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Configuring Service Codes

An administrator’s guide to tailoring the service-code catalog while preserving shared definitions and historical records.

What the service-code catalog controls

Service codes give a district a consistent vocabulary for describing completed support. The available catalog appears when staff code time in student service logs, group sessions, and macro-level efforts.

System-default codes also provide a starting crosswalk to Georgia reporting, Texas school mental health, MTSS, SSWAA, and ASCA. Read Framework Alignment before treating a code or tier as evidence for an external standard or report.

Catalog element	What it controls
Category	Groups related codes and reserves the numeric range those codes may use.
Code number	Provides the unique identifier used in selectors, records, and reporting.
Description	Explains the specific service or activity staff should select.
Delivery type	Optionally classifies the service as direct or indirect.
MTSS tier	Optionally associates the service with Tier 1, 2, or 3 reporting.
Availability	Determines whether the definition may be selected for new entries.

Who can manage service-code settings

District administrators and organization administrators with a district assignment can open Settings → Service Codes. Standard users can select available codes while documenting services, but they cannot change the catalog.

Understand the district catalog

The settings area has separate Service Codes and Categories tabs. Together they show the district’s effective catalog: SocialNote’s shared system defaults plus definitions created specifically for the district.

Ownership	What administrators may do
System default	Use the shared definition as provided, or hide and later restore an individual code for this district.
District custom	Create and edit the category or code, including its active and visible state.

Use search and filters to narrow codes by description or number, ownership, availability, and category. Availability labels explain why a code cannot be used for a new entry, including Inactive, Hidden, Category inactive, and Hidden for district.

Plan categories and number ranges first

Every category owns a numeric range, and every code in that category must fall inside it. A district range cannot overlap a system range or another district range.

1. Review the Service Code Reference and the Categories tab to understand existing system ranges.
2. List the local services that are genuinely missing from the effective catalog.
3. Group related services under a durable category name.
4. Reserve a non-overlapping range with enough room for likely additions.
5. Choose a district owner who reviews requests and prevents duplicate definitions.

Create or edit a category

1. Open Settings → Service Codes, then select the Categories tab.
2. Select Add Category.
3. Enter the full name staff will recognize and a concise short name for tables and selectors.
4. Add an optional description explaining what belongs in the category.
5. Enter a range start and range end that do not overlap any existing category.
6. Leave Active selected when the category and its eligible codes should be available for new entries.
7. Select Create Category.

Field	Example	Guidance
Name	District Attendance Programs	Use a stable program family, not a person’s name or a temporary initiative label.
Short name	Attendance Programs	Keep it recognizable when space is limited.
Description	District-defined attendance and re-engagement programs.	State what belongs here and what does not.
Range	2000–2099	Reserve enough room for future related codes.
Active	Selected	Clear it only when the whole category should disappear from new-entry selectors.

Create or edit a service code

1. Return to the Service Codes tab and select Add Service Code.
2. Choose an active system or district category.
3. Enter an unused code number inside the category’s displayed range.
4. Write a specific description that tells staff when to choose this code.
5. Select a delivery type and MTSS tier when those classifications are meaningful for the service.
6. Leave Active and Visible selected to publish the code for new entries.
7. Select Create Service Code.

Hide, retire, and restore definitions safely

Action	Use it when	Result
Hide for District	A system-default code should not appear in this district.	The shared code is suppressed only for the current district and may be restored later.
Clear Visible	A district code should be hidden from new selectors without changing its active definition.	The code remains in settings and historical records with a Hidden label.
Clear Active	A district code has been retired or should no longer be used operationally.	The code remains in history but is labeled Inactive and excluded from new entries.
Deactivate category	An entire district-defined program family is no longer available.	Its codes remain intact but are excluded from new entries while the category is inactive.
Restore	A previously suppressed system code is needed again.	The system code returns to new-entry selectors when its shared definition and category are available.

Worked example: a district attendance-center code

A district operates an attendance success center and wants its staff to identify those check-ins separately from the broader system-default attendance services.

After the code is created, staff can select 2001 — Attendance success center check-in in new service logs, group sessions, and macro-level efforts. If the program ends, the administrator should make code 2001 inactive rather than reuse it for a different activity.

Who can do what

Action	Standard user	District administrator	Organization administrator
Select available codes in new records	Yes	Yes	Yes
View service-code settings	No	Yes	Yes
Create or edit district categories and codes	No	Yes	Yes
Edit system-default definitions	No	No	No
Hide or restore a system code for the district	No	Yes	Yes
Change another district’s catalog	No	No	No

Governance checklist

• The system-default catalog was searched before creating a new definition.
• The category name and range follow the district’s numbering plan.
• The new range does not overlap a system or district category.
• Each code number is unique and falls inside its selected category range.
• Descriptions tell staff exactly when to select each code.
• Delivery type and MTSS tier have been reviewed for reporting accuracy.
• New codes were tested in the service-log selector before staff rollout.
• Retired definitions are inactive or hidden rather than repurposed.
• A district owner periodically reviews duplicates, unused codes, and naming consistency.