"Today, with A+, schools can easily and quickly capture student attendance and absence information directly from and into their FirstClass timetable".

Background
Recording of student absences from classes has always been a difficult task for secondary schools. Students come and go in a number of rooms during the day. The challenge is how to record accurately, quickly and often, without impeding the teaching curriculum.

Several methods for roll marking have been developed over the years. Examples are student bar-coded tags or bar-coded forms, paper based rolls and even computers within the classroom. While these systems offer some degree of success they are usually labour intensive and data is rarely up-to-date. The major flaw in all these systems is the absence of an integrated solution. And, as the basic organisational unit is the school timetable, interfaces were always complex and awkward. Solutions that also created their own problems! Not to mention the expense!

The challenge
Create a simple and effective integrated solution that can be used throughout the school with a choice and variety of input methods, use the existing school timetable and have a central database.

Our solution

A+, a companion product for your FirstClass timetable software.

Using the latest mobile device technology or a browser, schools can quickly and easily record student absences and attendances directly from and into the latest daily school timetable.

A+ automatically synchronises with the school timetable for the day. This is done with a PDA in real-time mode using wireless connections or update mode when the PDA is returned to a cradle. Alternatively, rolls can be marked using the classroom PC/laptop.

Teachers mark any absences or late arrivals in their classroom. The results are then delivered back to FirstClass for instant recording and reporting. Any alterations can be done at this stage.

Any absences recorded prior to the day's classes are available to the teacher to assist in the roll marking. Optimised routes for "monitors" to deliver shared PDAs speed up the process, on average one class per minute.

Reporting is available in FirstClass to satisfy most requirements and an interface is being developed for administration systems to eliminate any double entry or re-keying.

Solution benefits
A+ is a totally integrated module within FirstClass that provides a solution for recording absences, attendances and alerts. Rolls can be marked using PCs, Laptops, PDAs (including wireless), hardcopy or a combination of all three. Alternatively, parents can be notified by email, SMS or form letter of their child’s absence.

Requirements
You will need the following, in order to run A+:

	Latest copy of FirstClass with an A+ licence
	One or more PDAs with Pocket PC operating system and/or PC/Laptops with optional wireless connection
	One MS Windows 2000 or XP machine able to access the FirstClass database to act as a server. This does not need to be a dedicated PC
	Optionally, a FirstClass Web licence, if you would like to enter or view your A+ absences using a Web browser through a classroom PC or laptop

How to enter data into A+
Student absences can be:
Recorded directly in your FirstClass timetabling software
Entered via a PDA or PC/Laptop
Entered via a PC/Laptop

Go directly into roll marking. Class can be selected by choosing a teacher and a period. View a day's timetable for a teacher and optionally mark the roll for a class. View a student's timetable and absences for a day. View all classes for a period sorted by teacher and optionally mark a class. Summary of today's data. Statistics and useful information Options to set-up and configure A+ Synchronise data between the PDA and FirstClass About screen Start a route so a student can take a PDA between classes to be marked.

Comprehensive reports

A+ can produce a variety of reports including:
	Absence activity	Reports that can be accessed daily by the year level coordinators and administrators.
	Student attendance and alerts	Provides summaries for blocked classes and student attendance trends sorted by form, date, subject and period. The software can also produce a list of students who exceed a predetermined number of unapproved absences in each subject.
	Student attendance rate	Provides percentage based reports by year level, form or specific subject.
	Unmarked classes	Report that identifies teachers who have NOT marked the roll.
	Coordinator alerts	These reports cover consecutive or random absences or lateness.
	Student absence reason grid	Allows any member of staff to access accurate student attendance totals (in periods).
	Reason summary	Provide tallies for attendance reasons as marked by staff during the year.
	CASES absence	Two reports mandated by the Victorian Government Department of Education.
Parents can be notified about their child's absence/s by:
	Explanation Letter	Year level and attendance coordinators can easily access and organise explanation letters to be sent to parents for approval.
	SMS messaging	Schools can now send SMS messages to parents and students.
	Email	Emails can also be sent to parents and students informing them of the student absences.
	Cases Export	Cases Export feature provides schools with the opportunity to export attendance data directly into Cases.