Sonia Check Manager

Introduction

This article covers the following topics:

• What is the Sonia Check Manager?
• What is a “Managed Check”?
• Administrative Functions
• Accessing Check Manager
• Managing Checks
• How Managed Checks look for Students
• Managing Checks in the Sonia Client
• Webinar link

 

It is assumed that the reader understands the business processes of their institution – in particular, the need to manage Sonia’s student checks.

What is the Sonia Check Manager?

The Check Manager is a browser-based portal used to administer and approve student check information.

 

What makes this different from using the Sonia Client to administer student checks?

There are 4 advantages:

1. A check manager user doesn’t need to have access to the full Sonia Client and full access to student information
2. A check manager user can monitor and manage checks for any student in your institution – not just a discipline at a time
3. You can restrict the checks that each check manager user can see and manage. For example, one person might be responsible for managing “Police clearance” checks from across the university but has no visibility of any other checks.
4. The check manager provides a robust, auditable workflow between the check administrators and the students.

What is a “Managed Check”?

Only checks that have been tagged as “managed” in the Sonia Client are visible in the Check Manager. To mark a check as “managed”, go to the Sonia Client > School Options > Checks > select a check > Settings tab > tick “Managed”. See screenshot example below.

 

Administrative Functions

Assigning users to Checks

Check Manager users with Admin access can assign other Check Manager users to specific checks.

Click the Admin tab, and choose User Checks. Note that it may take a few seconds for this page to open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On this page, follow these steps:

1. Select the correct School from the dropdown at the top left
2. A list of checks for that school will display – tick the box at the right for the checks this user should be able to manage
3. Click the “bulk add users” button at the top right
4. Find the user in the list, and indicate if that user can edit the Student Check, Supervisor Check, and/or Edit Notifications for that check

The above page can also be used to remove a user from a check should they no longer need access.

Managing Users

The Admin > Manage Users page allows someone with Administrator access to do the following tasks:

• add a new user (“Add new user” button at the top right)
• edit users’ access and authentication method (edit pencil at the right of a user’s row)
• remove users (“x” button at the right) who no longer need access to the Check Manager.

Editing check settings

The Check Admin option under the Admin tab allows the user to edit Check settings.

 

Select the School from the dropdown at the top left, and select the check below the School name to see the details of the check. Most settings cannot be modified here; however, there are a few that can be. Be sure to click Save at the top right to save any changes.

 

The "Submit in Check Manager" setting allows a Check Manager Admin to submit the check in Check Manager on behalf of the student. Upon saving the check, the Admin can then Approve the check.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notifications

With Admin permissions, a Check Manager user can create Notifications to be automatically sent based on the Status chosen.

To access the Notification settings, select ‘Notifications’ from the Admin tab.

 

The first step is to consider the status type for which you are ready to create the Notification. Status types include the following:

• Cleared
• Rejected
• Missing Information
• Pending Expiry
• Expired
• Review Date Pending
• Review Date Passed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you find the status type, click the black + to “add Notification”.

This will open a dialog box in which you can define a Name and Description. When multiple Notifications are created, this helps to identify which Notification is which.

Once you click OK to create the Notification, navigate to the right end of the row to edit the template and assign it to a Check (‘View’ link under Checks).

Editing the Notification template

Upon clicking the ‘Edit’ link under the Template column for a Notification, you will advance to an “email” page.

• The From Email will default to the address of the person logged in.
• The Subject line will default to the Name of the Notification.
• The placeholders can be found from the Insert HTML dropdown.
• The [MessageBody] content will populate based on optional text written when a check’s status is chosen (more on this further in the document).

When the template is ready, click Save at the bottom right.

 

Assigning the Notification to a Check

Upon clicking the View link on the row for the Notification, a list of checks will populate with their corresponding School.

Use the filters at the top to quickly find the check needed > click OK to connect the check.

Accessing the Sonia Check Manager

The Check Manager is a website; the first step is to know the URL for your institution. A Sonia administrator at your university or Sonia Support can assist with this. If you have the address correct, you should see a sign in page similar to the one below.

Access to the Check Manager is by request only. If you have a Sonia administrator at your institution, request that person grant you access. If you do not have a Sonia administrator on-site, contact Sonia Support.

Managing Checks

Overview page

Upon logging in to Check Manager, the user sees the Overview page. Select a date range for which you need to see checks on this page. The default TO date is one month ahead; we recommend changing that to today’s date.

In the “Your checks > Submitted” section, a number will display to show how many of “your” Checks (that you manage) have been submitted within this date range.

Search page

Click the Student (or Checks) tab > Search to display a search screen. The filter at the left allows you to filter by a number of criteria.

NOTE: The Date filter will auto-populate; this may need to be removed in order to return the appropriate results.

Searching on Submitted status will show only the checks needing to be actioned.

Administrative Functions

The bottom of the filter pane at the left provides the following options:

• Search: displays the results of the filters used
• Bulk email: opens a dialog box to email the students in the search results
• Export: downloads to csv details about the student and the checks in the search results
• Export documents: downloads the documents that were uploaded to the checks in the search results

The Bulk email option contains a few placeholders as shown below:

 

In the results list, click the Edit button at the right to review the check details and change its status.

The following actions can now take place:

1. View/edit the details submitted:
   1. Check value
   2. Date the check was completed
   3. Reference details
   4. Document uploaded into the check
2. Leave private notes – visible to Check Manager users who have access to this check
3. View check activity log
4. Lock the check so that others cannot make changes
5. Send an email   or   save/cancel
6. Choose a status (more on this below):
   1. Cleared approves the check
   2. Rejected allows the student to modify their details and resubmit
   3. Missing information: allows the student to modify their details and resubmit

When you click the Send Email button, the window below will appear:

When a status is chosen, a dialog box will appear for you to enter additional information. If a Notification for this status includes [MessageBody], the content entered in the box below is what will display in the Notification for the student.

What do Managed Checks look like for the student

Students see their managed checks along with non-managed checks. The difference is the appearance of a “status” label at the top right and a “Submit” button. The Submit button is what “sends” the check to Check Manager

The status of “Complete” indicates the check was cleared.

How to manage “managed checks” in the Client

In the client, placement staff have full access to edit the information for the check.

Managed checks will have icon buttons in the “Actions” column.

The blue arrow is the “Submit” option – it tells Check Manager that this check is ready to be verified.

The placement officer can update the status in the client; however, it is important to note that Notifications created in Check Manager will not apply in the client.

 

 

 

Key Points:

• Managed checks are just regular checks with the “Manage” flag set
• School-level placement staff can still edit the checks as they always have
• Not all checks need to be managed

 

Webinar link