Secure Document Delivery provides a safe and efficient way to send important student files to families through ParentSquare. This article outlines how the feature works, its key capabilities, common use cases such as report cards and IEPs, the cost-saving benefits, and the support it provides for Educational Rights Holders.
Who can use this?
School and District Admins and those with the individual user permission for Manage Secure Documents.
Before getting started
- Secure Document Delivery must be enabled for your district (primarily a district-level feature).
- Admins can contact ParentSquare support to enable Secure Document Delivery.
What is Secure Document Delivery?
Secure Document Delivery is ParentSquare's electronic document delivery system that replaces traditional paper mailings for confidential student information. Upload a single PDF file containing documents for multiple students and this feature will automatically split the file by student ID to deliver individual documents to families through email, text, or app notifications.
Parents access their documents through a link that requires authentication with their ParentSquare password, Touch ID, or Face ID. This authentication step maintains privacy while making documents instantly accessible from any device.
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How Secure Documents Delivery Works
The Secure Document Delivery workflow has three main stages: template creation, PDF upload and sending, and delivery confirmation. To learn more, see Set Up and Send Secure Documents.
For School Staff
- Template Setup: Create a template by uploading a sample PDF and defining where student IDs appear on the document. The template tells the system how to identify and split documents for each student. Templates are reusable for future mailings of the same document type.
- PDF Upload: Upload a master PDF file containing all student documents. The system automatically splits the file by student ID, even when documents have varying page lengths. Preview individual documents before sending to verify accuracy.
- Notification and Delivery: Compose a notification message and either send immediately or schedule for a specific date and time. The system delivers notifications to families through their preferred communication channels and provides comprehensive delivery statistics.
For Parents and Guardians
- Receive an email, text, or app notification with a link to view their student's document.
- Click the link and authenticate with their ParentSquare password, Touch ID, or Face ID.
- View the document immediately on any device and access it anytime from their account.
Key Capabilities
Secure Document Delivery includes features designed for efficiency, accuracy, and compliance with student privacy requirements.
Smart Document Splitting
- Automatically splits large PDF files by student ID.
- Handles documents of varying page lengths within the same file.
- Supports PDFs up to 1 GB in size.
- Uses regular expressions for flexible ID pattern matching.
- Works with both SIS IDs and State IDs.
Flexible Delivery Options
- Send documents immediately or schedule for a specific date and time.
- Save uploads as drafts to review and send later.
- Customize notification text for each document batch.
- Deliver through multiple channels based on parent preferences (email, text, app notification).
- Download undelivered documents for traditional mail backup.
Privacy and Authentication
- Documents require password authentication before viewing.
- Supports Touch ID and Face ID for convenient access.
- Documents remain accessible in parent accounts as long as the student is enrolled at the school.
- Configurable restrictions for Educational Rights Holders when required by law. To learn more, see Educational Rights Holder.
Delivery Tracking and Reporting
- Comprehensive delivery statistics by notification method.
- Track which families received and viewed documents.
- Identify undelivered notifications with specific reasons.
- Export delivery reports for record-keeping.
- Real-time processing status during upload and send.
Common Use Cases
Districts use Secure Document Delivery for a wide variety of confidential student information that traditionally required paper mailings:
- Report Cards
- Progress Reports
- Pearson reports
- State testing results
- Individual Education Plans (IEP)
- Written Education Plans (WEP)
- Class schedules
- Chronic Absence letters
- Placement Letters
- PDFs generated from any source (SIS, POS, LMS, etc.)
Cost Savings and Benefits
Secure Document Delivery eliminates the expense and labor associated with printing and mailing paper documents to families. The cost savings are substantial for districts of any size.
Districts can save over $15,000 per report card cycle, with multiple mailings throughout the school year. Example savings for a typical report card mailing:
- Staff time: Printing, collating, stuffing envelopes, and processing mail requires significant staff hours. Even at a conservative estimate of one hour of staff time per 1,000 documents, a 20,000-document mailing requires 20 hours of staff time at approximately $30 per hour, adding $600 in labor costs.
- Materials: Paper, envelopes, ink, and printer maintenance add hundreds of additional dollars per mailing.
- Mailing: Mailing 20,000 report cards at current first-class postage rates (73 cents per envelope) costs $14,600 per mailing cycle.
Additional benefits include:
- Staff time is freed up for higher-value activities instead of envelope stuffing and mail processing.
- Documents reach families instantly rather than waiting days for postal delivery.
- No more concerns about lost mail or incorrect addresses.
- Environmental impact is reduced by eliminating paper waste.
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