SMS FAQs

Modified on Tue, 31 Mar at 7:44 AM

This article includes:

Some or all of the text is missing from the SMS I sent through Correspondence?
Why have I not received any reply SMSes today?
How can we override the rules that flag students for SMSes for a particular day?
How do I enable the absentee SMSes?
How does the system determine which student contacts are sent SMSes?
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Some or all of the text is missing from the SMS I sent through Correspondence?

The merge field {body} must be included in the SMS template (general) otherwise information entered into the SMSes sent through the Correspondence page will not be included in the SMS. See Administration workspace > Application settings > Application settings. Search for 'sms' and edit the Correspondence pane.

In some cases, only part of the text may appear. For example "Dear parents", but then the rest will be cut off as SMS can't handle the line break after Dear parents.

Why have I not received any reply SMSes today?

This indicates there may be an issue with the provider, the email relay, or a breakdown at some other point in the forwarding required to receive SMS replies. Please contact the SEQTA Support team via the Help portal to report any issues related to receiving SMSes.

How can we override the rules that flag students for SMSes for a particular day?

Case scenario: You have one day a week where there is an assembly and you want to flag students for Absences against different periods. We normally flag students who are absent for 'Form' and 'Period 1'. However, on assembly day, we only want to flag those absent for 'Form'.

Resolution: In this case you will need to use Correspondence, rather than Absentee SMSes. This can be done in Correspondence by configuring an attendance Preset that can be used to filter the students with absences for the time-range of the 'Form' period, then send an SMS using an SMS template.

How do I enable the absentee SMSes?

To discuss the setup of absentee SMSes please contact the SEQTA Support team via the Help portal. Please specify if you would like to set up the Absentee SMSes page in Attendance Administration and/or would like assistance setting up Correspondence to follow-up with both absences and lates. Correspondence set up will also enable the option to send attendance related letters and emails.

How does the system determine which student contacts are sent SMSes?

There are three requirements, but if points 1 or 2 below are not met, the contact will not be displayed in the list on the Absentee SMSes page.

The contact has a mobile number.
The contact is enabled to receive SMS.
The absence rules have been configured in the database. These rules are customised for each school and can be changed on request. Please contact the SEQTA Support team via the Help portal to raise a case.

For example, two commonly used rules are as follows:

If a Junior School Student is marked as absent for the AM roll, then flag for an absentee SMS.
If a Senior School Student is marked as absent for Homeroom and Period 1, then flag for an absentee SMS.