What’s a Person?

At its core, BigSIS is about people. That’s why everyone in BigSIS starts out as a Person. Whether that person is a parent, child, administrator, donor, board member—you name it! Everyone, with a couple of small exceptions, gets what’s called a Person Record. A Person Record is where you can find information pertaining to that person: Contact information, birth date, relations, and more. Once a Person Record is created, you can begin tying other “roles” to that Person. Before we talk about that though, let's look at some of the things you can do on the People Table.

Quick Add New Person

Follow these steps to create a new Person Record for just one person.

From the Dashboard:

1. Click People.
   
2. From the People table click the New button.
   
3. Select Quick Add New Person.
   
4. Complete the New Person form.
   
5. Click Save and Continue to go straight to the newly created Person Record, or the Save and Back button to return to the People Table.
   PRO TIP! If you need to add this person as an employee or teacher you will need to add their new role too.  
   Don't forget to relate this person to other related people too! Adding Related People and Additional (Emergency) Contacts

Quick Add New Student

The Quick Add New Student option allows you to create a Person Record for a child and up to two guardians, while simultaneously giving that Student a Student Role.

From the Dashboard:

1. Click People.
2. From the People table click the New button.
   
3. Select Quick Add New Student.

You’ll notice now that the entry form looks a little different than the Quick Add New Person form. That’s because we’re adding a student + their guardian(s). To do that, we need to generate a Person Record for the student while simultaneously giving them a student role. Plus, we’ll be creating Person Record(s) for the student’s guardian(s).

4. First, complete the Student Information section. This is data that will go into the student’s Person Record.
   
5. Then, complete the Admission and Enrollment section. Don’t worry, we’ll go through these fields with you if you’re unfamiliar with this form.
   
   
   • Has the student been accepted to your school? Then leave the Admit this student? checkbox selected. It’s very uncommon that you would create a student record for a student yet to be admitted.
     
   • Class Of is a required field. It’s asking you: When will this child leave your school? Maybe it’s the year the graduate high school, or eighth grade. If you don’t have this information, you’re welcome to use “unknown” or “na,” but we recommend putting the correct year in there for reporting purposes.
     
   • The Admit to Term field will usually be the term in which the student was accepted into. The term options will change based on how your school is setup. For many schools, a term might be a school year such as “School Year 2016/2017,” or “Fall 2016.” Some schools might have something completely different.
     
   • In the Admit to Program field, put the program the student was admitted into (e.g. Kindergarten, 4th grade, 12th grade etc).
     
   • The Admitted Date refers to the day the student was accepted into the school. In many cases, it will be today’s date.
     
   • More than likely, the Admit Now radio button will remain selected, especially if you opted to admit this student right now. However, you can defer admission to a later date. Sometimes schools will defer admission if the know the student was accepted, but not until the following year.
     
   • If you want to enroll the student now, leave the Check this box to make the student’s first enrollment the same as the admission term and program selected above. If you don’t want to enroll the student now, uncheck that box and continue.
     
   • The difference between Admission and Enrollment is an Admission is when the student was accepted to the school, Enrollment is when they start school. The two aren’t always necessarily the same.

6. Now complete the Primary Parent/Guardian Information and Physical Address sections. Whatever address you include for the Primary Guardian will become the student’s primary household.
   • IMPORTANT: This form will automatically make the parent the guardian as well. To understand the difference between the guardian/parent distinction, please read the Guardians vs Parents subsection under Roles, Records, and Tables Overview.
7. Then complete the Secondary Parent/Guardian Information and Physical Address sections.
   • NOTE: Selecting Use Primary Guardian’s Address will put both guardians in the same household with the student. Do not check this box if guardians live at separate addresses.
8. Click Save and Continue to go straight to the newly created Student Record, or the Save and Back button to return to the People Table. Save and New will open a new Student Quick Add form.