This article has been created to inform schools about the best practice of creating a new contact in PowerSchool. Please read the following before proceeding to the steps.
As a rule, each contact should only be created once in PowerSchool. That one record can be associated with multiple students and have a different relationship to each student. A parent for one student could be a neighbor or emergency contact for another student.
To prevent duplicate contacts, it is imperative to follow this step-by-step guide and ALWAYS search for an existing contact BEFORE creating a new one. This decreases the risk of duplicate contacts being created.
Please select the following link to each section of the article:
1. Prerequisites
2. Search for an existing contact
3. Create new contact
Prerequisites
STEP 1: Search for a Student using the Student ID.
STEP 2: Click Contacts on the left navigation. The contacts displayed are associated to the student you searched.
STEP 3: Check if the person is not already listed as a contact for the student in the Contacts list.
- If the contact IS listed, select the contact and verify all information is correct. Update where necessary, and cross reference using the Legacy Contacts module - click here for guidance on using Legacy Contacts module.
- If the contact IS NOT listed, proceed to the next section.
Search for an Existing Contact
STEP 1: Click the Add button. The search console will open.
STEP 2: Search by First Name, Last Name and at least one other indicator. Include the % sign before and after characters to search the entire PowerSchool database for a record. Check both the Include Inactive and Only Show Access Accounts checkboxes. Click the Search button.
If a contact is NOT found, please proceed to the next section.
If a contact IS found, please click here and follow the guidelines on associating an existing contact to a student.
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Creating a New Contact
STEP 1: Click the New Contact button on the bottom of the contact search screen.
STEP 2: Enter Contact Information - Please be provide as much information as possible.
A. Demographics information
- Type the Contact's Name paying close attention to spelling and punctuation, including hyphens, apostrophes, and suffixes
- Use the Suffix field for Jr. Sr. or III
- Gender and Employer are optional and not required fields
B. Please fill out all remaining information using the following guidelines:
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Associating a Student to a Contact
STEP 1. Verify all contact information is correct, including Name, Email, Address and Phone Number.
STEP 2: Scroll down to the Students section of the contact. Click the Add Students button.
STEP 3. When the student search opens, type partial names and the wild card symbol (%) to search students. Click the magnifying glass button highlighted. Additional pages will be noted at bottom of search results. If the search has too many results, you will want to rerun your search with more specific criteria.
STEP 4. Check the box of the student you wish to associate. Select the contact's relationship to the student and click the OK button.
STEP 5. Click the Submit button at bottom of page when you have completed entering all information. The contact will then be added to the Student's record.
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If this does not address your issue, please try one of our other Knowledge Base articles and leave feedback below.