Frequently Asked Questions

For help with accessing and navigating a report or dashboard, users may contact the ITD Help Desk. For questions about the content of a dashboard, contact the owner (which can be found in the back of the dashboard user manual). 

Download this job aid on how to request help with the application. 

If you cannot sign into Focus using your SSO username and password, please request access using EZ Access. 

Log into https://ezaccess.lausd.net and click LAUSD Employees. Then, click Focus Reporting & Dashboards to request access using the Focus Reporting & Dashboards application. 

Note: Your site administrator must provide approval using the Access Approval section. 

Follow-up requests regarding applications that have been submitted can be emailed to focus@lausd.net. 

Unfortunately, you must re-apply for access via EZ Access. This is due to the fact that with a new role, you have a new supervisor and we must obtain approval from that individual for you to receive access to more data. 

Please see the above question, How do I get access to Focus, for instructions on how to submit an application via EZ Access. 

Implementing the new ad hoc reporting tool will improve the experience of generating reports using data found in MiSiS. Some of the major benefits include:

  • Flexibility – Provides more flexibility in ad hoc reporting at LAUSD, now allowing users to create reports at the local district and LAUSD levels if they have access to that data.
  • Self-Service Approach – Eliminates the need to request new reports to be created by IT – users can create and personalize their own reports.
  • Dashboards – Provides dashboards for various types of users (administrators, central office staff, school officials, etc.) consisting of the information those users need to have to succeed.
  • Historical Data – After integrating with MyData, will provide the ability to produce reports on historical student data, so users can look at information on a student’s previous enrollment and course history.
  • Up-to-Date Data – Data will be updated nightly; some data, such as select attendance and scheduling data, will be available in real-time.

 

Starting December 4, 2017, Focus is available via this URL: https://Focus.LAUSD.net. 

Focus includes job aids and videos that define the components of Focus and provide instruction on how to use the application’s features. To view job aids or videos within the application, go to the Job Aids and Videos section on the Welcome Page or any Subject Page (Note: job aids and videos on the Subject Pages pertain to the displayed Subject only).

The Basic Ad Hoc Reporting Class, an instructor-led training class, is available for registration in MyPLN. This class provides instruction on how to create and manage reports using Focus Reporting and Dashboards, including how to perform basic calculations and create a basic pivot table.

  • What's New

    Focus Reporting & Dashboards is updated with software fixes and/or enhancements every two weeks on Friday nights. Browse the notes below to learn about all updates released since November 2016, or view the notes on the application's Welcome Page in What's New. 

  • February 8, 2019

    Posted by Focus Reporting & Dashboards on 2/11/2019

    Looking for training on ad hoc reporting? Attend our upcoming training sessions of the Focus Basic Ad Hoc Reporting Class:

    • February 28, 2019 (Waiting list availability only)
    • March 14, 2019

    Both sessions take place at 8:30 AM in the Beaudry Building. Go to http://bit.ly/focus_training to register and attend.  

    Dashboard Updates

    Updates to Multilingual and Multicultural Education Department (MMED) Dashboards – On all MMED Dashboards, the Dual Language and Newcomer tiles have been updated. The Dual Language performance tile, which displays the count of students enrolled in Dual Language programs, has been updated to reflect a complete count of all Dual Language students, regardless of MPP status. The Newcomer tile, which displays the count of foreign-born students recently enrolled in a US School for the first time, has been updated to include Newcomers within the past 3 years or less, where it previously only included Newcomers within the past 2 years or less. In addition, the View by Years component displays an additional column to show Newcomers within the past 3 years or less. To access the dashboards, go to MMED and then click a dashboard name to open it (English Learner, English Learner Secondary, or English Learner Elementary).

    MMED Dashboard Dual Language and Newcomer  

    Report Updates

    New Monitoring Reports: California Science Test Reports – These two new tests are available to view results from the California Science Test taken by students in grades 5, 8, and 11. The California Science Field Test by Enrollment Location report displays results by the student’s currently enrolled school, and the California Science Field Test by Test Location report displays results by the school at which the test was taken. Both reports include details such as the Instructional Network Director name, student name, results category, and demographics information. To access the reports, go to Summary and then Monitoring Reports. On the Subject page, click California Science Test by Enrollment Location or California Science Test by Test Location.

    New Monitoring Report: Physical Fitness – This report is available to monitor students who have not taken the Physical Fitness Test or specific components of the test. It provides information on the number of students who have not taken the test (Not Tested), the number of students who have a saved test on file but have not submitted (Saved), and the number/percentage of students with submitted tests (Submitted). The report is organized by the test components. Click a blue hyperlink on the report to drill to a student detail report. To access the report, go to Summary and then Monitoring Reports. On the Subject Page, click Physical Fitness.

    Monitoring Reports: EL Service Attribute Report – This report has been updated to exclude college classes due to the fact they are not LAUSD courses and contribute to an incorrect calculation of missing EL attributes. The report provides a list of all sections and students in with an EL attribute in MiSiS. To access the report, go to Summary and then Monitoring Reports. On the Subject Page, click English Learner Service and scroll down to view EL Service Attributes by Sections. Click the gray Students button to view EL Service Attributes by Students.

    Monitoring Reports: Home & Services Enrolled – This report now includes a “Class Of” column for each student. The purpose of this report is to provide the number of secondary students by grade level who are currently enrolled in one or more Home or Service courses. To access the report, go to Summary and then Monitoring Reports. On the Subject Page, click the Secondary tab and then click Home & Services Enrolled to open the report. Due to confidentiality, only District IDs are listed for each student.

     

    Bug Fixes

    Mail Merge Secondary Marks Template – On the Secondary Marks Mail Merge Template, all tabs now display current data. A bug was causing the tabs for Periods 0-8, Periods 0-15, Credit Recovery, and All Periods to display No Data. To access the template, go to Summary and then Mail Merge. On the Subject Page, click Secondary Marks.

    Contact Information – Additional Information Subject Area Contact Name and Emergency Flag – A bug has been fixed so that all emergency contacts are displayed when filtering a report to display emergency contacts.

    Comments (-1)

  • January 11, 2019

    Posted by Focus Reporting & Dashboards on 1/14/2019

    Dashboard Updates

    Attendance Bands Dashboard Student Detail Reports Now Include Previous Year Attendance Band and Rate – On the Attendance Bands dashboard, all student drill reports now display two new columns to show the student’s Previous Year Attendance Band and Previous Year Attendance Rate. To access the reports, go to Operations and then Attendance. On the Subject Page, click Attendance Bands. On the table on the dashboard, click a blue hyperlink to drill to a report.

    Ad Hoc Reporting Subject Area Updates

    New Columns in Student Detail Subject Area: Previous Year Attendance Band and Previous Year Attendance Rate – These columns are now available to provide a student’s attendance band and attendance rate from the previous school year at LAUSD. To find the Previous Year Attendance Rate column, drill to the Attendance folder and then the YTD Attendance folder. To find the Previous Year Attendance Band column, drill to the Attendance folder and then the Attendance Band folder.

    New Previous School Year Enrollment Folder in Student Detail and English Learner Subject Areas – A folder with new columns is available in two subject areas, Student Detail and English Learner. The Previous School Year Enrollment folder, which contains different columns than the Previous School Enrollment folder, includes Previous School Year School Number, Previous School Year School Name, and Previous School Year Grade Level. To access these columns in Student Detail and English Learner, drill to Enrollment and then Previous School Year Enrollment.

     Previous Year New Columns

    Above: Report contains new Previous School Enrollment columns and new previous year attendance columns, as described above. 

    Current Year/Previous Year Information Identified in Each Subject Area – The hover descriptions available when the user clicks the New Analysis button now include a description of whether the subject area only provides data for students currently enrolled or also for students previously enrolled. See the screenshot below for an example. 

    Focus Hover descriptions

    Bug Fixes

    MiSiS Manage Groups – Learning Communities Now Display Correct Group Name – Previously, Learning Communities were not displaying the correct name when added to a report. Now, the correct Learning Community name is displayed.

    Parent Portal Campus View Dashboard Fixed for Multi-School Itinerants – Multi-Campus/School Itinerants are now able to view data for all assigned campuses or schools. Previously, users were only able to select one school.  

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  • About Focus Reporting & Dashboards 

    Available now, Focus Reporting & Dashboards (Focus) is a web-based reporting application that strengthens LAUSD’s reporting capability by integrating major systems used in the District. Focus consists of subject-specific dashboards, canned reports, and an ad hoc reporting capability. In addition to MiSiS, Focus consists of data from other systems used by LAUSD employees, like Welligent, Cafeteria Management System (CMS), and Adult Ed. During the 2018-2019 school year, new data and dashboards will be released periodically. 

    See the most common Frequently Asked Questions below, or go to the FAQs page for more information.