Configuring Action Timing for Real-Time Alerts
In some situations, however, attendance may be entered incorrectly and corrected shortly afterward. For example, a teacher may accidentally mark a student tardy, causing the attendance change to sync to simpldiscipline and meet the criteria for a Real-Time Alert. If the attendance is corrected a few minutes later, an action may have already been triggered based on the temporary attendance entry.
Action Timing allows administrators to add a delay before the action is triggered. When a delay is used, simpldiscipline waits until the selected time and then rechecks the student's current data and the alert criteria before taking action.
This can help prevent actions from being created based on attendance entries that were later corrected.
Action Timing Options
When configuring a Real-Time Alert, administrators can choose when the action should run:
Immediately – The action is triggered as soon as the student meets the alert criteria. No additional recheck or delay occurs.
End of Day – The action does not trigger immediately. At 4:00 PM, simpldiscipline rechecks the student's current data against the alert criteria. If the student still meets the criteria, the action is triggered. If the attendance has been corrected and the student no longer meets the criteria, no action is taken.
Number of Days – The system waits the selected number of days and rechecks the alert criteria at 7:00 AM. For example, selecting 1 day means the student's criteria will be rechecked at 7:00 AM the following day.
Number of In-Session School Days – The system waits the selected number of days that school is actually in session before rechecking the alert criteria. This is helpful when weekends, holidays, or other non-school days should not count toward the delay.
Number of Weeks – The system waits the selected number of weeks before rechecking the alert criteria.
Example: Delaying a Tardy Alert Until the End of the Day
A district has a Real-Time Alert configured to take action when a student reaches a specified number of tardies. At 9:15 AM, a teacher accidentally marks a student tardy. The attendance change syncs to simpldiscipline, and the student meets the criteria for the alert.
If Immediately is selected, the configured action would trigger at that time.
If End of Day is selected, simpldiscipline recognizes that the student has met the criteria but does not trigger the action immediately.
The teacher corrects the attendance later that morning. At 4:00 PM, simpldiscipline rechecks the student against the alert criteria. Because the corrected attendance means the student no longer meets the criteria, the action is not triggered.
If the tardy had remained on the student's attendance record, the student would still meet the criteria at 4:00 PM and the configured action would trigger.
Choosing the Appropriate Timing
Use Immediately when you want an action to occur as soon as the criteria are met and attendance corrections are unlikely to affect the rule.
Consider using a delayed option for attendance-based alerts where data may be corrected after its initial entry. End of Day can be especially helpful for tardy and attendance alerts because it gives staff time to correct attendance before simpldiscipline takes the configured action.
Important
A delay does not simply postpone an action that has already been created. simpldiscipline rechecks the alert criteria at the scheduled time. The action is only triggered if the student still meets the rule's criteria when that recheck occurs.