As part of the Release 83 cycle, the following improvements are now available as part of our main release.
Allow Schools to edit their dashboards or homepages
Communications System - SMS for Independent Schools
Proof of Concept for a Microsoft Teams Assignments Integration update
Login UI improvements
My School Portal Admin Tools e-learning
Allow Schools to edit their dashboards or homepages
At Access, we believe in empowering our schools. In line with this vision, we're excited to announce the upcoming ability for schools to edit their dashboards. This feature provides your institution with greater autonomy over data representation and customisation, allowing you to tailor your dashboards to reflect your unique needs and priorities.
We recognise that every school is unique, and this enhancement enables you to create a more personalised and insightful dashboard experience.
Introducing the latest Dashboard Manager
With this new feature, school administrators gain the capability to modify the primary homepage dashboards. This enhancement empowers admins to add, remove, resize, reorder, and edit widgets on dashboards for all user types.
Available widgets
Widget name | Description |
Bulletin Board | Note: The height of this widget depends on the amount of data on your bulletin board page. |
Events | Displays the next two events from the MSP calendar. |
Feed | Displays the content of a feed (e.g. RSS feed). Note: This works with standard formatted XML feeds. Note: The height of this widget depends on the number of items that display. |
Latest Messages | Displays the three newest messages. |
Link | Displays the chosen icon, colour, and link. Note: For internal links to portal pages we recommend using the tags. |
My Students | Displays the students linked to the user, providing a link to the student dashboard. Note: The height of this widget depends on the number of students you have. |
Planet eStream | Allow your parents to experience the seamless integration of Planet eStream into MSP. The tagging permissions available in Planet eStream follow into MSP and the user interface continues to provide a consistent user experience. (iSAMS only.) Embed your Planet eStream content directly into MSP's content pages. (All MISs.) |
Vimeo | Bring together your Vimeo folders and files into the portal for easy user access. |
YouTube | Displays videos from a YouTube channel. |
Standard Admin widget URLs
Admin Control Panel: /msp-admin/#/
Admin Documentation: https://accessgroup.my.site.com/Support/s/knowledge-base-landing
Support Help Center: https://access-support.force.com/Support/s/login/
Community Portal: https://support.myschoolportal.co.uk/hc/en-us
Communications System - SMS for Independent Schools
We understand the significance of seamless communication in the education sector. To elevate your interaction experience, we're thrilled to unveil our latest feature – SMS functionality within MSP.
Now, you can efficiently send SMS messages directly through our platform, ensuring effective communication with parents. This addition aims to simplify your outreach efforts and foster stronger connections within your school community.
The introduction of SMS capabilities via Twilio further adds to the versatility of our platform, enabling schools to communicate more effectively with parents.
Key features
Twilio Integration: Schools can now send SMS messages using MSP through Twilio, a reliable and widely used communication platform.
Multiple Twilio Accounts: The SMS Providers tool allows schools to set up multiple Twilio accounts, facilitating separate accounts for different departments and ensuring tailored communication strategies.
Default Communication settings: Our platform now offers the flexibility to set default country codes for guardian mobile numbers, ensuring correct formatting and enhancing the efficiency of communication.
Country codes: If your MIS data already includes a country code, our system won't overwrite it, preserving the integrity of your data.
Guidance on Twilio usage
Detailed information on Twilio usage, including guidelines on creating trial accounts, upgrading accounts, setting up Twilio phone numbers, and managing account details, is available at {your-portal-URL}/msp-admin/#/helpGuides/ConfigureTwilio within your portal.
SMS Providers Manager
The new SMS functionality includes an SMS Providers Manager, empowering admins to set up and administer their SMS providers seamlessly.
Set Communication Defaults
Admins can set communication defaults by clicking Set Communication Defaults within the messages tool. This feature allows easy configuration of SMS default settings.
Create an SMS message
Admins can initiate SMS messages in the messages manager by clicking Add New Messages. A popup appears enabling the selection of SMS as the message type.
📌Note: SMS messages can only be sent to Guardians. Click View Recipients to verify that recipients have valid phone numbers. Recipient lists are verified at the designated sending time and may be altered. Only recipients with properly formatted phone numbers are eligible to receive messages; however, recipients who are unable to receive an SMS still receive the message within the portal on the communications page.
This innovative SMS functionality within MSP marks a significant stride towards enhancing communication efficiency in the education sector. We remain committed to providing cutting-edge solutions that empower schools to build stronger connections with parents and create a more cohesive school community.
Proof of Concept for a Microsoft Teams Assignments Integration update
We're pleased to know that many of you are using our current Microsoft Teams Assignments integration and it's time now to improve the functionality to show an overview of the student's assignments to parents and staff.
We're working with a few selected schools and using Microsoft's new API to create a proof of concept to improve our Microsoft Teams Assignments integration.
📌Note: Whilst this proof of concept may not be ready for wider usage in live portals, it provides a robust base to allow us to release this functionality in the future.
The following updates are live and were released during the R83 mini-update earlier in the term.
Login UI improvements
In response to feedback and a commitment to continuous improvement, we undertook a series of enhancements to the login page. The primary goals of these changes were to improve your experience, increase clarity, and optimise the visual and functional aspects of the login process.
Feature name clarity
Previous state: The term Keep me logged in was deemed slightly ambiguous and open to interpretation.
Change: Renaming the feature to Stay Signed in provides you with a clearer understanding of the functionality, reducing any potential confusion about the purpose of the feature.
Visual emphasis on password recovery
Previous state: The Forgot your password? option was present but lacked visual emphasis, potentially causing you to overlook it.
Change: By changing the colour and underlining the Forgot your password? text, we aimed to draw attention to this critical option, making it more noticeable and encouraging use of password recovery resources when needed.
Layout and user flow improvement
Previous state: The placement of Stay Signed in and Forgot your password? options below the Sign In button might have led to a less intuitive user flow.
Change: Moving both options above the Sign In button improves the logical flow of actions, ensuring you're more likely to interact with these features before proceeding to sign in.
Organised spacing for multiple login options
Previous state: The absence of spacing between the Sign In button and SSO logins could create a visually cluttered appearance when both local and SSO options were available.
Change: Introducing spacing in this scenario enhances the visual hierarchy, offering a more organised layout and preventing any potential confusion when choosing between local and SSO login methods.
FAQ expansion for user guidance
Previous state: The absence of specific FAQs related to the Stay Signed In option and automatic logouts might leave users seeking additional information.
Change: Adding new FAQs addresses user queries proactively, providing insights into the purpose of the Stay Signed In option and explaining reasons behind automatic logouts, ultimately enhancing understanding and satisfaction.
These changes collectively contribute to a more user-friendly, intuitive, and visually cohesive login experience. We believe that these enhancements align with our commitment to providing a seamless and efficient journey.
My School Portal Admin Tools e-learning
We're pleased to announce that we've created a new Admin Tools e-learning course to both assist new starters and also provide further support for existing Administrators of My School Portal.
📌Note: Schools with a Standard Support Plan can enable up to four e-learning users. Schools with a Premier, Classic Premium, or Classic Elite Support Plan can enable an unlimited number of e-learning users. This won't be available with the Essential support plan.
More information to come soon.
How this version will be made available
Automatically available to all schools on 3 January 2024.