The front desk

Overview

The registers an inspection or an incident asks for first are the ones kept at the gate: who came in, who collected which child, and who let them. The front desk keeps them on the same records as the rest of the school, so a parent's number brings up their child, and a pickup is checked against the people the family named.

Give your front office the Front desk part (the Front office role has it). See Team access.

The visitor register

On the Visitors tab, under Check a visitor in:

1. Type the visitor's mobile. If it belongs to a parent on the register, the form fills in their name and whose parent they are.
2. Their name, and why they're here: parent, admission enquiry, meeting, delivery, vendor or contractor, official visit, or other.
3. To see: type the office or the principal, or pick a staff member.
4. The ID shown: Aadhaar, driving licence, voter ID, PAN, passport, office ID or other.
5. The number of people, a vehicle number and a note if useful.
6. Press Check in.

Each visitor gets a pass number for the day (V-0001) and a printable pass: two copies, one for the desk and one to carry, with a QR code. The register below lists the day's visitors with their times in and out; press Check out when they leave. The counts at the top show today's visitors, how many are still inside, and how many are expected. Pick another date to see that day, and CSV downloads it.

Expected visitors

Tick Expected later (an appointment) to book someone ahead: a parent coming for a meeting, an inspector, a vendor. They appear as expected on that day; check them in when they arrive and they join that day's register with that day's next pass number.

Pickup lists

The parents on the student's record can always collect them. The Pickup lists tab adds who else may: open a student and add a grandparent, uncle, aunt, elder sibling, driver, neighbour or family friend, with their relation and mobile. Parents can keep the list up to date themselves from the app.

Early-leave passes

For a day scholar leaving before the end of the day: a doctor's appointment, a family function. (Hostel students use outpasses.)

1. On the Early leave tab press Early leave, find the student, and set the time and the reason.
2. Choose who is collecting them: a parent on record, someone on the pickup list, or someone else.
3. Someone who is neither a parent nor on the list needs a note of why they may collect the child (Mother phoned and confirmed). The pass shows Not on the list with that note, so it can be seen later who allowed it.

A pass made at the desk is approved straight away and gets a number in the year's series (GP/2627/0001) and a printable slip with the student, class, admission number, who is collecting them and their mobile, the time and the reason, with a line for the gate to sign. One pass per student per day.

When the child actually goes, press Mark as left. Their parents are told at once: Aarav left school. Aarav left at 12:34 pm with Sita Rao (grandparent). A pass can be cancelled until then.

A parent's yes before a child leaves

When someone who isn't a parent on record or on the pickup list comes for a child, a parent must confirm before the child can be marked as left. On the Rules tab you can ask for this on every pass made at the desk instead. A pass the parent asked for in the app never needs it: the request is already their word.

The pass shows Confirm with parent in place of Mark as left. It offers three ways:

• Ask in the app. The child's linked parents get Can Vikas Uncle collect Rohan now? with Yes and No. Their answer shows on the desk's screen by itself. If they say no, their words are shown and the child stays.
• Send a code. A 6-digit code goes by SMS to the mobile number on the child's record, never to a number the person at the gate gives. The parent tells the person collecting, and they say it to the guard, who types it in. A code lasts 10 minutes (you can change this), five wrong tries end it, and at most three go to a pass in an hour. Only the code's fingerprint is kept, never the code. Each code counts against the school's monthly messages (set under Biometric).
• Call the parent on the number on the child's record and note who you spoke to, if your school allows it (it does to start with; switch it off on the Rules tab).

Once confirmed, press Mark as left. The pass records how it was confirmed, and the gate slip's QR shows not valid until then.

Visitors approved by the person they came to see

Switch on Visitors wait for the person they came to see on the Rules tab. When the desk checks in a visitor for a staff member who has a tuition.in login, the visitor shows as Waiting for Mrs Rao and she is asked on her My work page: Let them in, or Can't see them now with a message for the desk (In class till 11; ask them to wait).

• Let in: the visit starts and the pass is valid.
• Can't see them: the desk sees the message, and can Ask again later or cancel the visit.
• No answer: the desk can Let in after calling her, and it's noted as let in at the desk.

A visitor for someone without a login, or a delivery not for anyone in particular, goes straight in as before. A booked visitor waits when they arrive.

What parents do

On the Parent Dashboard, under Pickups and early leave, a parent can:

• Ask for early leave: the time, the reason and who will collect. It reaches the desk as a request; staff approve or turn it down, and the parent is told either way, and again when the child leaves.
• Add or remove people on their child's pickup list.
• Cancel a request that hasn't been used.
• Answer the school when it asks whether someone may collect their child now: Yes, or No with a note.

Checking a pass at the gate

Scanning a visitor pass or an early-leave slip with any phone camera opens a page that says whose pass it is and whether it is valid: an early-leave pass is good only on its day, once approved, once a parent has confirmed (when that's needed), and until the child has been marked as left; a visitor pass only on its day and while the visitor is checked in. A guard can tell a real slip from a photocopy of yesterday's in a second.

Questions

Someone not on the list turned up to collect a child. Make the pass with a note of who they are, then confirm with a parent: in the app, with a code to the parent's phone, or by calling the number on the record. Until a parent says yes, the child stays.

Do parents have to use the app? No. Everything can be done at the desk; the app only saves the phone call.

Several schools? Each school's desk keeps its own register and pass numbers. Pick the school in the switcher.