Use these options to customize how attendance is marked in the Agenda, and how your daily school hours are logged. These options allow you to enable Auto-Attendance to have HSTOnline create attendance entries for any date which has at least one completed Assignment. Attendance can be marked manually at any time whether using Auto-Attendance or not. See below for information about adding, editing, recalculating and deleting Attendance records.

Auto-Attendance will follow your settings below to mark a date as 'Present' or 'Present 1/2 Day' when there is at least one Assignment on the date with a check in the Teacher box of the Complete field.

1. On the HSTOnline menu, click or touch Program Options under the 'Your Account' section.
2. On the Program Options page, click or touch the Attendance tab to open the Attendance options window.

   

3. Auto-Attendance: Choose whether or not to use the auto-attendance feature.
   • When Auto-Attendance is True, a 'Present' entry is added to the Student's Agenda on any date with at least one Assignment marked Teacher-Complete (one where there is a check in the Teacher box of the Complete field).
   • When Auto-Attendance is set to False, you may still choose to manually enter Attendance at any time.

   

4. Automatically Set 'Present 1/2 Day": This option only appears when Auto-Attendance is set to True and either Time Spent or Sessions is enabled in the Optional Fields section.
   • Enabling this option allows you to have days marked as 'Present 1/2 Day' when the Time Spent or Sessions entered for all completed Assignments on a date fall below a pre-set minimum.
   • Enter a minimum value for Time Spent or Sessions - whichever field you are tracking.
5. Time Entry Method: In addition to marking a date as 'Present' or 'Present 1/2' you can log the number of hours or sessions spent in school on that date. Choose one of the options below:
   • None: No hours information will be displayed with Attendance entries.
   • Manual (HH:MM): You can manually add any amount of time in hh:mm format to any 'Present' or 'Present 1/2' Attendance entry. Edit any Attendance entry to enter the amount of time to be recorded for that date.
   • Automatic Using Time Spent from Completed Assignments: The Time Spent field must be enabled in Optional Fields for this choice to appear. When selected, HSTOnline will display the total Time Spent for all Assignments marked Teacher-Complete for any date that is marked 'Present' or 'Present 1/2 Day'.
   • Automatic Using Sessions from Completed Assignments: The Sessions field must be enabled in Optional Fields for this choice to appear. When selected, HSTOnline will display the total Sessions for all Assignments marked Teacher-Complete for any date that is marked 'Present' or 'Present 1/2 Day'.
6. Click or touch:
   • Cancel to abandon your changes.
   • Save to set your options.
7. Click or touch 'Ok' on the 'Changes Saved' window.

If you have elected to use the Auto-Attendance feature, you may never need to enter an Attendance record manually. However, at any time you may choose to create an Attendance record on an additional date or range of dates for one or more students.

• Skip to Students and Details section
• Skip to Day and Date section

1. On the HSTOnline menu, click or touch 'Agenda - Calendar View' or 'Agenda - List View' under the 'Schedules and Planning' section.
2. On the Agenda - Calendar View or Agenda - List View page, click or touch the Add button and select Appointment.

   

   • The Add Attendance form is a tabbed area. Click on a tab name to move to that area. You can move back and forth as many times as you need as you adjust your option settings.
   • In the left tab, you will select the Students who will receive the Attendance notation(s) and set the Type and optional Time for the Attendance entries.
   • In the right tab, you will set the Day and Date parameters for the Attendance items you are creating.
3. Students and Details: The form starts with this tab activated, which is indicated by the dark blue line under the Students and Details heading.

   

4. Students: Choose the Students who will receive this Attendance entry.
   • The first time you enter this area, no students will be selected. On subsequent visits, HSTOnline will show your previous Student selections. Exception: If you have just one active Student in your Student list, that Student will be automatically selected.
   • Click or touch the check box for each Student you want to include for this Attendance entry.
5. Attendance Details:
   • Type: Click or touch the radio button for Present, Present 1/2 Day or Absent. Present is selected by default.
   • Time: This field only appears if you have selected the Manual Time Entry option in Program Options: Attendance. If you have selected Time Spent or Sessions for your Time Entry, that data will be entered automatically based on those values in your completed Assignments. Use this optional field to enter the amount of time spent in school for the Attendance entries being created in hh:mm format.

   

6. Click or touch:
   • Return to Agenda to cancel this process and return to the Agenda
   • Continue to Day and Date to move to the next set of options. You can also click or touch the Day and Date tab to move to that are of options.
7. Day and Date Options: When you choose 'Continue to Day and Date' or click or touch the Day and Date Options tab, the Day and Date Options tab will display a dark blue line, indicating it is the active area.

   

8. Day Options: Set the parameters for the Attendance entries to be created.
   • Check the boxes to Skip Days off and/or Skip Non-School Days.

     

     

     • Both boxes are checked by default. HSTOnline will remember your settings when you return to this area.
     • Skip Days off will cause HSTOnline to skip over any days that have already been noted as a Day Off within your school year.
     • Non-School Days are those days of the week that are unchecked in your School Profile.
   • Click or touch the radio button for Daily, Weekly or Monthly. See the Day Options Help Page for step-by-step instructions on completing this section. Below is a brief description of each option:
     • Daily: HSTOnline will gather a list of all dates that fall within your selected date range, remove the dates that violate your 'Skip' settings, and then place an Attendance entry on each date int he date range according to your 'Every_Day' entry.
     • Weekly: HSTOnline will gather a list of all dates that fall within your selected date range, cull the list to only those dates which match the days of the week you have selected for your Weekly options, and then remove from the remaining dates any that violate your 'Skip' settings. Finally, HSTOnline will place an Attendance entry on each remaining date in the range according to your
       'Every _ Weeks' entry.
     • Monthly: HSTOnline will gather a list of all dates that fall within your selected date range, cull the list to only those dates which match the date of the month or # day of the month you have selected (First Tuesday, Third Monday, etc.) and then remove from the remaining dates any that violate your 'Skip' settings. Finally, HSTOnline will place an Attendance entry on each remaining date in the date range.
9. Date Range: Set the range of dates needed.

   

   • To create a single Attendance entry, set the Start Date and End Date fields to the same date.
   • Start Date: Enter a date in the mm/dd/yyyy format or use the Calendar icon to select a date.
   • End Date: You may choose any date you wish that is greater than or equal to the Start date. Enter a date in the mm/dd/yyyy format or use the Calendar icon to select a date.

   

10. Click or touch:
    • Return to Agenda to cancel this process and return to the Agenda.
    • Continue to Preview to see a preview of items that will be added to your Agenda.
11. If you choose 'Continue to Preview', HSTOnline will show you the Attendance entries that will be created based on your option settings. Use this opportunity to review the items before accepting them to be added to your database.
    • The Status column of the Preview list will show 'New' if a new Attendance entry is being created, and will show 'Replace' if an existing Attendance entry will be replaced in favor of the new item you have just created.
    • The Preview will show you all items, sorted by date and then by Student. You can group or sort the Preview list in any way you like and HSTOnline will remember those settings each time you return to the Preview list.
    • If the results are not what you expected, you can click or touch the Students and Details tab or the Day and Date tab to reset your options and then click or touch the 'Return to Preview' button to see the new results.

    

12. Once you are satisfied with the items displayed in the Preview, you can select the items you want to add to your Agenda. Click or touch the 'Select All' badge to select all the Attendance entries in the list. Alternatively,
    • you can click or touch the checkbox for each Attendance entry you want to accept.
    • you can use your mouse to click and drag over contiguous entries in the list to select those items.
    • on a touch device, you can touch and drag your finger over contiguous entries in the list to select those items.

    

13. Click or touch:
    • Return to Agenda to abandon this process and return to the Agenda.
    • 'Accept Selected Items' to add the highlighted Attendance entries to your Agenda

Editing a Single Day Off Entry

1. On the HSTOnline menu, click or touch 'Agenda - Calendar View' or 'Agenda - List View' under the 'Schedules and Planning' section.
   • On the Agenda - Calendar View:
     • Set the filters to view the Attendance entry you want to change.
     • Click or touch on the item you want to change to open the tool tip window.
     • Click or touch 'More' to open the Edit window for that item

       

   • On the Agenda - List View:
     • Set the Date Range, Students, and Types filters to display the Attendance entry you want to edit.
     • Double-click on the Attendance entry you want to change to open the Edit Attendance window.
       • Alternatively, you can click once on the Attendance entry you want to change and then click the Action button and choose Edit to open the Edit Attendance window.
       • On a touch device, touch the Attendance entry you wish to edit and then touch the Action button and touch Edit to open the Edit Attendance window.

       

2. HSTOnline will show you when and by whom the original item was created and when and by whom it was last changed.
3. Make any changes needed.
4. Click or touch:
   • Cancel to abandon this process.
   • Save to keep your changes and update the Agenda.
   • The Previous or Next hyperlink in the top right corner to save your changes to this Attendance item and move to the previous or next Attendance item in the list. You can click or touch Previous or Next until you have made all the changes you want to your Attendance items and then click the Save button to end the Edit process. If you reach the beginning or end of the list when clicking or touching Previous or Next, the Edit window will close and you will be returned to the list view. Note: When using Previous/Next, HSTOnline will move to the next or previous item of the same type - in this case, Attendance items - skipping over the other items in the Agenda - List View.
     • Previous and Next are only available when editing items from the Agenda - List view.

Editing Multiple Attendance Entries

You can edit any selected group of Days Off entries to change the Type or Manual Time.

1. On the HSTOnline menu, click or touch 'Agenda - List View' under the 'Schedules and Planning' section.
2. Set the Date Range, Students and Types filters to display the items you want to edit.
3. Choose the Attendance entries you want to multi-edit.
   • Click the checkbox for each Attendance entry you want to change.
   • You can use your mouse to click and drag over contiguous Attendance entries in the list to select those items.
   • On a touch device, you can touch and drag your finger over contiguous Attendance entries in the list to select those items.
4. Click or touch the Action button and click or touch Multi-Edit to open the Multi-Edit Attendance window.
   • If your selection includes Attendance items and other item types (Appointments, Assignments, Chores and/or Day Off entries), the Multi-Edit option will be disabled. Reselect items to include only Attendance entries.
   • HSTOnline will show you how many items have been selected for editing.
   • The fields in the Multi-Edit window will show the settings for the first Attendance entry in your selection.

   

5. To enable the form, click or touch the box to the left of each field you want to change for all selected Day Off entries. Make your selection for each of those fields. The Time field will only appear if you have selected Manual Time Entry in Program Options: Attendance.
6. Click or touch:
   • Cancel to abandon this process.
   • Save to keep your changes and update the Agenda.

Use the Recalculate Attendance option at any time to have HSTOnline audit your Assignments within a selected date range to insure that each date with at least one completed Assignment is marked as 'Present' or 'Present 1/2 Day', according to your Attendance option settings. The Recalculate Attendance feature is available whether you are using Auto-Attendance or not.

Recalculate Attendance will not remove any 'Present' or 'Present 1/2 Day' entries that have been made. It only insures that there is an Attendance entry for every date with at least one Assignment marked as 'Complete by Teacher'.

While this option starts with no Students selected, on subsequent returns, HSTOnline will remember your previous selections, which you can change as needed.

1. On the HSTOnline menu, click or touch the Agenda - List View link.
2. Click or touch the Action button and choose Recalculate Attendance to open the Recalculate Attendance window.
3. Students: Choose the Students whose records you want to audit. While this option starts with no Students selected, on subsequent returns, HSTOnline will remember your previous selections, which you can change as needed.
4. Date Range: Enter a Start Date and End date by typing into the fields using the mm/dd/yyyy format, or use the calendar icons to select a date for each field.
5. Click or touch:
   • Cancel to abandon the recalculate process.
   • Go to proceed with the process.
6. HSTOnline will audit all Assignments within the date range, looking for those marked as Teacher Complete, and will insure that each date with at least one Teacher Complete Assignment has an Attendance entry of 'Present' or 'Present 1/2' as dictated by your Attendance options. Absent entries will be replaced with 'Present' or 'Present 1/2' if there is a completed Assignment on that date. Time Spent and Sessions values will be automatically entered into the Attendance entries in accordance with your Attendance option settings.

Deleting Attendance from the Agenda - Calendar View

You can delete any single Attendance entry from the Agenda - Calendar view. To delete multiple items at the same time, use the Delete action in the Agenda - List View.

1. On the HSTOnline menu, click or touch 'Agenda - Calendar View' in the 'Schedules and Planning' box.
2. Set the filters to view the item you want to remove.
3. Click or touch on the item you want to remove to open the tool tip window.

   

4. Click or touch 'Delete' to open the Confirm Delete window for that item. The Delete option will only appear when signed in under an Administrator or Teacher account.

   

5. Click or touch:
   • 'Never Mind' to keep the item
   • 'Yes, I'm Sure' to remove the Day Off entry from your database. Deleted items cannot be retrieved.

Deleting Attendance from the Agenda - List View

You can select any one or more Attendance entries to completely remove them from your database.

1. On the HSTOnline menu, click or touch 'Agenda - List View' under the 'Schedules and Planning' section.
2. Set the Date Range, Students and Types filters to display the items you want to remove.
3. Choose the Attendance entries you want to delete.
   • Click the checkbox for each Attendance entry you want to remove.
   • You can use your mouse to click and drag over contiguous Attendance entries in the list to select those items.
   • On a touch device, you can touch and drag your finger over contiguous Attendance entries in the list to select those items.
   • Click or touch the 'Select All' badge to select all the items in the list. Note: You can delete Appointments, Assignments, Attendance entries, Chores and Day Off entries at the same time. Just include all the items you want to delete in your selection.
4. Click or touch the Action button and choose 'Delete' to open the Confirm Delete window.
   • HSTOnline will show you the number of Attendance entries selected for deletion. (Fig. 1)
   • If you your selection includes other types of items, those types and the number of each will be listed in the Confirm Delete window. (Fig. 2)
5. Click or touch:
   • 'Never Mind' to cancel the delete process.
   • 'Yes, I'm Sure' to complete the deletion process. HSTOnline will delete all of the selected items from the database. Deleted items cannot be retrieved.

You can create a printed list of Attendance for any date range using the Attendance report.