School Swimming is a unit within the school sports unit that delivers water safety programs to primary schools. Through the system developed by Dash, schools are able to register and participate in the program.
There are two ways to run the program:
1. Centrally based (the unit organise the program on the school's behalf)
2. School based (the school organises everything including but not limited to booking pools and educators)
If the school has opted to run the program school based, Dash will provide an option for the administrator to send them an email attachment consisting of a welcoming letter and information regarding the school's reimbursements.
To be able to send an email attachment, the administrator will construct a letter template in docx file format with the correct mail merge fields which will then be uploaded onto Dash and customised for each school using Dash's mail merging functionality.
For more information on merging and terms relevant to mail merging, please visit https://admindashhelp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041056172-Variables-and-Mail-Merge-Fields .
Variables
Variables are names that are used to hold one or more values. It functions similarly to a cell in an excel spreadsheet which holds a formula or the results of a calculation. Variables are also know by the name "fields".
For example:
Thank you for selecting School Swimming's Water Safety Program «school_school_id»
Your school has been selected to deliver «program_title» and will be reimbursed $«school_based_delivery_money» amount.
The program length is «delivery_days» days.
The red text are variables/mail merge fields.
See the list of available variables for school swimming mail merging here.
Nested Variables
Nested variables are names that live within another variable, where the information is organised in layers and the outer container houses smaller containers.
- application
- school
- title
- school
Tables
To avoid sending out documents with incomplete/missing data, we implement tables in our document, which do not display if the data it's referencing does not exist.
For an in-depth explanation of tables, please visit Mange Data Loss with Tables.
Referencing Nested Variables
Note: For nested variables, please reference the previous container. For example, to reference IEC
- participation_count
- mainstreamgrades
- IEC
- mainstreamgrades
would become «participation_count_mainstreamgrades_IEC».
You can also reference a nested variable via a table using TABLESTART and TABLEEND in Word. However, a nested variable does not necessarily have to go into a table format. You need to make sure your nested variable is in a table (Insert > table). See below for example:
Updating Fields
For information surrounding how to update fields in Word, please refer to Updating Fields.
Uploading a Mail Merge Template
Before uploading a mail merge template, you must make sure your template displays all the correct mail merge fields and is saved as a docx file.
To upload a mail merge template onto Dash:
1. Login to Dash
2. Click on Program Matrix on the left
3. Click on Applications under Program Matrix
4. Click on cog icon on top right to upload Customize School Based Letter
Constant Variables
- id
- application_id
- delivery_mode
- preferred_delivery_mode
- additional_teacher_count
- admin_notes
- school_notes
- created_at
- override_school_based_delivery_hours
- override_school_based_delivery_money
- is_school_based_letter_sent
- participation_count
- mainstreamgrades
- IEC
- Kindergarten
- specialneeds
- ASD
- PHYSICAL
- IO
- IM
- HEARING
- VISUAL
- BCED
- DS
- mainstreamgrades
- preferred_participation_type_delivery_mode
- specialneeds
- preferred_participation_type_delivery_mode
- specialneeds
- participation_type_delivery_mode
- specialneeds
- participation_type_delivery_mode
- specialneeds
- general_unavailability
- general_unavailability
- placing
- year
- number
- week
- reason
- placing
- general_unavailability
- program
- id
- title
- applier_type_id
- delivery_days
- capacity_per_staff
- capacity_per_teacher
- delivery_day_minutes
- target_staff_per_session
- school_based_delivery_hours_formula
- school_based_delivery_money_formula
- admin_notes
- is_booking_week
- is_delivery_strict_week
- created_at
- is_delivery_strict_timeslot
- participation_class_ratios
- mainstreamgrades
- Kindergarten
- IEC
- specialneeds
- ASD
- PHYSICAL
- IO
- IM
- HEARING
- VISUAL
- BCED
- DS
- mainstreamgrades
- indexed_student_count
- student_count
- school_based_delivery_hours
- school_based_delivery_money
- application
- application_display_name
- school
- id
- dashmarshal_id
- dashmarshal_claim_id
- primary_admin_user_id
- title
- school_id
- address
- town
- state
- postcode
- location_long
- location_lat
- phone
- region_id
- parent_school_id
- created_at
- updated_at
- application_steps
- step
- title
- step_type_id
- incomplete
- step
- dash_url
- organisation_title
- intake_title
- intake_year
- intake_display_name
- participation_count_mainstreamgrades
- IEC
- Kindergarten
- participation_count_specialneeds
- ASD
- PHYSICAL
- IO
- IM
- HEARING
- VISUAL
- BCED
- DS
- program_id
- program_title
- program_applier_type
- program_delivery_days
- program_capacity_per_staff
- program_capacity_per_teacher
- program_delivery_day_minutes
- program_target_staff_per_session
- program_school_based_delivery_hours_formula
- program_school_based_delivery_money_formula
- program_admin_notes
- program_is_booking_next_week
- program_is_delivery_strict_week
- program_created_at
- program_is_delivery_strict_timeslot
- program_participation_class_ratios
- mainstreamgrades
- Kindergarten
- IEC
- specialneeds
- ASD
- PHYSICAL
- IO
- IM
- HEARING
- VISUAL
- BCED
- DS
- mainstreamgrades
- application_application_display_name
- application_school
- id
- application_school
- dashmarshal_id
- application_school
- dashmarsal_claim_id
- application_school
- primary_admin_user_id
- application_school
- title
- application_school
- school_id
- application_school
- address
- application_school
- town
- application_school
- state
- application_school
- postcode
- application_school
- location_long
- application_school
- location_lat
- application_school
- phone
- application_school
- email
- application_school
- region_id
- application_school
- parent_school_id
- application_school
- created_at
- appplication_school
- updated_at
- application_school
- id
- application_application_steps
- application_application_step
- step
- title
- step_type_id
- incomplete
- step
- application_application_step
- application_dash_url
- application_organisation_title
- application_intake_title
- application_intake_year
- application_intake_display_name
- participation_count_mainstreamgrades_1
- participation_count_mainstreamgrades_IEC
- participation_count_mainstreamgrades_Kindergarten
- participation_count_specialneeds_ASD
- participation_count_specialneeds_PHYSICAL
- participation_count_specialneeds_IO
- participation_count_specialneeds_IM
- participation_count_specialneeds_HEARING
- participation_count_specialneeds_VISUAL
- participation_count_specialneeds_BCED
- participation_count_specialneeds_DS
- program_participation_class_ratios_mainstreamgrades
- Kindergarten
- IEC
- program_participation_class_ratios_specialneeds
- ASD
- PHYSICAL
- IO
- IM
- HEARING
- VISUAL
- BCED
- DS
- program_participation_class_ratios_mainstreamgrades_1
- program_participation_class_rations_mainstreamgrades_Kindergarten
- program_participation_class_ratios_mainstreamgrades_IEC
- program_participation_class_ratios_specialneeds_ASD
- program_participation_class_ratios_specialneeds_PHYSICAL
- program_participation_class_ratios_specialneeds_IO
- program_participation_class_ratios_specialneeds_IM
- program_participation_class_ratios_specialneeds_HEARING
- program_participation_class_ratios_specialneeds_VISUAL
- program_participation_class_ratios_specialneeds_BCED
- program_participation_class_ratios_specialneeds_DS
- program_participation_class_ratios_specialneeds_DS
The above mentioned list of constant variables can be used to create a personalised mail merge template. See this article for more information on creating a functional Mail Merge Template.