Introduction to the Group Manager Application (GMA)

What is the Group Manager Application (GMA)?

The Group Manager Application (GMA) is a tool that enables the management of multiple schools from a single login in addition to providing centralised reporting to aid with the settlement process.

Features of the GMA include:

• Overall level manager access to all approved member schools
• Single settlement via a central bank account (all payment items associated with the central bank account)
• Account coding for improved reporting
• A suite of centralised financial reports (issued via a ParentPay unique SFTP secure link or email)
• An approval process that empowers schools to control access to their data at any time

Who is it for?

The Group Manager Application (GMA) focuses on multi-school management and is ideally placed for Local Authorities and larger MATs, providing management and financial reporting for large volumes of schools.

Requirements

• Minimum 5 schools in the group
• Centrally accessed bank account (all schools must link to a central bank account)
• All schools must be clearly identifiable as included within the group:
  • Local Authorities (LA) – a report to be provided by the LA and verified by ParentPay
  • Catering providers – a report to be provided by the caterer and verified by ParentPay
  • Trusts – the trust will be reviewed on the DfE trust site and only included schools will be added

NOTE: All schools that are added to the GMA will be included in the groups reports.  However, access to the schools ParentPay site will only be granted once authorised by the school (see article How to approve data sharing for a GMA account)

Access to the GMA is through the Login button located at https://www.parentpay.com using supplied Group Manager credentials.  Once logged in the Home screen is displayed.

Home

The Home screen provides a quick search option to find an individual school within the available group. As with all other pages you can also view the Menu along with an option to Logout.

Schools

The Schools screen presents a list of all the schools currently linked to the GMA account, along with their status.  It provides the option to request approval for full manager access to each of the sites (or revoke an existing link) and if given, enables access to the site directly.

At the top of the screen is a key showing the various states of approval a site may have against it.

This is followed by a series or filters that assist with limiting the number of schools displayed, simplifying finding particular schools where large numbers are available. Whole or partial words can be entered into each filter such as 'high' to capture just high schools in the school name field.

NOTE To request a new school to be added to your list you will need to contact the service team.

At the bottom of the screen are all the school currently assigned to the GMA account with their approval status clearly shown.

The following links describe other functions available from this list:

How to send a Group Manager Application (GMA) access request to a site

How to revoke Group Manager Application (GMA) access from a site

How to access a school site using the Group Manager Application (GMA)

Reports

The Reports screen displays each of the reports available for review or download.

These include:

• Settlement statements

This report shows all funds settled to the central bank account for the period selected.  It can be run for all online payments directly through ParentPay, for card payments taken over the phone (where enabled), or for PayPoint (over the counter) payments. Additional filtering or grouping can also be applied where required.

Once all filtering options have been chosen select Show report to see the data for the period.  Use this in conjunction with the equivalent Settlement invoice to reconcile your bank account against payments received.
It is also possible to Download to Excel if preferred.

• Settlement invoices

This report shows all payments made by payment item.  Use it in conjunction with the Settlement statement for the same period to reconcile your bank account.

User Management

The User management screen provides a management console for adding and removing group-level users to the GMA, along with their current status.

At the top of the screen is an option to Create new Group Manager user. See article How to create additional GMA users for more information.

• Changing a GMA users details

Select the Edit icon on any user row to edit their details including name, email address and username.

• Deactivating GMA users

NOTE: Regular user maintenance is encouraged to ensure only the appropriate staff are able to access customer data and to ensure you remain compliant with GDPR. It is recommended that you have a process to remove staff from the GMA user list as soon as they no longer require access.
To deactivate a user select the Deactivate button on the appropriate row. This will immediately remove access but will provide an option to reinstate access by selecting Activate. 
NOTE: If a user is deactivated and not reactivated before returning to the main user management screen, they will need to be added as a new user.

Profile

The Profile screen provides a configuration page to adjust the current user’s details.

There are two options:

• Personal details

Selecting Personal details will open the edit screen.  Once all alterations have been made select the Update Details button.

• Login details

Selecting the Login details option will open the edit login details screen.  From here the Username and Password can be updated.

Changing the Username

1. 1. Select the Change Username button.
      
      
   2. Enter the new value in the Username field.
   3. Re-enter it in the Confirm Username field.
   4. Enter the Current Password. 
   5. Select the Update Username button.

Changing the password

1. 1. Select the Change Password button
      
   2. Enter the Current Password.
   3. Enter a new, viable password in the New Password field.
   4. Re-enter the new password in the Confirm Password field.
   5. Select the Update Password button.

Help

The Help option opens the ParentPay support site.