In general, there are very few support queries for CASPA. However, this article aims to provide users with additional resources. One of our goals is to ensure that, wherever possible, you have been provided with the resources to answer queries as quickly as possible.
CASPA’s Built-in Help System
To avoid the need for a weighty user manual, much of which would not be directly relevant to a particular user due to the wide range of systems CASPA can interact with, CASPA comes complete with a help system that aims to display the information you need without the need for you to know jargon, acronyms, etc.
Pressing the F1 key from anywhere within CASPA will display the relevant page from within the help system. So if you have highlighted (but not clicked) a menu option, have opened a report or have a selected a field for data entry and press F1 you will be presented with the relevant page for that topic. You therefore do not need to navigate through the help system to find the information you need.
Over time, most questions we are asked have resulted in updates to the help system such that nowadays there are very few questions we are asked that are not already catered for in the help system. CASPA’s help system contains the equivalent of over 900 A4 pages of help for CASPA ranging from general information on the analysis available to detailed step-by-step guidance importing data.
You can also select the Help menu option from CASPA’s main screen. Selecting Contents will allow you to browse the help system if you prefer.
Guidance Documents
If you select the Help menu option from CASPA’s main screen, selecting Guidance documents will display a selection of pdf documents that you can view or print. These are particularly useful if you want to read more about a particular subject or want to print instructions to follow. Most of these are also available via the help system but over time we have identified these topics as benefiting from being made available in pdf format for viewing and printing.
I Need to Speak to Someone
If you have tried the above and have a query that falls outside of those topics covered in CASPA’s help system, guidance documents, selecting the Help menu option from CASPA’s main screen and selecting Support will display your front line support contact(s).
As a general rule, where a Local Authority licence has been purchased, your central team(s) will provide front-line support for CASPA. Support issues fall into two relatively distinct categories; firstly, issues relating to installation and transfer of data to and from the school MIS, and secondly, issues relating to the operation of CASPA and how schools can get greatest benefit from it. Issues of the first type tend to be related to the IT infrastructure within schools, which clearly we are not best placed to advise on, and issues of the second type can often be answered within the LA as experience with CASPA is built up.