How to create an event pattern (Classic)

02 February 2022 16:51

You can create a pattern for a group to automatically mark the attendance screen for a meal or wraparound care.

This article will teach you...

How to create an event pattern using the classic interface.

Pre-requisites for general event use e.g. meals

ParentPay calendar must be configured for the academic year (see article, How to manage your calendar).
Prior to creating the meal groups and patterns you will be required to create an event for all Event types, e.g. Lunch Time event, Breakfast and Afterschool Club (see article, How to set up a new meal type).

Pre-requisites for Arbor Attendance

During the setup of the Arbor Attendance feature, it is common to receive warnings for people with morning attendance marks that do not have a pattern assigned. To avoid this, each attendee is required to be allocated to a pattern, potentially one with no cost such as Packed lunch or Home meal.

School must use Arbor as their MIS.
ParentPay must be approved as a third-party integration within the Arbor system (see article, Setting up and managing third-party integration).
ParentPay calendar must be configured for the academic year, (see article, How to manage your calendar).
All meal event types and prices must be configured correctly, (see article, How to set up a new meal type).
All pupils and staff must have a pattern configured using either classic or next-gen.

NOTE

To avoid warnings on the Arbor Attendance Import Report you will need to create a group for all other meal types, i.e. Home and Sandwich pupils.

Creating an event pattern

The example below will focus on creating a meal pattern, however, group patterns can be used for any other event type eg. Wraparound care.

After setting up the group and event types correctly, a pattern can be assigned to the pupils or staff included in the group.

To create a pattern:

Select Pupil [1].
Select Custom groups [2].
Select the Appropriate Group [3].
Select Create group meal pattern [4] button. To create the meal pattern:
Select Choose time [5] Lunchtime.
Choose type [6] should be set appropriately (i.e. Pupil Meal, Staff Meal, Packed Lunch, or Home Meal).
Choose Day(s) [7] that the pattern will mark attendance, for the Arbor Attendance facility this will be Monday to Friday. Bespoke patterns for individual pupils or staff can be managed from individual accounts via People> Pupil and Staff.
Enter the Start date [8].

NOTE

The Start Date must be a date in the future.

Add a Defined end date or set to be Open-Ended [9].
Consider Closing Days [10] should remain ticked to ensure attendance is not marked on school closure days, avoiding charges during school holidays.

NOTE

This information is applied from the calendar dates set in ParentPay.

Select Save [11] to ensure the patterns are generated.

Repeat the above steps for any other patterns such as Staff Paid Meal, Home and Sandwich. groups.

If you are completing this for Arbor Attendance go here for the next article, Daily tasks using Arbor Attendance.