School Sessions¶

School sessions are used to segment data from different school years.

The following is contained in a school session:

• Students and Parents
• Orders
• Campaigns
• Registration Flow
• Volunteer Positions
• Volunteers
• Directory Invitations
• Memberships
• Translations
• Attachments
• Languages
• Grades

The following is shared between all sessions:

• Administrative Users
• Funds

Accessing School Sessions¶

Each site can have multiple school sessions. Most will use one school session per school year. Each school session will have their own:

• Registration
• Store
• Directory
• Member Services

Admin View¶

Only one school session can be viewed at one time in the Admin. To change the school session being viewed, select the desired school session from the school session selector in the upper right corner of the FutureFund Admin.

Site Links¶

The school_session_id parameter is required when accessing school sessions other than the default school session for the Registration, Store, and Directory sites as his parameter uniquely identifies the school session.

FutureFund provides links to the Registration, Store, and Directory sites with the school session appended to the URL. To view these links:

• In the Admin, navigate to Settings > School Sessions
• Click the View button next to the school session
• Scroll to the Site Links section

Default School Session¶

One school session is designated as the default session (only one can be specified at a time). This school session does not require special the school_session_id parameter to access. The default school session is the school session parents will use when you are live. When a school session is made the default school session, the following occurs:

• Test mode is turned off
• The previous default school session is no longer the default school session
• The current school session is set to the default school session

To set the default session:

• In the Admin, navigate to Settings > School Sessions
• Click the View button next to the school session
• Click the Make Default button

Starting a New School Year¶

For existing accounts, the best way to start a new school session is to copy and existing school session. This article shows how to accomplish this task.

1. In the Admin, navigate to Settings > School Sessions.
2. Click on the Duplicate button next to the current school session.

This will create a copy of the school session with the following items:

• Registration Pages and Sections
• Campaigns
• Volunteer Positions
• Funds
• Grades
• Custom Forms
• Directory, Store, and Registration settings
• Translations
• Admin users and access control

The following information is not copied to the new school session:

• Students and Parents
• Orders
• Members
• Volunteers
• Directory Entries

The new school session will not be the default school session and parents will not have access to it.

Toggling Live/Test Mode¶

Test mode will allow orders to be placed with special credit card numbers to test the registration and checkout flow.

To toggle live/test mode:

• In the Admin, navigate to Settings > School Sessions
• Click the View button next to the school session
• Click the Edit button
• Select either Live Mode or Test Mode
• Press the Update School Session button to save the changes

Testing Credit Card Processing¶

When the school session is in test mode, use the following test credit cards to test your checkout process. Use a valid expiration date in the future, and any random CVC number, to create a successful payment.

Going Live¶

When your school session is ready, there are a few steps you need to take before parents can use the site:

• Confirm you've tested the site in test mode and everything is working properly
  • Verify registration pages and campaign descriptions
  • Verify campaign pricing
  • Review volunteer positions
• Verify Registration is Enabled
• Decide if the store should be enabled. Some schools leave the store disabled to prevent parents from skipping registration. See Enabling Store for more information
• If the school session is not the default school session:
  • In the Admin, navigate to Settings > School Sessions
  • Click the View button next to the school session
  • Click the Make Default button
• If the school session is the default school session:
  • Ensure live mode is enabled
• Visit your registration link and verify the school year is correct and the Test Mode banner is not displayed
• Optionally, have a few parents register before opening registration to all parents

Once these steps are done, you are ready for registration!

Closing the School Session¶

When the school year comes to a close, admins can effectively disable access to the school session by:

• In the Admin, navigate to Settings > School Sessions
• Click the View button next to the school session
• Click the Close All Sites button

When this is selected, access to registration, store, and directory will be disabled.