Processing Mass Add Attendance by Activity

The Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range feature enables you to enter the same attendance record for multiple students at once. You can create the record for students in a specific Activity. You can choose to create the attendance record for one or multiple Periods. For example, this would be useful if a soccer team is missing periods seven through eight for a game. You can choose to create the record for both periods of attendance so all students have an attendance record for periods seven and eight.

Scroll past the video to access the step-by-step instructions.

Before you begin

Audio Transcript

In case you ever need to enter the same attendance record for multiple students at once for an activity, you can use the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range feature. To begin this process, we will navigate to the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range feature located within the Attendance module. For this example, we will add attendance records for the high school Chess Club’s competition. First, we will change the selection method to By Activity for Grade Levels Selected. For the activity, we will select Chess. The date and Grade Levels fields default, which we do not need to change for this example. Since this activity takes place from period 5 to period 8, we do not need to check the All Day box, and will instead select those periods as start and end period respectively. Since this competition is held by the high school, we will select School Function as the Attendance Type. For this example, we do not need to enter any more details, but we could choose to if we wanted to further define this attendance entry. Let’s select the Next option to proceed to the next screen, where we will see all the students whose attendance records will be updated. If we proceed to the next screen, we will see all the attendance records that will be added. Since we do not need to update any of these records, we will select Run Process to generate these records. Now that you know how to process attendance records en masse by activity, you can easily record attendance for students at an activity.

In case you ever need to enter the same attendance record for multiple students at once for an activity, you can use the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range feature. To begin this process, we will navigate to the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range feature located within the Attendance module. For this example, we will add attendance records for the high school Chess Club’s competition. First, we will change the selection method to By Activity for Grade Levels Selected. For the activity, we will select Chess. The date and Grade Levels fields default, which we do not need to change for this example. Since this activity takes place from period 5 to period 8, we do not need to check the All Day box, and will instead select those periods as start and end period respectively. Since this competition is held by the high school, we will select School Function as the Attendance Type. For this example, we do not need to enter any more details, but we could choose to if we wanted to further define this attendance entry. Let’s select the Next option to proceed to the next screen, where we will see all the students whose attendance records will be updated. If we proceed to the next screen, we will see all the attendance records that will be added. Since we do not need to update any of these records, we will select Run Process to generate these records. Now that you know how to process attendance records en masse by activity, you can easily record attendance for students at an activity.



  1. Select Menu > Administrative Access > Attendance.
  2. Select Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range under Features.
    Expected Result

    You see the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range Run History List.

  3. Click Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range near the top right of the screen.
    Expected Result

    You see the Attendance Entry by Class / Activity / Range screen.

  4. Complete the appropriate fields.
    Step Information

    Required fields are identified with an asterisk. You must complete required fields before you can save your work.

    1. Under the Students to Select heading, select the By Activity for Grade Levels Selected option from the Selection Method drop-down list.
      Expected Result

      The Activity field displays.

    2. Enter the Activity or click the Down Arrow icon to choose from the drop-down list.
      Step Information

      You can only run this process for one activity at a time. If you need to add attendance for more than one activity, you must run this process for each activity individually.

    3. Optional: Verify the Grade Levels or enter the correct grade levels.
      Step Information

      This field defaults based on the school's Grade Level Low and Grade Level High values, but can be modified if necessary. The only students who display on the subsequent screens are those in the grade levels you select.

      You can click outside of the selection box once you have made your selections.

    4. Under the Attendance Details heading, verify the Start Date or enter the correct date.
      Step Information

      This defaults to the current date, but can be modified as needed.

    5. Verify the End Date or enter the correct date.
      Step Information

      This defaults to the current date, but can be modified as needed.

      You can modify this field if the absence should span multiple days.

    6. Optional: Verify the box for All Day is checked or unchecked.
      Step Information

      You can use the All Day checkbox instead of using a start and end period for the attendance details. For example, if the seniors are going to be gone on an all-day field trip, the All Day checkbox can be used to add attendance records to each period that day. If students are going to be excused from only one period for a school function, then the Start Period and End Period can be used to signify which period will be missed.

      Expected Result

      When checked, the Start Period and End Period fields are disabled. Skip to sub-step i.

      If you did not check the box, continue to the next sub-step.

    7. Enter the Start Period
      Step Information

      This indicates the period when the attendance record should start.

    8. Enter the End Period.
      Step Information

      This indicates the period when the attendance record should start.

    9. Enter the Attendance Type.
      Step Information

      For example, you could enter School Function.

    10. Optional: Enter the Attendance Reason.
      Step Information

      For example, you could enter Sporting Event.

    11. Optional: Enter a Comment for the attendance record if you wish to track additional information about the attendance record.
      Step Information

      For example, you could enter, "Away basketball game."

    12. Optional: Verify the box for Guardian Notified is checked or unchecked.
      Step Information

      For example, since a guardian would typically be aware of a sporting event, you would check this box.

      This field can be used as a filter on reports to only print records where the Guardian Notified box was not checked, so that office personnel can generate a list of guardians to call to confirm student absences.

    13. Optional: Verify the box for Overwrite Existing Attendance is checked or unchecked.
      Step Information

      When checked, any attendance records for the selected students and dates are changed. For example, if you previously entered an absence record for the biology class to be gone on an all-day field trip, but now the football team will be missing periods seven and eight to travel to an away game, you would check the box to overwrite existing attendance to indicate that the football players in the class will actually be absent for the sporting event.

      When unchecked, any existing attendance records for the selected dates are not modified. For example, if a student athlete was previously marked as absent for an illness, and you are creating a record for the swimming team to be absent for period eight, checking this box will mistakenly mark this student as absent due to a sporting event, even if the student was actually home sick.

      Expected Result

      In the image below, the class attendance record details display a cheer trip for the last two periods of the day.





    14. Click Next near the top left of the screen.
      Expected Result

      You see a list of students who fit the selection criteria from the previous screen.

    15. Uncheck the box to the left of each student you do not wish to add attendance for.
      Step Information

      For example, you might uncheck the box for a student who will be on a family vacation this day.

      You can uncheck the box at the top of the Select column to uncheck all students. You can then select individual students you wish to include by checking the box to the left of their name.

    16. Click Next near the top left of the screen.
      Expected Result

      You see the student records to be created or updated, which includes details about any previous attendance records as well as the new details. This allows you to determine whether to overwrite the attendance records that currently exist for the students.

    17. Uncheck the box to the left of each student you do not wish to create or update attendance records for.
      Step Information

      You can uncheck the box at the top of the Select column to uncheck all students. You can then select individual students you wish to include by checking the box to the left of their name.

  5. Click Run Process near the top left of the screen.
    Step Information

    The system creates a run history record each time you process the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range feature.

    If one or more errors exist after processing the feature, you can run the undo mass add attendance run process to revert all attendance records that were originally created with this process.

  6. Click Done near the top left of the screen.
    Expected Result

    You return to the screen you were previously on.

Result(s)

You have successfully recorded attendance for multiple students by activity.