Return to School Portal app
The Return to School Portal app has been designed to provide a mobile experience for the end user, but it will also scale to tablet or desktop screen sizes. This gives users the flexibility to use their own device.
Configuration
Administrators can configure the following capabilities in the portal by updating the general settings in the Return to School model-driven app:
- Daily Passes: Enable or disable portal features to create and manage passes.
- Allow QR Codes: Enable or disable use of QR codes on passes.
- Allow users to register dependents: Enable or disable the ability of users to register and create passes for dependents.
Set up terms and conditions for your portal by following the steps in this linked article: Configure Terms and Conditions.
More information: Configure Return to School
Getting started with the portal
The Return to School Portal app provides access to authenticated users.
Authenticated access to the portal
Students, staff, faculty, parents, and guardians can be invited to the portal and are prompted to create an account. They can create passes for themselves and their guests or dependents.
The Return to School Portal app provides guests with the ability to attest to school health policies. If a user is not signed in, they are given the option to sign in, register, or redeem an invitation. More information: Overview of authentication in Power Apps portals
If the user is redeeming an invitation to access the portal, the user takes the following steps:
Open the link in the email to redeem the invitation.
Select Register and enter new account information (email, username, password).
Select Register.
Select the checkbox to agree to the portal site's terms and conditions.
Select Continue.
Select Submit.
The user is logged in to the portal and the home page is displayed.
While logged in to the portal, the user can perform the following tasks:
- Create a pass
- View existing passes
- Book an appointment
- Submit test results
- Register dependents
- View appointments
- View test results
- View resources
- Update their profile
The first five options are directly available from the home screen. The remaining items in the list are available in the Options menu located in the upper-left corner or, on devices with larger screens, on the navigation bar. Next to those, the Options menu provides a link to the home screen and a link to sign out.
Home screen
On the home screen, users have several options to choose from:
Create pass
View pass
Book appointment
Submit result
Register dependent
Notifications (bell)
The following options are available in the Options menu:
Home
Resources
Test results
Appointments
Sign out
Create a pass
To create a guest pass using the portal:
Sign in to the portal.
On the home screen, select Create pass.
Select the person's name. The option to create a pass will only be enabled for persons that have no active access action linked to them, such as being blocked.
From the list of available schools, select the school, and then select Next. Schools that are closed cannot be selected.
Accept the disclaimers on the Take the daily health check screen.
Select I agree if the person has no symptoms.
A pass is generated for the selected person for that day.
In case the person disagrees with the attestation by selecting I disagree, a window will open with instructions. The text of the instructions can be set in general settings.
Note
School IT administrators can disable the storing of negative attestations in the solution settings. This will stop a negative attestation from being created and won't save the record.
View existing passes
To view existing guest or dependent passes, select View pass on the home screen. If no pass exists, the View pass option will be disabled on the home screen and in the Options menu.
The pass displays:
Name of the person
Pass date
Going to: School name
QR code
Share pass button
Cancel pass button
When Cancel pass is selected, the portal asks for confirmation. If a pass is canceled, it will no longer show up in the View pass screen and the attestation will be deactivated. The record will still exist in the system.
Note
System administrators can disable the use of QR codes in the solution settings.
Book an appointment
To book an appointment using the portal:
Sign in to the portal.
On the home screen, select Book appointment.
Select the person's name. The user can select a dependent's name as well.
Select a test location. The choices are displayed as a combination of the school and test location.
Select Next.
Select a test type.
Select a test date
After completing selections for a test location, test type, and test date for the appointment, the screen will display a list of the available appointment time slots for the selected day.
Pick a time slot.
Upon choosing an available time slot, that selection will be highlighted and the Next button at the bottom of the screen will be enabled.
Select Next.
The questionnaire screen is displayed.
Note
The questionnaire in this app is for illustration only. The application admin can configure appropriate questionnaires for the implementation of the app.
Answer the question and select Next.
Continue through all questions, selecting Next after each.
The testing appointment confirmation screen will be displayed. The details of the booked appointment will include: person's name, date and time, school, and the test location.
Select Book another appointment or select Home to return to the home screen.
When the appointment record created is populated with a person, test location, and start date and time, a flow will trigger for an email to be sent with the appointment details to the owner of that appointment. If the owner has a parent or dependent, this email will also be sent to them.
Currently, there is no limitation on how many appointments a person can make in a day. A customized validation can be implemented according to the school district's needs.
Submit results
When Submit result is selected from menu, the Test Results screen opens. Use this screen to submit test results.
To self-report test results on the portal:
Sign in to the portal.
On the home screen, select Submit result.
Select the person associated with the test result (required).
Select a test date (required).
Select a test type (required).
Select a result (required).
Select a result date (required).
Result interpretation (optional).
Upload test document (optional).
The Submit button will remain disabled until all required fields are completed. Once they are completed, the button will be enabled.
Select Submit.
Once the results are successfully submitted, you see a "Submitted!" screen.
Select Submit another result if you have more results to submit or select Home to return to the home screen.
Register dependent
When Register dependent is selected from the menu, the Dependent Details screen is displayed. A parent or guardian uses this screen to add details about a dependent and complete the registration process. If a person of type "student" is logged in, this option will not be available.
To register a dependent, follow these steps:
Sign in to the portal.
On the home screen, select Register dependent.
Enter your dependent's first name (required).
Enter your dependent's last name (required).
Enter your dependent's email address (required).
Enter your dependent's student or faculty ID (optional).
Enter your dependent's school (optional).
Enter your dependent's phone number (optional).
Enter your dependent's date of birth (optional).
Enter your dependent's race (optional).
Enter your dependent's ethnicity (optional).
Enter your dependent's gender (optional).
Once you select Submit, a validation will be performed to verify there are no other students with the same specified email address. If there are duplicates, the form will not be submitted and a message will be displayed at the top.
After registering a dependent, the student's data cannot be updated through the portal.
To find dependents in the School Management app, go to Solution Settings and select Persons. In the All Contacts view, open a record and find dependents on the General tab in the Dependents section.
Home
The Home option, when selected from the Options menu, takes the user to the home screen with all available menus and options.
Resources
The Resources option, when selected from the Options menu, takes the user to the Resources screen and displays general information from your school.
Note
School IT administrators can configure this information in the solution settings; therefore, the information displayed depends on what is configured in the General Settings record.
Test results
The Test results option, when selected from the Options menu, allows a user to view their available test results. The display includes the user's test results and the test result for any dependents. The following fields are displayed:
Name
Test type
Test date
Result date
Result
Self-reported
Result interpretation
Appointments
The Appointments option, when selected from the Options menu, allows a user to view their appointments. The display includes the user's appointments and appointments for any dependents. Canceled appointments will not be shown. The following fields are displayed:
Person (for whom the appointment was made)
Appointment time (scheduled start time)
Location
Invite users to the portal
This section describes how guests can start interacting with the portal.
Send invites to contacts
In the Return to School Management app, the school administrator can invite contacts (persons) to the portal.
To invite a contact to the portal:
- Open the School Management app.
- Select the Solution Settings area.
- Select Persons.
- Select the contact you would like to invite to the portal.
- Verify that the email address is correct for each contact.
- Set the field Requires portal access to Yes.
- Select Save.
In the background, an invite is created and an email is sent to the contact. The email contains a personal link that allows the contact to redeem the invitation and create an account that will be linked to the contact.
Note
The options available for Manage external authorization depend on the authentication methods configured by the system administrator.
Notifications
Notifications are sent through the Return to School Management app. The notifications will show in the portal.
To access notifications, select the bell icon in the upper-right corner of the home page.
Note
Notifications created for dependents are not automatically sent to their guardian. To send notifications for a dependent to their guardian, create a separate notification record under the guardian's contact record.
Note
The notification status (bell icon) changes from unread to read one day after the notification record is created.
School access not available
A person that is blocked cannot create a pass. This block is managed through the Return to School Management app, under Access for each contact.
Unauthenticated users access
Users of the Portal app who are not authenticated have an experience that is limited. Other than the Resources page, all other navigation is directed to the screen for signing in. Here, the user can attempt to sign in, register, or redeem an invitation code.
When the user opens the portal in the browser, the Get started screen is displayed. The following options are available, either on the screen or from the Options menu:
- Resources
- Sign in
In the unauthenticated mode, selecting Sign In or Get started will take users to the Sign In page.
Selecting Resources will take the unauthenticated user to the school's resources page, which displays the content defined by the school's administrator.
Extend portals
To learn more about how to extend portals to address your business needs, go to:
Extend Microsoft Return to School
Power Apps portals documentation
Give feedback about Microsoft Return to School
To provide feedback about Microsoft Return to School, visit the community page.