When it comes to attendance BigSIS gives you the option to customize the Attendance Status Groups and Statuses you select from while doing daily or course attendance. Attendance Status Groups are the umbrella attendance status. For example, Present, Absent, Late, Left Early, etc. Statuses are the more granular control over what the attendance means. For example, "Excused," "Unexcused (has note)," "Unexcused (no note)," etc. This gives you control to customize your attendance based on your school's specific needs, allowing for both arrival and departure statuses.

This tutorial will first look at how to add Attendance Status Groups, followed by how to add Statuses. 

For example, BigSIS by default will include attendance statuses like Present, Absent, Late, Left Early, etc., and each of these statuses will affect if a student is considered "present," "absent," "late," etc. for that school day. If you want to add additional statuses, like "Work Study" or "College Visit" that are considered "present" attendance for the students or an absence status to suit special circumstances or simply just change the title of an existing attendance status you can follow this quick guide.

Adding Attendance Status Groups

Attendance Status Groups are the overall attendance selected for a student and will be highlighted on attendance reports. 

From the Dashboard:

1. Go to Student > Attendance > Other > Attendance Status Groups 
2. Click the New button
   
   1. Add a Title. This is the title admins or teachers will see when daily or course attendance is taken.
   2. Add a Display. This is the text that will appear on official attendance and assessment reports you print from the report viewer.
   3. Order, this will be added automatically for you and should only be changed to affect an order change of your statuses if your attendance tool.
   4. Click on the Color field to select your preferred color.
   5. Click Default only if you want this to be the first option when selecting attendance.
   6. Is Arrival if this is an arrival status. Deselect this box if it is a departure status.
   7. Select Use Was for attendance reports. For example, Tom was Absent - Excused 5 times. When not checked the reports will read, Tom Absent - Excused 5 times.
   8. Select Use Days if you want to attendance reports to read "Tom was Absent - Excused 5 days." Leave unchecked for "Tom was Absent - Excused 5 times." 
   9. Select Show Time if you want to show a selected time on attendance reports.

Adding Statuses

From the Edit Attendance Status Group page:

1. Go to Statuses > click the New button
   
   1. Add a Title. This is the title admins or teachers will see when daily or course attendance is taken.
   2. Add and Abbreviation. This will be used on certain attendance reports and in keys.
   3. Click Default if you would like this to be the default choice for this attendance status group. 
   4. Is Excused: Select if this status is excused. 
   5. Missing Note: Select if this status is missing a note. 
   6. Present: Select if this status is a present status. Leave unselected if it is considered an absence.
   7. On Attendance Reports: Select if this status should show on attendance reports.
   8. Active: ONLY deselect this option if you are not wanting to use this attendance status at all.
   9. Show On Key: Select if you want to show this in the key of attendance reports.