Linking Siblings & Incoming 1st Years (read time 3 minutes)

How to link siblings including siblings of incoming 1st years.

Why is it important to link siblings?

Linking siblings is crucial for effective data management within VSware. When linked, siblings appear at the bottom of a student's household tab, allowing administrative staff to accurately track family connections and generate a ‘Siblings’ report. 

Linking siblings is also vital for avoiding duplicate parent information, especially for incoming first-year students who have older siblings already enrolled. When siblings are not linked, there is a risk of unintentionally creating a new parent or guardian contact for the first-year student, rather than using the existing contact associated with the older sibling. This oversight can lead to confusion, as parents may end up with multiple login credentials to manage their children's profiles.

Steps to Avoid Duplicating Household Contacts

1. Link Siblings Before the New School Year: Link incoming first-years with their older siblings before the school year starts (or before rolling over data on PPOD).
2. Copy Existing Parent Contact: Once siblings are linked, copy the parent contact from the older sibling to the first-year student. This ensures parents only need a single account to access all their children’s profiles.

How to Link Siblings

1. In the current academic year, go to the "Groups" tab.

2. Select the "First Years" group (e.g., "First Years 2019 (from PPOD)").

3. Choose a student with a known sibling, go to their "Household" tab, click "Add Siblings".

4. Enter the sibling’s name, select it from the dropdown, and save.

   The siblings will now appear under each other's profiles in the "Household" tab.

5. Final Step: Copy the household contact (e.g., the mother) from the older sibling to the first-year profile. This avoids duplicate contacts by reusing the existing parent details. Steps on how to do this are below. 

How to Copy a Household Contact Between Students

1. Open the student (in this case the incoming first-year student's) "Household" tab.

2. Select "Add New Contact,". The existing parent contacts from the sibling link will appear.

3. Check the "Add" box next to the relevant contact's name and save. Repeat for multiple contacts if needed.

   The parent will now only have one account, with both children listed under their profile.

Now the process is complete. Each contact (parent, guardian etc) only has one account with one set of login details where all their children are listed. 

Resolving Duplicate Household Contacts

If a parent already has multiple logins due to duplicate contacts:

1. Compare the household contact details under both siblings. Often, small discrepancies (e.g., "Mary Smith" vs. "M. Smith") cause duplicates.

2. Decide which contact to keep, ideally the one the parent most often uses. Contact the parent if needed to confirm this.

3. Delete the unwanted duplicate contact. Note any unique information from this profile, such as an alternate phone number, before deleting.

4. Link the remaining contact to both siblings as per the steps above, so the parent has only one login with access to all children.

   If multiple duplicates are present, it will be necessary to update each record one by one. It is not possible for support to do this because they will be unable to determine which is the correct contact to delete. 

Creating Household Contacts for New Students Without Siblings