This section explains the general process for preparing your district's online application for the new school year. It is only a general guide however and may change year to year. If you have any questions regarding setup and customization that is not explained by this process (or the contents of this document), please contact Support for further assistance.
At the beginning of a new school year (before accepting new applications), MCS Software will put your district in 'Test' mode. This hides the online application availability from parents and only allows access to the application via a special 'Test' URL defined in the district settings page (in the admin area under 'District'). This allows you to make customizations in a protected 'pre-release' sandbox. In order to review your changes, just access the aforementioned special test URL.
The 'test mode' section displayed at the bottom of the 'District' page when your district is in this mode. You can use the URL displayed to test a live scenario of your application while you make adjustments and obtain approval for the new school year's application format.
Overview Of Basic New School Year Procedure
- MCS Software puts your district in TEST mode
- Review your custom strings for current languages and make needed changes. Also, this is the best time to activate and modify any new languages you may wish to use in the coming school year.
- Notify MCS Support when you are ready to activate your district in order to use the online applications (live) for the new school year
New School Year Income Tables
MCS Software will update the website to reflect this new information on the online application when the USDA releases the new tables. We will strive to update the website with this information as soon as it is available.