PowerSchool Community Feedback and Suggestions

[jbidk]

Do you have feedback on how our new PowerSchool Community looks and functions?

Do you have suggestions for how we can make our Community even better?

Please post your feedback and suggestions here. We'll review all posts and share updates. 

We look forward to hearing from you!

[ElissaT]

I understand from watching the Insider that you guys are still working on the Case Portal and what is there is a preliminary version, but wanted to make sure those of us that support multiple instances of PowerSchool for will still be able to use the Community effectively.

In Michigan, I work for an Intermediate School District that provides technology services for multiple districts in 3 different counties. I an the technical contact for 24 different school districts. Currently, when I submit a case through PowerSource, I must first select the school district I want to submit the ticket for. I do not see that option when submitting a case through the new case portal. 

In addition, under the Manage Cases area, we would need a filter to be able to filter by school district, like there is in PowerSource.

Just wanted to make sure the functionality for managing several school districts will not go away when moved to the Community.

Thank you for your time,

Elissa

[jamiem7]

Thank you for posting your suggestion in the Community!

I have submitted a feature request to the PowerSchool Product team on your behalf to enable a feature that will allow Technical Contacts within multiple districts to view cases within the Manage Case portal for each district. . We thank you for your suggestions to improve the PowerSchool Community for all users.

[LeslieS1]

Hi Jbid, When reviewing our support cases, we really need to be able to see all "My Sites" cases.

This is a critical feature (from PowerSource).

When will this be added into PowerSchool Community?

Thanks,

Leslie

[jbidk]

Hi @LeslieS1, 

Thank you for this comment! This is on top of our list and what we are currently working to add to our case portal. As soon as we have a confirmed date, I will plan to share out an update through our Community. We'll send additional communications as well because we know this is an important update our customers would like to see.

[Community Member]

can you delete my account

[jamiem7]

We will be happy to look into options to disable your account. 

I will follow up with you through private message to gather more information.

[CindyM8]

I would prefer a daily (or every other day) email about updates/posts. I somehow was subscribed to one of the other forums (I think the one relates to what prizes users would like) and I must have received 40 or so emails so I unsubscribed. 

Also, I prefer the layout of PowerSource. I find it difficult to navigate this new site and find what I am looking for. I think PowerSource had it's issues but overall I liked it and still use is several times a day.

[jamiem7]

Thank you for your suggestions and feedback regarding the PowerSchool Community!

I apologize you received multiple email notifications regarding posts.  Notification settings can be adjusted to be sent immediately, daily, or weekly.  Please follow the steps below to adjust the notification settings.

1. Choose your Avatar at the top right of any page in the Community
2. Select My Settings
3. Choose the Subscriptions and Notifications tab
4. View and select the notification options int he drop-down menu for each type of subscription

You can find the steps to change notification settings with images here.

[MichaelP1]

Please consider changing the State Specific Updates and Emerging issues, so that I can select my state. It is nice to receive information, but information about other states is not helpful.

Thank you,

Michael 

[jamiem7]

This is a great idea!

The Community has a feature to subscribe to specific state notifications.  I have added the steps below.

When selecting the Product Updates, Notifications, and State-Specific Digest boards, a user can subscribe to the entire board for all product updates or select a specific state and receive a notification for a post with a particular state label.

To subscribe to one state instead of the entire post, I recommend selecting the board you would like to receive notifications then choosing the state label in the right of the screen. At the top of the page that is filtered for a specific state label, you can choose to subscribe to any post that as the state label attached. I have provided a screenshot with the California label circled in the right side of the screen as well as the link to subscribe.

Below are the links to Product Updates, Notification, and State-Specific Digest boards.

State-Specific Digest

PowerSchool SIS State Emerging Issues

PowerSchool SIS Release Notifications

Please note, that you will want to unsubscribe from the boards that are not filtered by the state label so you do not receive notifications for all states as well as the state label subscription.  To unsubscribe, you will want to navigate to the Product Update pages.  Instead of selecting a state label, please choose the menu option in the top right of the board and choose to unsubscribe.  

[MichaelP1]

Unfortunately, this is not helpful, since Ohio is not listed. Unless I am missing something.

Michael <><

[jamiem7]

You are correct!

Not every state is currently listed within the release notifications and product updates at this time.  We are currently working with the Product team to add all states within the boards.  

Thank you for your patience while we work to add all states in the release notifications and product updates boards.

[briancouling]

Suggestion:  Can you add the grade level next to the student's name in the attendance page?  Often, students will be pulled out by grade level.  In art class, I often have different grade levels in the same class period.  

[jamiem7]

Thank you for posting your suggestion in the Community!

I have submitted a feature request to the PowerSchool Product team on your behalf to enable a feature to add the student's grade level next to the attendance record. We thank you for your suggestions to improve PowerSchool SIS for all users.

[SarahD12]

I would like to suggest that when an applicant clicks on the button to withdraw their application that the system give them a warning asking something like "Are you sure you wish to withdraw your application".

I had an applicant call us a couple of weeks ago stating that she had applied and her dog stepped on her laptop, withdrawing her application from the job she just applied for.  She had to start all over 😞

[jamiem7]

Thank you for posting your suggestion in the Community!

I have submitted a feature request to the PowerSchool Product team on your behalf to enable a feature that will confirm major steps such as removing an application in the software. We thank you for your suggestions to improve Unified Talent for all users.

[DavidElm4884]

One tricky thing about using PowerSchool assessments is that assignments that aren't done are let blank indefinately, unless a score is put in by hand. 

I wish there was a way to give a time frame (1 week after assigned, 2 weeks, etc) after which the assignment would automatically become a zero if left undone.

[DavidElm4884]

There isn't an option to write exam sections with, say, 10 questions, but randomly select only 3 of them, is there?  Because that would be very helpful.

[PS_AM1]

Hi @DavidElm4884,

Thank you for reaching out for assistance through the Community!  Would provide which product you are referring to in your question so I can further assist, please?

[taylork]

I teach in a community with a wide variety of family structures.  I have a suggestion for a few demographic fields for the PowerSchool teacher interface that would be incredibly useful to me.

1) (not a suggestion: a thank you) I love that it's currently parent 1 and parent 2 instead of mother/father.  That's inclusive for my families that have two moms or dads.

2) instead of "parent," I'd love to have one field listed as guardian 1 or 2, and then next to that have a relationship field.  That way, if the primary guardian is an aunt/uncle, grandparent, foster parent, etc. then I can see that easily.

3) I'd also love to have pronoun and preferred form of address fields for guardians and students.  This would be great for our nonbinary folks and also helps me as a teacher who has to make phone calls home. I like to be respectful, especially on first contact with parents, so I don't like to use first names.  I find it helps to know if someone likes Mrs./Ms. or should be addressed as Dr. etc.  It will also help when I come across a name that's not tied to one gender (like Pat) or that is new to me and I'm not sure if it's masculine or feminine.

4) I'd also like to be able to see right there on demographics whether both adults should be contacted or not.  I've got students whose parents are in close communication, but I also have students whose parents are in the midst of acrimonious divorces and don't speak to one another at all.  It would be great to be able to check a box that says "contact both separately" so I know to do that from day 1.

5) I'd love to have a way to highlight which parent is the preferred first point of contact during school hours.  When both parents work, it's really helpful to know who is more likely to have time to take a phone call.

6) It would also be super helpful to have a field that's only viewable by school personnel that allows guidance to make notes.  Family dynamics sometimes get messy (deaths, restraining orders, etc.), and the last thing people think about at those times is updating PowerSchool.  It would be great if guidance could flag those cases so that teachers who aren't in daily contact with the student (for example, an Honor Society advisor sending an invitation to a student they don't teach) could be aware.  

thank you!

[jamiem7]

Thank you for posting your suggestion in the Community as well as your likes of the system!

I have submitted feature requests to the PowerSchool Product team on your behalf for all features listed above. We thank you for your suggestions to improve PowerSchool SIS for all users.