| PTCFast.com Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) |
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| General |
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| What is your Privacy Policy? |
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| Time Blocks |
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| What is a Time Block? |
| Suppose I want to have some short breaks in my meeting schedule (e.g., I want 15-minute conferences to run between 9 AM and 1 PM, but I want a 15-minute break at 10:45)? |
| If I have created a block and change my mind, what do I do? |
| How far in advance can I create time blocks? |
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| Notice Settings |
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| What do you mean by “Notice Settings”? |
| What sort of security does the Parent Code option provide? |
| How should I decide which option to use? |
| 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? |
| I have email addresses for all my parents, and normally communicate with them electronically—not with printed letters. Can I use your system? |
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| Emails |
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| What are the questions here for? |
| What letters and emails are sent to parents? |
| Why am I being asked to list student names? |
| What should I do about parents who do not have internet access? |
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| Reports and Deadlines |
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| What sort of reports am I going to receive? |
| What settings do you recommend? |
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| Launch |
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| What do you mean by “launching” the conference? |
| What if I change my mind about something after launching the conference? |
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| Manage Conference |
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| What is the Manage Conference page for? |
| What does "Create additional parent-teacher conference" mean? |
| How do I set up more than one conference? |
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| Using the Site Regularly |
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| I expect to have other conferences in the future and want to remember my settings (or maybe even my student lists). Is there any way I can do that? |
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| School Webpage Option (New as of Sept 2010!) |
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| What is meant by a "School Webpage"? |
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What advantages would this School Webpage offer me? |
| Are there any disadvantages associated with this choice? |
| Is there anything special I need to do if I choose to have this webpage created? |
| If I do not choose this option, what will be different with regard to procedures and security? |
| Suppose I choose to have the School Webpage 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? |
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| Simple Step-by-Step Scenarios for Using the System |
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| Your software allows me to make a lot of choices. Can you give me simple step-by-step suggestions on how to use it? |
| 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. |
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| General |
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| 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.
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| Time Blocks |
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| 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). |
| Suppose I want to have some short breaks in my meeting schedule (e.g., I want 15-minute conferences to run between 9 AM and 1 PM, but I want a 15-minute break at 10:45)? |
| You can create as many time blocks per day as you want. So in this case, you would just create one time block from 9:00 to 10:45 and another time block from 11:00 to 1 PM. |
| 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. |
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| Notice Settings |
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| What do you mean by “Notice Settings”? |
| When you launch a conference, a conference-specific webpage is activated which your parents can visit in order to select their appointment times. This can work in two ways. In the “Simple No-Code Option”, there is just a single common link that all the parents use for this conference. In the “Parent Code Option”, you input a list of students, and a separate link is created for the parents of each student. In either case, you will end up with a printed letter to send to the parents. (Note that beginning in September, 2010, you can also choose to use the School Webpage option offered through the Manage page; if you do this, then you can also provide a single common link to all the parents signing up for any of the conferences you have organized on a given account. See section of the FAQ entitled "School Webpage Option" below for more details.) |
| 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. So, if a student prankster happened to intercept the letter to his parents he would not be able to use this link to make many appointments. |
| 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 have email addresses for all my parents, and normally communicate with them electronically—not with printed letters. Can I use your system? |
| Sure! If you select the Simple No-Code option, it will be easy to do so. When you have launched your conference, the software will display the text of a letter to be sent to the parents. Instead of printing and sending a hard copy, simply copy and paste this text into your email program, and send it to the parents via email. If you select the Parent Code option, the system will display the text of all the letters. Just copy and paste each of these letters into your email program. The letters are individual, and have the name of the child in them, so just send the appropriate letter to the appropriate parent and you are done.
Note that starting in Sept 2010, you can also choose (on the Manage page) to set up a School Webpage from which parents can choose any of the conferences that you have organized on a given account (for which you have selected Simple No-Code Option). See section of the FAQ below entitled "School Webpage Option" for more details. |
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| Emails |
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| What are the questions here for? |
| When parents sign up for an appointment, they get some information about where and when to show up for their appointment. This page lets you customize the information displayed for parents. |
| 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"). |
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| Reports and Deadlines |
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| 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. |
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| Launch |
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| 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. |
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| Manage Conference |
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| 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, starting in September 2010, 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 request that 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 |
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| I expect to have other conferences in the future and want to remember my settings (or maybe even my student lists). Is there any way I can do that? |
| Yes! When you want to create your next conference, start at the Manage Conference page and select Create Additional Parent Teacher Conference. It will allow you use one of your existing conferences as a template. Your Time Blocks and settings will be there all you have to do is pick new dates. |
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| School Webpage Option (New as of Sept 2010!) |
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| What is meant by a "School Webpage"? |
| If you click on the checkbox (on Manage page) to request that a school webpage 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 webpage 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. |
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What advantages would this School Webpage 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 webpage. 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 webpage 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 Webpage 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 Webpage 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 Webpage option on Manage. |
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| Simple Step-by-Step Scenarios for Using the System |
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| 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. |
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