Other Contacts

Other Contacts


The Other Contacts screen can be used to manage other contact persons. These may be contacts other than parents, staff and learners who you need to communicate with for eg. coaches of certain sports teams or contract educators who help with extra-mural classes.
A small mobile phone icon will display next to the names of the Other Contacts that are registered on d6 Connect.

How to add Other Contact Persons

  • Click on the add  button
  • Complete at least the following fields:  Title, Name Surname, Gender, Correspondance language, Mobile number and/or email.
  • The Reference is used to identify the contact on other screens and can be either the Person’s designation eg. Hockey Coach or if it is a creditor it an be the creditor’s account number.
  • Click on “Save”  at the bottom of the screen.

How to edit Other Contact Persons

  • On the Other Contacts page, you will find the contact persons that you loaded.
  • To edit the Contact click on the contact and then on “Edit”
  • The profile of the contact will open and you will be able to edit details.
  • Please click on “Save”  at the bottom of the screen.

How to Delete Other Contact Persons

  • On the Other Contacts page, you will find the contact persons that you loaded.
  • To Delete the Contact click on the contact and then on “Delete”
  • The following message will come up.
  • Click on the “Ok” button.  

How to Export Other Persons to Excel

  1. This option is available to users with Excel Export rights.
  2. On the Other Contacts page, you will find the contact persons that you loaded.
  3. To export the list of Other Contacts to Excel, click on the “Export” Button

Import Other Contact Persons in bulk.

Other contacts can be imported in bulk with the Excel template that can be downloaded in Other Contacts or with an existing CSV file that could have been exported from another system such as Outlook or GMail Contacts.  
The staff that are supposed to be using d6 Connect has to be added to Other Contacts to enable them to see content on d6 Connect. This can be done in bulk with the Template.
Export the staff details from My School > Staff > Staff > Select "More details" > Export. Copy the necessary columns to the Template. 

To import Other Contacts with the Import Template

  1. Click on the “Template file"-link in Other Contacts to download an Excel file named "ImportExcelTemplate.xlsx" to enter bulk contacts.
  2. The first sheet contains a sample record to show the required format of the entries. 
  3. Enter information on Sheet 1 for the Other contacts that should be imported.
  4. Do not change any of the headings on the template as these are used to link the contents to the corresponding field in Other Contacts.
  5. Enter at least the following: Title, Name Surname, Gender, Correspondance language, Mobile number and/or email.
The format of the information entered is important. The incorrect format will prevent the import process.
Instructions:
  1. The entity id must be left blank to create a new contact. If filled in, the existing contact with that id will be updated.
  2. The country calling code must not include a +, e.g. 27 and not +27
  3. A list of channels separated by commas can be entered to import/create/update channels of the Other contacts
  4. Date of Birth can be input either as yyyy-mm-dd or yyyy/mm/dd
  5. The import file has to include either an email address or cell phone number or both
  6. ID Number should be a 13 digit South African ID Number 
  7. If no Title is supplied, the system will default to “Mr"
Import Record Identifier
It is possible to update records by importing new information in the Template file.  E.g. If you want to add the email addresses in bulk or change the References of several contacts at once.
  1. Indicate which column should be used to identify records in order to update them
    (The "Entity ID" refers to a unique number that is assigned by the system upon adding a new contact)
Unlink existing channels
Do you want to remove existing Other Contacts from all channels before importing them again?
  1. Tick the checkbox to remove all the existing Other Contacts before importing the chosen template file.
Clear records
It is possible to delete all the existing Other Contacts to import a new list.
  1. Click the checkbox to clear all the old unprocessed and current Other contacts
Choose File
Select the CSV or Excel template file that contains the Other Contacts information that should be imported into d6+. 
e.g  ImportExcelTemplate.xlsx  or Contacts.csv

If you are importing Other Contacts with an existing CSV-file, 

Set the field delimiter
In a delimited file the fields are separated by a specific character, usually a comma. But you can another character if preferred.
Example of a CSV record:  Mr,Jan,Botha,J,Jan,,,,,,27,0714321234,test@mail.co.za  or Mr;Jan;Botha;J;Jan;;;;;;27;0714321234;test@mail.co.za
  1. Enter the character that separates the columns in your CSV file (one character only)
Set the field enclosure character
In a CSV-record, a column entry that contains two or more words e.g. van der Merwe, the entry can be enclosed with enclosure characters to indicate that it should be seen as one item. E.g. "van der Merwe" 
  1. Enter the character that encloses the columns in your CSV file (one character only)
When all the necessary selections are made, click on the "Import"-button.
You will be directed to the "Other Contacts Import Queue" page automatically.
The import queues can also be viewed at My School > Other Contacts > "View Import Queue"-button.

View Import Queue

When importing Other Contacts it could take hours, depending on the number of contacts that are being imported. This page will report the progress or errors that were encountered.

There are four different views: Unprocessed, Queued, Imported, Import Error

Unprocessed
The records that have not yet been processed (imported) are listed. 
  1. Click "Process valid" to import all the records that contain no errors.
  2. Click "Process selected" to import specific records by clicking the checkbox next to each record.
  3. Click " Remove all" to delete all the unprocessed records in the list.
  4. Click " Remove Selected" to delete specific records by clicking the checkbox next to each record.
  5. "Export invalid" will export a list of records that contains errors that can be corrected and imported again.
  6. "Excel" will export the list of unprocessed records to Excel.
Queued
The records that are in a queue to be processed (imported) are listed. 
  1. "Excel" will export the list of queued records to Excel.
Imported
The records that have been imported on specific dates are listed. 
  1. To clear the history of these previously imported records, click "Clear History". This will not affect the current active records in Other Contacts.
Import Error
The records that contained errors and were not imported are listed
  1. Drag the column width of the "Reason" column larger to see the error message. 
  2. To clear the history of errors, click "Clear History".
  3. Click "Excel" to export the list of errors to an Excel file.

Frequently asked questions:

How to invite Other Contacts using the Roll-out Launch System under the d6 Connect App Setup

The Other Contacts will be included in the Roll-out launch if their ID-numbers have been added to the contact details and the ID number is the same as their ID number on My School > Staff > Staff. 

  •  Go to  My School > Communication > d6 Connect Setup                        
  •  Click on the “ Takeup” tab at the top of the screen:
  • Scroll down to the Roll-out launch System part of the screen:    
  • When you complete the fields and Acknowledge the costs and click on launch the Other Contacts will be invited together with the unregistered parents.     

Send messages to Other Contacts from Multi-Platform

  • How to use Other Contacts on the Multi-Platform Communication Button
  • Go to My School > Communication > Multi-platform Communication. 
  • On this page, you are able to choose “Other Contacts” as an audience to send messages to:
  • From here on you can just follow the steps to send the message.
  • How to use Other Contacts on the Communication Channels Button.
  • My School > Communication > Communication Channels > Own Channels tab    
  • On this page, you will find a column for Other Contacts. You can view the number of Other Contacts you have per Channel.

How to send a direct message on d6 Connect to Other Contacts.

  • Go to My School > Communication > d6 Connect news item
  • Click on “New Message”  and choose between “Same message” for all or “By Preferred language”.
  • On the window that opens fill in the details of the message and then click on the “Recipients”
  • In the window that opens you will find the option to send either a “Direct message” or a “Broadcast Message”
  • Click on the circle next to “Direct Message”.
  • In the field “For” (where you choose the recipient of the message) choose “Other Contacts”.
  • Here you will be able to choose certain or all members from your Other Contacts list
  •  Go to My School > Communication > Communication Channels
  •  Click on the “Own Channels” tab
  •  Click on “Add Channel”
  •  Set up a new channel and choose the “Other Contacts” tick box.
  • Choose the Other Contacts you want to link to this channel and  move them over to the right-hand side
  • Click on “ Submit”  to save the changes.


                                                                                                                                    © Copyright d6 group (Pty) Ltd.

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