This chapter provides a "directory" of functions within the FrontDesk Manager product. You may want to print this chapter and refer to it as you begin using SchoolLeader. Each of these functions is discussed in greater detail in the appropriate chapter of this guide.
All functions within SchoolLeader FrontDesk Manager are logically grouped together on the main menu that runs along the top tool bar. The directory shown below follows the order of that main menu.
Please note: Many critical functions can also be accessed by clicking on their designated toolbar icon found just below the menu. To learn what each icon represents, hover over the picture for at least 2 seconds. A description will appear.
The FILE options allow you to:
Open an archived database - Access Archive databases from your workstation for read-only use. Archive databases are created by the DB Support program and represent old data no longer needed in the Primary database.
Import/Restore prior database - Import a previously backed up database. Backup files can be identified with their .BAK file extension.
Export (Backup) the current database - Export the current Primary database to a BAK file. Backup files can be stored on your harddrive OR send directly to our online DataVault service for secure backup.
Verify Offsite backup exists - Check the SchoolLeader DataVault to determine if there is a backup present and also what date it was created. This can be useful in determining if a prior backup was performed.
Log off - Disconnect from the current database and redisplay the login screen
Exit - Disconnect from the current database and shutdown the SchoolLeader program. Return to your computers desktop
The FILE options allow you to:
Reset Windows to Default size - Clear all saved settings for any window size or locations. Windows return to their original size and location
Reactivate all reminders - SchoolLeader displays window reminders for key functions as they are selected. The user can choose to disable the future display of a specific reminder after it is displayed the first time. This option reactivates the display of all previously disabled reminders.
Show screen logo - The center screen logo on the main menu displays by default. You can prevent that logo from displaying if it distracts you when working with other windows.
Play Sounds - SchoolLeader uses sounds and music in certain circumstances. You can prevent any sound from playing using this option.
Cut / Copy / Paste - Use this series of functions to cut, copy, and paste, text from one location to another using the builtin Windows Clipboard. You can also use the keyboard commands instead of these options; CUT = Ctrl-X, Copy = Ctrl-C, Paste = Ctrl-V
View School Status Information - Display the quick view status window for a quick view of all critical statistics and alerts related to your school
Edit Activity Folders - Display the Activity Folder window for managing Activity data and performing functions such as:
Define/manage school field trips
Define/manage all school related activities such as dance class or graduation ceremonies
Provide bus lists (transportation rosters) for field trips
Manage camp programs
Track fire drills
Edit Classroom / Location Folders - Display the Classroom Folder window for managing all Classroom data and performing functions such as;
Define/manage classroom locations
Define age requirements and ratios
Determine promotion eligibility to the next classroom
Review classroom attendance and real time ratios
Perform manual sign in / sign out of students and employees
Edit Outside Transporting Schools - Display the Outside Transportation window for managing all Classroom data and performing functions such as;
Define all of the schools attended by children for which you provide before and/or after school care
Include school contact information for easy reference
Perform Group Classroom Reassignments - Display window to perform group movements of students from one classroom to another. This is useful when an entire classroom (or large percentage of students) is graduating to a new classroom.
Meal Management (USDA Meal Counter) - Define Income Eligibility, Subsidy Types, Age Categories, Meal Serving Type (breakfast, lunch, snack, etc), and Meal Fee Schedule.
Edit Family Summary - Review important information about a FAMILY, including student info, guardian info, emergency contacts, and account balance. The Family Quickview is created automatically for you as a result of your data entry in the Student and Guardian Folders. With the Family Quickview, you can find the family information by Student Name or by Primary Guardian name.
Edit Student Folders - Define and manage all important information about each student, including enrollment, classroom assignment, guardian relationships, fees, allergies, forms and vaccine compliance, photo, meals served, accounting info, etc.
Edit Guardian Folders - Define and manage all important information about each guardian, including address/contact information, relationship to the student, billing information, family related fees, etc.
Edit Third Party Sponsor Folders - Manage 3rd party sponsor folders, including government subsidized programs, and split payments for divorced parents. Track subsidized charges and payments
View Enrollment Waiting List - Manage your waiting list by classroom, and view the priority by the student's registration date, or by the 'as needed' date.
Edit Student Vaccine Schedule - Define the vaccination schedule specific for your state and county. Use this schedule to track vaccine compliance and expiration dates.
Define Required Forms Schedule - Define your Required Forms Schedule. Use this schedule to track expiration dates of government/center required forms.
Synchronize Group Tuition - Assign the same tuition rate to a selected group or classroom
Define Student Groups - Define various student groupings to be used in enrollment analysis. Track the number of students within each group. For example, you can define 'categories' of Students, such as Church Members, Corporate Sponsored, Employee Child, etc.
Reset Student Vacation/Sick Hours - Reset all Student vacation/sick hours to be zero.
Family Setup Wizard - Define all of the guardian information associated with each student. Each Guardian only needs to be entered once in SchoolLeader, even if a particular Guardian is associated with 20 different students!
Edit Family Groups - Define various Family Groups to be used in revenue analysis. Track how much revenue is being generated by each type of Family Grouping.
Edit Employee Folders - Define and manage all important information about each employee, including address/contact information, employment/wage history, certifications and education, scheduling, photo, etc.
Employee Work Scheduling - Edit Employee Schedules and analyze schedules against historical attendance data. Compare schedule against actual student attendance to identify understaffed and overstaffed situations. Compare employee actual attendance to scheduled attendance and adjust employee attendance records automatically. All these functions can assist you in building accurate schedules that reflect the desired student/teacher ratio you desire.
Edit Employee Certification Schedule - Define the employee certification schedule based on your state/county/local laws. Include such items as background checks, medical exams and certifications. Ensure your employees are in compliance with the law.
Edit Overtime Rules - Define daily or weekly based overtime thresholds.
Reset Employee Vacation/Sick Hours - Reset all Employee vacation/sick hours to be zero. This eliminates the need for you to go into each Employee folder and individually zero out the accrued hours for vacation and sickness
Create QuickBooks Time Report Extract File - If using the SchoolLeader/QuickBooks Payroll interface, easily create the SchoolLeader Time Reporting File to be imported into QuickBooks for QuickBooks Payroll processing.
Edit Payroll Interface Settings - Define the SchoolLeader-to-QuickBooks Payroll Interface Settings needed for QuickBooks payroll processing.
Accounts Receivable (A/R)
Payment Maintenance. Functions and tools for maintaining payments, including:
A/R Payment Register (manage received payments, void/reverse payments, NSF payments, etc)
A/R Bank Deposit Manager (manage deposits to your bank account; print deposit tickets)
A/R Electronic Banking Manager (manage automated credit card processing transactions, post batch credit card transactions)
Reconcile Account Balances
Audit A/R Payment Credit Allocations
View A/R Subaccount Activity. Review A/R activity for each defined subaccount.
View Guardian Balances. Review and print a current guardian balances based on different criteria..
Recurring Fee Processing: Post fees to guardian accounts such as:
Recurring Fees
Late Payment Fees
Recurring Activity Fees (such as a weekly dance class)
One-time Group Charges - post a one time fee to a particular group of students
One-time Group Payments - post group payments to zero out current balance due on multiple accounts
A/R Rules: Define, edit, and manage, all of your A/R rules. including
Account Statement messages
Activity Fee Rules
Advance Charge Rules
Subsidiary Chart of Accounts
Attendance Based Fee Schedule
Enrollment (Registration) Fee Rules
Late Payment Fee Rules
Payment Reversal Rules
Recurring Fee Schedule
Close A/R Accounting Period - Perform bookclose for the current accounting period. This process reconciles all account balances and calculates opening balances for the new period.
Create QuickBooks Interface A/R Deposit File - Produce extract files used by QuickBooks General Ledger functions
Create QuickBooks Interface A/R Bookclose File - Produce extract files used by QuickBooks General Ledger functions
Rollback Current AR Accounting Period - If the A/R accounting period was closed by mistake, this function can reverse that bookclose and restore the previous period as the current period. All activity posted during the period is preserved and rebooked in the previous period.
Accounts Payable (A/P)
Payment Maintenance - Functions and tools for maintaining payments, including
A/P Payment Register (make payments, void/reverse payments, NSF payments, etc)
Check Reconciler
Account Balance Reconciler
A/P Payment Credit Auditor
Vendor Folders - Define and manage your vendors, including contact information, posting bills, making payments, account balances, etc.
A/P Subaccount Viewer - Review A/P activity for each defined subaccount.
A/P Rules. Define and manage all of your A/P rules specific to your business, including;
A/P Subsidiary Chart of Accounts
A/P Bill Schedule
Close A/P Accounting Period - Perform bookclose for the current accounting period. This process reconciles all account balances and calculates opening balances for the new period.
Create QuickBooks Interface A/P Bookclose File - Produce extract files used by QuickBooks General Ledger functions
Rollback AP Current AP Accounting Period - If the A/R accounting period was closed by mistake, this function can reverse that bookclose and restore the previous period as the current period. All activity posted during the period is preserved and rebooked in the previous period.
General Ledger (G/L)
Edit G/L Ledger Account Balances - Review G/L activity for each G/L account.
Subledger Upload Processes. - Load your A/R and A/P data into your General Ledger.
G/L Rules. Define your G/L account rules, including:.
G/L Chart Of Accounts - Define and edit the primary Chart of Accounts for your business
G/L Account Categories - Define and edit category groups for your GL accounts (e.g. Payroll, Cash Accounts, etc.)
Accounting Methodology - Tell SchoolLeader whether you want to operate your books with Cash Accounting rules or Accrual rules.
Close G/L Accounting Period. You decide when to close your G/L accounting period, specific to your business needs.
View Bank Accounts - Manage one or multiple bank accounts. Track deposits, withdrawals, and account balances.
Define Fiscal Calendars - Define the Master Fiscal calendar with start date, end date, and period lengths. Also define the sub-calendars for both A/R and A/P. Each calendar must synchronize with the same start and end dates, however, the period lengths can be different providing full flexibility to setup A/R, A/P, and G/L the best way for your business.
Manage Checkpoint - Manage data and perform functions for CheckPoint Station, including;
Sending messages to employees and guardians
Set/reset PINs for Employees and Guardians
Track real time classroom ratios
Create an ADP or comma delimited interface for a third-party payroll company
Define door access controls for electronic door opening and biometric setup
Edit Checkpoint Options - Define default options to control CheckPoint station, including;
Default school hours
Checkpoint Interface method (PIN, Name, Biometric)
DYMO label printing options
View Checkpoint Monitor
Monitor, in real-time, who is checking in and checking out of the Checkpoint Station from the comfort of your FrontDesk workstations
View Reports - This Central Report Manager is the source for ALL SchoolLeader reports.
View Graphs - This Central Graph Manager is the source for ALL SchoolLeader graphs.
Form Letter Composer
Define and format form letters that can be used together with the Mail Merge Wizard.
Form Letters - Compose form letters for various functions such as;
Vaccination Compliance
Forms Compliance
Enrollment Renewals
Mail Merge Wizard - Create personalized form letters or mailing labels for specific students, guardians, or employees.
Define Report Logo - Load your school's logo into SchoolLeader to be used on many reports.
Edit Configuration Settings - Define your school name, address, telephone number, capacity, etc
Edit Electronic Banking Settings - Define your Paymentech electronic banking account information
Edit Federal Tax ID - Federal tax id can be defined here to be displayed on various reports
Edit Marketing method - Define the various Marketing methods you want available for selection on the Student Folders
Edit Job Types - Define job titles used by your employees
Edit Race Types - Define race types if needed for enrollment analysis
Edit Relationship Types - Define the types of relationships you want to use when associating students and guardians
Headquarters Communication - If using the SchoolLeader Back Office web based product, define your communication settings with your Headquarters Office. Also, initiate Back Office data transmission to the corporate office
Multi-school management - View summary information for all the school databases managed by this SchoolLeader server
Electronic Banking Support - Perform various functions related to Electronic banking, including
Post manual transactions to Paymentech
List error codes and their descriptions
Dump electronic banking logs for analysis
Task Manager - Set up daily reminders for distributing medication, appointments, etc.
About My SchoolLeader - Get basic information about this installation of SchoolLeader, including; version number and installed features.
Online SchoolLeader Help - This User's Guide is available online with full search and index capabilities.
Online Windows Help - Open the built-in Windows help guide
Email SchoolLeader Support directly from within FrontDesk Manager
Go to the SchoolLeader Website - Open a browser window and display the SchoolLeader website
Do not show Tips at startup - The tips window that displays at startup can be suppressed by checking this option