The HCTB Activities feature enables you to track special bus trips set up by your school, such as field trips, competitions, and food drops. To add such an activity on the website, follow these steps:


  1. Click the Activities tab.
     
    The Activities tab will appear.
      
    The name of the first student in your account will be displayed in the drop-down list on the right.
     
  2. If you want to add an activity for a different student, click the drop-down arrow and select their name.
     
  3. Click Add Activity.
     
    The Add Activity for Student Name screen will appear.
      
  4. Type one of the keywords of the activity name provided by your school (such as "orchestra") in the Search box and press Enter.
     
    Matching activities will be displayed in a list.
      
  5. Select the radio button for the activity you want to add (if it's not already chosen).
     
  6. Click Add.
     
    The activity details will appear, plus options to set up notifications for the activity and remove the activity.
      
  7. If you'd like to be notified when the activity begins or ends (or is still in progress), click Add Notification on the left.
     
    A Notification Details section will appear.
      
    The What Action Will Trigger the Notification? options enable you to choose the notifying event.
      
  8. If you want to be alerted when the bus first crosses the threshold of the circular area around the activity zone you will add, you can leave this at its default setting of Enter Circle.
     
    If you want to be notified when the vehicle leaves the circle, click Exit Circle instead.
     
    To use the beginning of the activity as your trigger, click Activity Started.
     
    The Which Days of the Week Do You Want to Monitor? section is set by default to monitor only Monday through Friday (meaning that notifications for the activity will be sent out only on those days).
     
  9. If the activity will occur on the weekend, click Saturday and/or Sunday to select it as well. Or click any selected day of the week you don't want to monitor (to deselect it).
     
    The What Time Span of the Day Do You Want to Monitor? options offer you the ability to choose only a certain time frame to be notified of the activity.
     
  10. To set the hours you will receive the alert, follow these steps:
     
    1. Click the From time picker.
        
    2. In the time picker, select an hour setting prior to the activity's time.
       
    3. Repeat steps a and b for the To field, setting a time after you expect the activity will have finished.
       
  11. If you want all your users to receive an alert for this activity both by email and push notification on a mobile device, you can leave the default settings of everyone selected for the Who Is Getting This Notification via the HCTB App? and Who Is Getting This Notification via Email? sections. If a user on the list doesn't need to be notified by email or via the app, click  to the left of their email address or mobile device name to deselect them.
     
  12. If you have previously created the zone that will be used to trigger the activity's notification, you can select it in the Parent Zones area.
    Note: An activity zone is a circular map area around the location where the bus will pick up the students to drive them to the activity, such as the parking lot in front of your school.
    If you haven't added the zone you need, follow these steps:
     
    1. Click Add New Zone.
       
      The Add Activity Zone screen will appear.
        
    2. In the Zone Name field, type a name that will easily identify it for you, such as Sam's School.
       
    3. Type the address you want to use for your notification in the Zone Address field; for example, if you are adding a notification for an orchestra trip, and the bus is returning your student to the school afterward, you might want to use the address of the school — so that you'll be notified when the vehicle enters the circular area you specify around the school.
       
    4. Click Search.
       
      The map will move the circle to that location.
        
    5. You can click and drag the slider to increase or decrease the size of the activity notification radius.
       
    6. When the circle is the size you want, click Add at the bottom of the screen.
       
      You'll be returned to the Activity Details screen.


You will now be alerted when the activity occurs according to your settings. You can also track the activity on the map. (See Tracking Your Student's Bus for details.)

Note: You can edit the zone on the My Account tab in the My Activity Zones area by clicking Edit to the right of the zone name. You can change the time frame to monitor, plus the recipients, by returning to the Activity Details screen and selecting Add Notification. Further, you can delete the notification on the Activity Details page by clicking Remove Activity from Student and then OK in the warning dialog box.