| District setup > Implementing PowerSchool SMS > Ensure consistent data

Ensure consistent data

Make data entry easier and ensure consistent spelling and terminology by using Setup Lists. Setup Lists contain the data available in the dropdown lists in fields in PowerSchool SMS.

For example, the contents of the City dropdown are defined in the City setup list. When you enter student addresses, you can click a dropdown to select a city, rather than manually entering the entire name. Each setup list is composed of any number of items. For example, "Detroit" and "Chicago" would be items in the City setup list.

Setup List Pairs are linked pairs of Setup Lists - made up of a parent and a child - that work together dynamically. For example, you can have a setup list pair for programs and program options, in which the two Setup Lists are linked together so that selecting a program from the first setup list automatically filters the second setup list to show only those options that apply to that particular program.

When you first install PowerSchool SMS, a typical sequence of tasks is:

1 Develop a plan for standardizing school data.
2 Populate Setup Lists.
3 Add schools to PowerSchool SMS.
4 Set school availability options for each list.
5 Select default items for dropdowns.
6 Add more setup items as needed.

Working with Setup Lists

With each setup list, you can set the item that appears by default whenever the list is used, group the list with other similar lists, and control what happens to school dropdowns when someone changes items in the list at the district level.

To make Setup Lists more manageable, you can assign them to groups, such as Contact Data, Staff Data, and Student Data.

You can also change, add, and delete the groups, except for any required groups, which are indicated by an asterisk (*). When you delete a group, the lists assigned to that group are assigned to the "N/A" group.

To set the defaults for Setup Lists:[DA]
To group Setup Lists together:[DA]
To change, add, or delete a group:[DA]

Managing setup item availability in schools

The district can control the items that appear in the Setup Lists at each school in two different ways:

= automatically by using the "Availability Requirement" for the entire list
= manually by assigning specific items to specific schools

Automatically assigning lists to schools

For each setup list, you can choose to have:

= Every school see every item in the list - All Items in All Schools.
= The schools in specified categories see every item in the list - If Selected for Category; for example, you can assign some student behavior codes to secondary schools and some student behavior codes to elementary schools.
= Every school see changes to any existing item in the list, but remain unaffected by new or deleted items - Changes Only.

No matter what you choose, items are not deleted at schools where the items are currently in use. For example, if a student has an address with the city name "Seattle," you cannot make "Seattle" unavailable at schools where the student is enrolled.

To automatically assign lists to schools:[DA]

Manually assigning items to schools

You can manually assign an item in a setup list to one or more specific schools. This can be useful if you want to assign items to a group of schools, but you do not have a specific category for that group of schools.

To manually assign items to a school:[DA]

Working with items in Setup Lists

Once a setup list is created, you can work with the items in the list. You can add new items, change or delete existing items, and merge items together.

You can delete items from Setup Lists if you have the required access permissions and the item is not used in any record in the district database.

If two or more items have the same meaning, do not delete one of them. Instead, merge the similar items together. You can merge two or more items into one single item if you have the required access permissions. Merging is useful when you have several items with the same meaning, such as city names "Los Angeles" and "LA".

To add and edit setup list items:[DA]
To delete a setup list item:[DA]
To merge setup list items:[DA]

Setup Lists in PowerSchool SMS

Most district-wide setup items have the following fields:

= Description: Text that appears in dropdowns, up to 45 characters. Called Long Code in Mac School.
= Short Code: Text, up to 11 characters, usually a number or an abbreviation of the description.
= State Description: Text, up to 50 characters, used for state reporting.
= State Short Code: Text, up to 10 characters, used for state reporting.
Address Data Setup Lists
Contact Data Setup Lists
Legacy Tests
Program Management Setup Lists
Program/Course Data Setup Lists
School/District Data Setup Lists
Staff Data Setup Lists
Student Behavior Setup Lists
Student Data Setup Lists
Student Health Setup Lists
Test Management Setup Lists

Working with items in Setup List Pairs

Setup List Pairs are linked pairs of Setup Lists - made up of a parent and a child - that work together dynamically.

Once the structure of a setup list pair is defined, you can add items to the components of the setup list pair. At the same time that you add or edit the items, you can set up links with the items in the parent of the list you are modifying.

For example, you can create a setup list pair linking programs (parent) and program types (child). If the same program type item is used by more than one program, this feature allows you to create the appropriate links to allow the item to appear for both programs without having to create duplicate items. Conversely, if a specific program type applies only to one of the programs, you can set up the item so that it does not appear for the other program.

In this scenario, if you selected Program A from the Programs dropdown, the Program Types dropdown would contain three items: Classroom, Individual Study, and Online. If you selected Program B from the Programs dropdown, the Program Types dropdown would contain only two items: Individual Study and Online.

Items for Setup List Pairs are added separately from items for Setup Lists.

Adding and editing setup list pair items:[DA]

Setup List Pairs in PowerSchool SMS

Currently, Setup List Pairs in PowerSchool SMS are related to Health.

Student Health Setup List Pairs

Mapping grade levels

Mapping grades is useful if your district uses grade descriptions that are different from those used by the state, or if state codes are different from those used in PowerSchool SMS. You can specify a State Code and a State Description for each grade level.Map each grade to a code and description used for state reporting. At the district level, to customize grades on the Grade Levels page:

Changing descriptions is useful if you want to change how the grade appears in reports and in dropdowns throughout PowerSchool SMS. For example, you could describe Grade 2 as "2", "02", or "2- Primary". Your choice affects the Grade Level dropdown on the Detail Search page, the Grade dropdown on the Basic Search, and many other dropdowns.

Changes to descriptions immediately affect dropdowns in PowerSchool SMS, but are not displayed on the Grade Levels (setup list) page for School Setup until after data mapping occurs overnight.

To map grade levels:[DA]


www.powerschool.com
Tel: 866-434-6276
Email: smssupport@powerschool.com

Copyright 2015-2016 PowerSchool Group LLC and/or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. All trademarks are either owned or licensed by PowerSchool Group LLC and/or its affiliates.