ARTICLE: General System Configuration
General System Configurations
Items in System Configuration > General, are the base settings of primary elements within REACH that apply across all modules.
There are 33 actionable general settings that can be changed to suit preferences within your REACH Portal.
To access, navigate to System Configuration >> General
How to Navigate General Settings
Quick information to assist in your navigation of the General Settings. Many controls are pre-set as default by Reach.
Text fill settings
- Some of the control boxes require you to enter text, eg; School Name or PIN number.
- Changes can be made at any time.
Pop-down menu settings
- Location controls provide the list of locations as created / managed by your school
- Most boxes require a Yes/No selection
- If an item is not required, eg; Kiosk Lockdown Accounts, this can remain as 'Nothing Selected'
Save Changes Button / Hard Reload / Browser Reload
- It is essential to save all changes during your time in the Reach Portal
- Once you have made your changes in System Configuration the Tab and 'Save Changes button will turn orange to note a save is required
- Click the 'Save Changes' button
- A pop-up will ask for you to confirm changes are to be made
- Some changes may take a moment to load and affect the global platform
- If you feel the change has not worked, go to Help >> Hard Reload
- This will force a hard reload of your Reach session
- Alternately you can reload the page by clicking the round arrow browser reload button
NOTE: All open tabs will be reloaded - unsaved changes in other tabs may be lost
Undo Changes Button
- If you are unsure of changes made in settings, you can click the 'Undo Changes' button, before the Save button
- This will undo anything that you have affected.
Primary Elements
School Name
The school name is displayed in the top left-hand corner of your REACH web portal and is also used throughout all of your correspondence with Reach students, parents, and staff.
Pre-Approved Leave Location
When you sign-out a student to a Leave event, Approved Leave is the default location that your students will be placed in, for your
Kiosk View. This default location is part of your initial Reach setup. It generically means that a student has been signed-out to an Approved Leave event
off-school or signed into the approved care of an authorised adult.
This location is not visible on any staff/student Kiosk
screens as a SISO location to select and is "not" available for students to select in their ‘off school’ locations list. This location can only be accessed by signing
them out to an approved leave event.
You can change this default location at
any time using this selector.
Individual locations and parameters can be assigned for each leave type - System Configuration >> Leave Types
Display Pre-Approved Leave Location in Staff Kiosk
This setting is an addition to the above item, providing the option to display the Approved Leave Location in the Staff Kiosk SISO list. By default, this is set to No in your initial Reach setup process.
On-School Location
When a student returns and is signed-in to the school from a Leave event, they are automatically moved to the Boarding House location, this is the default location that is set in your initial Reach setup. You can change this location at any time using this setting.
Students See On-School Locations
When students have access to Quick SISO on their Reach dashboard, this setting will determine whether they can see the locations with the On-School setting.
In the creation of each location, as managed by your school, the parameters of each location can be individually adjusted at any time.
System Configuration >> Locations
Students See Off-School Locations
When students have access to Quick SISO on their Reach dashboard, this setting will determine whether they can see the locations with the Off-School setting.
Staff-Student Override PIN
Basics;
- A Staff PIN number is used to identify a staff member
- A student PIN number is used to identify a student
- The Override PIN allows staff to mimic a student
Eg; During SISO, a student has forgotten their PIN number
- The setting of a location has been updated by the school and now requires a PIN for students to access.
- Those select students have been given individual PIN numbers
- A student forgets their number during SISO
- The Override PIN allows staff to mimic a student, to provide access as a one-off
Contact Name Format
This allows you to set how a name appears within Reach, there are six variations to choose from in this setting.
Note! First Name is used when there is no Preferred Name.
Date Format
Set the format for your date display. DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY
Time Format
Set your preferred time format. 12 Hour AM/PM (eg: 02:25 PM) OR 24 Hour Military (14:25 PM)
Headless Kiosk
When using sign-in / sign-out kiosks specifically set up for students to interact with at school;
- The Standard Kiosk View shows a matrix of profile photos and information.
- The Headless Kiosk View shows this area as blanked out until activated.
Headless BioPad
This setting will hide all student photos and information awaiting a FOB/Card or scan/Fingerprint in order to activate the specific student.
- BioPad Standard mode shows Biopad screens with photos appearing
- BioPad Headless mode shows Biopad screens with photos hidden
Ext Update Details
This setting allows External Users to Update Details.
- Can external users (Parents, Hosts, Students, etc.) update their details via My Account? Excludes updating Hosts.
This Yes/No option prevents or allows external users (ie: non-staff) to update their personal details. Setting this to NO is recommended, especially when an API connection to your school database is being made to populate the data of students, and parents.
The contact details will be controlled by your student information system, so any changes to personal details in Reach will not be maintained past the next scheduled sync with your student information system.
Ext Update Hosts
This setting allows External users to Update Host details.
- Can Parents update their Hosts via My Account?
Prevent or allow external users (ie: non-staff) to create and update Host information for their associated Hosts.
A Host / Guardian is the role given in the security settings of a personal profile within Reach, an adult authorised by a parent for example can be an Aunt or Uncle. In this example, it can be an advantage to allow parents to update the contact details of that family member within the Reach system.
Allow SSO via Google
This setting is connected to the Google Authentication system.
When ON, this allows users OAuth sign-in to REACH.
SSO - 'Single sign-on' = Lets users sign in to all their enterprise cloud applications using their managed Google account credentials.
Show Gated Symbol in Kiosk Only
Display or Hide the Gated symbol in the student view of the Kiosk dashboard.
Show Gated Symbol in Staff Kiosk
Display or Hide the Gated symbol in the staff view of the Kiosk dashboard.
Select Timezone
Which Named Timezone region should REACH use to set its clocks?
This will include Daylight Saving Time (DST) automatically.
Select Default Language
Which language should be used in notifications by default?
SISO Window
How many hours prior to a Leave Date should a student be allowed to SISO to that Leave Request?
Idle Minutes until Lock Screen
How many minutes until an idle Reach account will automatically lock?
A user request will be required to authenticate/PIN to resume WITHOUT logging them out. Minimum of 5 minutes, maximum of 9,999 minutes (~7 days).
Idle Minutes until Session logout
Once an idle session has initiated the Lock Screen.
How many minutes until an idle Lock Screen logs out the user?
This will automatically log the current user out of their entire session.
Minimum of 5 minutes, maximum of 9,999 minutes (~7 days).
Mobile App PIN Window
How many minutes until the PIN screen is reactivated on the Mobile App.
(0 == always show PIN, 60 minutes max)
Forgotten Password Link
If this section is left blank, the Reach system will use the default.
If the link starts with http(s) the Reach system will send the user to your reset facility.
If the link is just text, the Reach system will display a message to the user.
Kiosk Notes
This Yes/No setting allows notes to be entered into the Kiosk during SISO.
Kiosk Lockdown Accounts
This setting allows you to manage a combination of students permitted to a set location.
The BioPad™ can be set using Groups Managed to allow students from a particular year or house.
Once set, the Kiosk will only show the fingerprints from that set group.
The brief;
1. Identify that you want BioPad™ 'X' to act in this way with these settings
2. Set the BioPad™ 'X' account Groups Managed to reflect the student set you want it to see
3. Students not in that set will then get a message upon scanning their fingerprint
Message EG; "You are not permitted to use this device"
Bulk SISO Sticky Note Behaviour
How would you like Reach to handle the bulk SISO of multiple students, if one or more of those students have a sticky note?
Three pre-set options;
- Display a list of Sticky Notes to check off?
- Warn the user of the presence of Sticky Notes before signing out?
- Prevent bulk SISO when one or more students have Sticky Notes?
Pastoral Points Timeframe
The Pastoral Points scoring system is calculated from a set date.
Click the arrow icon to switch from using the specific 'date selector' to the 'pre-set' menu.
As seen in the Student Sidebar and student summary, the Pastoral Points score will reflect accordingly.
Remote Authorisation
Should a Staff member's PIN number request be handled by Remote Authorisation or not?
Support Chatbot
The Reach Support Chatbot is visible in the bottom right of your Web Portal screen, as a dark blue chat bubble with the Reach logo. This setting allows that visibility control.
If the Chatbot is switched off, there are still quick support access points;
- Using the Question Mark icon on the top toolbar
- This will open a new browser window to the Reach Help Center
- Using the left side menu, select Help >> Support Website
- This will open a new browser window to the Reach Help Center
- Using the left side menu, select Help >> User Guide
- This will open the Help Tab inside Reach
- Using the left side menu, select Help >> Mobile App User Guide
- This will open a new browser window to the Reach Data Cloud
Disable AdHoc in Live Rollcall
Upon opening Live Rollcall within the Reach Web Portal or the Mobile App, when switched 'ON', the 'Start Ad Hoc' button is available. This setting allows you to use the feature or to disable it.
Enable Meal Adjustment Widget
This Yes/No setting provides the option for students to decide their meal needs at particular times.
Do you want to allow students to opt-out of meals?
Blur Headless Kiosk Background
A setting provided to better control the visuals of the Kiosk display.
Do you want to Blur the Headless Kiosk Background?
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