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A PCR Educator DAT Query can now compute an aggregate across a wider group than the row it sits on, while the query stays grouped at its own level. A new Partition By option on any Aggregate field puts a row's own number and the total it belongs to side by side. Running totals, subtotals, and share-of-whole calculations fit in a single DAT Query.

What's new

Partition By on any Aggregate field. Set a field's role to Aggregate, choose the function (Sum, Count, Average, and the rest), then pick a Partition By column from a typeahead. The aggregate computes across that wider partition while each row stays grouped at the DAT Query's own level.

Optional on every Aggregate field. Partition By is there when you want a wider calculation. An Aggregate field with no partition set is a standard aggregate.

One DAT Query for the comparison. A row can show its own value and the value of the group it belongs to, together, in a single DAT Query.

Why it matters

A row can carry both its own number and the number it belongs to. Show each course's enrollment next to its department's total enrollment. Show a donor's giving next to the campaign total. Show a student's tardies this term next to their full-year count. The reader sees the part and the whole together, and the comparison is immediate.

A few ways to talk about it

• Running totals, subtotals, and share-of-whole math live in a single DAT Query.
• Partition By sets each row next to the total of the group it belongs to.
• An Aggregate field with no partition set stays a standard aggregate.

Available now to all PCR Educator schools. Your account team can walk you through Partition By in a DAT Query whenever you're ready.

Check In / Check Out is a PCR Educator CMS widget that lets a student, a staff member, or an authorized pick-up identify themselves at a screen and check in or out for the day. Schools commonly deploy it as a self-serve attendance kiosk on a laptop, a tablet, or a wall-mounted touch panel. The widget is configured entirely from the standard page editor, with no developer involvement, and it can optionally write period and daily attendance.

Setup happens in the CMS page editor, so configuring the widget requires an account with permission to edit CMS pages.

Schools deploy the widget for:

• Morning carpool and after-school care check-in stations
• Athletics, field trip, and extended-day program rosters
• Late-arrival and early-dismissal desks at the front office
• Optional automatic period attendance for late or early-departure students

Setup at a glance

From the page editor:

• Open the CMS page where the kiosk will live, or create a new page.
• Click Add Widget, then User, then Check In / Check Out.
• Open the widget Properties dialog with the gear icon and configure Sign In Type, Operations Type, Program Type, the button text, and any of the optional customizations described below.
• Save the widget. The kiosk is live immediately.
• On the device itself, sign in once with a staff or operator account before leaving the kiosk unattended. The widget only renders for a signed-in session. Once the device is signed in, any number of students sign themselves in and out against it.

To write Late, Absent, and Leaving Early stamps automatically, which is recommended for schools that want period attendance from the kiosk:

• Add a second widget to the same page: Parent/Student Attendance Entry.
• In its Properties, set Late Type, Absent Type, Leaving Early Type, and, optionally, Daily Attendance Type to the attendance discipline types your school uses.
• Save. The kiosk now writes period attendance automatically when students check in or out.

For full configuration of the partner widget, see CMS Widget - Parent/Student Attendance Entry.

Sign-in modes

Each kiosk supports one or more of the following sign-in methods. Enable as many as appropriate with the Sign In Type property. When two or more are enabled, a pill row appears at the top of the kiosk so the user can choose. With one enabled, the row is hidden.

One kiosk can offer student and staff sign-in together. The widget records each check-in as student or staff from the mode the person used: the Staff ID mode records a staff member, and every other mode records a student. Staff check-ins are recorded against the staff roster. They do not send notification emails, and the period attendance integration applies to student check-ins only. Staff sign in through the Staff ID mode, because the Username, Name + PIN, PIN, and Alternate ID modes resolve against student and household records.

Pick one default with the Default Active Mode property. That pill is highlighted on first load. The kiosk also remembers which pill the user last touched and restores it after any submission, so a barcode scanner station that opens to Student ID stays on Student ID after each scan.

Optional: period attendance integration

Placing a Parent/Student Attendance Entry widget on the same page changes the kiosk from a record of who is on campus into a full attendance writer. On every successful student check-in or check-out, the kiosk will:

• Write Absent stamps for any scheduled periods that ended before the student checked in, which fills the gap.
• Write a Late stamp for the period in session at check-in time.
• Write a Leaving Early stamp for the period in session at check-out time.
• Optionally stamp every period after the check-out as Absent, when the school enables it.
• Optionally write a single daily attendance row when a school-level type is configured.

All writes respect a same-user audit gate, so teacher-entered attendance is never overwritten, and prior kiosk stamps can be cleanly cleared when the student returns the same day. For the full setup of the partner widget, see CMS Widget - Parent/Student Attendance Entry.

Late and early departure thresholds

Many schools have rules such as "a student more than 20 minutes late is marked Absent" or "a student leaving in the first 30 minutes counts as Leaving Early, and beyond that it is a normal departure." The kiosk supports both with two integer properties.

Both thresholds measure minutes elapsed since the current period's nominal start time, using the school's schedule data. If the student has no scheduled period at that moment, such as during lunch, before school, or after dismissal, the thresholds do nothing and the kiosk falls back to its default behavior.

Customization options

Beyond the sign-in modes and thresholds, the widget includes a broad set of properties for tailoring messages, behavior, and presentation. The most commonly used:

What students see

On every kiosk the experience is the same: large touch targets, no scrolling, and no logins to remember unless the school chooses Username mode.

• A row of sign-in pills at the top, hidden if only one mode is enabled.
• The matching input panel below, which is a numeric keypad for ID or PIN, a username and password form for Username mode, or a name and PIN form for Name + PIN.
• Large Check In and Check Out buttons.
• After submitting, a calming success card with the school greeting, the student's name shown prominently, and their photo and profile (Name, ID, Grade, Status). The form returns automatically after the configured timeout.
• On error, the form stays in place, the typed value is preserved so the student can fix a typo without retyping, and the error message displays in red.

Best practices

• For high-traffic stations such as carpool, enable a single sign-in mode, either PIN or Student ID, so the pill row hides entirely. Fewer taps mean faster lines.
• Pair Alternate ID with a USB barcode scanner mounted at the kiosk so students can scan an existing school badge with no typing, as long as the barcode value is numeric and fits within the configured slot count.
• When using the Late Absent Threshold, set it to match the school's published Late versus Absent policy, for example "20 minutes late is Absent." Communicate the rule to families in your handbook.
• Pair an Auto Reset Seconds value of 3 with a kiosk on a public touch screen to keep the next student's experience clean. Use a higher value, 8 to 10, where staff want time to read each success card.
• Test with at least one student account from each grade level or school division before going live. Different schedules can expose configuration gaps.

Need a hand?

Your PCR Educator account manager can walk you through a setup tailored to your school's carpool, after-school, or athletics workflow, including custom sign-in messages and visual styling. Submit a ticket from your Customer Portal, or email support@pcreducator.com.

A PCR Educator DAT Query now supports an Auto mode for the Pivot role. Pick a field, set its role to Pivot (Auto), choose the aggregate function and the field to count or sum, and the query discovers the most-frequent values on its own. Each becomes its own column, with an "Other" bucket catching everything else.

What's new

Pivot (Auto) as a field role. A new value in the Role dropdown sits next to Group, Aggregate, and Pivot. Pivot (Auto) is eligible for any field that holds categorical values, no upfront value list required.

Top values discovered at query time. The query finds the most-frequent values in the chosen field each time it runs, up to twenty columns, and adds an "Other" bucket for the long tail.

One aggregate per pivoted column. Count, Sum, Average, Minimum, or Maximum. Whatever function you pick applies to every discovered column and to "Other."

Built for fields where the value list is unknown or shifts. Course names, action types, donor categories, inquiry sources. Anywhere a manual Pivot would mean typing out values that change year to year.

Saves and reruns like any other DAT Query. The auto-pivot refreshes with the query, so the columns reflect the current data each time the report runs.

Why it matters

Manual Pivot expects the user to list the values that should become columns. That works when the list is short and stable. It does not work when the catalog changes from year to year, or when no one wants to track down every value a field can hold. Pivot (Auto) removes that work. A course-load matrix or an action-type breakdown stays current as new courses are added and new action types appear, with no edits to the query.

A few ways to talk about it

• Pick the field, the function, and the target. The columns come from the data.
• Top twenty values plus an "Other" bucket, refreshed every time the query runs.
• A natural fit for high-cardinality fields where the value list is unknown or shifts year to year.

Available now to all PCR Educator schools. Your account team can walk you through Pivot (Auto) in a DAT Query whenever you're ready.