CUSTOM FIELDS IN OPEROO
We are very excited to bring you the Operoo Custom Fields feature. This feature allows you to take any spreadsheet with information for your students and parse it into the data needed for each family. Think of it as electronic mail merge.
Any spreadsheet can be used. Whether it is manually created or downloaded from your SIS, Operoo is ready to share it with your families.
This first release is for parent forms only, but we expect to expand it to include staff forms as well.
Our team has thought of these uses for Custom Fields
- Progress Reports
- Report Card Grades - WITH ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES!
- Exam Invitations
- Missing Inoculations
- AP Course Registration with payment collection
- Attendance - WITH ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES!
- Course request confirmations
We’d love your feedback on what your school will use it to send!
THE CUSTOM FIELDS SCREEN
Choose the new Custom Fields from the sidebar menu.
The Custom Fields screen displays a list of all files uploaded into Operoo for use with Custom Fields. These files are called Collections in Operoo. Please note that these will be uploaded separately from the SIS data imported into Operoo.
The 3 line icon to the left of the file name contains actions that can be taken once the file is uploaded. These include editing the file, importing data to the file (used if you only uploaded the headers in the original upload) or to map the data to new lookup values and deleting the file.
Click the to edit the file. Field Names can be edited and fields can be reordered (See the Tips area for details). Collection names default to match your uploaded file, but you can also change the name here if your original file did not match your naming convention (See the Tipes area for naming conventions)
Click the to map lookup tables and reprocess the data (See the Lookup Table area for details)
Clicking the name of the file will display the data contained in the collection. This list can be sorted and filtered as needed.
Click the to delete the file, but that will delete the data attached to any eform in which the collection was used. There will be a warning before you delete the file.
To search for a collection, begin typing a keyword into the top row of the Collection List. You can search by Collection Name (first box) or by data element name in the custom fields file (second search box).
TYPES OF FILES
STUDENT DATA – REQUIRED
The Student Data file contains all the information that will appear in your Operoo form.
- The file can be either excel (.xlsx) or csv (.csv)
- The file MUST contain the student ID number and that column MUST have a header of student_id. This column does NOT have to be the first column in the data set. The student ID in the file must match the student ID in Operoo and is case sensitive ABCD1234 will not match to abcd1234.
- Multiple rows of data for the same student is fine, each row MUST contain the student ID.
- It’s ok if the data is in a different order than you want in the form
- It’s ok to have extra columns that you do not want to appear in the form
- If you use files from your SIS, it’s ok to add or remove columns
- If there is data in the column, there must be a column header
LOOKUP TABLE – OPTIONAL
A lookup table only needs to be used when there is data that needs to be replaced in the Student Data file for families to have a clearer understanding of what is in the form. Examples include:
- Replacing Course Codes with Course Names
- Replacing Comment Codes with Comment Text
- Replacing Absence Codes with an Absence Description
- Replacing Official Class with Counselor or Advisor Name
HOW A LOOKUP TABLE WORKS
A lookup table will replace one value in a file with another everywhere it appears in a column (similar to Find and Replace). For example, if your student data file includes course code, you can use a lookup table to replace the code with the course name. The key to a lookup table is that both the original (Find) and new (Replace) data appear on the same row.
- The column headers MUST be in the first row of the lookup table
- The lookup table should NOT have any empty rows
A deeper dive into Lookup Tables is available here. It is a bit NYC specific, but provides the complete idea around the functionality of a lookup table.
HOW TO UPLOAD THE FILES
DATA FILE ONLY
To upload the file, choose Custom Fields from the sidebar menu.
At the upper left, there are options to add a collection.
Add Collection allows you to Name the Collection and apply it to an Operoo group before uploading the file. If this option is not chosen, the Collection will automatically have the name of the file uploaded assigned as the collection name. It will also be assigned to all groups, even if it does not contain data for certain groups. This is optional as members can be limited to only students with data in the file when eforms are sent from Operoo. Click Save to save the collection shell. When you are ready to upload data into the collection, use the three lines to the left of the collection name.
Add Collection and Import Data from an Excel or CSV file allows you to simultaneously create the collection and upload the file. The collection name will be the name of the file uploaded.
Choose the student data file you have saved on your computer, leave STUDENT DATA, the Import data into collection checkbox checked and click Create Collection from File. The data may take some time to process, for large files, feel free to leave this screen and return to it later to create the form. The rows entry on the collection will increase as the data uploads.
If you want to be able to access the original file uploaded, simply leave your email in the Optional area and you will receive a secure link to access the data.
Once uploaded, Operoo stores the data in a “Collection” that has the name of the file.
DATA FILE and LOOKUP TABLE
To upload the files, choose Custom Fields from the sidebar menu.
STEP 1: Upload the Lookup Table
Choose Add Collection and Import Data from an Excel or CSV file. Choose the student data file from your computer, choose LOOKUP TABLE from the dropdown menu and click Create Collection from File. If you want to be able to access the original file uploaded, simply leave your email in the Optional area and you will receive a secure link to access the data.
STEP 2: Upload the headers from the STUDENT DATA file
Choose the student data file from your computer, choose STUDENT DATA from the dropdown menu, UNCHECK the Import data into collection checkbox, and click Create Collection from File.
STEP 3: Map the LOOKUP TABLE to the STUDENT DATA
Click the to the left of the STUDENT DATA file that contains the course code
Find the COURSE field in the data field list
Use the dropdowns to map the following:
Lookup table = Choose the file where Operoo should find the lookup data (uploaded in Step 1)
Lookup Column = The name of the field with the original data we don’t want families to see
Replacement Column = The name of the field with the replacement data we do want families to see
The sample below shows replacing Course Code with Course Title:
Reprocess the data by choosing the file name and clicking Import Data. This reprocessing will link the replacement values from the lookup tables into the student data Operoo will send to families.
The data processing may take some time, for large files, feel free to leave this screen and return to it later to create the form.
ADDING THE DATA TO A FORM
CREATE THE FORM
Create a eform as usual in Operoo. If you need a refresher on this process, watch this video.
In the description area, add any message that will provide context to the collection.
To add the collection data, choose an Additional Notes question for your form. Add any text needed, choose the placeholder option and choose the collection from the list. Multiple collections can be added to the same eform and will be displayed in separate tables.
Additional questions or signature options can be added to the form. Remember, you can reorder the Additional Notes question to the top of your eform to bring immediate attention to the information in the collection.
CHOOSING MEMBERS
A new option has been added to ensure that forms based on collections are only sent to the families of students who have data in the collection.
Choose Dynamic Members and click Choose FIlter.
At the members screen, choose the group. In the Additional Attributes column, Open the Custom Field Collections and click the arrow to the left of the specific collection you will be using in your form. Check the box below the name of the selected collection.
If you are using multiple collections in your form, you will have to check all of them and decide if students MUST have data in both collections to be included or if the eform should be sent if they have data in only one of the collections. If they must have data in both, click Members must have ALL these attributes.
PRO TIPS
RENAMING AND REORDERING THE DATA
If the columns in the STUDENT DATA file are not in the best order for families, Operoo allows you to reorder the columns once uploaded.
RENAMING
Click on the pencil to edit the file
Click Edit to rename the column. Type the new name and click save.
REORDERING
Click and hold the 6 dots to the left of the Name above the column to be moved.
Drag and drop the columns to the preferred order.
DISPLAYING ONLY CERTAIN FIELDS TO FAMILIES
The default in Operoo is to display all data in the Student Data file. If you do not want all of the data to be displayed, you can delete the columns before you upload the file or insert instructions after the collection name once placed into the form. The exact format must be followed:(no space between the collection name and the command.)
- Open with a hard bracket [
- Type quotation marks “
- Type a column header (must be the exact column header from your student data file)
- Type quotation marks “
- Type a comma ,
- Repeat steps 2-5 for all columns that should appear in the form
- Close with a hard bracket ]
Example: Only show columns 1, 3 and 7 from the Student Data file. Add the following after the collection in the form:
[“column 1 header”,”column 3 header”,”column 7 header”]
The screenshot below shows an example with the actual column headers
NAMING CONVENTIONS
With the flexibility that comes with the Operoo Custom Fields feature, we expect that many files will be uploaded by our schools. Some of these files will be very similar, such as grades for each marking period or attendance for different days. We strongly recommend that your school decides a naming convention for all files uploaded to Operoo. For example, 2022_1_3 Course Grades or 2_1_2022 Attendance.
SPECIAL TIP FOR NYC DOE SCHOOLS
If you are using a Windows PC and your Service Pack is out of date, files may not download and save properly from STARS and ATS. If you are having that issue, please update your service pack and redownload the file.
WHAT WILL FAMILY CONTACTS SEE?
Following is the email received by the family contact:
When they click to respond, they will see the collection data specific to their student: