With the HCTB Activities feature, you can set up special bus trips for your Here Comes the Bus (HCTB) account holders to track, such as field trips, competitions, and food drops. Your parents also can choose to receive notifications for the activities. To create a new activity, follow these steps:


  1. Click  >> Activities.
     
    The HCTB Activities screen will appear.
      
  2. Click  at the top right of the screen.
     
    The Add New Activity screen will appear.
      
  3. Type a descriptive name for the activity in the Name box, such as Art Museum Field Trip.
      
  4. If there is a specific time frame for the activity, choose the Start selector and specify a beginning date using its calendar picker. ( means selected, and  deselected.)
     
    Then select End and use its calendar picker to specify the last date.
    Note: Alternatively, if you want to keep the date range for the activity open-ended (so that it can be run at any time in the future), you can leave Start and End deselected.
    Note: The Auto Start Activity toggle and Activity Schedule section will be displayed only if you have HCTB activity schedules enabled in Settings and, on the Activity Settings tab of HCTB Settings, the Auto Start Activities toggle selected.
  5. If you plan to create a schedule for the activity and want to have it started automatically by CalAmp K-12 at the time you specify, select Auto Start Activity. ( means selected, and  deselected.)
     
  6. If you would like to assign the activity to an activity category (such as Field Trips), follow these steps:
     
    1. Click the Activity Category  to expand the section.
        
    2. Select the category's check box in the Activity Category list.
       
  7. Set the activity tags your students' parents can use to search for the activity as follows:
     
    1. Click the Activity Tags  to expand the section.
        
    2. Type a keyword for the activity (such as "museum") and then press Enter.
       
    3. Repeat step b for all the words you can think of to describe the event, making sure to include at least each word in the name of the event individually.
       
  8. To create a schedule for the activity, follow these steps:
     
    1. Click the Activity Schedule  to expand the area.
        
      The three different scales delineate the time frame in which the activity start is considered early, on time, or late, as follows:
       
      • Early: A designated number of minutes prior to the expected activity start. By default, the Early span is set between 15 minutes prior to the start time and at the actual time.
         
      • On-Time: A designated number of minutes at the start time and up to a short period after. By default, the On-Time span is set between the actual time and 10 minutes after it.
         
      • Late: A designated number of minutes after the activity start time. By default, the Late span is set between 10 and 60 minutes after the time.
         
    2. To modify a time range, click and drag one of the old values above the green line to the right to make it later or to the left to make it earlier. For example, if you want to change the On-Time rightmost value to 15 minutes after the activity start time, click  and drag it right until it reads 15.
       
      The green line will increase or decrease in size according to your modification, and the other scales will automatically move their corresponding values as well.
       
    3. Repeat step b for all the times you want to edit.
       
    4. Click  below the Entry Range time segments to set the timetable for the activity.
       
      You may need to scroll down as well to see the Start Time and days options.
        
    5. Click the Start Time time picker.
       
    6. Select the time of day the activity bus run is scheduled to begin on the list that appears.
       
    7. Click the day(s) of the week the activity is planned to be performed.
       
    8. Click Save Schedule.
      Note: If the activity is scheduled to run at two different times of the day (such as at 10:00 a.m. and at 2:00 p.m.), you will need to add another row for the second time. You can do so by following step i.

      If the one time/day combination is all you need, skip down to step       9.
    9. You can add another row for a different time of day by clicking  below the Start Time and Frequency headers and repeating steps e through h for the new row of options.
       
  9. If there is a bus (or buses) that will usually or always run the activity, you can assign it as the default vehicle as follows:
     
    1. In the Unassigned list, click the check box(es) to the left of the vehicle(s) you want to assign to the activity.
       
    2. Click .
       
      The vehicle(s) you selected will appear in the Assigned list.
      Note: If you need to remove vehicles you added, select their check boxes in the Assigned list and click .
  10. Click  at the top right of the screen.
     
    Your activity will appear in the HCTB Activities list.
    Caution: You will need to have a job type enabled for activities that your drivers can select when performing them (either on the mobile data terminal [MDT] or in the CalAmp K-12 app) so that they can be started in the system and therefore be tracked by parents. (Otherwise, you need to always start and end your activities using the CalAmp K-12 software.)
     
    If you have already enabled such a job type (or if you only start and end your activities using CalAmp K-12), you can skip down to step 12. If you need to enable a new job type for the activity, continue on to step 11.
  11. You can enable a job type for drivers to select when performing an activity run as follows:
     
    1. In the accordion menu, click  >> Job Types.
       
      The Job Types screen will appear.
        
    2. In the row of the job type the driver will use for the activity, click .
       
      The job type's edit fields will appear.
        
    3. Select the Allow Activity check box in the row.
       
    4. Click  at the far right of the row.
       
      When performing that job type, your drivers can now select to run the activity.

Caution: You have one more step in setting up the activity — in fact, the most important one — letting your parents know that it is available to be tracked and how to do so.

  1. Communicate to your parents via email, phone, or HCTB Messaging (see Sending a HCTB Message) that the activity is available to be tracked via the Here Comes the Bus app or website.
     
    Be sure to include the name you've given the activity, the tags they can use to search for it, and this link to instructions on how they can add, track, and receive notifications about the activity via the HCTB app: https://tinyurl.com/HCTB-Activity.