Absence Management by FrontLine

Modified on Wed, Sep 25 at 11:09 AM

Overview

This task will connect to an SFTP server, download a file (as described in the Aesop File Layout.pdf below) and import daily attendance transactions from it.

File from an SFTP Server

The task will connect to an SFTP and attempt to download a file with the name MM-D-YYYY.txt (For example: 11-3-2017.txt).

Alternatively, you can specify the filename using the Filename to retrieve from SFTP Server option.

The file can reside in the home directory or a sub directory.

How the file is processed

The task will analyze each line of the file.

Records for employees with the Exclude from Attendance Import Task checked (Found on the Staff's Attendance.Year screen) will be ignored during the processing of the file.

These are the fields that this process uses:

Data Element	Starting Column (0 Based)	Ending Column (1 Based)	Note
Staff Id	8	17
Sub Staff Id	165	176	This will cause the substitute flag on the matching staff record in SchoolFi to be set
Sub First Name	176	206
Sub Middle Name	206	216
Sub Last Name	216	246
Sub Pay Code	775	795
Absence Year	312	316
Absence Month	316	318
Absence Day	318	20
Cancel	323	324	Y/N
Shift Description	349	379	Full Day, Half Day AM, Half Day PM
Shift Number of Days	379	382	0.5 / 1.0
External Absence Entitlement Code	1065	1085

For each record found in the file..

Import looks at the "The attendance code in the file" option
1. If "Attendance Code" - An Attendance Code is lookup up using the field 'External Absence Entitlement Code' from the Setup -> Calendars -> Attendances Screen.
2. If "Alternate Attendance Code" - An Attendance Code is lookup up using the field 'External Absence Entitlement Code' from the Setup -> Calendars -> Attendances Screen by the Alternate Code field.
The attendance is posted starting on the date from the file and for "Shift Number of Days" days.
Shift Description is used to decide if existing attendance entries should be removed. For example: If the file is a AM Half Day attendance, and a AM Half Day or Full Day attendance already exists, that will be removed from SchoolFi before the new one is posted.
If a record has a Sub Staff Id AND a Staff Id, the attendance for the Staff Id will be posted using the Sub Staff Id as the substitute for that Staff Id.

All attendance posted is marked with a flag that it was posted by a 3rd party program.

**Shift Numbers of Days can only be .5 or 1. Schoolfi does not accept any other numbers**

CSV File Format Option (Preferred OPTION)

Data Element	Note
Staff Id
Sub Staff Id	This will cause the substitute flag on the matching staff record in SchoolFi to be set
Sub First Name
Sub Middle Name
Sub Last Name
Sub Pay Code
Absence Date	yyyyMMdd must be in this format. For example: January 24, 2023 would be 20230124
Cancel	Y/N
Shift Description	Full Day, Half Day AM, Half Day PM
Shift Number of Days	0.5 / 1.0
External Absence Entitlement Code
comments	This will be placed in the comment field (That employee's can see on the Employee Portal). This field is only available in the CSV Option.
Calendar Code	The calendar code to post the attendance to, If one is not chosen, then the default calendar for the employee is used instead.

Errors/Warnings Log Explanations

ERRORS - will appear red under System > Tasks > Absence Management by Frontline > Task Log.

Invalid Custom Shift Descriptions

** INVALID Shift Description [Custom] for Smith, John on 7/7/2022 line# 63

Caused by the following line having "Custom" for Shift Description in the Aesop Report. Schoolfi does not accept customs only Half Day AM, Half Day PM, and Full Day. The attendance will post without a Shift Description.

Staff ID	Sub Staff ID	Sub First Name	Sub Middle Name	Sub Last Name	Sub Pay Code	Absence Date	Cancel	Shift Description	Shift Number of Days	External Absence Entitlement Code
123456						20220707	N	Custom	1	PD

Marked as DO NOT TAKE ATTENDANCE

7/7/2022

6:01.38 AM

ERROR

Line 1462 Staff ID : 1234 : Cannot post to 8/25/2021 - Marked as DO NOT TAKE ATTENDANCE

The attendance can not post because the Calendar set for the employee is a non-Business Day. It could be a snow day change or a weekend day.

No Calendar tracking Record for School Year.

7/19/2022

3:00.21 PM

ERROR

Line 50 Staff objectId:1234 [1234 Smith, Chevanie] has no calendar tracking record for 2021-22

Caused by the staff member not being assigned a calendar. You will have to assign a calendar to the employee in order to post attendance. You can assign by going to Personnel > Staff > Search for the Staff > Attendance > Click Here to manage this staff members calendar > Add Calendar

Staff ID Not Found

1/8/2024

9:58.32 AM

ERROR

Could not find staff [Staff ID : 1131] on line 5377

Caused by the Staff ID coming from Frontline in the File does not exist in Schoolfi. You will have to update the Staff ID in Frontline to match the Staff ID for employees in Frontline.

Sub Staff ID Not Found

1/8/2024

10:00.52 AM

ERROR

Line 6927 Staff ID : 7939 Pittenger, Susan A : Substitute in file with staff id 1137 does not exist in Staff management. Name: Smith , John

Caused by the Sub Staff ID coming from Frontline in the File does not exist in Schools. You will have to update the Staff ID in Frontline to match the Staff ID for employees in Frontline.

WARNINGS - will appear yellow under System > Tasks > Absence Management by Frontline > Task Log.

Cancellations

7/20/2022

10:00.02 AM

WARNING

Attendance cancellation for Smith, John 08/04/2022 Full Day on line# 5

Caused by the following line having "Y" for Cancel. Schoolfi will delete the attendance that matches the line with Y. Frontline sends cancellation in order to delete the attendance on the Schoolfi side.

Staff ID	Sub Staff ID	Sub First Name	Sub Middle Name	Sub Last Name	Sub Pay Code	Absence Date	Cancel	Shift Description	Shift Number of Days	External Absence Entitlement Code
12345						20220804	Y	Full Day	1	SD

Attachments (1)

csv

AESOP_CSV_Ex....csv
417 Bytes