Student Information Systems:A Discussion for FAEDS: Student Information Systems: A Discussion for FAEDS October 2003


Agenda: Agenda Introduction What Do Districts Want in a Student Information System? Who Are the Major Players Today? Who Are other SIS Vendors? What Are Some Lessons Learned? What Are Some Critical Success Factors? What Are Some Options Districts Pursue Today? Questions?


Pati Benson, IBM SIS Solution Leader: Pati Benson, IBM SIS Solution Leader Twenty (20) years as an educator including classroom teacher, high school administrator, district director, and project manager Ten (10) years of SIS implementation experience including project manager of the largest COTS district SIS implementation in the U.S. Certified Project Management Professional with the Project Management Institute Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction Doctorate in Educational Administration Email address: pabenson@us.ibm.com


IBM SIS Solution Area Practitioners: IBM SIS Solution Area Practitioners


What Do School Districts Want in a SIS? : What Do School Districts Want in a SIS? SIS applications have grown over time. Requirements have increased. Interfaces with external systems are needed including: Finance HR Data Warehouse Transportation Food Services Media Unfortunately, existing SIS COTS products don’t have all these components.


Who Are the Major Players Today?: Who Are the Major Players Today? Administrative Assistants Ltd / eSIS / www.aalsolutions.com Centralized, web-enabled system Significant functionality available Relatively new company; growing install base Chancery / SMS / www.chancery.com Centralized, web-designed system High degree of functionality from a school perspective Strong company; large install base Maximus / SchoolMAX / www.schoolmax.net Centralized, web-enabled system Significant functionality available Strong company; growing install base NCS Pearson / SASIxp / www.ncs.com/k12 Distributed system with some web-based modules High degree of functionality from a school perspective Strong company; large install base


Who Are Other SIS Vendors?: Who Are Other SIS Vendors? Ace Software / ADM2000 / www.acesoft.com Apple / PowerSchool / www.powerschool.com C-Innovations / Zangle / www.cinnovations.net Crosspointe / Crosspointe / www.crosspointeinc.com Eagle Software / AERIES / www.eagle2000.com ExLogica / Keystone / www.exlogica.com HTE / Phoenix / www.hteinc.com Infinite Campus / Campus / www.schoolextra.com StarData Technologies / SchoolServer / www.stardatatech.com Software Technology, Inc / STI Office andamp; STI District / www.sti-k12.com SunGard Pentamation / OPEN SERIES / www.pentamation.com Tenex / StudentSphere / www.tenexsys.com


What Are Some Lessons Learned?: What Are Some Lessons Learned? During the Requirements / Selection Phase Define Current Business Processes Create Detailed Functional and Technical Requirements Carefully Manage the Procurement Process During the Implementation Phase Conduct Exhaustive Gap Analysis Define New Business Processes Complete Thorough Pilot Plan for Training and Documentation Subsystem Interfaces Data Sources, Conversions, and Modifications Printing Reports


What Are Some Critical Success Factors?: What Are Some Critical Success Factors? Obtain executive sponsorship Create enthusiasm and sense of ownership Include ALL users Plan for effective communication Manage expectations Anticipate and mitigate risks Provide effective project management Plan for post implementation support / knowledge transfer


What Are Some Options Districts Pursue Today?: What Are Some Options Districts Pursue Today? Build Your Own Develop district-specific offering Combine efforts of a consortium of school districts Buy a Commercial Off the Shelf Package Create district-specific requirements Use existing state-authorized vendor list Procure a hosted solution Out-task support of district-owned software package Out-source software and support


Questions? : Questions? pabenson@us.ibm.com