IN BRIEF
The Family Settings area under SETTINGS>SETUP allows administrators to configure how the System handles family profile information, including custom fields, relationships, referral tracking, financial statement options, and enrollment-related email defaults. These settings influence both Office Portal workflows and Customer Portal/Mobile App behavior.
Overview
The Family Settings section controls several core configuration areas within family accounts. These options determine how information is collected, displayed, and communicated to families. Key configuration areas include:
- Family Custom Fields used to store additional family-specific data.
- Relationships used to define how contacts relate to students.
- Referral Sources used to track how families found the business.
- Statements used to configure financial statement formatting.
- Enrollment Emails used to define automatic email behaviors and addendum settings.
Accessing the Feature
- From the main navigation menu, go to SETTINGS>SETUP.
- Expand the Family Settings area.
Step-by-Step Instructions
The following sections outline all configuration options within SETTINGS>SETUP>FAMILY SETTINGS.
Family Custom Fields
Family Custom Fields allow you to create additional data fields within the family account template. These fields can be used to capture information not included in standard System fields.
- Custom fields can be displayed in the Customer Portal for editing by families.
- Custom field values can be inserted into Email Blasts using email variables.
More Details
- Custom fields are created and customized within this section.
- Custom fields can be text fields, dropdown lists, or other formats depending on configuration.
- These fields can help track unique information such as program preferences, secondary contacts, or administrative notes.
For complete setup guidance, refer to: How Do I Create Family and Student Custom Fields?
Relationships
The Relationships area manages labels that describe how guardians or other contacts relate to a student.
- Examples include “Mother,” “Father,” “Guardian,” or custom-defined relationships.
- These labels help staff understand how each listed adult is connected to the student in the family profile.
More Details
- Relationship labels appear in both Office Portal and Customer Portal/Mobile App experiences.
- Adding clear relationship types assists with communication, permission settings, and recordkeeping.
Referral Sources
Referral Sources allow administrators to track how families learned about the business. This information is collected:
- During account creation in the Customer Portal/Mobile App.
- When staff manually create a family profile in the Office Portal.
Core options include:
- Using Add New Referral Source to create additional entries.
- Using the edit (pencil) icon to correct typographical errors in existing entries.
Important behaviors:
- If all referral sources are removed, the “How Did You Hear About Us?” dialog will not be required in the Customer Portal/Mobile App.
- If any referral sources exist, the dialog will be displayed and required.
More Details
- Existing referral sources should be edited only to correct spelling errors, not repurposed.
- Because families are linked to selected referral sources, changing a label automatically updates all associated families.
- To maintain clean reporting and historical accuracy, create new referral sources instead of overwriting old labels.
- The How You Heard Summary Report (MAR-1) provides aggregated statistics for selected referral sources.
Statements
Statements summarize outstanding charges, recent payments, credit balances, and the total amount due for a family.
The Statements section allows configuration of:
- Statement type (business-based or location-based).
- Display options, including which financial details appear on the generated statement.
More Details
- A statement also shows partially paid charges and their remaining balances.
- Statement configuration affects both printed and emailed statements.
For additional guidance, see Where Do I Configure Statement Options?
Enrollment Emails
This section controls defaults and configuration options for emails related to new enrollments and transfers.
Available settings include:
-
Send Transfer Enrollment Notification Email By Default
- Enables the System to default-select the option when a transfer is initiated in the Office Portal.
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Send Enrollment Notification Email By Default
- Enables the System to default-select the option when a new enrollment is created in the Office Portal.
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Send Enrollment Addendum With Notification Email By Default
- Enables the System to default-select sending the enrollment addendum along with the automatic notification email.
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Email Addendum
- Defines additional information that can be appended to an enrollment notification.
- Functions as its own email variable and does not support additional variable insertion.
- Use the variable [[email_addendum]] inside any email template to include this text.
More Details
- These email defaults can reduce administrative workload by ensuring families consistently receive notifications.
- The addendum can include policies, reminders, or program-specific information.
- Because the addendum acts as a standalone variable, it must be edited directly in this section.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
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Why is the “How Did You Hear About Us?” dialog appearing in the Customer Portal when I did not intend for it to?
- The dialog appears whenever at least one referral source exists. Remove all sources to disable it.
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Why did changing a referral source title update multiple families?
- Referral sources are linked at the database level. Editing the title updates all families using that source. Create new sources instead of repurposing old ones.
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Why does my Email Addendum not support other variables?
- The Email Addendum is treated as a standalone variable. Insert the completed addendum into email templates using the [[email_addendum]] variable.