 pm

01:34 pm

P8 01:35 pm

02:24 pm

P9 02:25 pm

03:15 pm


Pattern

Converted Pattern

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

P1 A I H G F

P2 B A I H G

P3 C B A I H

P4 D C B A I

P5 E D C B A

P6 F E D C B

P7 G F E D C

P8 H G F E D

P9 I H G F E

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

A 08:30 am09:17 amP1

09:20 am10:09 amP2

10:10 am10:24 amP3

10:25 am11:14 amP4

11:15 am12:05 pmP5

B 09:20 am10:09 amP2

10:10 am10:24 amP3

10:25 am11:14 amP4

11:15 am12:05 pmP5

12:45 pm01:34 pmP6

C 10:10 am10:24 amP3

10:25 am11:14 amP4

11:15 am12:05 pmP5

12:45 pm01:34 pmP6

01:35 pm02:24 pmP7

D 10:25 am11:14 amP4

11:15 am12:05 pmP5

12:45 pm01:34 pmP6

01:35 pm02:24 pmP7

02:25 pm03:15 pmP8

E 11:15 am12:05 pmP5

12:45 pm01:34 pmP6

01:35 pm02:24 pmP7

02:25 pm03:15 pmP8

08:30 am09:17 amP9

F 12:06 pm12:44 pmP6

12:45 pm01:34 pmP7

01:35 pm02:24 pmP8

02:25 pm03:15 pmP9

08:30 am09:17 amP1

G 12:45 pm01:34 pmP7

01:35 pm02:24 pmP8

02:25 pm03:15 pmP9

08:30 am09:17 amP1

09:20 am10:09 amP2

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Registrar Setup - Marking Column Sets. All the marking columns convert from the Marking Columns tab in Grades to one marking column set in Registrar Setup.

Registrar Setup - Translation Tables. All translation tables convert from the Translation Tables tab in Grades to translation tables in Registrar Setup. Each converted translation table is associated with each converted school by default. NG (No Grade) will be added to each converted translation table if not already there.

Zero values convert to zeros, and blank values convert to blanks. However, if Include in Course Avg is marked in 6.8.3 but contains a blank value, the blank grade will convert to a zero because a numeric value is required in The Education Edge if Use in Course Avg is marked.

Registrar Setup - Scheduling Rules. Scheduling rules are new, the program adds two default scheduling rules to help you get started.

Registrar Setup - Skills. All active skills convert from the Skills tab in Grades to skills in Registrar Setup. If a skill category in 6.8.3 contains inactive skills only, the category does not convert.

Registrar Setup - Default Comments. The Grade Comment table converts to Default Comments in Registrar Setup.

Registrar Setup - Course Average Calculations. Course average calculations defined on the Calculations tab in Grades convert to Registrar Setup. The selection in the Translation Table field of the Result frame does not convert, the translation table that is associated with the marking column will be used. If a factor exists that is less than 1, it converts to 1. The Calculate cumulative credits checkbox is removed, this is now handled during grade entry.

Be aware that the description of the marking columns included in the calculation appear in the calculation definition in The Education Edge instead of the column ID.

Registrar Setup - GPA Calculations. GPA calculations defined on the Calculations tab in Grades convert to Registrar Setup. In the Values allowed frame, GPA is marked for each converted calculation. If at least one checkbox is marked on the Year to Date tab in 6.8.3, Year‐to‐Date GPA is marked in Values allowed. If at least one checkbox is marked on the Cumulative tab in 6.8.3, Cumulative GPA is marked in Values allowed.

If the Do not translate checkbox is marked in 6.8.3, the Translate results using checkbox is not marked on the converted calculation. If the Do not translate checkbox is not marked in 6.8.3, the Translate results using checkbox is marked on the converted calculation.

On the Year‐to‐Date and Cumulative tabs, the included marking columns are associated with all sessions by default.

Be aware that the description of the marking columns included in the calculation appear in the calculation definition in The Education Edge instead of the column ID.

Registrar Setup - Performance Categories. Honors categories defined on the Honors tab in Grades convert to performance categories in Registrar Setup, if there are honors designations defined for the category. Honors designations convert to performance levels within performance categories. All honors designations convert to performance levels, even if honor calculations do not exist for those designations.

H 01:35 pm02:24 pmP8

02:25 pm03:15 pmP9

08:30 am09:17 amP1

09:20 am10:09 amP2

10:10 am10:24 amP3

I 02:25 pm03:15 pmP9

08:30 am09:17 amP1

09:20 am10:09 amP2

10:10 am10:24 amP3

10:25 am11:14 amP4

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday


Honor calculations defined on the Calculations tab in Grades convert to performance criteria within performance levels. If values are selected in GPA Calculation and Translation Table, the formula converts as “GPAs and Grades”. If a value is selected only in GPA Calculation, the formula converts to “GPAs”. If a value is selected only in Translation Table, the formula converts to “Grades”. If a value is selected in Translation Table, the translation table also appears in the Using column on the Grades tab.

Each entry with lowest and highest values in the Select Students/Applicants Based on GPA/Credit or Select Student/Applicant Based on Marks grids in 6.8.3 convert to The Education Edge. Entries without these values do not convert.

The calculation name from 6.8.3 does not convert, because the calculation is now criteria within a performance level. Be sure to review your performance levels and rename them after conversion as necessary.

If more than one honor calculation is defined for one honor designation in 6.8.3, each calculation converts as a separate level and numbers are added to the name of each level to make the name unique.

Report Comments is new to The Education Edge and is blank upon conversion.

Registrar Setup - Rank Interval Sets. All rank intervals from the Rank Intervals tab in Grades convert to rank interval sets in Registrar Setup.

Registrar Setup - Rank Calculations. All rank calculations defined on the Calculations tab in Grades convert to rank calculations in Registrar Setup.

Academic Year - General. Each academic year converts to an academic year record, including the name, description, and date range. If you converted to multiple schools, a copy of each academic year record is created for each school.

The Track attendance by field defaults to “Class and Day”.

The Grades comment entry field defaults to “Freeform”.

Academic Year - Sessions. Timetables also convert to “sessions”. Use sessions to define school sessions within the academic year, such as Regular School and Summer School. Classes cannot span across sessions.

If you select to convert timetables to one school, all timetables also convert to sessions for the school in each academic year. If you select to convert timetables to more than one school, only the timetables associated with the school also convert to sessions for the school in each academic year.

For example, you have two timetables in 6.8.3, High School and Middle School, and you select to convert each as a separate school. For each academic year associated with the High School timetable in 6.8.3, a session based on the High School timetable appears for the academic year. For each academic year associated with the Middle School timetable, a session based on the Middle School timetable appears for the academic year.

In the Session field, the converted timetable name appears.

In the Marking columns field, the converted marking column set appears.

In the Timetable field, the converted timetable with the same name as the session and academic year appears.

In the Days in session box, the opposite values as the Define Non‐School Days values in 6.8.3 appear.

In the Available patterns box, the patterns associated with the timetable are marked.

In the View‐only marking columns in grades box, no marking columns are marked.

Terms convert from each academic year. It is possible for term start and end dates to overlap within a session when converting. However, we recommend you do not overlap term start and end dates within a session because this can cause scheduling problems. You may want to use overlapping terms, for example, when requiring students to participate in a sport. In this case, the sports seasons do not coincide with school terms and events do not occur during class time, and you could define separate terms.

For each date marked Skip Cycle on the List view of the Calendar tab of an academic year record in 6.8.3, a row appears on the Scheduling Calendar tab of the applicable session. On each row, the In session checkbox is unmarked and the Skip? checkbox is marked.

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Promotion Schedule. Promotion schedules are new. When converting, you will be asked to set up a promotion schedule for each school, which defines grade level progression within and across schools.

Tracks. Tracks convert from Configuration. The Short Description converts to the Track ID. The Track Name converts to the Description.

The selection in Base Track Completion On converts to the selection in The track is complete when on the Post‐Conditions tab.

The selections in the Update Status Information frame converts to selections in the Change applicant status fields on the Post‐Conditions tab.

Checklist items. Checklist items convert. If a track contains duplicate checklist items, such as multiple checklist items named Recommendation, only one of duplicate items converts as part of the track. We recommend you rename any duplicate checklist items in each track before converting, such as Recommendation 1 and Recommendation 2.

However, renaming the checklist items does not affect existing applicant records with the track assigned. For existing applicant records, any duplicate checklist items convert to the record but only one of them appears as part of the track.

In The Education Edge, each checklist item is associated with an academic year so you can easily filter the items by year. The academic year assigned to each checklist item upon conversion depends upon whether the item is associated with a track or not. The academic year association does not affect the checklist item’s dates requested and completed.

When the checklist item is associated with a track, the academic year association defaults to the academic year after the checklist item’s date requested, because checklist items are usually done in preparation for the next year.

When the checklist item is not associated with a track:

• If there is a date requested, the academic year association defaults to the academic year after the date requested.

• If there is no date requested but is a date completed, the academic year association defaults to the academic year after the date completed.

• If there is neither a date requested nor a date completed, the academic year association defaults to the year associated with the date of conversion. If the date of conversion does not occur within a defined year, the academic year association defaults to the latest defined academic year.

The Assign To selection converts into the Comments field.

Events. An event record is created for each row on the Calendar tab of an academic year record in 6.8.3. The Calendar Desc in 6.8.3 becomes the event ID of the event record. The converted ID may be truncated.

To determine the start and end dates of the event, the program uses the month and day values and the academic year. All converted event records have the same start and end dates.

If there are calendar entries with the same description and calendar description, but the values for School Holiday and Skip Cycle are not the same in each entry or a recurrence already exists, the entries convert as separate event records and the year of the event is added to the event ID. If the events are in the same year, a number is added after the year for each instance.

In 6.8.3, a calendar entry cannot exceed 24 hours and duplicate calendar entries are allowed. Due to this functionality, upon conversion to The Education Edge, the program determines if there should be any event records with recurrences. When calendar entries exist with the same description and calendar description (Description and Calendar Desc columns) and the value for School Holiday and Skip Cycle are the same in each entry, the program determines whether the dates of the entries fall within a recurrence option and, if so, creates one event record with the correct recurrence. For example, if there are 14 different calendar entries for each day of a Holiday Break in 6.8.3, this converts to one event record for the Holiday Break with a recurrence of every day for 14 days.

Note: You should review your tracks to take advantage of new functionality, including associating actions.


If the Recurring checkbox is marked for a calendar entry in 6.8.3, the program defines a recurrence for the event with a frequency of “Yearly” with the selected month and day and no end date.

The School Holiday column does not convert. On an event record, you can associate an event category. Create an event category for holidays.

Attributes. Attributes convert. The student and applicant attributes were shared in the integrated version of 6.8.3 and convert to both students and applicants separately.

International. Country names and abbreviations convert. If you have either Student Billing 7 or Student Billing 6.42 with The Financial Edge, your country names and abbreviations in Admissions and Registrar’s Office 6.8.3 are merged with your country names and abbreviations from Student Billing. We recommend you standardize these in both programs before converting.

Tables. All program and user‐defined tables and table entries convert. If you have either Student Billing 7 or Student Billing 6.42 with The Financial Edge, your school administration office should confer with your billing office to standardize certain tables in Admissions and Registrar’s Office 6.8.3 and Student Billing. This is necessary to avoid duplicate table entries that mean the same thing, because these tables are merged when converting to The Education Edge. For example, your Relationship table may include Stepfather and Step‐father. For more information about tables to standardize, see “Reviewing Your Grade Levels and Other Shared Tables” on page 76.

The Periods table is new. Periods defined for each academic year convert to a new Periods table, however, duplicates are not created.

The Infraction table is new. Conduct types defined in Configuration convert to table entries in the Infraction table in Tables in Configuration. (The Letter Level and Letter ID columns do not convert.)

Each letter type on the Letters tab in Configuration converts to a table and letter descriptions convert to table entries. The merge letter setups do not convert.

Certain tables have different names after conversion.

Attendance Codes. All attendance codes and descriptions convert. When converting, you specify which codes are for absences and which for tardies.

Warning: If you currently have The Financial Edge and are converting your Education Administration 6.8.3 data into your existing database, be aware that you may have duplicate table entries after conversion in tables that are shared across programs, such as City.

Table Name in 6.8.3 Table Name in 7

Alien Status Visa Status

Building Dormitory

Conduct Action Consequence

Conduct Status Consequence Status

Contact Type Organization Contact Type

Description ‐ Activities Activity

Description ‐ Medical Medical History Description

Evaluation Description Evaluation Criteria

Note: The concept of fraction and occurrence in 6.8.3 is replaced with class and day attendance in The Education Edge.

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The Fraction/Occurrence column does not convert because the concept of fraction and occurrence is removed from The Education Edge. Letter levels and IDs also do not convert.

The checkboxes indicating whether Faculty Access for the Web users can enter the codes convert.

Checkboxes in the new Use in Attendance Calculations and Allow Daily Entry columns are checked by default for absence codes. For tardy codes, Use in Attendance Calculations is unmarked by default.

The selections in the Allow Entry by Faculty column convert.

The Inactive? column is unchecked by default.

Records - General

The following section details what information converts from Education Administration 6.8.3 to Records in The Education Edge.

Actions. Actions convert.

New checklist‐related fields for actions in Admissions Office default to blank.

For actions on organization records, Contact converts to Action for contact.

If Completed on date is blank in 6.8.3 but the action was marked completed, it converts using the last modified date.

Action date is renamed Start date. End date is new and defaults to the start date.

Addressee/salutations. Addressee/salutation selections convert from the Bio2 tab of records in 6.8.3 to the Addressee/Salutations tab of records in The Education Edge:

• Addressee converts to Primary Addressee.

• Formal Salutation converts to Primary Salutation.

• Informal Salutation converts to a selection in the Addressee/Salutation column of the grid. “Informal Salutation” appears in the Type column of the grid.

Addressee/salutations do not convert if the selected format in 6.8.3 contains a field for which no data exists. This may not be visible to you in the selected format in 6.8.3. After converting, you can use the Globally Change Records utility in Administration to globally add or replace the primary addressee, primary salutation, and other addressee/salutations on selected student records.

Addresses. Addresses convert. If you entered the same address on different records in 6.8.3, such as for a family, then added relations among the records and marked Same address(es) as Applicant/Student, duplicate addresses can be converted for the applicant/student because these addresses are not linked, even if the addresses are exactly the same.

Academy ID. Academy IDs convert and are accessible from the Properties screen of a record.

Date Ranges. If date ranges do not pass the date validation, they convert as attributes.

Disabled Fields. If there are fields in 6.8.3 that stored values but were disabled, they do not convert. For example, if values are in the In State Resident frame on an applicant record, but the In State Resident checkbox is not marked, the values in the frame do not convert.

Education Records. The following information on education records within student and applicant records is not in The Education Edge: Current Grade Level, Information Source, Eligibility Status, and Enrollment Status. These convert to attributes associated with the converted education records.

The labels that appear for a selected organization have also been removed: Accredited by, GPA Scale, Marking System, and Source.

Information on the Academic Summary and Courses tabs of the education record converts to attributes of the education record.

Evaluations convert to Recommendations. The Recommendation Type converts to “Standard Recommendation”. Evaluator converts to Recommended by. If the Position being converted does not match the Position of the selected person (contact), the Position converts to an attribute for the contact. If the selected contact does not have a position specified, the position from 6.8.3 is added to the person.


Family Income. The Family Income lookup field for Financial Aid is now a currency field.

• If the entry is a range (indicated by “‐” or “to”), the low end of the range converts. For example, “15,000 ‐ 20,000” converts to “15,000”.

• If the entry is a single numeric value, the value converts.

• If the table entry is text only, the field does not convert and is blank.

• If the table entry is alphanumeric and is not a range, the text characters are removed but the numbers remain. For example, “150,000+” converts to “150,000”.

Family Income also converts to a table attribute, containing table entries for all the values in 6.8.3. The attribute converts to be present on applicable records. The Attribute Type is “Family Income”, the Description is the value from Education Administration 6.8.3, and “Conversion” appears in Comments.

Demographics. If the Yrs in US field contains a number above 999, it converts as an attribute.

Mailing Types. Mailing types convert from and to the Mail Type table and to table‐type attributes. The associated mail types for each address on a record convert to attributes on the address records.

Phone Types. Phone Types are called Contact Types in The Education Edge. However, the table in Configuration is still called Phone Types. All phone types convert without the Do not share phone numbers of this type checkbox marked on the table entry. We do not allow duplicate phone types on a record, so any existing duplicate phone types convert with numbers added to the name. For example, Home, Home1, and Home2.

All phone numbers convert as “Not Shared” except for phone numbers between relation and spouse and faculty/staff member and spouse which convert as “Shared”. If a relation is marked Same address(es) as Applicant/Student, the addresses are linked upon conversion but phone numbers are not.

Address Types. Blank address types convert to “Unknown”.

Records - Applicants

Applicants convert from Records Management.

Applications. Existing information on an applicant record converts to an application on the applicant’s record and the application is marked as active and associated with the applicable school based on grade level applied for. Any other converted information within an applicant record defaults to the active school.

If Accepted is marked, the current status converts to “Accepted”. If Accepted is not marked, the current status converts to “Not Accepted”.

Registration status converts to an attribute.

If there is previous application information in 6.8.3, this converts to an inactive application. Term apply is blank for the converted inactive application. If there is no value for Year apply, the previous application information converts to a note.

If applicants do not have a grade level, the School apply converts to the first school in the system.

Previous Visit/Interview information converts to an action for the applicant with an action type of “Previous Interview”. The date converts to the action date. The interviewer converts to the Assigned to user.

Converted applications are associated with the converted school.

Application Holds. Each row of the Application Holds screen converts to an action. The values in the Applicant Holds column convert to entries in the Action Type table. Any text in Comments converts to Description.

If the Cleared checkbox is marked for a row, the Action Status converts to “Cleared”. If the Cleared checkbox is not marked, the Action Status converts to “Pending”.

The action date becomes the date the conversion completed.

Tests. Tests convert. You now have an additional Percentile column and a Stanine column. You can also select to print tests on transcripts.The Print? checkbox is marked by default for all converted tests.

Notes. In 6.8.3, notes are shared between the student and applicant views. When converting, each shared note converts to both student records and applicant records.

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Status Log. Status log entries convert. The School field is new to the Status Log and converts to the applicable school converted. Source does not convert and is no longer tracked.

The Changed By column on the Status Log displays the user name even if the user name was deleted in 6.8.3. If you deleted and re‐added the same user name in 6.8.3, be aware that the program adds numbers to each occurrence of the user name upon conversion, including the deleted ones, to appear in the Status Log.

Records - Students

Student records convert from Records Management.

Enrollments. Existing information on a student record converts to an enrollment on the student’s record and the enrollment is marked as active. If the student’s record also has an applicant side, the enrollment links to the converted application for the applicant. If converting to multiple schools, the school of the enrollment is determined by the grade levels of the schools.

Registration status converts to an attribute. Core curriculum converts to an attribute.

Student Progression Entries. To create student progression entries for an academic year, the program checks if class marking column grades exist in the year. This check does not include historic grades. If class marking column grades exist, the grade level associated with the most classes during that year is used in the student progression entry.

If class marking column grades do not exist for a year, the program checks for other information in the year, such as GPAs, rankings, honors, class enrollment, course requests, attendance, and historic grades. If any other information exists for the year, the program uses other converted student progression entries compared to the sequence of grades in the promotion schedules you defined on the conversion step. For example, a student has class marking column grades associated with Ninth Grade in 2001‐2002. In 2002‐2003, the student does not have marking column grades but is enrolled in classes. The promotion schedule has Tenth Grade after Ninth Grade. The program creates a student progression entry for 2002‐2003 associated with Tenth Grade. If the program cannot determine a grade level using this method, the program uses the grade level associated with the most GPAs, rankings, or honors for the year.

For each student progression entry, the advisor, homeroom, and homeroom teacher convert. Every converted student progression entry has the same advisor, homeroom, and homeroom teacher.

Notes. In 6.8.3, notes are shared between the student and applicant views. When converting, each shared note converts to both student records and applicant records.

Status Log. Status log entries convert. The School field is new to the Status Log and converts to the applicable school converted.

Employment Records. Employment records are not in The Education Edge. Employment records in 6.8.3 convert to notes with a note type of “Employ”.

Conduct Records. Conduct records convert and the converted conduct type appears in the Infraction field. Date, Reported By, and Location convert.

The school of the conduct is determined by the school of the enrollment.

Conduct actions in 6.8.3 convert to consequences, including the number of units for informational purposes only. Other information in the Action frame in 6.8.3 converts for the consequence, including assigned to, location, start date and start and end times, and status.

The information in the Notes frame converts to the Notes tab of the conduct record.

Records - Faculty/Staff

Faculty/staff convert from Records Management.

Note: Be aware that neither the Grade Now on the student’s Bio1 tab in 6.8.3, nor the Current grade on the student’s Bio 1 tab after conversion, is linked to student progression entries.


Faculty/staff Restrictions. In 6.8.3 you defined the periods a faculty member was available for each cycle day. Upon conversion, for each academic year and session, the program determines the periods a faculty/staff member is not available each cycle day and converts it as a restriction by period.

Faculty/staff Relationships. Faculty/staff spouse is converted to an individual record with a relationship of spouse and a reciprocal to the faculty member.

If the faculty/staff member is also a relation, the program creates relationships to student/applicant records for the faculty/staff member and new spouse individual record.

Faculty/staff as Advisor and Recruiter. If Is a Current Advisor/Recruiter is marked in 6.8.3, Current advisor and Current recruiter are marked upon conversion.

Max Classes Per Term. Max classes converts to Max classes per term.

Max Classes Per Cay. This is new and unmarked by default.

Max Classes Consecutive. This is new and unmarked by default.

Department/position. The first department/position is marked primary.

Deceased Date. Deceased date for faculty/staff spouse converts to an attribute.

Emergency Contacts. Emergency contact information converts to an attribute.

Records - Individuals

A relation converts to an individual record. A personal relationship is created between the individual and the student/applicant. If the relation is already an applicant or student, the relation does not convert to an individual record but a relationship is added upon conversion.

A relation’s spouse converts to an individual record. A personal relationship is created between the individual and the relation and the student/applicant.

Addresses convert and link between relation and relation spouse. They also convert and link to student if necessary.

Addressee/salutations convert for relations. However, be aware that individual records created from relation spouses convert using the couple’s titles and spouse’s name, for example, Mrs. and Mr. Susan Nolen. To avoid sending mailings with inaccurate addressee/salutations, review and edit addressee/salutations in The Education Edge after converting.

If a relation record with spouse information is marked to receive report cards in 6.8.3, both individual records created upon conversion are marked to receive report cards, even if one of them is marked deceased in version 6.8.3. To avoid mistakenly sending report cards to too many relations or sending a report card to a deceased relation, edit the individuals with Receives Report Card marked in The Education Edge after converting.

A relation’s business address information also converts to an address on the individual record. An Primary Business Address attribute is added to this converted address record.

Organization contacts convert to individual records. A contact relationship is created between the individual and organization.

A relation’s Schools Attended information converts to School Info screen on the individual record.

Notes convert to both relation and relation spouse. Relationship checkboxes convert to a relation record, not to spouse record.

If the notes on the Notes tab of a relation record in 6.8.3 are 255 characters or less, the notes convert to the Notes field on the Relationships tab in The Education Edge. If the notes are more than 255 characters, the notes convert to a note on the Notes tab with a note type of “Relationship”.

Grade Level converts to a table‐type attribute.

Class Of and Deceased Date convert to attributes.

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Records - Organizations

Organizations convert from Records Management.

A relation’s business information converts to an organization record. A personal relationship is created between the individual and organization. Industry and Profession convert to attributes. The relationship appears as Employer/Employee.

Records - Courses

Courses convert from Courses.

Scheduling Information. Minimum and maximum requests per term convert to attributes of the course record. Maximum class size converts to target class size. Maximum classes per term converts to target classes per term.

The value of the Schedule Manually checkbox converts to the opposite value in for Include course when generating a master schedule.

Length in Terms and Start in Term(s) convert to the same value for each session for each academic year.

Restrictions for Academic Years and Sessions. The program creates a restriction record for each year classes or requests exist, and each year with a record on the Meetings tab of the course record. The start terms of the requests and classes determine the start terms of the restrictions. The length of the classes determine the length in terms.

The program then refers to the meeting record on the Meetings tab in 6.8.3.In Restrict by, if “Period” is selected, this converts to “Meeting”. The program uses the number of meetings with the same length in periods to convert values for Number of Meeting and Length in Minutes. Periods not selected in the grid convert to entries in the Restricted Times grid.

If “Pattern” is selected in 6.8.3, the associated pattern appears upon conversion. Length in Periods does not convert. The number of meetings in 6.8.3 converts to a specific value in the Number of meetings field.

If at least one meeting has Same Room marked on the meeting record in 6.8.3, the Keep meetings in same room checkbox converts to marked.

Course No Longer Offered. If Terminate After is marked in 6.8.3, Course no longer offered converts to marked if the year selected is the current or previous academic year. The academic year selected to terminate after converts as an attribute.

However, this does not necessarily mean that the course will be excluded from scheduling in The Education Edge. Even if Terminate After is marked on the course record, if a restriction record is created for a year upon conversion (because requests or classes exist for the year or the year has a record on the Meetings tab of the course record), the course can be scheduled for that year in The Education Edge. To prevent a course from being scheduled, you can delete the record for the academic year on the Restrictions 2 tab of the course record after converting.

Resources. Only active resources convert.

Rules. Prerequisites convert from the Prerequisites tab in 6.8.3.

Corequisite functionality is now included within course rules. Upon conversion, a standard scheduling rule converts for corequisites. Any course records with a corequisite on the Corequisites tab in 6.8.3 convert with a corequisite rule on the Rules tab of the same course record.

Grading Information. Course grading information for the academic year converts from the Grading tab of a course record in 6.8.3 to grading information for the academic year and session on the Grading tab of the course record in The Education Edge. A marking column converts only if it is associated with a term in which the course can be scheduled, as specified by the start term and length of terms on the restriction information for the academic year and session specified on the Restrictions 2 tab.

During conversion, you select whether to award credits in the same marking columns in which they are attempted or to award credits in different marking columns than they are attempted. For more information, see “Converting Attempted and Awarded Credits” on page 110.


If you changed a course’s credit information after calculating grades in 6.8.3, be aware that the conversion recalculates the grades using the credit information currently on the course record.

Attributes and Notes. Attributes and notes on the General tab convert to the Attribute/Notes tab.

The Credits/Units field converts to an attribute.

Records - Rooms

Rooms convert from Configuration in 6.8.3.

Capacity. Capacity converts to Maximum room capacity.

Room Restrictions. In 6.8.3, you defined the periods a room was available for each cycle day. Upon conversion, for each academic year and session, the program determines the periods a room is not available each cycle day and converts them to restrictions by period on the room record.

Attendance

The following section details what information converts from Education Administration 6.8.3 to Attendance in The Education Edge.

Absence Versus Tardy. When converting, you select which codes to convert to absence codes and which codes to convert to tardy codes and define the necessary details for the codes.

Class Versus Day. In The Education Edge, attendance is either by class or day, you now set an attendance tracking method by academic year. The attendance tracking method converts to “Class and day attendance” and your attendance converts to class attendance entries, unless you have no periods defined in a year. Day attendance converts but also appears in each class of the day. If you have no periods defined in a year, the attendance tracking method converts to “Day only attendance” and all attendance in the year converts as day attendance.

If an academic year in 6.8.3 contains periods, but you have only day attendance entered in that year, you should change the attendance tracking method for the year to “Day only attendance” after converting so you can view the day attendance codes.

Grades

The following section details what information converts from Education Administration 6.8.3 to Grades in The Education Edge.

Grades. Existing grades convert.

Scheduling

The following section details what information converts from Education Administration 6.8.3 to Scheduling in The Education Edge.

Core Curricula. Core curricula convert from Configuration.

Existing core curricula convert with all grade levels associated. If you convert to one school, the converted core curricula associate with the school. If you convert to multiple schools, the converted core curricula associate with the school of the curricula’s courses. If in a core curriculum, courses are associated with more than one school, the program converts a separate core curriculum for each school and the name of the converted core curricula includes the school name.

Course Requests. Course requests convert from Course Requests. Requests convert to be associated with the applicable converted session. The program determines the terms with which to associate the request by the start term of the request, the length in terms of the course, and the order of the terms in the session. The start term of converting alternate requests matches the corresponding main request. The program determines the terms with which to associate alternate requests the same as main requests.

Scheduling Years. Saved scheduling years do not convert. (These are called scheduling scenarios in The Education Edge.)

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Administration

The following section details what information converts from Education Administration 6.8.3 to Administration in The Education Edge.

Security. Security users convert from Configuration in 6.8.3. However, the groups to which each user is assigned do not convert. After conversion, you must set up groups and assign users to groups, taking advantage of new security features. Special consideration should be give to new and changed functions in the programs when setting up security groups.

In 6.8.3, user names could contain characters other than letters, numbers, spaces, and underscores. However, in The Education Edge, user names can contain only letters, numbers, spaces, and underscores. During conversion, if invalid characters are found they are replaced with underscores.

User names are not case‐sensitive in The Education Edge, so in order to prevent duplicates, the program may add numbers to duplicate names upon conversion.

Faculty Access Security. Users in Faculty Access Security in 6.8.3 also convert. On the converted user records, “User can only access online modules” is selected in the User Type field, the Faculty Access for the Web checkbox is marked on the Online Security tab, and the user’s faculty/staff record is selected in the Faculty/staff record to link to field.

Faculty Access for the Web - Supervisor

Supervisor settings in Faculty Access for the Web convert. This section lists special conversion details.

Announcements. Existing announcements convert and associate with each converted school.

Academic Year Access. Existing academic year access settings convert to the same “Yes” or “No” values as before and are the same for each converted school.

Marking Column Access. Existing marking column access settings for an academic year convert to the same “Yes” or “No” values as before.

In The Education Edge, you can control marking column access separately for viewing and editing. The settings convert to the same for both viewing and editing.

Grading Scales. Grading scales are converted to each school converted.

Marking Column Calculations. Marking column calculations are converted to each school converted.

Faculty Access for the Web - Teacher, Advisor, and Administrator

Settings and information in Faculty Access for the Web convert. This section lists special conversion details.

Grades. All grade information converts.

Grading Scales. Grading scales convert and associate with the converted school and session of the academic year.

Marking Column Calculations. Marking column calculations convert and associate with the converted school and session of the academic year.

What Information Does Not Convert?

Because the structure of the database has changed, certain items will not convert to ensure the integrity of the system. To make sure this information is not lost, you should make a note of the items in your data that will not convert so you can re‐enter that information in The Education Edge. In some cases, as with custom reports created in Crystal Reports, you can print information to use when re‐creating reports that do not convert. Please review this section carefully so you know what information in Education Administration 6.8.3 does not convert and consider how it applies to you.

Common Periods. Common periods defined in Configuration do not convert. In The Education Edge, you must set up Mandatory courses. Common periods will not show up on past student schedules, you can recreate these using Mandatory courses.


Conduct. The types in the Conduct Type column convert to table entries in the Conduct Type table in Tables in Configuration, but the Letter Level and Letter ID columns do not convert.

Course Average Calculations. The selection in the Translation Table field of the Result frame does not convert, the translation table that is associated with the marking column will be used.

The Calculate cumulative credits checkbox is removed, this is now handled during grade entry.

Custom Crystal Reports. Custom reports created in Crystal Reports, including those created by Blackbaud, do not convert. However, we have greatly enhanced the standard reporting functionality of The Education Edge. As a result, you may be able to use the new standard reporting features to gather the same information. If you still need a specific report from Crystal Reports, you can re‐create it yourself or contact Customer Support’s Crystal Report writing team. For more information, see “Printing a Crystal Report definition” on page 95.

Defaults. Default records do not convert. You can re‐create your default records in The Education Edge, and manage multiple default sets for each record type.

Field Characteristics. Field characteristics do not convert. You can set up field characteristics in Configuration in The Education Edge.

Merge letters. Merge letter setups do not convert. You will have to set up the fields to export for each merge letter again.

International. The following fields do not convert and are no longer available on country records:

• Currency box, including Type, Annual Rate, Symbol, and Placement fields.

• Number Format box, including 1000 Separator, Decimal Separator, Decimal Digits, and Leading Zero fields.

• Address Block box, including customized address formatting.

Queries. It is not possible to convert queries and maintain the integrity of the results; therefore, you should re‐create your most commonly used queries after the conversion. You can print a query control report for each query to assist you with the re‐creation process. For more information, see “Printing a query control report” on page 96.

Report Cards and Transcripts. Report cards and transcripts do not convert. The Education Edge contains numerous improvements to report card and transcript processing, so take the time to re‐create your report cards and transcripts using the new features.

Report Parameters. If your organization uses specific report parameters, write them down so you can easily re‐create new parameter sets in The Education Edge.

Security Groups. The security users entered in 6.8.3 convert. However, the groups to which each user is assigned do not convert. The administrator must re‐establish user rights by re‐creating the groups once the conversion is complete. Re‐creating these groups will give you the opportunity to take advantage of new security features available in The Education Edge. We recommend you write down the rights established for each security group so this information can be entered in The Education Edge.

Selection Lists. Selection lists are in Preferences and do not convert to The Education Edge because grid sorting is automatically saved in The Education Edge.

System Preferences. System preferences in 6.8.3 have been replaced by Business Rules in The Education Edge. You should write down your system preferences prior to conversion and use them to set up the Business Rules after conversion is complete. The Business Rules also include new preferences not available in 6.8.3.

User Preferences. User preferences in 6.8.3 have been replaced by Options in The Education Edge. We recommend that each user writes down his/her user preferences and configures them again once The Education Edge is up and running.

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Setup and Data Considerations

As with any school administration system, the implementation of The Education Edge requires a great deal of forethought and consideration. In some cases, the decisions you make can have substantial and possibly irreversible consequences in the functionality of the system.

This section covers setup and data considerations for transferring your data or starting with a new database and setting up the program. Before converting your data, please consider the following issues.

Microsoft SQL Server Database

The Education Edge includes Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 Express.

If you are using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard/Workgroup/Enterprise Edition, Service Pack 3 must be installed. This is a Microsoft patch required to keep your system current with Microsoft’s security recommendations. If you have not installed Service Pack 3, you can download it from Microsoft’s SQL Server 2005 Downloads page.

The Education Edge is compatible with Microsoft’s SQL Server 2012.

Personal Information Encryption

The Education Edge encrypts personal information such Social Security numbers. This means that this information is always masked on screens, reports, queries, and exports unless a user has security rights to add, edit, delete, view, or output personal information. It is very important that your school considers best practices for managing personal information before you grant security rights.

To protect personal information in your database, it is recommended that your school:

• Restricts access to personal information to only users with a specific need to view it.

• Ensures that users in contact with personal information understand their responsibilities.

• Does not send email containing personal information.

You may need to evaluate some of your existing practices. It is recommended that Social Security numbers are NOT used for these school‐related items:

• Class Registration

• Class Rosters

• Computer Login

• Grade Reports

• Overdue Library Notices

• ID Cards

• Registration Postcards

• Internet Access

• Identification for Exams

You should plan for processes that require users to view personal information. For example:

During data entry, users must enter or import Social Security numbers on records. Users with security rights can view these numbers while entering them in fields, but the numbers are masked once the record is saved or reopened to edit.

If your school receives credit card payments, credit card numbers should be visible only when they are entered and authorized. Thereafter, credit card numbers should not be accessible to unauthorized persons.


PCI Compliance

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements developed by the major credit card companies to enhance credit and debit card data security. All organizations that process, store, or transmit payment card data must follow the PCI DSS requirements or will eventually risk losing their ability to process credit card payments. To comply with these requirements, The Education Edge does not store entire credit card numbers. Only the last four digits are stored.

For information about PCI DSS, visit http://www.blackbaud.com/pci or the PCI Security Standards Council website at https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org.

Conversion Clean up

During the conversion process, the program checks for records with duplicate Social Security numbers. If you convert a record with a Social Security number matching a record already existing in the database, the Social Security number is removed from the field on the converted record and saved as an attribute. The attribute is unmasked so any user with rights to view attributes will be able to view the Social Security number. For that reason, we recommend that you run the Merge Records utility soon after conversion using the Social Security number attribute as criteria.

Other Blackbaud Products

If you use our accounting products (Accounting for Nonprofits or The Financial Edge), you must upgrade to version 7.82 or higher of The Financial Edge before converting to The Education Edge. If you use The Financial Edge, you convert your Education Administration 6.8.3 data into your Financial Edge database. When you have Admissions Office or Registrar’s Office, the name changes from The Financial Edge to The Education Edge. Your accounting and school administration programs share a database in one shell. This can include Admissions Office, Registrar’s Office, General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Cash Receipts, Fixed Assets, Payroll, and Student Billing.

If you plan to use Student Billing 7, you should be aware that certain areas of Student Billing are shared with Admissions Office and Registrar’s Office, such as biographical information on student records. For information about converting to Student Billing 7, see the Conversion Planning Guide and Conversion Guide for The Financial Edge. For information about integrating Student Billing 7 with your Education Edge programs, see the Integrating Student Billing with The Education Edge guide.

The Education Edge does not support Academy Manager. Academy Manager is replaced with integration among Admissions Office, Registrar’s Office, and Student Billing within the same database, and a method to integrate this one database with The Raiser’s Edge. If you plan to integrate The Education Edge with The Raiser’s Edge, you should be using The Education Edge 7.5 or higher and The Raiser’s Edge 7.71 or higher. For information about integrating The Education Edge with The Raiser’s Edge, see The Raiser’s Edge and The Education Edge Integration Planning Guide.

If you use The Raiser’s Edge 7 and integrate with General Ledger, you must be on the latest version of The Raiser’s Edge 7 before converting to The Education Edge. For information about integrating The Raiser’s Edge and General Ledger, see The Raiser’s Edge and The Financial Edge: An Integrated Solution for Nonprofits.

Internet Explorer

The Education Edge uses Microsoft Internet Explorer technology extensively throughout the program. When you install The Education Edge, all Microsoft Internet Explorer components needed are also automatically installed. If you already have Microsoft Internet Explorer, no additional components are installed. Any other existing browsers (such as Netscape Navigator) are unaffected by the Microsoft Internet Explorer installation.

Novell

Novell Network operating systems are not supported for The Education Edge. If your database resides on a Novell network operating system, you will need to add a server to your environment running a supported network operating system. Check the most current hardware requirements on our website.

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Crystal Reports

The Education Edge uses Crystal Reports for Blackbaud standard version. If you have more than one user who needs to design custom Crystal reports, you will need more than one user license. If you plan to report directly from the SQL Server database, you will need a license for Crystal Reports Professional. To purchase licenses, send an email to [email protected] or call your account executive at 1‐800‐443‐9441.

Tables

All code table entries in 6.8.3 convert to The Education Edge. If you have Student Billing 7 or Student Billing 6.42 with The Financial Edge, certain tables are merged from Admissions and Registrar’s Office 6.8.3 and Student Billing when converting to The Education Edge. You should standardize these tables’ entries in both programs before converting to The Education Edge. For more information about merged tables, see “Reviewing Your Grade Levels and Other Shared Tables” on page 76.

Preparing for Data Comparisons

We recommend you write down the totals of records in your databases to compare to your Education Edge database after conversion. In Utilities and Housekeeping in Education Administration 6.8.3, select File, System Statistics to access this information.

We also recommend you plan for more detailed data comparisons after conversion by printing detailed queries and reports of your records.

Preparing to Re-create Reports, Report Cards, and Transcripts

Due to changes in the database structure, reports, report cards, and transcripts in Education Administration 6.8.3 do not convert to The Education Edge. Therefore, you will need to re‐create these once the conversion is complete. To enable you to re‐create these after conversion, we recommend compiling a list of reports, report cards, and transcripts your organization produces regularly in Education Administration 6.8.3, run samples of each report for reference, and write down the report parameters.

Preparing to Re-Create Crystal Reports Definitions

Custom reports created with Crystal Reports and designed for use in Education Administration 6.8.3 do not convert to The Education Edge. Therefore, you need to print the custom report definitions so you can efficiently re‐create those reports once you convert to The Education Edge. The report definition is a description of the existing report data, including where that data comes from and how the data looks when the report is printed or previewed on screen.

Printing a Crystal Report definition

1. Open the Crystal Reports for Blackbaud module of Education Administration 6.8.3.

Warning: We recommend you print the Export Control Report used to create the .mdb file for each Crystal Report.


2. From the menu bar, select File, Open. The Open screen appears. Depending on the location of the report, you may need to browse to a directory on your system or on the network to locate the report for which you want to print the definition.

3. Highlight the report and click OK. The report preview screen appears.

4. From the menu bar, select File, Print, Export. The Export screen appears.

5. In the Format field, select “Report Definition”.

6. In the Destination field, select the location for your report definition. If you want to save the definition file on your hard‐drive, select “Disk file”.

7. Click OK. The Choose Export File screen appears. From this screen you designate the save location and name for the definition file.

8. In the Save in field, browse to the location where you want to save the definition file.

9. In the File name field, enter the name you want to use for the definition file or accept the default. The file extension defaults to “.txt” because the report definitions are text files you can view using Microsoft Notepad.

10. Click Save. The Exporting Records screen appears displaying the progress of the export. Once processing is complete, you return to the report preview screen. You can then browse to the report definition you just created and double‐click the file to open it in Notepad.

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Preparing to Re-create Queries

Using queries in Education Administration 6.8.3 and The Education Edge help make daily operations more efficient. That is why it is important to document the queries you use on a regular basis in Education Administration 6.8.3, so you can re‐create them in The Education Edge once the conversion is complete.

To prepare for conversion, we recommend documenting your queries by printing query control reports. You can then use the information in these reports to create similar queries in The Education Edge.

Printing a query control report

1. Open the Query module of Education Administration 6.8.3.

2. From the menu bar, select File, Print Queries.

3. To include details of the queries you select, mark Detail List.

4. Select the queries to include.

5. Click OK.

6. The Print Queries report appears. Click the printer on the toolbar to print the report.

Data Preparation ChecklistBefore you begin the conversion process to The Education Edge, we recommend you carefully read the following checklist and complete each task that applies to your organization. By completing these tasks, you will minimize the transition time required for successfully upgrading to The Education Edge.

You have conferred with the business office to discuss shared table entries in Admissions Office, Registrar’s Office, and Student Billing. For more information, see “Reviewing Your Grade Levels and Other Shared Tables” on page 76.

If you use decimals in ranks in Education Administration 6.8.3, consider changing these to numbers without decimals before converting to The Education Edge. Decimal places are not allowed in ranks in The Education Edge. The decimal and any numbers after the decimal are dropped when converting and are listed on the conversion log.

Write down the number of records in your database so you can compare the numbers after conversion. In Education Administration 6.8.3, you can access this information by selecting File, System Statistics in Utilities and Housekeeping.

Print detailed queries and reports of your records in Education Administration 6.8.3 for more in‐depth data comparisons in The Education Edge after conversion.


Write down or print screens of parameters you defined for reports, report cards, and transcripts so you can create the same reports, report cards, and transcripts in The Education Edge.

Print a control report for each query you use on a regular basis. You can use the information in the control reports to re‐create your queries in The Education Edge.

Print an Export Control Report and a Crystal Report Definition for each custom report, created with Crystal Reports, you use on a regular basis so you can re‐create these reports in The Education Edge.

Write down any fields for which you changed characteristics in Education Administration 6.8.3. You may have renamed, required, or hidden a field or made a field a lookup. You can set up the same settings again once you convert. For example, if you changed the name of a field and entered information for the field, the information converts but appears with the original field name.

Write down security rights established for each security group so you can enter this information in The Education Edge.

Print screens showing the preferences you chose to customize your data entry processes so you can enter the same information as Options in The Education Edge.

Write down default value settings you defined so you can enter this information once you convert.

Review the checklist items in your tracks. If you have checklist items with the same name in a track, give them different names before converting. For example, if you have multiple items named Recommendation, rename them Recommendation 1, Recommendation 2, etc. Otherwise only one of the duplicate items converts to the track.

If you do not have withdrawal dates for terms in Education Administration 6.8.3, but you still withdraw students from classes, you should enter withdrawal dates before converting to ensure the same functionality in The Education Edge. Withdrawal dates are required in The Education Edge to withdraw students. If a withdrawal date is not entered, you can only drop students.

If you have successfully prepared your data for conversion, have a good understanding of the new functionality in The Education Edge, and feel comfortable with the changes involved in upgrading — you are ready for the conversion. To prepare for the pre‐conversion system check and conversion steps ahead of time, see the Understanding the Pre‐conversion Utility chapter of this guide.

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5chapter

Sample Conversion Plan

Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Project Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Hardware and Technical Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Data Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Data Cleanup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Implementation Sign‐off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

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To help you prepare for a successful conversion to The Education Edge, we have created a sample conversion plan for a fictional organization. You can use this plan to gain a better understanding of the tasks and amount of time needed for the conversion. Because the sample plan outlined in this section is for a fictional organization, your plan’s action items and dates may vary greatly, so please do not consider it a strict guideline. It simply serves as a sample timeline to help you prepare your conversion plan.

In this sample plan, today’s date is July 1. The amount in the percent column is considered to be the percentage complete as of today’s date. For example, in the “Education Administration 6.8.3 to The Education Edge Implementation” row, as of July 1, 50 percent of this task is complete. The conversion plan began on June 1 and the conversion deadline is August 1.

Be aware that the tasks in the sample plan are split into categories, such as Data Preparation and Data Cleanup. Each category of tasks has its own timeline, so there are certain tasks in different categories which should happen simultaneously. For example, in this sample plan, while you are planning your implementation (Implementation category table), you should be ordering new hardware (Hardware and Technical Services category table).

Organization: City Center for Arts and Higher Education, Charleston, SC

*Dates are samples only

Project Start: June 1

Today's date: July 1

Project Finish: August 1

SAMPLE CONVERS ION PLAN 115

Implementation

Project Planning

Name % Complete Start Finish Resource(s) Comments

Education Administration 6.8.3 to The Education Edge Implementation

50% 07‐Jun 06‐Aug Project team Team should include decision makers, administrators, data entry personnel, or one person to represent each stakeholder.


Project Planning 75% 07‐Jun 05‐Jul Project manager, project team

Review the Conversion Planning Guide

100% 08‐Jun 08‐Jun Project manager Make sure you understand the differences between Education Administration 6.8.3 and The Education Edge.

Establish project team

100% 08‐Jun 08‐Jun Project manager

Define roles 100% 08‐Jun 08‐Jun Project manager

Kickoff meeting 100% 09‐Jun 09‐Jun Project manager, project team

Read the Conversion Planning Guide

100% 09‐Jun 16‐Jun Project manager, project team

Review the “Four Keys to a Successful Conversion”


The four keys (time, comprehensive conversion plan, hardware, and services/training) are vital to the success of your conversion.

CHAPTER 116

Discuss benefits and costs of upgrading


After reading the Conversion Planning Guide, discuss the benefits and costs involved with converting. Document this information and distribute to department heads and other decision makers so they have full understanding of the project scope.

Review the System Requirements at support.blackbaud.com

100% 09‐Jun 11‐Jun IT person, admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead

Review the Conversion Guide

100% 09‐Jun 11‐Jun IT person, admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead

Create a comprehensive conversion plan

100% 09‐Jun 16‐Jun Project manager, project team, IT person, admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead

This is one of the four keys to a successful conversion. This plan should include pre‐conversion, conversion, and post‐conversion planning.

Review training needs and options

100% 09‐Jun 11‐Jun Admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead, project manager

Request The Education Edge

100% 09‐Jun 16‐Jun Admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead

The Education Edge arrives with hard‐copies of the Conversion Planning Guide and Conversion Guide.

Read the Conversion Guide

100% 09‐Jun 11‐Jun IT person The Conversion Guide focuses on the technical side of the installation and conversion.



Discuss data conversion preparation and post‐conversion cleanup

100% 09‐Jun 11‐Jun Admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead, project manager, Education Edge end‐user, conversion manager

If you plan to make significant changes to your data, you may want to contact Blackbaud Professional Services.

Create preliminary project plan timeline


Status updates to team and stakeholders

40% 09‐Jun 06‐Aug Project manager

Memo to dept. heads, other members of the organization not in the admissions office or registrar’s office

100% 11‐Jun 11‐Jun Project manager Notify other departments about the project to make sure there are no conflicts with IT resources, systems, or organization‐wide initiatives. Also, their buy‐in will be essential in maintaining priority of your project.



Hardware and Technical Services


Hardware and Technical Services

90% 11‐Jun 09‐Jul IT person For information about Blackbaud’s Technical Services, email [email protected].

Order new hardware 100% 11‐Jun 11‐Jun IT person If applicable. See System Requirements at support.blackbaud.com.

Install new server 100% 28‐Jun 28‐Jun IT person

Install new workstations

100% 29‐Jun 29‐Jun IT person

Install software on test server and workstation

100% 30‐Jun 30‐Jun IT person

Run pre‐conversion utility on Education Administration 6.8.3 data

100% 30‐Jun 30‐Jun IT person, conversion manager

This can be on a standalone workstation for the person who is testing.

Run test conversion from Education Administration 6.8.3

100% 30‐Jun 30‐Jun IT person, conversion manager

This can be on a standalone workstation for the person who is testing.

Test converted data 35% 01‐Jul 23‐Jul Conversion manager, IT contacts

Backup Education Administration 6.8.3 and systems

0% 01‐Jul 20‐Jul IT person, admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead

Convert live from Education Administration 6.8.3

0% 21‐Jul 25‐Jul IT person Weekend as buffer

Install on production server and workstations

0% 21‐Jul 25‐Jul IT person Weekend

http://www.blackbaud.com/products/hwspecs/re7asa.asp


Training

Data Preparation


Training 80% 05‐Jul 23‐Jul Project manager, admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead

Time training so that users can come back to a live system. The Education Administration 6.8.3 to The Education Edge transition class should be booked at least 1 month ahead; possibly longer if you are booking during peak training from June ‐ September.

Determine training needs

100% 07‐Jun 11‐Jun Project manager, admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead

Schedule training for conversion manager

100% 09‐Jun 09‐Jun Project manager, conversion manager, admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead

Have someone skilled in Education Administration 6.8.3 trained prior to test conversion and live conversion.

Schedule training for end users

100% 16‐Jun 16‐Jun Project manager, admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead

Training dates for conversion manager

100% 21‐Jun 25‐Jun Conversion manager

Training dates for end users

0% 19‐Jul 23‐Jul End users


Data Preparation 0% 05‐Jul 23‐Jul Admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead, conversion manager

CHAPTER 120

Review the pre‐conversion considerations

0% 05‐Jul 23‐Jul Admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead, conversion manager

These consideration are included in the Conversion Planning Guide.

Prepare your data for conversion by accomplishing the tasks in the “Data Preparation Checklist”


Start the conversion utility for the pre‐conversion system check and report, but do not continue with the actual conversion.




Data Cleanup

Implementation Sign-off


Data Cleanup 0% 26‐Jul 06‐Aug Admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead, conversion manager

Complete each task in the “Post‐Conversion Checklist”

0% 26‐Jul 02‐Aug Admissions office lead, registrar’s office lead, conversion manager

The “Post‐Conversion Checklist” is part of the the Conversion Guide and includes tasks such as validating your database, setting up business rules, and re‐creating security groups.


Implementation sign‐off

0% 06‐Aug 06‐Aug Project team Gain agreement from all stakeholders that the conversion and features are adequate for production. If not, revert back to parallel Education Administration 6.8.3 system or restore to a backup and continue testing of The Education Edge.

122 CHAPTER

4chapter

Understanding the Pre-conversion

Understanding the Pre‐conversion System Check. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Understanding the Conversion Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Is My Organization Ready to Convert? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

100 CHAPTER

You can begin the conversion process, including the pre‐conversion system check, once you have a good understanding of the new features and functionality of The Education Edge, have reviewed the Pre‐conversion Planning chapter of this guide, prepared your data using the “Data Preparation Checklist” on page 96, and feel comfortable with the changes involved in upgrading. When you start the conversion process, as detailed in the Conversion Guide, the pre‐conversion system check runs first to analyze your data and verify whether you are ready to convert. When the pre‐conversion system check is complete, you print a pre‐conversion report that lists errors in your 6.8.3 data. There are some errors that you are required to fix in your 6.8.3 data before beginning the conversion, and others that the program can change if you do not.

When you begin the conversion, you must first select to convert to one or multiple schools, define promotion schedules, determine how to convert attendance codes, and determine how to convert attempted and awarded credits.

This chapter explains the pre‐conversion system check, pre‐conversion report, and initial conversion steps, so you can prepare for these before you actually begin the process.

Understanding the Pre-conversion System CheckWhen you initiate the conversion utility, the pre‐conversion system check analyzes your 6.8.3 data. This section provides background information regarding the main areas of the system check. Please read this section and plan accordingly before starting the conversion utility. You should also refer to this section when you run the utility.

Please note this section discusses potential issues that may need to be addressed before you can convert your data to The Education Edge. By reading this section and preparing your data accordingly, you can save time by addressing issues before the pre‐conversion system check finds them.

After the pre‐conversion system check is complete, select to print the pre‐conversion report so you can find out if any of the issues in this section were found. If “FAILED” appears on the pre‐conversion report for a step, the conversion cannot continue until you fix the issue. If “WARNING” appears on the pre‐conversion report for a step, you can fix the issue in your data, but if you do not, the program will change the data when you continue with the conversion.

Version. You must be converting from the latest version of Education Administration 6.8.3 to the latest version of The Education Edge.

Invalid dates. Invalid dates, such as 10/12/202 or 11/14/1753, cannot convert. You can fix the dates or allow the program to automatically update the years using the last two digits. If you allow the program to update the years, they update according to these rules:

If the value of the last two digits is 30 or below, the year converts as “20” plus the last two digits. So 10/12/202 converts as 10/12/2002.

If the value of the last two digits is above 30, the year converts as “19” plus the last two digits. So 11/14/1753 converts as 11/14/1953.

Grade now. Each student must have a Grade Now value.

Academic years without terms. If an academic year exists with periods and timetables defined but without terms defined, you must either define at least one term that lasts at least one day for the year or delete the year. If you define terms, to convert grades correctly, be sure to defined the terms that are associated with the marking columns containing grades.

Invalid classes. Classes of a course cannot convert with different terms in length during the same academic year. In 6.8.3, you may have created classes of a course, changed the Length in terms on the course record, then created more classes. You can delete the classes with the incorrect term length in 6.8.3, but if you do not, the conversion will add terms to the shorter classes.

Note: You can access the pre‐conversion report (EEPreConvert.txt) from the screen that appears or from the Conversion subdirectory of the Financial Edge directory.

UNDERSTANDING THE PRE ‐CONVERS ION 10

Historical grades. To enter historical grades in 6.8.3 for an academic year, the academic year’s short and long descriptions and start and end dates had to be defined. However, sessions are required in The Education Edge. If cycle days, timetables, and terms are not associated with an academic year in 6.8.3, sessions of the academic year cannot be created during conversion. You can define this information for the academic year in 6.8.3 before converting.

If you define this information before converting, make sure you add all the terms that are associated with the marking columns you need. A marking column converts to be associated with a course only if it is associated with a term in which the course can be scheduled.

If you do not define this information before converting, the program will create a timetable named “Default Timetable”, using the default cycle of Monday through Friday with one period defined on the first day. This timetable will convert to a session. One day‐long term will be added to the session and associated with all marking columns.

Grades not previously visible. If you have a course average calculation associated with a marking column on a course record, and the course average calculation is defined to be associated with a translation table different from the one associated with the course, certain grades may appear in The Education Edge that were not visible in 6.8.3. To view the grades in 6.8.3 before converting, remove the translation table association from the course average calculation.

Invalid grades. If grades exist in a marking column for a course that are not present in the translation table associated with that marking column for the course, conversion cannot complete. In 6.8.3, you may have deleted an entry from the translation table or changed the translation table associated with that marking column for a course. You need to delete the invalid grades or enter the missing grades in the associated translation table.

If you have a course average calculation associated with a marking column on a course record, and the course average calculation is defined to be associated with a translation table different from the one associated with the course, certain grades may not valid. In 6.8.3, the program validated the grades using the translation table associated with the calculation, but in The Education Edge the program validates the grades using the translation table associated with the course. You may need to check the translation tables associated with course average calculations and the results returned for the calculations.

GPA values without defined calculations. If year‐to‐date or cumulative GPAs have been entered for students in 6.8.3, but year‐to‐date or cumulative information has not been defined on the calculation in 6.8.3, you need to define this information on the calculation or delete the students’ GPAs. If you do not fix this in 6.8.3, the students’ GPAs do not convert.

Invalid course requests. There was no validation to check course availability for scheduling when entering course requests in 6.8.3. If course requests exist in an academic year without a timetable associated with the course record or with a blank timetable associated with the course record, conversion cannot complete because a timetable is needed to convert to a session so requests can be associated with a session. You need to define a timetable with at least one period or delete the course requests.

If you do not define a timetable or delete the course requests and you continue with conversion, the program will create a timetable named “Default Timetable”, using the default cycle of Monday through Friday with one period defined on the first day. This timetable will convert to a session. One day‐long term will be added to the session.

Organization contacts without last names. If you do not enter last names for organization contacts in 6.8.3, the conversion adds a value to last name following this format: Contact <#> <Organization Name>.

Term dates not within academic year. If there are term dates in an academic year that do not occur within the academic year dates, the academic year appears as an exception on the pre‐conversion report. You must change the term dates or the academic year dates for the year to convert. You may need to modify dates of other academic years for this to work because you cannot change term start dates when attendance exists for a term.

No marking columns exist. If you do not have marking columns defined in 6.8.3, you must define at least one marking column in order to convert. If you do not define at least one marking column in 6.8.3, the conversion will add a marking column and associate it with all terms.

102 CHAPTER

Invalid rank or honor calculations. A rank or honor calculation is invalid if it is not associated with a GPA calculation or if it is associated with a GPA calculation that does not exist. The GPA calculation may have been deleted but that is not reflected on the rank or honor calculation in 6.8.3. In order to convert the rank or honor calculation and the associated student rankings or levels, you must either create the GPA calculation needed or select a different GPA calculation before you can convert.

If the correct GPA calculation is associated with the rank or honor calculation, select a different GPA calculation and save the rank or honor calculation. Then open the rank or honor calculation again and select the correct GPA calculation and save.

Duplicate attendance entries. If more than one attendance entry exists for a student for the same date, the program converts only one entry. The pre‐conversion report shows which entry will convert and which entry will be deleted. You cannot fix this in your 6.8.3 data, but you can contact Customer Support at [email protected] to obtain a utility to run on your 6.8.3 data to delete the duplicate entries.

Terms without first cycle day selected. Each term in 6.8.3 needs a first day of cycle selected in order to convert. Select a first day of cycle for the term in 6.8.3 or delete the term. If there are associated requests, classes, or grades, you should select a first cycle day instead of deleting the term.

Period start and end times. A period’s end time on a timetable must be after the period’s start time. You need to change the period’s end time on the timetable in 6.8.3 to be after the start time but not overlap with other periods.

Tracks without checklist items. A track must contain at least one checklist item. In 6.8.3, you must either add at least one checklist item to the track or delete the track.

Blank last names. If there are any blank last names in 6.8.3, you must enter last names before converting. If you have this issue, we recommend creating a query in 6.8.3 of student name equals blank, then using that query to open the records as a group to edit.

Unique import IDs. In 6.8.3, import IDs had to be unique within record types, but in The Education Edge IDs have to be unique among all record types. If there are records in 6.8.3 with IDs that will not be unique in The Education Edge, these records appear on the pre‐conversion report. The report shows the ID with a character added to the end to make it unique, S for student, A for applicant, F for faculty, I for Individual, and O for organization. You can change these in 6.8.3 before converting, or have them convert as they appear with these designations.

Unique record IDs. In 6.8.3, record IDs had to be unique within record types, but in The Education Edge IDs have to be unique among all record types. If there are records in 6.8.3 with IDs that will not be unique in The Education Edge, these records appear on the pre‐conversion report. The report shows the ID with a character added to the end to make it unique, S for student, A for applicant, F for faculty, I for Individual, and O for organization. You can change these in 6.8.3 before converting, or have them convert as they appear with these designations.

Organization records in Other classification. Because certain fields no longer exist on organization records in the Other classification, if Other is marked in Classification on an organization record in 6.8.3, the Marking System, Accreditation, Source, Organization Type, Location, and GPA Scale fields and Identification Numbers grid do not convert. To save this information before converting, you can either change the classification of the organization record to School or College or move the information to attributes.

We recommend running a query of these records to review. Create an organization query, filter the query by Classification equals Other, and select the organization name and these specific fields and numbers for the output. If you run the query and have data in these fields, we recommend you open the records and change the classification to School or College so the information will convert.

Duplicate class meetings. If duplicate class meetings exist on the same period and day, only one meeting is converted.

Classes exist but timetable not defined. If classes are scheduled for an academic year, but the timetable is not defined for that year, you must either delete the classes or define the timetable before converting. For example, classes of a course associated with a “High School” timetable exist during an academic year but that timetable was not actually defined for the academic year. In some cases, you can select another timetable for that year to copy the times.


Understanding the Conversion StepsAfter you have resolved any errors using the pre‐conversion report, you proceed to the conversion steps. We recommend you read this section to plan what your selections will be during the conversion steps before you get to them.

Converting to One or More Schools

Before conversion begins, you must designate to convert to one school or convert to multiple schools using timetables. You do this only if you have Registrar’s Office. For more information about schools in The Education Edge, see the Configuration Guide for Registrar’s Office.

In the What do you want to do? frame, mark Convert to only one active school or Convert to multiple schools using timetables. This is set to automatically convert to one active school if you have one timetable only. This is set to automatically convert to multiple schools if you have more than one timetable and either the timetables’ terms have overlapping dates or you have scheduled classes in more than one of the timetables.

Converting to one school. If you mark Convert to only one active school, each timetable in 6.8.3 converts only to a session. A grid appears containing each term in your 6.8.3 data. Select the session (formerly timetable) to associate with each term.

The program will validate the terms for each academic year to make sure that the terms can convert to the specified session without overlapping dates or causing classes to overlap sessions.

Warning: Whether to convert to one or multiple schools is an important decision to make before converting. Adding or removing a school after converting is a time‐consuming and intricate process.

Glossary: A session is the largest time frame in which classes can meet, such as Regular Session or Summer Session. Sessions have different schedules within an academic year. Session dates cannot overlap. Classes cannot span across sessions.

104 CHAPTER

If the program finds an academic year where session dates overlap or a class will span more than one session, a screen appears when you click Next.

A row appears for each academic year and session that cannot convert correctly, along with an explanation, either “Session dates overlap” or “Classes exist across sessions”.

In the Action column, you select how to handle each. If you select “Convert as one session”, the program combines all the sessions on the screen into one session. If you select “Clean up data”, you are responsible for cleaning up data before continuing with the conversion. If you do not, the sessions on the screen do not convert.

If a term is selected as a start term for a course and there is a problem converting the term to a session, but no classes exist in that term, the term does not convert. An explanation appears below the grid.

Cycle days and terms must be able to convert for a session for the session to convert.


Converting to multiple schools. If you mark Convert to multiple schools using timetables, each timetable in your data converts to a school. Select the grade levels to associate with each school. The grade levels associated with a timetable appear by default, but you can change them. You can also associate a grade level with more than one school. Each grade level selected on a course must be associated with at least one school.

If you associate a grade level with more than one school, when you click Next, you must designate which school is the primary school for that grade level for applications and enrollments.

106 CHAPTER

When converting multiple schools, the school for the converted active applications and enrollments is determined by grade levels on records. If a grade level is associated with more than one school, the primary school is used.

Defining Promotion Schedules

When you finish defining whether to convert to one or more schools, and click Next, a screen appears for you to define promotion schedules. Promotion schedules are necessary in The Education Edge to define how students progress through grade levels at a school and, if you have multiple schools, how students progress to the next school.

In the For school field, the first school name appears. In the Name and Description fields, enter a name and description for the promotion schedule.

The grade levels and grade level descriptions of the selected school automatically appear in the grid. You cannot edit these columns. In the Graduate column, mark the checkbox for the grade from which a student graduates out of the school.

For each grade level, select the next grade level that students go to in the Next Grade Level column. The next grade level’s description appears in the Description column.

To designate that a graduate of this school goes to another school next, mark Graduates go to [ ] in grade level [ ] and select the school and grade level to which to promote the student.

To designate that graduates of this school are no longer enrolled in the school, do not mark Graduates go to [ ] in grade level [ ].

If a grade level does not have a next grade level, mark the checkbox in the Graduate column.

If you are converting to multiple schools, when you click Next, you get additional screens to define a promotion schedule for each school. If you have only one active school, you can define only one promotion schedule.

Note: You must define one promotion schedule for each school in the conversion process.

Note: Graduates go to [ ] in grade level [ ] does not appear if you have only one school.


For more information about promotion schedules in The Education Edge, see the Configuration Guide for Admissions Office or the Configuration Guide for Registrar’s Office.

Separating Absence and Tardy Attendance Codes

When you finish defining a promotion schedule for each school and click Next, a screen appears for you to separate attendance codes into absence and tardy codes.

All attendance codes defined in Configuration in 6.8.3 appear in the Absence code box. You can use the arrows to move codes into the Tardy codes box. For more information about attendance codes in The Education Edge, see the Configuration Guide for Registrar’s Office.

108 CHAPTER

Separating Full and Half Day Attendance Codes

After you separate absence and tardy codes, a screen appears for you to separate absence codes into full day codes and half day codes. All absence codes appear in the Full day absence codes box. Use the right arrow to move half day codes into the Half day absence codes box. Keep in mind that you are not required to have half day codes.


Converting Attendance Codes with Multiple Unit Values

If there are absence codes that have multiple unit values in your 6.8.3 data, a screen appears so you can specify how to convert each code and unit combination.

Each attendance code and unit combination appears as a row. In the Code to Use column, select the code to use in your Education Edge database. You can add new codes in this column.

If you added a new code in the Code to Use column, you must select the weight in the Weight column.

110 CHAPTER

Converting Attempted and Awarded Credits

When you finish separating absence attendance codes from tardy attendance codes and click Next, a screen appears for you to specify how the program will convert credits in course grading information on course records. You must select whether to award credits in the same marking columns in which they are attempted or to award credits in different marking columns than they are attempted.

If you mark Award credits in the same marking columns they are attempted, only credits entered in marking columns with the Award Credit checkbox marked will convert. On the course record in The Education Edge, “The same marking columns they are attempted” appears in the Credits are awarded in field.

If you mark Award credits in different marking columns than they are attempted, only credits entered in marking columns without the Award Credit checkbox marked will convert. On the course record in The Education Edge, “Different marking columns than they are attempted” appears in the Credits are awarded in field. However, if you marked credit to be awarded before attempted, or marked credit to be attempted but never awarded, you cannot award credits in different marking columns than they are attempted and “The same marking columns they are attempted” appears in the Credits are awarded in field instead.

The value of the Award Credit checkbox converts to the same value in the Award Credit In checkbox in The Education Edge. However, if the marking columns do not have any attempted credits but have an Award Credit checkbox marked in 6.8.3, the marked checkbox does not convert.

For example, you have this grading information in 6.8.3:

Note: Remember that a marking column converts to be associated with a course only if it is associated with a term in which the course can be scheduled.

Marking Column Credits Award Credit

Sem 1 0.5

Sem 2 0.5


You can either convert the two 0.5 values or the 1 value. If you select to award credits in the same marking columns in which they are attempted, the 1 value converts to The Education Edge:

If you select to award credits in different marking columns than they were attempted, the 0.5 values convert to The Education Edge:

Is My Organization Ready to Convert?Your organization is ready to convert if you have reviewed and carefully implemented the “Four Keys to a Successful Conversion”, familiarized yourself and your staff with the improved functionality and interface of The Education Edge, and prepared your data using the “Data Preparation Checklist” on page 96.

Before officially requesting The Education Edge, please make sure your organization has thoroughly read this guide and followed the recommendations we have provided. When you are comfortable with the idea of converting, you should submit an official request to receive The Education Edge. Please complete these steps to submit a request.

Prepare your conversion plan based on the “Four Keys to a Successful Conversion”.

Review the plan with your Blackbaud account representative.

Complete a software readiness form for The Education Edge. To obtain this form, visit our website at www.blackbaud.com or call our account executive at 1‐800‐443‐9441.

On the software request form, obtain the signatures of your organization’s Director, the IT person responsible for implementation, and the primary system user. This signed form is required to generate the shipment.

Fax the signed software request form to your account representative.

With your shipment, you receive a printed copy of the Conversion Guide, which provides step‐by‐step procedures for installing The Education Edge and converting your data.

Final 1 X

Marking Column Attempted Credits Award Credit In

Sem 1

Sem 2

Final 1 X

Marking Column Attempted Credits Award Credit In

Sem 1 0.5

Sem 2 0.5

Final X

Note: To begin your request for The Education Edge, send an email to [email protected] or call your account executive at 1‐800‐443‐9441.

Marking Column Credits Award Credit

112 CHAPTER

Index

Aabsence code 107academic year

analyzing requirements 75school calendar 56sessions 65

Academy Manager 28accessing multiple databases 53Accounting for Nonprofits

and The Education Edge 93shared shell with The Education Edge 57

actionassociating applicant tracks 31faculty/staff 35global delete facility 35overview 45reminders 45reports

Admissions Office 6.8.3 32Admissions Office 7 32Registrar’s Office 6.8.3 41Registrar’s Office 7 41

using as application hold 31adding tracks to new applicant records 31address import 31address, viewing linked contacts 58addressee/salutation 45Administration

conversion 90global add 50security

Faculty Access 90in The Education Edge 90

status wizards 29Admissions Office 6.8.3

removed reports 32reports

action 32checklist 33miscellaneous 33statistical 33

Admissions Office 7benefits 58new features 58reports

action 32applicant 33changes 31

checklist 33directories/lists 33new 31overview 31statistical 33

set up admissions office page 57advisee 59age, applicants and students 35analyzing

academic year requirements 75data, conversion utility 100status progression 75

API 68applicant

age 35attributes 30global delete facility 35record tabs

applications 59medical 52tests 58

reports 33tracks

adding to new records 31overview 59

updating status with wizards 29application hold, see action, checklist itemApplication Programming Interface, see APIapplications tab 59assessing readiness to convert 111attempted credit 110attendance

class attendance 33conversion 89globally adding/deleting 35methods of entering 60reports

Registrar’s Office 6.8.3 41Registrar’s Office 7 41

separating absence and tardy codes 107attribute

applicant 30overview 45student 30

automatic ID 31awarded credit 110

124

Bbell schedule, see timetablebenefit

of Admissions Office 7 58of Registrar’s Office 7 59

Blackbaud Forms 8Blackbaud Management Console 46Blackbaud services

training 6Blackbaud Solutions and Services 5Blackbaud University 74Blackbaud, other products 93business rule

formerly system preferences 29formerly user preferences 29overview 47

Ccalculating cumulative credits 34change in existing reports 31, 39checklist item, using as application hold 31checklist report

Admissions Office 6.8.3 33Admissions Office 7 33

class attendance 33class, scheduling conflicts 37cleaning up data 121code table

converting 94column, saved formats 55comment, formatting 50common period, see coursecomparing report categories 32, 41comprehensive conversion plan 73conduct

in The Education Edge 34reports


Configurationbusiness rules 47conversion 77events 49promotion schedules 54registrar setup 64

consulting 6contact, viewing links 58contacting support 7conversion

Administration 90analyzing academic year requirements 75assessing readiness 111attendance 89comprehensive plan 73conduct information 34

Configuration 77data preparation checklist 96Faculty Access for the Web 90faculty access security 90grades 89overview 3project planning 115Records 84records

applicants 85courses 88faculty/staff 86individuals 87organizations 88rooms 89students 86

sample plandata cleanup 121data preparation 119hardware services 118implementation 115implementation sign‐off 121overview 114technical services 118training 119

scheduling 89successful 4, 72time considerations 72training 74understanding the steps 103what converts 77what does not convert 90what to expect 77

conversion utility 100converting

code tables 94credits 110schools 103

coursecommon periods 34mandatory 34record 34requests 34, 60rules tab on record 62scheduling 60scheduling restrictions 34scheduling rules 62

course no longer offered, see course restrictioncourse request 34course request tally, see master schedulecourse requests by students, see student schedulecourse restriction 34course/class report


Create Master Schedule 34credit

converting 110

INDEX 125

cumulative 34credited column, see marking columnCrystal Reports

custom reports 47printing report definitions 95separate installation 30with The Education Edge 94

custom report 47customer support 7customizing The Education Edge

VBA 69

DDashboard

overview 48data

cleanup, sample timetable 121considerations before converting 92preparation 119preparation checklist 96

data entry scanning 34data services 5database

accessing multiple 53Blackbaud Management Console 46Microsoft SQL Server Database 52, 92

default set 48defining promotion schedules 106deleting table entries 30determining applicant/student ages 35differences between Education Administration and The Education EdgeAdmissions Office 6.8.3 and version 7 31common differences 28overview 28Registrar’s Office 6.8.3 and version 7 33

directories/lists reportAdmissions Office 7 33Registrar’s Office 7 43

displaying names 53

Eedit class timetable, see master scheduleedit classes, see master scheduleedit student schedules, see student scheduleediting names 53Education Edge, The

Blackbaud Management Console 46business rules 47conversion process 3defining promotion schedules 106differences from Education Administration 6.8.3

28Export 49

global change 50Grades 63hardware recommendations 73importing records 51keys to successful conversion 72Microsoft Internet Explorer 94new features 45new look 44Reports 55supervisor security 29user licenses 28

end of year processing wizard, see status wizardenroll applications wizard, see status wizardenrollments tab, student record 63enter key, using to navigate among fields 30entering

attendance 60phone numbers 30student progression 66

eventoverview 49school calendar 56

expectations when converting 77exporting to NetClassroom

report cards 35transcripts 35

FFaculty Access for the Web

conversion 90Faculty Access for Windows 35gradebook 35overview 66posting 36supervisor security 29

Faculty Access for Windows 35faculty/staff

actions 35advisees 59notes 49reports


scheduling restrictions 63Fast! 31favorite

home page 51overview 49

favorites menu 49field characteristic 30financial aid 50Financial Edge, The

and The Education Edge 93shared shell with The Education Edge 57

formattingcomments 50

126

notes 50

GGenerate Master Schedule and scheduling conflicts

37generating IDs automatically 31generating student schedules 36getting help

customer support 7data services 5from Blackbaud 6school system consulting 5technical consulting 6training 6

global add 50global change 50global delete 35globally adding/deleting attendance 35grade

calculating cumulative credits 34conversion 89exporting report cards 35exporting transcripts 35formatting comments 50letter grades only 35reviewing grade levels 76setting up in Configuration 64translation table 35

grade reportRegistrar’s Office 6.8.3 42Registrar’s Office 7 42

Gradebook 35gradebook in Faculty Access for the Web 35, 66Grades

marking columns 36overview 63

Hhardware

sample timetable 118services 118

hardware recommendations 73home page

action reminders 45favorites 49overview 51

honors, see performance category

IID, generating automatically 31implementation

sample timetable 115

sign‐off, sample timetable 121import 51importing address types 31individual record 51individual user license 28information that converts

Administration 90attendance 89Configuration 77Faculty Access for the Web 90grades 89overview 77records

applicants 85courses 88faculty/staff 86general 84individuals 87organizations 88rooms 89students 86

scheduling 89information that does not convert 90installation, security 56integration with other Blackbaud programs 28

Kkeeping teachers in same room 35keys to successful conversion 72

Lletter grades only, see gradeLoad Master Schedule 36

MMail, report cards and transcripts 36maintenance

new options 67Read‐Only Database Assistance 68software maintenance services 7

managingdatabases 46multiple schools 52

mandatory course 34mark for reenrollment wizard, see status wizardmarking column 36master schedule 34, 36medical information 52Microsoft Internet Explorer 94Microsoft SQL Server Database

new feature 52setup consideration 92

INDEX 127

miscellaneous reportAdmissions Office 6.8.3 33Registrar’s Office 6.8.3 43

multiple database access 53multiple school

converting 103managing in The Education Edge 52

Nname, appearance on records 53navigating among fields 30navigation bar, favorites 49NetClassroom

online setup 36report cards, exporting 35transcripts, exporting 35

NetInquiry 68NetMail 68new feature

actions 45attributes 45Export 49faculty/staff actions 35Grades 63home page 51individual records 51keeping teachers in same room 35maintenance options 67Microsoft SQL Server Database 52new look 44optional modules 67optionsphone numbers, entering 30Query 54relationship records 54Reports 55reports 31, 39resizing screens 55roommates with boarding information 37saved column formats 55scheduling conflicts 37security 56sessions 65status wizards 29The Education Edge 45timetables

notefaculty/staff records 49formatting 50

Novell 94

Oon‐site training 74optional module

API 68NetClassroom 36NetSolutions 68new in The Education Edge 67Queue 67VBA 69

Pperformance category 35period attendance, see class attendancephone number 30plug‐ins page 68posting from Faculty Access for the Web 36pre‐conversion

considerations 75data preparation checklist 96system check 100

preparing to convert 96preprocessing report in Faculty Access for the Webprinting

Crystal report definitions 95query control reports 96

project planning 115promoting relations 36promotion schedule 54, 106

QQuery 54query

preparing to re‐create 96printing control reports 96

Queue 67

RRaiser’s Edge, The 93Read‐Only Database Assistance 68record

addressees/salutationsappearance of names 53applicants 85courses 34, 88default sets 48faculty/staff 86formatting notes 50individuals 51, 87information that converts 84organizations 88relationships 54resizing screens 55rooms 37, 89students 86

Records

128

courses 34student progression entries 66

re‐creatingCrystal Reports definitions 94queries 96report cards 94reports 94transcripts 94

regional training 74registrar setup 64Registrar’s Office 6.8.3

removed reports 39reports

action 41attendance 41conduct 42course/class 41faculty/staff 43grade 42miscellaneous 43request 42scheduling 43student 43

Registrar’s Office 7advisees 59attendance entry methods 60benefits 59new features 59new reports 39performance categories 35reports

action 41attendance 41changes from version 6.8.3 39conduct 42course/class 41directories/lists 43faculty/staff 43grade 42overview 38request 42scheduling 43statistical 43student 43

set up registrar’s office page 57relation has legal custody 30relationship

records 54relationship tree 30

removed reportAdmissions Office 32Registrar’s Office 39

reportAdmissions Office 6.8.3

action 32checklist 33miscellaneous 33statistical 33

Admissions Office 7 31action 32applicant 33checklist 33directories/lists 33statistical 33

changes inAdmissions Office 7 31Registrar’s Office 7 39

comparing categories inAdmissions Office 32Registrar’s Office 41

Crystal Reports 30custom 47new

in Admissions Office 7 31in Registrar’s Office 7 39

preparing to re‐create 94query control 96Registrar’s Office 6.8.3

action 41attendance 41conduct 42course/class 41faculty/staff 43grade 42miscellaneous 43request 42scheduling 43student 43

Registrar’s Office 7action 41attendance 41conduct 42course/class 41directories/lists 43faculty/staff 43grade 42request 42scheduling 43statistical 43student 43

removed fromAdmissions Office 6.8.3 32Registrar’s Office 6.8.3 39

report cardBlackbaud Forms 8changes 36exporting 35preparing to re‐create 94school logos 64

Reportscustom reports 47overview 55

request reportRegistrar’s Office 6.8.3 42Registrar’s Office 7 42

resizing screens 55

INDEX 129

reviewinggrade levels 76shared tables 76

room record 37roommate, boarding information 37rules tab, course record 62

Ssalutation, see addressee/salutationsample conversion plan

data cleanup 121data preparation 119hardware and technical services 118implementation 115implementation sign‐off 121overview 114project planning 115training 119

saved column formats 55scheduling

conflicts 37conversion 89course requests 60course restrictions 34course rules 62Create Master Schedule 34faculty/staff restrictions 63keeping teachers in same room 35Load Master Schedule 36mandatory courses 34overview 60reports


setting up in Configuration 64student schedules

scheduling page 60scheduling restriction

courses 34faculty/staff 63

scheduling rule 62Scheduling, course requests 34school

converting, overview 103multiple 52promotion schedules 54single gender 38

school administration office considerations 75school calendar

events 49overview 56

school logo 64school system consulting 5security

Faculty Access 90for tables 30

global add 50in The Education Edge 56, 90

separate user license 28separating absence and tardy attendance codes 107service, Blackbaud 5services

training 6session, academic year 65set calculations 38setting up

Admissions Office 7 57Registrar’s Office 7 57

setup considerations 92setup page 57shared shell with accounting programs 57shared table 76single‐gender school 38software maintenance service 7statistical report

Admissions Office 6.8.3 33Admissions Office 7 33Registrar’s Office 7 43

status progression, analyzing 75status wizard

end of year processing 58enroll applications 58mark for reenrollment 58overview 29update applications 58

steps in conversion 103student

age 35attributes 30conduct 34progression 66record tabs

enrollments 63medical 52tests 58

schedules 38updating status with wizards 29

student progression entry 66student report


student schedule 38supervisor security

Education Edge, The 29Faculty Access for the Web 29

support, customer 7system preferences, see business rules

Ttab key, using to navigate among fields 30table

code tables 94

130

security 30shared, reviewing 76

table cleanup 58tardy code 107technical consulting 6technical services

data cleanup 121sample plan 118sample timetable 118

technology solution 5tests tab 58time required to convert 72timetable 38track

adding to new applicant records 31associating actions with 31checklist items 59overview 59

training 6Blackbaud University 74on‐site 74overview 74regional 74sample timetable 119solutions 6timeline 119

transcriptBlackbaud Forms 8changes 36exporting 35preparing to re‐create 94school logos 64

transition from Education Administration 6.8.3 to The Education Edge 73

translation table, see grade

Uupdate applications wizard, see status wizarduser license 28user preferences, see optionsutility, conversion 100

Vvalidate process, see preprocessing reportVBA 69view master schedule, see master scheduleviewing linked contact information 58Visual Basic for Applications, see VBA

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