NEW Quick Observations

Overview

The NEW Feed functionality allows schools to leverage the Chronicle module using a Quick Observation template to provide family members with more visibility of their child's key moments and daily achievements. These observations appear as a post in the News Feed and can even be accompanied by a photo or picture. Using this new feature, staff can easily share lessons, student achievements and observations quickly and easily from a mobile or tablet device

Watch the video below to see an overview of the new Quick Observation functionality from the Compass School Manager App.

Quick Observation Permissions

Permissions for this action are related to access to the Chronicle module and are further determined in the Quick Observation Chronicle Template (see below).

Please refer to your Compass Sponsor for your school's permission protocol and refer to Permissions for further information.

Staff with ChronicleConfigure
permission can edit and manage the Quick Observations Chronicle template to determine staff access, default settings and any additional communications.

Quick Observation Settings

It is recommended to confirm the configuration of your Quick Observation Chronicle Template as well as Feed settings to allow comments on Quick Observation at an Admin Level in order to manage the interaction between staff members and the parent community.

Feed Comments

Navigate to the Chronicle module within the Organisation menu (waffle icon) to configure the Feed settings for Staff / Parents / Students:

Find the section titled 'Feed' and tick the boxes to 'Allow [Staff/Parents/Students] to comment on Feed Items - Chronicle'

This will allow staff members and parents/students associated with the Quick Observation to comment on the post from their News Feed.

When a Feed item appears in a parent’s Feed and comments are enabled, parents can comment, react and view comments made from others.

Chronicle Template

A Chronicle template will be populated in your Chronicle module in Category 'Compass Quick Observation'. Navigate to the Chronicle module > Administration tab > Templates subtab to locate your Quick Observation template.

Click the pencil icon to edit default settings and add additional communication preferences (if applicable)

Details tab

Confirm default settings for your Quick Observation template including:

Visibility to parents/students
Pin by default (and for how long)
Points
Rating colour
Include Entry in Feed
Allow Feed Reactions

The 'Include Entry in Feed' and 'Allow Feed Reactions' settings are recommended for overall visibility and to allow for community interactivity. These are set at Template level, therefore, this will be applied to all Quick Observations entries.

Security, Approvals & Notifications tab

As with any Chronicle Template, it is recommended to confirm the permissions matrix to determine who can use, view and/or edit a entry. The Quick Observation Chronicle Template will be created with default permissions for Staff, Parents and Students; however, additional Role Groups or staff members can be added to matrix for internal notifications or access.

Please refer to the 'Advanced Chronicle Settings' in this Help Centre article for more information on this process.

Communications tab

Additional communications to Parents can be automated when a Quick Observation is created in the Feed. An email, or SMS & Push Notification, can be enabled to ensure no Quick Observations are missed for the recipient.

Turn on the email/SMS/Push notification by selecting a parent inclusion mode in the 'Send Mode' drop down menu. This determines which parent contacts will be notified of the Quick Observation.

Complete the body of the message in the text area and utilise the placeholders to populate personalised information.

Audit tab

View an audit trail to see any changes or modifications to the template.

Click 'Save Template and Close' to confirm the configuration settings.

Add a Quick Observation in the Compass School Manager App

Quick Observations have been designed to be easy to use on a mobile device such as a phone or tablet with the Compass School Manager App installed.

It is currently not possible to create Quick Observations on the Web interface, but standard Chronicle templates can of course still be used if needed.

From your Compass School Manager App, select the '+' Shortcuts menu on the main navigation bar > Quick Observation.

The next screen will allow for the details of the observation to be added including:

Comments and notes
Photos directly from a camera or device gallery
an attached file
students involved
reaction and comment settings

Create a post...

Add a comment or text that will be sent as the information on the Feed.

Tag People

This allows you to direct the Quick Observation towards an individual or explicit group of parents. Search for a student and toggle next to their name to add them to the post. This will appear on the News Feed of associated parent contacts.

Include media

Use the 'Take photo', 'Gallery' or 'File' actions to attached a file or image to accompany the Quick Observation. This will appear in the Feed along with the text.

Choose Settings

On a post by post basis, reactions and comments can be enabled for parents (and Students or Staff for comments). Simply tick the box to allow for these interactions to be available to recipients.

Post your Quick Observation

Once all information has been added, select 'Post' in the top right hand corner of the screen.

Quick observation visibility is restricted to the staff member who raised the item, the tagged students, and the parents/guardians of any tagged students.

Edit a Quick Observation

Deleting or editing Quick Observation entries is not yet supported in the App, however, this can be completed using the web interface via the Student Profile Page including adding, removing tagged students, updating content and images and altering visibility, react and comment settings for the item.

Comments and reactions can be disabled when a Quick Observation item is created. If necessary, these can also be disabled by default.