COMPASS Training and Support

Determining Student Transportation Eligibility in COMPASS:

The Department of Transportation Services is committed to making the process of fulfilling student transit requests as easily and efficiently as possible. The first step in this process is to determine whether a student is eligible for transportation. In order to determine eligibility, all pertinent data is entered into our mapping software called COMPASS. COMPASS is a web-based program that creates our District-wide bus routes. COMPASS is built using the leading, widely popular and standard GIS technology platform from Esri. This is the same technology used by the majority of federal, state, county, municipal and school district agencies. Our Scheduling Analysts use COMPASS to assign transportation services to students and communicate the transportation assignments to schools.

Understanding how COMPASS works will help you facilitate your students’ transportation as well as communicate with parents and guardians about their transit and routing concerns and questions. Please navigate to the the School Board Policy to view guidelines on student transportation.

Compass Access

Public Schools

If you need access to COMPASS, follow the guidelines below:

  • Principals must request access for any new COMPASS users at their school. To request access, principals should navigate to the SDP Portal on the School District of Philadelphia home page, and click on the Role Access Delegation (RAD) icon. Public school principals can access the SDP Portal link to request COMPASS access here.
  • Set up a COMPASS username and password.
  • The COMPASS username and password is the same as the SDP email username and password. New users are encouraged to test their COMPASS access via the School District of Philadelphia SDP portal within 24-to-48 hours of the RAD request.

Requesting Transportation For Your Students:

To request and change transportation for students School Administrators must:

  • Ensure the student information has been entered into your Infinite Campus (IC) correctly. Please visit the IT Training and Support page for detailed information on entering your students in IC.
  • Submit a Transportation Access Request (TAR): this is what tells a Scheduling Analyst a student qualifies for Yellow Bus transit.
    • Once you submit your TAR, your Scheduling Analyst will use the student information in COMPASS and review existing routes to put the student on the most efficient route.
    • For students who are eligible for TransPasses, a TAR is not required. If a student is eligible for a TransPass, COMPASS will automatically assign the TransPass once the student has been entered into the SIS. For details on the TransPass distribution process, please visit our TransPass Guidelines page.

Non Public

If you need access to COMPASS, follow the guidelines below:

First obtain credentials to access COMPASS by completing an SDP_ExternalUserForm for access to COMPASS.
Send the completed form to compass@philasd.org. A designee from the Department of Transportation Services will sign off as your district sponsor and email the form to the IT Helpdesk for COMPASS access.
New users will receive an email from helpdesk@philasd.org with their username, password, and a link to the School District of Philadelphia SDP portal to login to COMPASS.

Requesting Transportation For Your Students:

To request and change transportation for students School Administrators must:

Ensure the student information has been entered into XSIS correctly.
Submit a Transportation Access Request (TAR): this is a request to your Scheduling Analyst for student transportation.Once you submit your TAR, the Scheduling Analyst will use the information in COMPASS, combined with existing routes, to put the student on the route that is the most efficient.
For students who are eligible for TransPasses, a TAR is not required. If a student is eligible for a TransPass, COMPASS will automatically assign the TransPass once the student has been entered into the SIS. For details on the TransPass distribution process, please visit our TransPass Guidelines page.

Charter

If you need access to COMPASS, follow the guidelines below:

First obtain credentials to access COMPASS by completing an External User Request form.  This form can be obtained through the Charter Schools Office.
Send the completed form to compass@philasd.org. A designee from the Charter Schools Office will sign off as your district sponsor and email the form to the IT Helpdesk for COMPASS access.
New users will receive an email from helpdesk@philasd.org with their username, password and a link to the School District of Philadelphia SDP portal to login to COMPASS.

Requesting Transportation For Your Students:

To request and change transportation for students School Administrators must:

Ensure the student information has been entered into Infinite Campus (IC) correctly. Please visit the IT Training and Support page for detailed information on entering your students in IC.
Submit a Transportation Access Request (TAR): this is what tells a Scheduling Analyst a student qualifies for Yellow Bus transit.Once you submit your TAR, your Scheduling Analyst will use the student information in COMPASS and review existing routes to put the student on the most efficient route.
For students who are eligible for TransPasses, a TAR is not required. If a student is eligible for a TransPass, COMPASS will automatically assign the TransPass once the student has been entered into the SIS. For details on the TransPass distribution process, please visit our TransPass Guidelines page.

If you need additional training support, contact your Scheduling Analyst. Please view the Scheduling Analyst Assignment List to confirm your Routing Analyst and get their contact information.

You can also e-mail compass@philasd.org to request training support.