Electronic Attendance Verification (EAV)

The use of electronic verification of attendance records is optional. 

Services that choose not to use electronic methods of verification will still be required to maintain and verify their records in pen.

To read more about EAV in the Funding Handbook, please click on the following link:

Section 6-3: Attendance Records

There are two ways for families to complete Electronic Attendance Verification in Discover:

• Via the Home App - Please see parent/guardian instructions here
• Via the Parent/Guardian Portal (please see below)

Notifying Families of EAV

Centres can use Bulk Communications to send an email to parents or primary caregivers to let them know EAV is available to them.

Please see the template below. This can be copied and pasted in to the text field in Bulk Communications.

Kia Ora [Firstname],

We are pleased to let you know that Electronic Attendance Verification is now available for all parents/guardians. To sign/confirm your child’s attendance electronically, please set yourself up using the following link:  >> [copy your centre's link here] <<

You will be presented with a login screen, if this is the first time you have been to this portal and don’t have Home App credentials, you will need to enter your email address in the User name field (the email is the one this message has been sent to) and then click "Reset Password". The system will then email you with a temporary password. Use the temporary password to set yourself up with a more memorable password for weekly use.

Once on the Parent Portal you can click on ‘’Attendance’’ and then on ‘’Verify’’ if you agree with the sign in/out times. 

We hope you are just as excited as us to have electronic signatures at our centre.

Nga mihi,

Your friendly Centre Administrator 

Accessing EAV via the Parent/Guardian Portal

To gain access to the EAV in the Discover portal, parents/guardians need to be set up with a login for the widget.

The link to the widget can be accessed through the Discover menu under Centre Setup > Setup Widgets > Click on ‘Parent Login at the Centre'.

This link can be emailed out to parents/guardians ahead of time. 
When the link is clicked, parents/guardians will see the screen below and will need to input their preferred login details.

Logging In

If parents/guardians already have a username and password for the Home App, the same details will apply. They will also able to use the 4 digit pin used to log into Home App and Web, to login to EAV. 

If parents/guardians already have a login setup, the Electronic Attendance Verification can be accessed straight away. If a parent does not have a password, the ‘'Reset Password’’ button can be clicked on, and a password request using the email address that is present on their profile on Discover.

The parent/guardian will be sent a temporary password which will allow them to set themselves up with a chosen password.

We recommend the use of devices with a minimum of 10-inch screen size to access and view the EAV features clearly. Laptops, Desktops and Tablets are preferred options. Mobile phones can be used, but they do not offer the best user experience.

Completing EAV

Once logged in, parents/guardians will need to click on Attendance, where there will be the option to bulk verify the attendance by selecting all or multiple weeks.

There are four possible statuses for Attendances:

Considerations

• If attendance is missing for one day, verification cannot be completed for the week.
  
  
• If a centre makes changes to the attendance on Discover, the attendance status will change to unverified again.
  
  
• If a parent/guardian cannot see the verify button, this is likely due to the attendance entries that have not been completed for the week in question. Please ensure that the attendance has been entered for every day that the child was booked in for.
  
  
• If the times that the caregivers signed in/out differ from what is on the EAV screens, in the Centre Settings > under the section Tablet Settings; if Override Tablet Times or Centre Time Validation is ticked, it will override the times to your licenced hours or opening/closing times.

Viewing Verified Attendances

From the Discover menu, click on Reports > Children Reports > Children Attendance - Parent Verification report.

There you will be able to view parent/guardian signatures. 

If a caregiver has not agreed with the sign in/out times, the report will indicate so.
The administrator can correct the attendance times via the Attendance screen and when the parent/guardian logs in to the portal in future, the 'Verify' button will be present for them to confirm the updated data.

Setting Reminders 

Administrators can prompt caregivers to verify their records by setting up an automated reminder. From Centre Settings > Centre Details tab > scroll to the Tablet Settings section and tick the 'Enable Electronic Attendance Verification'.

Managing Paper Attendance Verifications

If only some parents/guardians have signed up for EAV, the Children Attendance report can be located in Reports > Children Reports for hard copies to be signed.
The report can be used the same way as the weekly attendance sheets and parents/guardians that haven't used EAV can sign the report in pen where their signature is due (ensure the Signature field is included when completing the filters at the top of the report).

As indicated in the ECE Funding Handbook, paper copies do not need to be printed but records do need to accessible for 7 years; whether that is providing paper copies or electronic copies.