Overview

This setting is found under General Settings, in the Basic Customization area, inside the Card Settings section. It determines which piece of identifying information is printed on the personal ID card of a Relative (a student’s Parent or Guardian), and which value the system uses when relative records are looked up through the quick search feature.

It works together with three closely related settings that control the same behavior for Students, Teachers, and Employees. This guide focuses only on the version that applies to Relatives.

What This Setting Does

This setting lets an administrator choose which identifier (or combination of identifiers) will represent a Relative on their printed ID card. Rather than being a simple on/off switch, it is a small format pattern that the institution builds by picking one or more of the following identifying fields:

• Code – the internal code/number the system assigns to the relative
• ID Number – the relative’s national identity number
• Passport ID – the relative’s passport number
• Card ID – a unique, automatically generated number tied to the physical card itself
• External Code – a code coming from an external/third-party system that the institution synchronizes with
• Cross Code – a shared identifying code used when the same relative’s record is linked across multiple companies (for example, a family whose children are enrolled through a shared admissions office feeding several affiliated schools)
• Account or Personal Email, Personal Email, or Account Email – one of the relative’s registered email addresses, used instead of a numeric code

An administrator can also request that a chosen field be padded to a fixed number of digits (for example, always shown as 6 digits, with leading zeros added automatically), so that all printed codes look consistent in length.

Out of the box, this setting is pre-configured to combine the Card ID and the Code fields (shown internally as [CardID]-[Code]), which would print as something like 1042-58217. Institutions can change this default to any other combination of the fields listed above.

Once configured, the value produced by this setting is what appears on the card and is also the value staff can type into quick search to instantly find that relative’s record.

Where It Is Used

Location in the application: General Settings > Basic Customization > Card Settings.

This setting affects the application at the following moments:

• When a new personal ID card is generated or printed for a Relative (a parent or guardian)
• When an existing Relative card is re-issued (for example, after a lost or damaged card)
• When staff use the quick search feature to locate a relative by typing in a code, since the same value produced by this setting is used as the searchable identifier

This setting only comes into effect for the types of relative connections (Parent or Guardian) that are allowed to receive a card in the first place, which is controlled by a separate related setting (see section 7).

The setting does not affect the physical layout of the card (photo placement, barcode style, logo, and similar visual elements) – that is defined separately in the card template used for printing. This setting only controls which identifying value/code appears on the card and is searchable.

Business Logic / Behavior

The following behaviors and rules apply:

• The setting stores a format pattern made up of one or more identifying fields (see section 2). At the moment a card is generated, the system automatically replaces each chosen field with the relative’s real value for that field.
• Multiple fields can be combined in a single pattern (for example, a Card ID followed by a Code), and separators such as dashes can be added between them.
• A fixed number of digits can be requested for a given field. If the real value has fewer digits than requested, the system automatically adds leading zeros so that every printed code has the same visual length.
• If the Cross Code option is used, the relative’s record must already be linked across the relevant companies/branches; otherwise this part of the code may not resolve to a meaningful value.
• This setting cannot be left empty. If no format is defined, the application will not allow a new Relative ID card to be created, and will show a message indicating that no ID/code format has been configured.
• If a chosen field has no value on a given relative’s record (for example, ID Number or Passport ID were never filled in), the system will block card creation for that specific relative and indicate which field could not be found.
• The application recommends building a format that always results in a unique code per relative (for example, by including the Card ID), since this same value doubles as the quick-search key. A non-unique or ambiguous code could make it harder to find the correct relative when searching.
• Confirmed: this setting behaves identically whether the institution operates in K-12 mode or in Higher Education mode (controlled by the Enable Configuration for Higher Education setting). There is no difference in the available options, the format logic, or where the value is used between the two modes.

Example(s)

Example 1 – Simple Code

Riverside Preparatory School sets the format to use only the Code field. Parent Laura Simmons has the internal code 58217, so her printed ID card – and the value staff can type into quick search to find her – both show 58217.

Example 2 – Combined Card ID and padded Code

Northfield International Academy sets the format to combine the automatically generated Card ID with the Code, padding the Code to six digits, separated by a dash. Guardian Marcus Webb is issued Card ID 1042, and his internal code 58217 is padded to six digits, so his printed card reads 1042-058217.

Example 3 – Email as identifier

Silver Oak Academy prefers not to use numeric codes at all and instead sets the format to use the relative’s account email. Parent Diane Chapman’s registered account email is diane.chapman@example.com, so this is the value printed on her card and used to find her record in quick search.

When to Use

This is not a simple Enable/Disable setting – some format must always be configured, since an empty value blocks the creation of Relative ID cards. Instead, the guidance below explains when each type of identifier is the better choice:

When to use a code-based format (Code, Card ID, External Code)

• The institution already assigns internal codes to relatives and wants those same codes printed on cards and used for quick search
• The institution wants a guaranteed-unique, auto-generated number on every card (Card ID) even if no other code is unique on its own
• The institution synchronizes contact data with an external system and wants that external reference code visible (External Code)

When to use ID Number or Passport ID

The institution’s internal processes are built around national identity numbers or passport numbers as the main way of identifying relatives (for example, when cards double as access-control credentials that must match an official identity document).

When to use Cross Code

The institution shares relative records across multiple linked companies or branches (for example, a family with children enrolled in more than one affiliated school), and wants a single consistent code that follows the relative across all of them.

When to use an email-based format

The institution prefers not to manage separate numeric codes and finds it more practical for relatives to be identified and searched for by their registered email address.

In every case, it is recommended to choose (or combine) fields so that the resulting code is unique per relative, since the same code is used for quick search lookups.

Notes

Prerequisites

• If the format includes the Card ID field, the institution should have its card template and card numbering already set up, since Card ID values are generated automatically as part of the card issuing process
• If the format includes the Cross Code field, the relative’s record should already be linked across the relevant companies/branches for the value to resolve correctly
• If an email-based option is chosen, the relative’s relevant email address (account or personal) should already be filled in on their profile
• The relative’s connection type (Parent or Guardian) should already be allowed to receive a card through the related setting described below; otherwise no card will be generated for that relative regardless of how this setting is configured

K-12 vs Higher Education Mode

There is no practical difference for this setting between K-12 and Higher Education mode. The same options, format rules, and usage in card printing and quick search apply in both modes, since this setting is not affected by whether Higher Education mode is active.

Related Settings

• Set ID/Code type to be used in Student cards/FormatStudentIdCards (General Settings > Basic Customization > Card Settings) – the equivalent setting that controls the identifying code shown on Student ID cards
• Set ID/Code type to be used in Teacher cards/FormatTeacherIdCards (General Settings > Basic Customization > Card Settings) – the equivalent setting that controls the identifying code shown on Teacher ID cards
• Set ID/Code type to be used in Employees cards/FormatEmployeeIdCards (General Settings > Basic Customization > Card Settings) – the equivalent setting that controls the identifying code shown on Employee ID cards
• Relative type of connections enabled for card creation/RelativeTypeEnabledForCardCreation (General Settings > Basic Customization > Card Settings) – controls which relative connection types (Parent or Guardian) are eligible to have a card created at all
• Auto-create Cards upon entity creation for the following entities/AutoCreateCardsUponEntityCreation (General Settings > Basic Customization > Card Settings) – if Relatives is included here, a card is automatically created whenever a new relative record is added
• Enable QR code for benefits/EnableQRCodeForCardsBenefits (General Settings > Basic Customization > Card Settings) – controls whether a QR code is also added to cards for benefit-related use
• Enable Cross Period cards for the following entities/EnableCrossPeriodCardsForEntities (General Settings > Basic Customization > Card Settings) – controls whether a relative’s card remains valid across multiple academic periods, which is relevant when using the Cross Code option
• Default expiration date/DefaultCardExpirationDate (General Settings > Basic Customization > Card Settings) – controls the default expiration date applied to newly issued cards
• Enable Configuration for Higher Education/Xrisi_parametropoihshs_kolegiou (General Settings > Higher Education Customization > Higher Education Basic Settings) – determines whether the institution runs in Higher Education mode; this setting behaves the same regardless of its value