PTCFast.com

What are the new changes for Spring 2012?: Easier Setup for Returning Users

The biggest change is a new function to speed things up for regular users of the system. If you used PTCFast last semester and need to set up a similar roster of conferences this semester (i.e., new meeting times but for the same teachers and with the same reporting options you used last semester), go to the Manage page and select Set up next semester of conferences using last semester as a template (to save time).

This webpage will walk you through how to use a new tool that does a mass updating of all the conferences from last semester. The tool deletes last semester's appointments and updates the schedule of a whole set of conferences which you selected by using checkboxes.

Improvements to School Web Page

We added a customizable message at the top of the page, and a few new sorting and heading options for the list of conferences which will be particularly useful for schools with large numbers of classes.

Search Function

You can now do a search for a student name across all conferences in an account.

Parent Appt Reminder Emails

Some users mentioned to us that after they enter appointments manually on the Time Blocks page, it would be convenient for them to be able to send an appointment reminder to the parent at the time the appointment is entered. When you edit an appointment on Time Blocks, you will now see a checkbox that says "When changes are submitted, send a confirmation email to the parent immediately."

You will also find on Time Blocks a new tool that lets you Send appointment reminders now to all parents. Since this involves sending a lot of emails at once, if you click on this link you will be alerted as to how many emails you are sending out and given an opportunity to change your mind.

More Flexible Signup Deadlines

Finally, we also got requests for more flexibility about signup deadlines. To accommodate these requests, the system will now allow you to specify that parents can sign up to seven days before the first conference (prior to now, the earliest deadline allowed was 1 day before the first conference--but some teachers need more lead time to prepare for their meetings with whichever parents are planning on attending.) All of these changes were made in response to user suggestions--as always, we invite you to continue to let us know how the system can be improved to better meet your needs!
How do you handle support for schools?: If you have questions or suggestions, please contact us at support@ptcfast.com. We will respond within 24 hours (typically faster than that).
What is your Privacy Policy?: It is simple and very strong: We will not use the parent emails or student lists for any purpose other than communicating with the parents about their specific parent-teacher conference.

We will not sell the emails provided by teachers and administrators to anyone else, or use them for any purpose other than (a) communicating with users about your conferences or (b) providing occasional updates on any changes that might take place in this parent-teacher scheduling software or possibly, on no more than a few occasions, letting you know if we release other free scheduling software likely to be of interest to teachers.
How do you handle support questions from parents?:    To date, more than 100,000 parents have made appointments with the system and fewer than two dozen have contacted us with problems.

   The most common problems involve emails delayed or rejected by spam filters, or simple questions about how to use the system. We refer these inquiries back to the school, because often the simplest and easiest thing to do is for the school to go online and schedule the appointment while the parent is on the phone.

   However, if you run into situations that you think are more complex or which you think we need to be alerted to, please email us with details at support@ptcfast.com.

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Parent Questions

I registered my child's name, my name, and my email address but have not gotten the email from your system that allows me to select a time.: Normally you should receive this email quickly, but email systems are complex and sometimes there are delays. If you have not received this follow-up email within about an hour, we suggest you check your spam filter to see if it has put the email in a folder (typically called JUNK or SPAM).

If not, make sure you are checking the correct email account (some people have more than one email address). Assuming you are using the correct email address, you can try registering again. Alternatively, or if that doesn't work, you can simply call the school and ask them to make the appointment for you, which they can easily do online themselves.
I signed up for an appointment. The system told me the appointment was made, but I have not gotten a confirmation email.: Normally you should receive this email quickly, but email systems are complex and sometimes there are delays. If you have not received this confirmation email within about an hour, we suggest you check your spam filter to see if it has put the email in a folder (typically called JUNK or SPAM).

If not, make sure you are checking the correct email account (some people have more than one email address). If you are still having a problem, we suggest you contact the school to confirm that the appointment was made.

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Time Blocks Tips

What is a Time Block?: This refers to a sequence of appointments on a given day that run continuously between a start time (that you specify) and a finish time (that you also specify).
I need to insert breaks in my schedule (e.g., lunch break from 12:00 to 1:00).:    There are two ways to do this:

   You can create appointments with a student name of "break" or "lunch". In this example, if time slots are 20 minutes, you would create a student appt named "lunch" at 12:00, 12:20, and 12:40. Parents will not see the word "break" or "lunch", they will just see that the time is taken.

   Alternatively, you can create two time blocks, one in the morning until noon, the other starting at 1:00. This method has a significant advantage if you are an administrator creating conference schedules many teachers. When you create the additional conferences for the other teachers, you can use this one as a template and the time blocks with the built in breaks (the lunch breaks in this example) will also be copied.
If I have created a block and change my mind, what do I do?: Click on Delete Block, which you will see above each time block.
How far in advance can I create time blocks?: You can create them as far ahead as you want.
We teach in teams and want to bring a group of parents into our conference at the same time. In our case, we have teams of three and want to have three parents every half hour. What do we do?: You can do this easily. Set up your first timeblock (in this example, half hour appointments). Then click "Add another Timeblock" and choose the same times. The software warns you that the timeblocks overlap, you can tell it to not remind you again. Then do the same to create the third timeblock. You're done - now up to 3 parents can register for each half hour slot.
We bring in parents to see three different teachers. We want them to register for 30 minutes, and will rotate them through the three of us, and we want a new parent to show up every ten minutes.: No problem. Set up your first timeblock (in this example, half hour appointments). Then click "Add another Timeblock" and choose times offset by ten minutes. The software warns you that the timeblocks overlap, you can tell it to not remind you again. Then do the same to create the third timeblock.

For example, if your appointments started at 3:00, then you would set up the first one for 3:00, 3:30, 4:00, etc. The second would be 3:10, 3:40, 4:10, etc, and the third would be 3:30, 3:50, 4:20, etc. When you're done you will have a new 30 minute appointment opening up every 10 minutes.

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Notice Settings

What do you mean by “Notice Settings”?: When you launch a conference, a conference-specific link is activated which your parents can use in order to select their appointment times. This can work in two ways:

1) In the “Simple No-Code Option” (used by 99.9% of all our schools), there is just a single common link that all the parents use for each conference. Parents can access this in one of two ways:

A) Most schools use our School Web Page (see the Manage page). PTCFast will create a page which parents can access to select their conference. Most schools publish a link to this page on their own website and direct parents there. Take a look at the Manage page for more details.

B) Also on the Manage page, we provide the text of a letter which can be printed and distributed to parents via "backpack mail" and/or at open house. This letter contains a link which they can enter in their browser to register for conferences.

2. In the “Parent Code Option”, you input a list of students, and each one is assigned a separate link for registration which is then distributed to the parents. The list of links (in custom letters) is available on the Manage page. This option provides a higher level of security than the Simple No-Code Option, but is by its nature more work for the teachers and school. Security has apparently, to-date, not been much of a problem and this option is used seldomly.
What sort of security does the Parent Code option provide?: If you select Parent Code Option, each parent gets a different code, and the code can only be used to make one appointment, for the parents of that student. For example, using this option, a student "prankster" could not intercept a letter to his parents and make multiple appointments. As far as we know, this has not actually been a problem, hence this option is seldom used.
How should I decide which option to use?: If you believe that student pranks are not likely to be an issue, it would make sense to select the Simple No-Code Option. If you are worried about pranks, then the Parent Code Option may be your preferred choice.
Suppose I choose Parent Code Option, start to enter some names, and then change my mind--I want to go with Simple No-Code Option after all. What do I do?: This is no problem--just go to Notice Settings page and check No-Code Option, and you're all set. You don't have to delete the names you entered.
I prefer not to print different letters for each class. Is there a way to just tell all the parents the same thing?: Sure! If you select the School Web Page, you can direct parents to a link to that page. Simpler still, most schools put a link to their PTCFast School Web Page on their own Home Page, telling parents to click there to register for their appointments.

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Emails

What are the questions on the Emails page for?: After you launch your conference, parents can sign up for appointments either by going to the School Web Page (if you check that option on the Manage page) or by following the instructions in a letter you send them. This letter can be accessed and printed from the Manage page as well. This page lets you customize the information sent to and displayed for parents, things like the teacher's name, conference location, etc.
What letters and emails are sent to parents?: The first letter is something that you print and send to the parents. When a parent uses that to sign up, they provide an email address. We send them a confirmation of their signup. If they register but do not select an appointment time, we send them reminders to sign up (24 and 72 hours after sign-up). We also send an appointment reminder to everyone who makes an appointment; this letter is sent out two days before the appointment.
Why am I being asked to list student names?: This happens only if you select Parent Code Option in Notice Settings tab. On this option, a separate letter is created for you to send to each of the parents--giving them an individualized login link. 14 days after the conference is over, the list of students is purged from the system. If you do not wish to input student names, simply select the No-Code Option. (For more information on pros and cons of Parent Code Option vs. No-Code Option, see the FAQ items above under the heading "Notice Settings".)
What should I do about parents who do not have internet access?: On the Emails page, you can provide any instruction you want to give parents, and this will be included in the letter that you send to them. We suggest asking the parents to call you on the phone. Then you can help the parent select an appointment time and enter it (on Manage Conference tab, you will find a link labeled "Click here to manually sign up parents and/or modify time blocks").
Will parents get a reminder email before their appointment?: Yes, they will receive an email reminder about two days before the conference begins.

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Reports and Deadlines

What sort of reports am I going to receive?: Each report is an email (with the subject header "PTCFast.com Signup Report...", containing a list of all the appointments that have been made so far. These reports will be sent to you as often as you specify on the Reports/Deadlines page. Note that an administrator organizing multiple conferences can also request that a copy of these reports be sent to the teacher or other alternate email (you elect this choice on Notice Settings page). You can even specify whether the teacher or other alternate email recipient should get a link that provides him or her with the ability to modify settings for the conference.
What settings do you recommend?: We recommend that you choose to receive fairly frequent updates, and that is why we have pre-checked several notifications.
How do I share access to conference information and appointment schedules with another individual (e.g., a teacher)?: On the Reports and Deadlines page, there is a section labeled "Designate colleagues to view or modify this conference". You can enter the teacher's email (or emails) here. They will then receive copies of the schedule for their conference at that address.

On this section of the Reports & Deadlines page, you will also have two options to grant teachers partial access to the conference scheduler. If you select either option, they will receive a Teacher Access Link along with the appointment schedule. When the teacher clicks on this link he or she will only have access to this particular conference, not any other conferences in your account. (Note that teachers do not log in to the system directly as you do, and they do not get a login and password. They simply receive a Teacher Access Link which they can click on to gain partial access.)

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Launch

What do you mean by “launching” the conference?: When you have made all your selections and launched the conference, the software provides you with a letter that you provide to each of the parents, telling them how to sign up for an appointment. It also activates the link that allows the parents to sign up. When a conference is launched, you receive regular updates on how the sign-up process is going (as you specified on Reports/Deadlines).
What if I change my mind about something after launching the conference?: After launch, you can still change most of the information. For example, you can still change the conference schedule (but the system prevents you from overwriting appointments), change the directions to or location of the meeting, change notice and reporting settings, even change parent deadlines for registering. Of course, after you distribute the initial letters to parents and they start signing up, you should be careful about changing information that would affect them.
I have a bunch of conferences--do I have to launch them one at a time?: No, if you go to Manage you will see a link near the top labeled "Launch all Conferences". Click that and you can launch the whole set of launchable conferences at once.

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Manage Conference

What is the Manage Conference page for?: Once you have launched a conference, the Manage Conference page offers you actions you might want to take to oversee the process. For example, there is a link to go and manually sign up a parent who might not have an email access. You can also print a schedule for your appointments, or change your login information. Finally, starting Sept 2010, you can also request a link for a School Webpage, which allows parents to choose which of the conferences organized on a given account they would like to make an appointment for. [“How?” link after “establish more than one conference” on manage page:]
What does "Create additional parent-teacher conference" mean?: From your existing school login, you can create and manage as many conferences as you would like. This is what you would use if you are a school administrator who wants to manage conferences for all your teachers. See next question for details--and also see "School Webpage Option" section of FAQ below.
How do I set up more than one conference?: If you are an administrative assistant charged with setting up multiple conferences for parents, this software should work well for you. Just create a single login of your own and use this for all the conferences. Every time you want to set up a new conference, go to the Manage Conference page and click "Create Additional Parent-Teacher Conference" (to save time, when you do this you can choose to use the timeblock choices from another conference you have already created). Once you have set up multiple conferences, you can always log in, go to the Manage page, and select which conference you want to work on. You can also print a list of the conferences you are managing, and delete a conference. Give all the conferences different names (we suggest using the name of the teacher). When you get emails about the status of a conference, these emails will always mention the name of the conference. Finally, you can also choose the School Webpage Option (see special section of the FAQ below for more details). To do this, you go to the Manage page and click to have a School Webpage be created for your school. This will provide a common page that parents visit in order to sign up for any of the conferences that you have organized on your account. For more details on usage and advantages/disadvantages of this option, see School Webpage Option section of FAQ below.

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Using the Site Regularly

I created dozens of conferences for my teachers last semester, and now I am ready to set up a new group of conferences. Do I have to re-enter all that information or update each of the old conferences individually?: No. If your teachers have mostly stayed the same, you can directly update a whole batch of old conferences at a time. Suppose you organized 20 conferences last semester and now wish to run conferences for mostly for the same teachers this semester. On Manage Conference there is a link to “Set up next semester of conferences using last semester as a template (to save time)” which takes you to a page which includes a tool called "Copy Schedule from One Conference to Others". This will copy a Time Block Schedule from one conference to multiple others. Here's how you use it: First, select one of your old conferences to serve as a schedule template. Go to the Time Blocks page for this conference. If there are old appointments, you’ll need to use “Delete All Appointments” to wipe them out. Then create the schedule you want for the new semester. Now you're ready to go to the Manage Conferences page and click on the "Set up next semester of conferences using last semester as a template" link. You will be asked which conference you want to copy the schedule from: choose the template conference you edited. Next, you will be asked which conferences you want to copy the template schedule to: click on all 20 of your old conferences. Presto! Your conferences now have the new schedules--but all the old option selections (teacher emails, notification settings, etc.) just as they were last semester.

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School Web Page Option

What is meant by a "School Web Page"?: If you click on the checkbox (on Manage page) to request that a school web page be created, then PTCFast.com will display a link for you (you will find the link on the Manage page right below the checkbox). A parent clicking on this link will come to a web page that has your school name on top and lists the names of all the conferences you have set up on this account. When the user clicks on one of these conference names, he or she will be given the opportunity to pick an available appointment slot for that conference.
What advantages would this School Web Page offer me?: You can put a link to this page up on your school website. That way, any parent can go direct to the signup process without waiting to receive a letter from you. Of course, you can also send parents a letter containing the link to this school web page. If you choose to use the system this way, you do not have to obtain and distribute conference-specific codes to the parents. You just have the one link (obtained on Manage page) for the entire school, and you provide that one link to parents through your school website, school newsletter, and/or through letters sent to parents.
Are there any disadvantages associated with this choice?: The people you give the link to will have the opportunity to sign up for any of your conferences. Thus, it is conceivable that someone might sign up for the “wrong” conference, perhaps by mistake or even as a prank. Note, however, that before signing up for a conference a parent has to provide a working email address, which they must confirm before they are allowed to schedule an appointment. Thus far we have not heard of any prank problems arising with our system, but we feel that users should be aware of potential risks, however remote. (A related point: the School Webpage doesn't offer parents access to any conference for which you have selected Parent Code Option in Notice Settings. It is just for Simple No-Code Option conferences.)
Is there anything special I need to do if I choose to have this web page created?: You should make sure that the conference names contain enough information that parents will be able to tell which one is right for them, e.g., you might say “Conference with Mr. Jim McDermott” rather than “Conference with JM”. Also be sure that all your conferences are Simple No-Code Option (see Notice Settings).
If I do not choose this option, what will be different with regard to procedures and security?: If you do not choose this option, you will be sending each of your parents a letter which is specific for their conference (this is the letter than you can print out as soon as you launch the conference—or with a launched conference, by visiting Manage at any time).
Suppose I choose to have the School Web Page created on the Manage page, and then I change my mind--i.e., I decide I want to distribute conference-specific links to parents. What do I do?: There is no problem. When you choose to have the School Web Page created, this does not disable or interfere with the functioning of the conference-specific links that are provided. You can always get these links by going to Manage page and choosing one of the "Print letter" options--even if you have already requested the School Web Page option on Manage.

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"Team" Conferences, or when you want more than one appt per time slot

We teach in teams and want to bring a group of parents into our conference at the same time. In our case, we have teams of three and want to have three parents every half hour. What do we do?: You can do this easily. Set up your first timeblock (in this example, half hour appointments). Then click "Add another Timeblock" and choose the same times. The software warns you that the timeblocks overlap, you can tell it to not remind you again. Then do the same to create the third timeblock. You're done - now up to 3 parents can register for each half hour slot.
We bring in parents to see three different teachers. We want them to register for 30 minutes, and will rotate them through the three of us, and we want a new parent to show up every ten minutes.: No problem. Set up your first timeblock (in this example, half hour appointments). Then click "Add another Timeblock" and choose times offset by ten minutes. The software warns you that the timeblocks overlap, you can tell it to not remind you again. Then do the same to create the third timeblock. If your appointments started at 3:00, then you would set up the first one for 3:00, 3:30, 4:00, etc. The second would be 3:10, 3:40, 4:10, etc, and the third would be 3:30, 3:50, 4:20, etc. When you're done you will have a new 30 minute appointment opening up every 10 minutes.

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Simple Step-by-Step Scenarios for Using the System

Your software allows me to make a lot of choices. Can you give me simple step-by-step suggestions on how to use it?: Sure! The best plan depends on your needs, but in the FAQ items in this section, we offer some suggested step by step plans for different types of users.
OK, suppose I am an individual teacher who wants to use this software to set up a conference. Let's suppose I am not too worried about security issues--I just want to use the system quickly.: No problem. This will take you about 3 minutes. Sign up as a new user and provide the name of your school and the conference name (which can just be, e.g., "Jane Marshall's Conference".) When you are taken to Time Blocks, make the selections to create as many time blocks as you need. Then hit "Done with times". Next you will be taken to Notice Settings, where you should pick "Simple No-Code Option". Review the choices offered to you in Emails, and fill in a few bits of requested information. Then in Reports/Deadlines, leave all the boxes checked, and submit the page. Next, you will then be taken to Launch, where you should launch your conference. Now click to View/Print the letters that you will distribute to the parents. Copy the text of the letter, print it out, and distribute it to your parents (e.g., via backpack mail). That's it! You will receive emails showing you the schedule as it develops, and you can also log into the site anytime if you want to manually set up any appointments.
I teach in a middle school (or high school) each parent needs to sign up for several conferences--one for each teacher. What do you recommend?: Create one account for the school, then a separate conference in the account for each class. After you create the first conference, it's fast and easy to copy its settings as you create the rest. On the Manage page, check the School Web Page option. Create a link to this page on your school's Home Page, and parents can click on it to register appointments for all the classes they need to.
I am a very security-conscious administrator--I don't want to take any chance whatsoever of a parent signing up for a conference that they don't belong in--or a child signing up for an appointment as a prank. What do you recommend for me?: Set up each of your conferences using the "Parent Code Option". This requires you to enter a list of the students (see Emails section of FAQ above). After you launch a given conference, print/view parent letters, and you will be given a separate letter to send to each parent, giving them a unique sign-up code for the appropriate conference.
We teach in teams and want to bring a group of parents into our conference at the same time. In our case, we have teams of three and want to have three parents every half hour. What do we do?: You can do this easily. Set up your first timeblock (in this example, half hour appointments). Then click "Add another Timeblock" and choose the same times. The software warns you that the timeblocks overlap, you can tell it to not remind you again. Then do the same to create the third timeblock. You're done - now up to 3 parents can register for each half hour slot. For more options see FAQ on Team Teaching.

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