How to Use Person Classifications

Overview

Person Classifications are used to manage attributes that require begin/end dates, school years, or notes. A person’s record can be “tagged” with classifications to indicate person-specific information, such as sports played, academic accomplishments, interests, etc. Person classifications display both active and inactive attribute information, meaning data can be stored across time for each person in the system. Reports such as sports played can be run using these attribute tags.

Person Classification Types

Person Classification Types are used to organize person classifications into types based on categories. Types provide a higher level of organization for person classifications and allow for easier searching within groups of related classifications.

Adding a Person Classification Type

To begin, hover over the  Add button on the System homepage and select “Person Classification Types.”

1. Select which category the classification applies to using the Category drop-down menu. Note that only Veracross Engineering can add new classification types to the System category.
2. Use the description field to label the person classification type.
3. The input grid displays a list of all Person Classifications marked with the Person Classification Type. A Person Classifications can be added directly to the record by entering the name of the Classification in the ‘Description’ column.
4. Click “Add Person Classification Type.”
5. Enable the Person Classification Type by checking the “Enabled” box on the Advanced tab and click “Update.”
6. If desired, select the “Propagate to Giving History” checkbox to use this type for both person and development classifcations.

Adding Person Classifications

Schools can add their own person classifications depending on the kind of information they are interested in tracking. Person classifications can be assigned to a person record manually using the Classification tab on a person detail. They can also be automatically assigned based on certain system logic.

Adding a New Person Classification

Before adding a new person classification, make sure the data are not formally tracked somewhere else (i.e. existing checkboxes or fields such as “Do Not Solicit” or “Ethnicity”).

To begin, hover over the  Add button on the System homepage and select “Person Classifications.”

1. Select a Classification Type from the drop-down menu.
2. Use the description field to label the person classification.
3. Click “Add Person Classification.”

Adding a Person Classification to a Record

1. Open the record on which the person classification will be added.
2. Navigate to the Classification tab. The classifications already assigned to this individual’s record are listed in the input grid.
3. Click “Add Record”  and then search for the classification by clicking on magnifying glass  icon.
4. When you have added the record, click .

Adding Person Classifications in Batch

Learn more about how to add person classifications to multiple people in batch.

Inactive School-Defined Classifications

After the date progresses past the End Date of a school-defined person classification, or the school year ends, school-defined person classifications are automatically marked as inactive.

The recommended and intended workflow for these situations is to create a new classification for that new stretch of time. This allows schools to also keep an active history of when people had these classifications.
Example: A person belongs to a special committee from 2016-2018 and again in 2020. Having seperate classifications here shows this history in a more clear manner.

System Generated Person Classifications

Person classifications are used to create an accurate picture of a person’s history with the school. To help create this picture, the system will assign person classifications to records based on information entered about the person on their records. This can include generating classifications based on populated fields, person roles, enrollment history records, relationships, etc. School year start and end dates and start and end dates of existing person classifications will also be calculated based on information in the database.

The following is an explanation of the logic behind certain system generated person classifications:

Generating Person Classifications

• Person classifications are generated for the following fields if they are populated on a person record: department, faculty type, campus, resident status, dorm, and student group.
• The school level classification is assigned to all faculty, staff, and students. As a person’s school level changes (i.e. a student moves from lower school to middle school), the new school level will become active and the old school level will become an inactive classification.
• Role specific person classifications are generated for all person roles assigned to an individual.
• Profile code specific person classifications are generated for all profile codes assigned to an individual if the code is not obsolete.
• For alumni and former students, the student role classification is generated based on person enrollment history information.
  • The start date and end date of the student role classification is based on the earliest and latest school year dates from the enrollment history record.
  • If person enrollment history is not known, the student role classification start and end dates will be calculated based on date enrolled and date withdrawn.
• For parents of former students or parents of alumni, the parent role classification start and end dates are populated based on their children’s enrollment history information.
  • The start school year and end school year dates are generated based on the earliest and latest school year dates in the student’s enrollment history record.
• For former faculty/staff, the faculty/staff role classification start and end dates are populated based on either date hired or date terminated.

Person Classification Dates

Start Date and End Date

• The start and end date of the faculty, staff, and coach classification is calculated based on hire date and termination date.
• The start date of the former faculty and staff classification is calculated based on the faculty or staff member’s termination date.
• The start date of the alumni classification is calculated in the following order:
  1. Based on the graduation date on the transcript.
  2. If no date can be determined after the above step, a date is calculated using the month in the All grading period end date and the graduation year on the person record.
• The start date of the donor classification is generated based on the receipt date of the first gift given by the donor. The end date is calculated based on the receipt date of the last gift given by the donor if they have not given in the last five years. The end date will be updated if the donor makes another gift.

Start School Year and End School Year Dates

• The start date of the student role classification is calculated based on the earliest school year date on the student’s enrollment history record. After the person becomes an alum, the student role classification end date is populated based on the latest school year date on the student’s enrollment history record.
• The start date for the former student classification is calculated based on the withdrawn date of the student.
• The start date for the parents of alumni classification is automatically July 1st plus the year of the earliest graduation year of their children. (e.g. if a parent has three children who graduated from the school in 1995, 2003, and 2006 the start date of the parents of alumni classification would be July 1, 1995).
• The start date for the parents of former students classification is calculated based on the latest school year on their children’s enrollment history record, plus one year.
• The “Sport Played” classifications start and end dates are actually school years — they are populated from team rosters, which are based upon classes. When a student only has one year of the Sport Played classification, only the Start School Year is populated. For instances where there is more than one record for the same sport and there is no record for the current year, the end date is populated on the oldest record to present an accurate time-frame of how long the sport was played.

Active/Inactive Flags

A person classification is marked active or inactive based on start and end date information. If a classification is marked inactive, it will be grayed out on a person’s record but still remain visible.

• A person classification will become inactive if the end school year date has passed.
• An active classification will switch to inactive if the end date is before today.
• If the person is a former faculty or staff member, the active department and faculty type classifications will be marked inactive.
• System created classifications such as roles, school level, department, faculty type, campus, profile codes, etc. are marked inactive if they no longer have source records.
  • Example: When a student’s school year changes from middle school to upper school, the middle school level will switch to inactive and the upper school level classification will be assigned to the student.
• Inactive system created classifications are marked active if the source records reappear.