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Emailing Documents to Parents/Guardians Using School Messenger's SDD Service

*IMPORTANT: only PDF documents that contain the "ECSSD Student Number" will be able to be emailed to parents/guardians using School Messenger's "Secure Document Delivery (SDD)" service.

There are two (2) methods that can be used to create and send PDF's using SDD:
1. Creating New Templated Documents (which uses pre-created templates for specific documents)
2. Creating New Self Service Documents (which allows users to create a template on-the-fly)

THE FOllOWING INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOR THE CLASSIC USER INTERFACE

1. CREATING NEW TEMPLATED DOCUMENTS

*IMPORTANT: Templated documents must contain the same number of pages for every student in the file. These templates have been created to match specific reports/letters that have been created within PowerSchool.

  1. Select the applicable group of students from PowerSchool and generate the intended report or letter.
  2. Save the PDF file to your work station.
  3. Login to School Messenger and click on Broadcasts from the top menu.
  4. Click on SDD from the submenu. You will be brought to the SDD My Documents page.
  5. Click on the Create New Templated Document button.
  6. Enter a descriptive Name that suits the document type that you are intending to email (i.e., September Fee Statement, Spring Verification of Information, Appropriate Use Reminder, etc.). *It is recommended you include the month and year in the name to avoid errors when sending the same documents each year.
  7. Select the pre-created template from the Template dropdown menu that matches the document type you are emailing.
  8. Leave the Identifier Text Location field set to Unique ID.
  9. Set the PDF Portions field to Extract as-is.
  10. Click the Choose File button and navigate to the PDF file that you saved from PowerSchool. Select the file and click Open to attach it to the new SDD document.
  11. Click Upload. You will be brought back to the SDD My Documents page.
  12. Now proceed to the section below titled: Email the Documents to Parents/Guardians

2. CREATING NEW SELF SERVICE DOCUMENTS

Self-Service Documents can be used in instances where the document type being sent DOES NOT have a pre-created template OR if the document has variable page numbers for each student (i.e., Student A has 2 pages, Student B has 1 page, Student C has 3 pages, etc).
*IMPORTANT: Using the Self-Service Document method still requires the PDF to contain the ECSSD Student Number for every student in the file.

  1. Select the applicable group of students from PowerSchool and generate the intended report or letter.
  2. Save the PDF file to your work station.
  3. Login to School Messenger and click on Broadcasts from the top menu.
  4. Click on SDD from the submenu. You will be brought to the SDD My Documents page.
  5. Click on the Create New Self Service Document button.
  6. Complete the following fields:
    1. Name = enter a descriptive name that suites the document type that you are intending to email (i.e., September Fee Statement, Spring Verification of Information, Appropriate Use Reminder, etc.). It is a recommendation to include the month and year in the name to avoid errors when sending the same documents each year.
    2. Pages to skip at start = this should be "0" unless you have a cover page at the beginning of the PDF file that should not be emailed.
    3. Pages to skip at end = this should be "0" unless you have trailing pages at the end of the PDF file that should not be emailed.
    4. Identifier Pattern = this is the string of text that the system will look for within the PDF to match the students' ECSSD Student Number. The text should be exactly what precedes the ECSSD Student Number within the PDF (i.e., ECSSD Student No:).
    5. Identifier Text Location = should be set to Unique ID.
    6. PDF Portions = should be set to Extract as-is.
  7. Click the Choose File button and navigate to the PDF file that you saved from PowerSchool. Select the file and click Open to attach it to the new SDD document.
  8. Click Upload. You will be brought back to the SDD My Documents page.
  9. Now proceed to the section below titled: Email the Documents to Parents/Guardians

Email the DocumentS TO PARENTS/GUARDIANS

Before emailing the documents, you will want to confirm that the software has identified and matched ALL student numbers to the appropriate students.

  1. From the SDD My Documents page, locate the newly created SDD document and click on the Preview Portions link.
  2. The Preview Portions page will process a Summary of deliverable portions (how many portions the file will be split into) which should match the number of students that you generated the file for.
    In the Portions section, by default you will see a list of students that are matched based on their Unique ID (ECSSD Student No). This list should also match the number of students that you generated the file for. To view the list of students who are unmatched, click the Warnings button and the Ignored portions button.
    *Note: If there are students that are unmatched, it means there is an issue with the PDF document that was uploaded (either the student number is incorrect or the student information is incorrect in the School Messenger Database) and you will have to determine the error and create a new document.
    However, if there are no students that are unmatched, you can continue to the next step.
  3. From the Preview Portions page, click the Send Email tab (or click the Send Email link from the main SDD My Documents page).
  4. Enter the applicable settings:
    1. Broadcast Name = should be the name of the document you created.
    2. Broadcast Type = SDD
    3. Target Recipients = Both
    4. Guardian Category Restriction = Leave Blank, or set to Custody (DO NOT choose anything other than Custody).
    5. Start Date = set according to when you want the message the documents to start being sent.
    6. Start Time / End Time = ensure there is at least a 3 hour window between the start and end times in case the system is delayed during the send process (i.e., Start 4:00 pm / End 9:00 pm)
    7. Skip the requirement for passwords unless you have already informed recipients that a password will be required and they are aware of the password requirements. If you choose to add a password, it is suggested to use Unique ID (which is the ECSSD Student No).
    8. From Name = enter the school name in this field unless you want recipients to know specifically who the email is coming from.
    9. From Email = enter the general school email address in this field unless you want recipients to know specifically who the email is coming from.
    10. Reply To Email = if you want recipients to reply to the message you can enter the school's general email (or your own ECSRD email address). If you don't want recipients to reply you must enter no-reply@ecsrd.ca.
      (*Hint: if you leave the Reply To Email field blank, recipients will be able to reply to the sending email address)
    11. Subject = choose an appropriate email Subject line (could just be the name of the document you are sending).
    12. Message = Be sure to keep your message brief and within the dotted box. DO NOT edit the sentence with the download link that is below the message box.
  5. Click the Proceed to Confirmation button.
  6. Review the information on the confirmation page. If everything is correct, click Submit.
    (*HINT: the section that displays "Number of Contacts with Emails" will usually be zero (0) because it is referring to student email addresses, not parent/guardian email addresses. School messenger does not pull the student email data, so that's why the number will be zero)

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