How do I combine two families?

This article will explain how to combine two families who need to be merged together.

Combining Two Families

The first step in combining two (or more) families is to determine which family account you want to keep. Once you determine that, you will then move the student(s) to the family account you plan to keep. To determine which family account to keep, it can be helpful to ask the following questions: Does one of the families have more than one student in it? Does one family have a balance? Have their been payments made to one of the families? We recommend keeping the family with a balance, payments or multiple students (if possible) to eliminate some of the steps below. For example, in the example case below, there are two families for the same person - Darrin Anderson.

Because the family with Family ID 1812 has no money associated with it, I would want to keep this family and move the one student in this family to the family with Family ID 1015. 

Let's look at another example. In this example, there are two family accounts, both with a balance and both have students:

For this example, I would want to take a look at the beginning of the year balance to see if the family had a balance at the beginning of the year. To view this information, open the family dashboard and look at the Family Acct box.

The family account with Family ID 1014 had a negative balance that was carried over from the previous year, as seen here:

The family account with Family ID 1813, started the year with no balance, as seen here:

So, for this example, we would want to keep the account with the negative balance (FID 1014) and move the student who is FID 1813, to the account with FID 1014. 

Once you have determined which family account you are going to keep, proceed with the following instructions:

1. From the Admin Site, under the Students tab, go to the Student Assignment Tool. Search for the student(s) you need to move.
   
2. Select the student(s) by selecting the checkbox next to their name(s); then click the “Assign selected siblings to one family” box.
   
3. A list of family suggestion will appear. Click the “Assign” link to assign the student to the family.
   
4. If the correct family does not appear in the list of suggestions, do a search for the family by their last name, address or phone number.
5. Click the “Enter” button on your keyboard to search; then click the “Assign” link to assign the student to correct family.
   

Are there transactions associated with the student that need to be moved to the new family? If yes, follow these steps:

1. Wait 5 minutes for the information to sync from the Admin Site.
2. From the LCS1000/ESC, under the Students tab, go to Batch Edit>Transaction Batches.
   
3. Search for the transactions that need to be moved by entering the appropriate dates and selecting the student(s) under Students/select.
   
4. Click the Search button to show a list of transactions. A list of transactions will show up at the bottom of the page.
   
5. Under Actions, select the Group Change Account Origin option. Under Apply to, select Entire filter list. Click the Run button to move the transactions to the correct family.
   
6. A dialog box will appear.
   
7. Click the Log File link to check your work. 
   
8. Repeat this same set of actions for the next meal period, Lunch, for example.

Is there money that needs to be moved from the former family to the new family? If yes, follow these steps.

In this example, there was a payment submitted to the FID 1813 account earlier this school year, as seen here:

We have already moved the student that was in this account to the account with FID 1014, so we will want to move this payment to that account, also.

1. In the Admin Site, under the Families tab, drop down to Submit Payments.
   
2. Search for the former family and enter a negative or positive payment amount for the balance you want to move. For example, if you want to move $50.00 to the new family, enter the payment amount as -50.00. (To move a negative balance, you would enter a positive  amount here, to bring the balance to zero.)
3. For Payment Type, select Other.
4. In the Memo field, enter a note indicating where the payment was transferred to. For example, Trans to FID (Family ID) 1016.
5. Click Submit Payment to complete this action.
   
6. Next, search for the family you want to move the money to. Enter a payment for the amount you are moving. For this example, you would enter 50.00. (If you are moving a negative balance to this account, you would enter a negative amount here.)
7. In the Memo field, enter a note indicating where the payment was transferred from. For example, Trans from FID (Family ID) 2030.
8. Click Submit Payment to complete this action.

You will also want to move the Family Contact(s) to new family account and delete the Family Contact(s) from the old family account. In the old family account, copy the email address(es) from the Family Contact List box, then click the red “X” next to the email(s) you want to delete. Next, paste the email address(es) in to the Family Contact box of the new family account to transfer the Family Contact(s) to the new account. Note: if you leave the Family Contact(s) in the old account, when the parent logs in to make an online payment, the payment will be associated to the old account, not to the new account. That is why it is important to move the contacts, also.

Finally, you may wonder how to delete the duplicate family. We recommend leaving that family (which now has no students, no balance and no family contact) in the Admin Site until you do your Year End Process. During the Year End Process, you will be given the option to delete families who do not have students or a balance.