Troubleshooting
Start from the message on your own screen, not from the part of PTRS you think you are in. The message is what you actually have; the module is often what you are still trying to work out.
This page is an index. Every symptom links into the page for the part of PTRS that explains its cause and what to do about it.
Every module in PTRS is covered here: Attendance, Incidents, Notifications, Staff, Compliance, Centers, CACFP, Members, Programs, Health & Safety, Analytics & Reports, the Parent Portal, Administration, the AI Assistant, the Dashboard, and Notes & Audit.
Paste the message into the search box at the top of the page. The search covers the full text of every module's own troubleshooting page, so an exact phrase from an error usually lands you on the right entry directly.
Jump to a module
| Module | What it covers | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance | The kiosk, checking in and out, ratios, working offline | Attendance troubleshooting |
| Incidents | Filing an incident, working it afterwards, panels that read zero | Incidents troubleshooting |
| Notifications | The notification center, the header bell, screens that claim somebody was told | Notifications troubleshooting |
| Staff | The directory, credentials, background checks, training, personnel files, onboarding, scheduling | Staff troubleshooting |
| Compliance | The compliance radar's panels and the inspection simulator | Compliance troubleshooting |
| Centers | The site directory, the map, a site's own dashboard, licences and inspections | Centers troubleshooting |
| CACFP | Meal counting, the monthly claim, rates, enrolment and eligibility, menus, the food catalogue, inventory, procurement and special dietary needs | CACFP troubleshooting |
| Members | The directory, a child's own record and its tabs, the registration wizard, guardians and pickup authorisation, and Quick Scan | Members troubleshooting |
| Programs | The program list and record, its lifecycle, enrolment and the waitlist, schedules and the calendar, cohorts and consent forms, the curriculum builder and resource library, program staffing, goals, assessment, surveys and evaluation, and the charter, budget, partnerships, compliance, documents and planning screens | Programs troubleshooting |
| Health & Safety | Medications on site, illness records, emergency and care plans, staff certifications, a site's own health profile and member health | Health & Safety troubleshooting |
| Analytics & Reports | The analytics dashboard and its panels, the monthly statistical report, funder reports, the financial summary, the operational reports and the funder records screens | Analytics troubleshooting |
| Parent Portal | The five guardian screens (dashboard, child record, messages, authorization forms and settings), the account link that gates all of them, and emergency alerts | Parent Portal troubleshooting |
| Administration | User accounts and roles, the data-import wizard, organisations and sites, and your own profile and password | Administration troubleshooting |
| AI Assistant | The chat, the plain-English data question screen, the model status screen, and the regulation library | AI troubleshooting |
| Dashboard | The home screen and its seventeen panels, the site selector, and the live refresh | Dashboard troubleshooting |
| Notes & Audit | The notes screen, the audit trail, the integrity check, and the settings placeholder | Notes & Audit troubleshooting |
Four symptoms that are almost never what they look like
Before the full list, the four that account for most wasted time.
An empty list is usually a permission failure. A message saying nothing was found, on more than one screen across PTRS, is shown in place of an error the screen did not actually check for.
A panel that says nothing is wrong may not have looked. Several panels compute what they show once, before their own figures have actually arrived, and never recompute after. Clicking a sort control is often the whole fix.
A confirmation is not a delivery. Several buttons across PTRS report that a message was sent, a plan was generated, or an alert was resolved. PTRS has never sent a notification of any kind, through any channel.
A clean result can be a result over nothing to check. The OCCL inspection simulator reports a full pass because it has nothing to actually check against.
Every symptom, by module
Attendance
Checking a child in
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"Member '…' cannot check in until (date) due to 24-hour illness return rule."
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"Session is closed." or "Attendance session with ID '…' was not found."
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"No open sessions found. Open a session from the Attendance page first." Checking a child out
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The ratio panel says 0.0:1 and SAFE with children in the building
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A child was checked in twice, once offline and once online Nothing is wrong, but nothing appears
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Filtering the arrivals feed to "Check-outs only" shows nothing
Incidents
Filing an incident
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"Couldn't load locations or staff. Check your connection and refresh."
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"Invalid participant. Provide participantType 'Member' with memberId or 'Staff' with staffId."
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"Emergency medication details are required when medication was administered."
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"Conflict detected, please refresh and try again" After filing
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"Incident could not be submitted, it may have already moved out of Draft."
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"Organization context is required." Nothing is wrong, but nothing appears
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"Add Action" does nothing, and ticking a follow-up does not save
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The Parent Communication panel always says notification was not required
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The pattern panel says "No patterns detected" and I know there are some
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A pattern card names an hour that does not match our schedule
Notifications
Nothing is wrong, but nothing appears
- The Notification Center shows "Something went wrong"
- The bell always says "No notifications"
- I turned on "Enable Notifications" and nothing changed
- Nobody was told about the incident, the ratio breach or the check-out
- The Staff page bell had notifications and now it is empty
- An email was logged but never arrived
Staff
The page will not load
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"Something went wrong" on Shift Scheduling after choosing a site
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"Unable to load training compliance data." or "Unable to load audit readiness data." Nothing is wrong, but nothing appears
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The Staff Notifications bell always says "No notifications yet"
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The cross-site conflict banner does not appear when somebody is at two sites A number does not look right
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A personnel document shows as "Missing" right after I recorded it
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The same document counts as present on one screen and not on another
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The Expired Credentials figure counts something from years ago
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The training compliance rate is 0% when most staff have most of their training
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A figure on the Staff page has not changed after I updated something
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Sorting the directory did not reorder the whole list An action did not do what it said
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A training record was saved with the wrong date and cannot be fixed
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An onboarding workflow for somebody who never started is stuck on the board
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The certificate number I typed on Add Credential is not on the credential
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A credential badge reads "DEEDS Synced" and DEEDS was never contacted
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A background check reached Rap Back Enrolled and the record says not enrolled
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The "HB 47 Rap Back Enrollment Required" banner says the deadline has passed
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A staff member with a denied background check was scheduled anyway
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Nobody was told a credential, clearance or training was expiring
Compliance
The page will not load
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"Access Denied, You do not have permission to view compliance data."
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"Failed to load compliance overview" and "Failed to load compliance alerts", with the rest of the page drawing Nothing is wrong, but nothing appears
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The Active Compliance Alerts table is empty and the badge reads 0
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No site gauges appear under the big one A number does not look right
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"18.5h, Avg Resolution" on the Incident Reporting card never changes
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The Credential Currency donut reads 0 valid, 0 expiring, 0 expired
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The "Open" tile on the Incident Reporting card reads 0 with open incidents
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Documentation Completeness reads 0 complete for every requirement An action did not do what it said
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The "Live Room-Level Ratio Check (Wilmington)" section is empty
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Live updates never arrive on this page Something in the log
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"Failed to evaluate compliance for location …" every five minutes
Centers
The page will not load
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"No sites found, Try adjusting your search or filter criteria." with no filters set
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"Site not found, The site you are looking for does not exist or you don't have access."
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An Add Site button that returns an error when submitted Nothing is wrong, but nothing appears
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A site is missing from the "Sites by Type" chart on the dashboard
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The violations list says "No violations recorded for this inspection"
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The "Expiring Licenses" count on the directory reads exactly 10 A number does not look right
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The Capacity bar is red at 100% on a site that is nowhere near full
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The licence's capacity and the site profile's capacity disagree
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No expiry badge on a licence expiring next week An action did not do what it said
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The new site has no director and Fire Marshal Approved reads No
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An inspection cannot be edited, and the follow-up date cannot be set
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A site created as Temporarily Closed is never flagged by the closure check
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The site director cannot be cleared Something is refused
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"A license with number '…' already exists for this location."
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An unexplained error on Add License with a number that looks fine
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"Site '…' is at licensed capacity (n/m). Cannot enroll additional members."
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"Revoked" is not in the licence status list Something was deleted
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A deleted site can still be opened by direct link for about a minute Something in the log
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"Site '…' has no director email configured, skipping license expiry alert"
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"OCCL License #… has EXPIRED. Immediate action required." appears once and never again
CACFP
A meal count will not save
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"Failed to log meal count. Please try again." on Point of Service Entry
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"Failed to save meal record" on CACFP Meal Service or Meal Records
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"Invalid meal type: EveningSnack." A meal count will not change
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I deleted a meal record and want it back A claim will not do what I expect
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"Invalid program type: CACFP." after pressing Create New Claim
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"Please select a location first." after pressing Create New Claim
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The Override button on a failed validation rule does nothing
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The panel says "Run validation to check this claim" and there is nothing to press
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"Claim has N blocking validation error(s) that must be resolved before submission."
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"Approver must differ from submitter (separation of duties)."
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"Claim must be in Draft status to submit. Current status: X."
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"Submission deadline (yyyy-MM-dd) has passed. A late submission exception is required."
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The claim's Grand Total is $0.00 and there are no line items
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A claim's status will not move to Under Review or Paid A number does not look right
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The meal-period cards show service times my site does not use
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The revenue forecast tiles or the trends table are blank or the page errors
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Buy American Compliance Rate reads 0.0% and every row says "Domestic: Yes"
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The fiscal year on Buy American Compliance is a year behind after 1 October
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A menu template shows a green tick and "Meets meal pattern requirements"
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Low Stock and the FIFO queue disagree with the full inventory A menu, food or inventory record will not save
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"Invalid procurement method: FormalBid." or "…: SoleSource."
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"Failed to create meal substitution" on Special Dietary Accommodations
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"Insufficient inventory" on a transfer, waste or issue Menus, food and inventory show nothing
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The four tiles at the top of Inventory Management never appear
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The Food Item column on Inventory Management shows a long code
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A child with a known allergy is missing from the cross-reference Nothing is wrong, but nothing appears
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"Failed to load reconciliation data. Please try again later."
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The validation results block never appears on a meal record detail page
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"Failed to generate package" on Recordkeeping & Document Retention
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A DENARS package row says "Generated" but there is nothing to download
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The Real-Time Feed never shows a meal count An enrolment will not do what I expect
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The enrolment detail page shows only four fields Eligibility does not appear anywhere
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"Area Eligibility Not Configured" and there is no way to configure it
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"Free/reduced percentage 42.0% does not meet the 50% threshold."
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"Outcome must be one of: Confirmed, Tier Changed, No Longer Eligible, Non-Responsive."
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"Income application '…' must be Approved to create a verification." A food safety or compliance record will not save
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A finding category I typed is rejected Operations and compliance screens show nothing
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The four configuration tiles on Vended Meal Management never appear
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The Dashboard tab on CACFP Training & Staff Management is empty
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The Staff Member column on Annual Training Calendar shows a long code
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"No readiness data available." and "No compliance data available."
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I cannot attach a document to any CACFP record An operations number does not look right
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The Compliance Rate on CACFP Training & Staff Management reads 0.0%
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The training figures are all zero and I know we have records
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Selecting Completed in the corrective action filter shows every plan
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The Leftover tile on a production record does not match the record
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Nothing warned me before a certificate or training expired Permissions
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I am a Staff user and there is no Create New Claim, Approve or Reject button
Members
A record will not save
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Saving the edit sheet fails with a server error and nothing changed
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The registration wizard fails at "Creating enrollment record…"
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Add Enrolment says the immunisations are not up to date and I can see they are
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Adding a guardian fails with a server error Nothing is wrong but nothing appears
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The directory says "No members found" and I know there are members
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The Financial tab says "No financial information on file" for every child
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The review queue is not in the menu A number does not look right
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A note marked Confidential is visible to everyone A scan will not do what I expect
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A scanned child was created with a date of birth of 1 January 2000
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The average confidence on the stats widget is not an accuracy figure Permissions
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The Financial tab is empty and the padlock suggested I could not see it
Programs
Nothing loads, or it looks like a permission problem
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A regional director can press Create and cannot see the result
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The Program Calendar cannot be found from the menu A program will not save, or saves the wrong thing
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A long name or description returns a server error rather than a message
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The reason I typed on a stage change cannot be found anywhere
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The name under a snapshot is a long code, not a person The schedule and calendar screens do nothing
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A fortnightly pattern would generate weekly An enrolment will not do what I expect
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"Site is at licensed capacity" and this program is nearly empty
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A child outside the program's age range was enrolled with no warning
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The consent status on a child's Programs tab always says Pending
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A previously withdrawn child causes a plain server error on re-enrolment A number does not look right
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Avg Capacity on the program list is not the average of the cards
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The enrolment count on the overview differs from the Enrollment tab
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The waitlist position in the message is not the one on the card
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A program whose end date has passed is still Active The curriculum screens do not behave
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Every unit is called "New Unit" and every session "New Session"
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A session's activities, materials and assessments are always empty
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A resource cannot be attached to a session The staff and compliance tabs
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A staff member who cannot start work can still be assigned An outcome screen shows nothing, or only zeros
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A progress percentage over 999 returns a plain server error The charter screen
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Timestamps on the charter card are unreadable The budget screen
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The four summary cards do not match the budget I am looking at
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Spent and the expense list disagree Partnerships
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Every partnership says "Proposed" and the Active tile reads 0
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"Total Partners" does not match the number of partner organisations Compliance
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Version history shows a long code instead of a name Funding, grants and pillars
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The pillar list is empty The AI screens
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Compliance gap analysis does not mention my program's requirements
Health & Safety
The page will not show anything
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The tab bar is present but a tab shows nothing at all Medications
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"Failed to register medication" after choosing Inhaler, Injection, Eye Drops, Ear Drops or Nebulizer
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A medication registers even though the site policy should forbid it
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The Expiring Alerts list only ever covers 30 days Illness records
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"Failed to record illness" after choosing Hospital Transport or Refused Entry
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"Failed to record illness" with everything apparently filled in
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A child cannot be checked in after a pickup was recorded Emergency action plans and care plans
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No plan is ever flagged as due for review Staff certifications
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Renewing works on a certification whose type the form cannot create
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The coverage card tracks a certification nobody can add Site health and member health
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The site health profile saves but nothing changes The dashboard
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The technical dashboard shows the health document renewal check failing Authorization
Analytics & Reports
Getting in
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"Access Denied, you do not have permission to view analytics and reports."
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The page loads but every panel fails The analytics dashboard
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Turning on "Compare to previous period" shows the same number twice
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The Program Enrollment panel has data when nothing else does
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The Compliance Trend chart has points in one environment and none in another
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An incident or check-in appears on the wrong day of the heatmap
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Download Report ignores the date range and location I selected The statistical report
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The document is missing sections that are in the spreadsheets
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Last year's report gives different numbers each time I run it
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Program Participation is all in January Funder reports
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The report period is 30 days but the funder is on Annual reporting
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The report is described as AI-powered but reads like a database extract
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Generating a report did not move the funder's Next Due date Operational reports
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Compliance Summary shows a zero score and zero alerts for every location
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The Meal Count report's validity column is false on every row
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"Unknown report type" Funder records
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"Failed to create funder" or "Failed to delete funder" with no reason
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The detail page says "No contact name" for a funder that has one
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Grants we recorded against a program are not in Funding Committed Exports generally
Parent Portal
Getting in
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Signing in as a demo or test guardian shows the same empty screens
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An administrator opened a parent web address and saw an empty portal, not a permission message
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"Guardian is not linked to this member." Dashboard
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My child was signed out but the card still says Checked In Child
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The medication log is empty for a child who has medicine on site
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Signing with more than one child only signed for one Settings
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Some text stays in English in Spanish or Creole Emergency alerts
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An alert was acknowledged and the acknowledgement rate reads n/0
Administration
Getting to the screens
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Every screen says my account is not assigned to an organisation
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Signed in, no error, and every screen is empty Managing users
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A message says the account is not synchronised and cannot be changed here
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Deactivating my own account is refused Importing
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Every attendance row failed with a message about no active staff member
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A specific child is reported as not found on an attendance import
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A message about missing organisation context on every import call Profile and password
AI Assistant
Getting to the screens
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A message says you do not have permission to access the AI Assistant
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The AI Assistant menu entry is there and the screen redirects me away
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A message says you do not have permission to access this page, on the regulation library
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The regulation library loads, the sources list is empty and every upload fails
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The model status screen shows nothing for the first moment and then appears Asking a question
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A message says the AI service is unavailable, and nothing streams
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Every question is answered as though it were about attendance
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The answer stops mid-sentence, or a list arrives as one run-on line
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An email address, phone number or date comes back replaced with a marker
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A suggested question produces an answer about something else
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A question in Spanish or Haitian Creole gets the default panel Answers you should not act on
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"Who hasn't checked in?" returns a large expected total and no children
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A compliance gap analysis names gaps in a program it never read The data question box
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A message says the generated instruction was rejected for safety
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A message says the generated instruction could not be run, and asks you to rephrase
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A message says PTRS could not build a valid instruction for this request
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The Sanitized indicator says nothing useful The regulation library
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An unexpected failure when loading, while the chat still works
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A message says the document text is too short to be a valid regulation document
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A message says the name must contain only letters, numbers, hyphens and the mark _
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Another organisation's documents are in my Indexed Sources list
Dashboard
Getting to the screen
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The screen flashes a skeleton and then shows empty panels The site selector
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The Activity Feed shows other sites' check-ins after I select a site
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The attendance chart does not change when I switch site Counts and badges that do not move
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The Alerts tile shows a number and then "0 critical, 0 warning, 0 info"
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Critical Incidents is 0 and there are open critical incidents
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A site in Violation has the same grey badge as a compliant one
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The OCCL Deadlines panel says "N pending reports" and lists nothing
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The OCCL Deadlines panel is amber and a report is a week overdue
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The ratio banner and the headline tile disagree about the same site Panels that are structurally empty
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The attendance trend chart is empty and the sparkline is flat
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Expected vs Actual shows a huge Expected figure and Absent 0
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The site headcount looks stale Live refresh
Notes & Audit
Notes: getting to the screen
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There is no New Note button Notes: using the screen
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An organisation administrator cannot edit a departed colleague's note
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"Content is required" or the note is rejected as too long The audit trail
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A message says your account is not yet assigned to an organisation
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The Action or Entity dropdown does not have the value I want
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A message says no entries were found, but the total is not zero
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I want to see what the value was before the change The integrity check
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A message names a specific entry as broken, on a development copy
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A message says the chain is broken, on an installation with more than one organisation
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A message says the chain is broken, on an entry with others at the same timestamp
If your symptom is not here
Every module in PTRS is covered above. If your own message genuinely is not here, it may be new, or worth reporting so it can be added.
Two things are true across the whole product and worth checking first, before anything module-specific.
PTRS has never sent a notification of any kind, through any channel. Any screen text saying somebody was emailed, texted or alerted is fixed wording, not a report of something that actually happened. See Notifications.
The menu applies no check of its own. Every signed-in account sees every menu entry, and only finds out on opening a screen whether that screen actually works for them. An access-denied message or an unexpectedly empty screen is often just that.
Checked against PTRS on 7 September 2026.