var ttop = "";
var tbot = "
";
ans[0] = "
We save you time from the moment you log in to Charms. Our exclusive Hub gives you one-click access to just about every function, report, and financial statement within the Charms system. All of your students are listed alphabetically. Your library is available for immediate browsing. Quickly check off who turned in forms. ";
tit[0] = "Quick Access Hub
";
ans[1] = "
On one screen you can record the student's name, address, id, phone, cell phone, e-mail, classes, part, locker, birthdate, folder, uniform number,and more! We provide advanced filtering options to search on class, name, part, grade or gender. You can assign trips, classes, parts, eligibility, status and many more fields from global screens. Our student reports print right from your web browser in over 1000 different configurations! You can easily prepare bus lists, room assignments, folder assignments, seating charts and more.
Mailing labels are a snap with our exclusive PDF label system. You can even download a data file to merge into Word for hundreds of label configurations. We also provide self-definable fields, and an exclusive Student Quick Links bar for easy access to other student related screens in Charms.
If you allow, parents and students can maintain their own personal information through the Charms Parent and Student Area. Many teachers require that their students log in and check their information as a graded assignment.";
tit[1] = "Comprehensive Student Records
";
tit[2] = "Advanced Financial Management
";
ans[2] = "
Our financial systems are used and endorsed by booster parents such as bank officers, accountants, professional bookkeepers and can be as simple or as comprehensive as you need. Charms provides four student ledgers: Fundraising, Trips, Fees, and a Miscellaneous Ledger. Fundraising profits can be automatically applied to trips or booked to a student miscellaneous ledger. Money can be easily transferred from one ledger to another, or from one student to another, or even from a student to chaperone and back. Fees can be billed to everyone, or just certain classes, or even individual students.
Fee, Trip, Fundraising, and Complete Student Statements can be printed, emailed, or viewed online with a few clicks. Parents can make credit card payments for trips and fees through your own PayPal account linked to Charms!
Our Activity Fund and Booster Club ledgers track deposits by number and date, and can be linked to advanced budgets if you want. You can download most reports to Excel for further analysis. Charms even provides a read-only audit trail for tracking every financial transaction by date and user.";
tit[3] = "Telephone Messaging System
";
ans[3] = "
A great way to communicate with parents is to call them. But do you really have time to dial hundreds of numbers? Or can you trust a phone tree to reach everyone with an important message? Charms provides a solution: Dial a toll-free phone number, enter your PIN, record a message and deliver it to everyone on your list in a few minutes! Filter your list by class, trip, part, grade, etc, and choose which of the eight phone numbers in Charms to dial. You can dial the calls immediately, or schedule the call for a more convenient delivery time. There is a small charge for each successful call.";
tit[4]="Cell Phone Text Messaging
";
tit[5]="Integrated Grade Book
";
tit[6]="Advanced Parent Communication
";
tit[7]="Interactive Calendar
";
tit[8]="Superior Inventory Control
";
tit[9]="Simple Uniform Management
";
tit[10]="Printable and Downloadable Reports
";
tit[11]="Accept Online Credit Card Payments
";
tit[12]="Print Mailing and Other Labels
";
tit[13]="Easy End of Year Processing
";
tit[14]="Library and Recording Management
";
tit[15]="Easy Attendance and Notification
";
tit[16]="Global Processing Screens
";
tit[17]="Insane Technical Support
";
tit[18]="Built-In Music and Recording Studio
";
ans[4]="
Most students today carry a cell phone and know how to send and receive text messages faster than they forget their homework. Charms has contracted with a leading world-wide provider of text messaging to provide this service to our members. Simply type a message in Charms, save it, filter your cell phone list, and send your message instantly to parent and student cell phones. There is a small charge for each message sent.";
ans[5]="
Most schools require teachers to use the official district grade book, but for the times when you need something to supplement your current system, Charms provides a built-in grade book. Easily create your own grading periods and your own percentage-based rubrics. You can create assignments for one class, or multiple classes. Our grade book automatically calculates late penalties you setup. We also provide a Fill Down option for quick grading and with your permission, parents can view their student's grades online";
ans[6]="
The Charms Parent and Student area is a comprehensive yet easy-to-use communication portal. Our online interactive calendar lets parents and students know when and where to be. Instant program news is available for parents and students the moment they log in. You can upload all kinds of files for parents and students to download at their convenience, including Word, Excel, Images, Maps, PDF, and even sound and small video files!
Parents can view uniform, inventory, and music assignments as well as track fundraising, fees, and trip balances online.
And if you allow it, parents can maintain their own address, phone number, and email! And every time a parent calls you can record details of the conversation in the private Charms Parent Communication Log. We even provide a parent log-in report so you know who is actually using Charms.";
ans[7]="
The Charms calendar is more than a static calendar for downloading. As you make entries, or edit events, the calendar is automatically updated for parents and students. Events can be displayed for the general public, or just for students. You can even make events group-specific so parents won't be confused by events that pertain to another group. You can add simple visual prompts to let the parent know if the event is Required, Extra-Curricular or Optional.
Recurring entries are easily entered as well - one click to place an event on Every Friday, or for the next 5 days. And we provide a global event screen to quickly change calendar event parameters. We even tie our calendar to our attendance system for tracking absences and tardies.
For full districts that use Charms, we provide a combined event calendar.";
ans[8]="
The Charms inventory system is designed to keep track of equipment serial numbers, purchase date, estimated value and more. We ask you to create inventory categories to group like items, and we provide several reports, search capabilities and more based on categories. Repairs are easily tracked and repair costs accumulated.
Check in and check out of inventory is a breeze with Charms! You can barcode every item and use either the WASP scanner to instantly assign an item to a student and to check it back in, or use our Opticon for bulk check-in and check-out. Even without the barcodes, Charms gives you a quick way to assign and retreive inventory.
For complete districts that adopt Charms, we provide an additional set of administrator functions including an easy way to transfer inventory between campuses, a quick search from all campuses, and the ability to block teachers and helpers from modifying and/or deleting items. Contact us for more information on our inventory control systems.";
ans[9]="
The Charms uniform system is designed to be easy to use and understand. You begin by defining your own uniform categories for like items. You can enter each part individually, or use our Uniform Import Wizard to upload your entire collection at once. We automatically assign a barcode number to each item, which you can print on plain paper with one click, or contact our office for a set of permanent iron-on labels guaranteed not to wash or dry clean out!
Check in and check out of uniforms is a breeze with Charms! You can use either the WASP scanner to instantly assign an item to a student and to check it back in, or use our Opticon for bulk check-in and check-out. Even without the barcodes, Charms gives you a quick way to assign and retreive uniforms."
ans[10]="
Most of the main data groups in Charms are instantly downloadable to Excel. We provide a one-button download for student information, library, uniforms, inventory, booster club transactions, and activity fund transactions. Beyond that, most of our financial reports are downloadable to Excel format with one click. For label printing, we offer a \"Download for Word\" file, which you would use to mail-merge into Word for any style of label.
And, after many years of trying, we have mastered the art of printing mailing labels directly from Charms via a PDF system. (Ask our early members about the hassles of printing mailing labels from the web!)"
ans[11]="
Avoid the hassles and risk of handling student cash and checks by accepting payments over the web, directly from Charms! Parents can make secure payments directly from the parent's area day or night, from any computer in the world. Simplify your bookkeeping - parent payments are automatically booked to the student trip, fee or miscellaneous screens.
And working with PayPal is ideal for booster clubs - PayPal has no monthly minimum charges, no setup charges, and no credit card information is stored in Charms."
ans[12]="
Print mailing labels, locker labels, folder labels, and other types of labels directly to standard Avery or Generic formats right from your Charms screen. Filter your information, let Charms know how to order the labels, select up to 6 lines of information, and print!";
ans[13]="
Charms provides a simple \"Seven Steps to a Stress-Free Summer.\" At the end of the school year, begin by viewing reports of who still has inventory checked out, uniforms checked out, and library items checked out. Next, view a report of who still owes you money. Then, view a list of your graduating students or students who will be leaving your building. If your upline school is using Charms, you can send all those student records to the new school in one click! The next step invites you to promote all your remaining students, and finally you close the financial year by resetting trips, fees, fundraisers, and making opening entries for students and bank accounts.";
ans[14]="
The Charms library system evolved from our music program where a teacher needed to handle thousands of pieces of music and recordings. To make it easy for everyone, we added advanced searching on many fields, quick \"cloning\" to enter similar titles, a way to print box and envelope labels and an easy way to assign items with or without barcode scanning. To help our teachers locate out of print items, or to find another teacher that might have that item, Charms provides a way to search other schools' libraries if they allow it. Music teachers can search the Texas PML and order music through our online process or through popular music dealers online catalogues.";
ans[15]="
Attendance tracking in Charms is automatically linked to the event calendar. If an event is set for a certain group, only the members of that group are considered for attendance. We offer a simple check system to track absences and tardies with an option if the student is excused. You can also use the WASP scanner so students can scan their barcode ID to check-in for events. When on the field or traveling, use the Charms Opticon to record student IDs and upload to Charms for attendance processing.
After attendance is processed, open the report for that event and send an email notification to all parents with one click! Charms tracks and displays each absence or tardy for the school year, visible to parents in the Parent/Student Area.";
ans[16]="
Sometimes it's just easier to see all your students on one screen and check off boxes or enter everyone's payment at once. Charms provides many of these \"global\" processing screens to assign grades, build classes and groups, set gender, and indicate status for all students at once. We also provide global screens to enter phone numbers, collect forms, prepare and print seating charts, collect fee and trip monies, enter locker and folder numbers, track eligibility and even enter information in the self-defined fields. Assign inventory, library items, and place students on trips with global screens.";
ans[17]="
Our mission is to help teachers spend more time with students. For that purpose we have created the Charms Office Assistant. We design every screen with one goal - to help you get what you need quickly and easily so you can go back to working with students.
But sometimes you need help getting started, or find a bug, or have a suggestion. We pride ourselves on our level of tech support to our users and offer at least 5 ways to get help:
- Click on Mr. Blinky to chat with our live support desk
- Browse our Frequently Asked Questions
- Watch our growing library of How-To Videos
- Email us at charmssupport @ charmsmusic.com
- or just call our office and talk to real live people!
Either way, our primary job is to help you! If you find a bug, or a data error, we have a simple rule - we go DEAF! (no, we don't ignore you - we Drop Everything And FIX!) And why do we call it insane technical support? Because, quite simply, we do what it takes to get you up and running again.";
ans[18]="
Charms includes a free built-in recording studio where students can record and upload their own MP-3 files directly in Charms. Perfect for auditions, lessons, recorded homework, and more. Teachers can listen to playoffs, solos, and enter a grade and comments for the students to see. We even have links to small helper programs such as an online metronome, tuner, tempo checker, and blank sheet music.";