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Ralston Public Schools, IT Effectiveness & Strategic Planning Project - Current Assessment Report

Prepared by: Jason Richards, PRISM advisors Date: June 25, 2012

IT Effectiveness & Strategic

Planning Project Current Assessment Report

Prepared for:

Presented by: Jason Richards

Date: June 25, 2012



Contents

Introduction Background Key Objectives & Scope Project Methodology

Executive Summary Results Process Assessment Strengths to Build Upon Opportunities to Improve Strategic Planning Guiding Principles

Detailed Project Results Organization Understanding Current Technology Architecture Management & Support Structure Detailed Findings & Observations User Survey Summary Results Technology Investment Analysis

Supporting Information Project Plan & Timeline Data Gathering Interviews Documentation Review Technology User Survey

2

The purpose of this document is to present an assessment of technology

currently in place throughout all areas and functions of Ralston Public

Schools (RPS). The following outlines the contents included in this

report…



INTRODUCTION

3



Background

Ralston Public Schools’ mission emphasizes Achievement, Character and

Technology (A.C.T.).

Technology is a critical aspect of RPS’ vision for fostering “21st Century

Learning” environment In the fall of 2011, RPS prepared their 21st Century Learning & Technology Plan

covering the 2011-12 through 2014-15 school years focused on key benchmark areas:

Additional IT related planning had been done for technology-specific initiatives,

equipment and systems (e.g., Dell’s IT Simplification Assessment-2/2011)

Dr. Jerry Riibe, RPS Superintendent at the start of this project, desired to

build upon these plans and facilitate through a focused process for Strategic

IS Planning covering the next 3-5 years

PRISM advisors (PRISM) was engaged as an independent consultant to

provide facilitation and IT planning expertise to RPS and assist in evaluating

the effectiveness of RPS’ technology and prepare a Strategic IS Plan

4



Key Objectives & Scope

This Strategic IS Planning process is focused on the following key

objectives…

Understanding and defining current systems and technology in place

Conducting research on relevant enabling technology trends

Identifying and prioritizing system needs and requirements

Identifying potential solutions and developing a cost-benefit analysis for addressing

high priority gaps

Developing a roadmap and plan for implementing solutions

The scope of the project focuses on these functional areas…

All buildings – VMAC, Ralston High School, Ralston Middle School, Six

Elementary Schools (Blumfield, Karen Western, Meadows, Mockingbird,

Seymour, Wildewood)

All departments – Curriculum & Instruction, Student Services, Business

Services (Finance, Human Resources, Facilities, IT), Superintendent’s Office,

Board of Education 5



Strategic IS Planning Methodology

A proven approach for developing a comprehensive plan for RPS is based

upon the following Strategic IS Planning methodology…

6

Project & Change Management

1. Project Planning

2. Current State

Assessment

3. Systems Strategy

Development

4. Tactical Planning

We are here



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

RESULTS

7



Summary Project Results

This section of the report provides a summary of key project results in

the following areas:

Process Assessment – using an education industry process model and cross-

industry process assessment framework, each process is given a current state rating

with summary of key findings and observations

Planning Recommendations – for consideration in the strategic planning phase

of the project, recommendations are highlighted for RPS to consider related to

strengths to build upon, opportunities for improvement and planning guiding

principles

8



Process Assessment

Use of K-12 Process Model

In the late 1990s, an industry organization

called APQC (American Production & Quality

Control), in collaboration with industry

experts, developed a generic Process

Classification Framework (PCF) that defines

key business processes, sub-processes and

activities that businesses and organizations

should consider implementing in their

operations.

In 2006, a group of K-12 advocates within

APQC created a K-12 Education specific PCF

that highlights specific processes, sub-processes

and activities for school districts to consider

This framework serves as a structure for

assessing RPS’ current use of technology

throughout the district

9



Process Assessment

Rating Current Processes

For each of the identified processes, a Current

State Rating is given that appraises the overall

level of maturity of the process

Levels are adapted according to the Capability &

Maturity Model Index for Services (CMMI-

SVC) from Carnegie-Mellon’s Software

Engineering Institute (SEI) – www.sei.cmu.edu

The maturity level of an organization provides a

way to characterize its performance. Experience

has shown that organizations do their best when

they focus their process improvement efforts on a

manageable number of process areas at a time and

that those areas require increasing sophistication as

the organization improves.

A maturity level is a defined evolutionary plateau

for organizational process improvement. Each

maturity level matures an important subset of the

organization’s processes, preparing it to move to

the next maturity level.

10

Adapted from the Capability Maturity Model for Services (CMMI-SVC), v1.3 framework developed by Software Engineering Institute

(SEI) of Carnegie Mellon University, November 2010

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/



Process Assessment

Operating Processes

11

PROCESS

CURRENT

STATE

RATING SUMMARY FINDINGS & OBSERVATIONS

1.0 Develop Strategic Plan for District

• Strategic planning primarily performed by cabinet leadership on an ad hoc basis • District mission and vision statements posted on RPS website • Monitoring progress on strategic plan appears informal and ad hoc without defined program management and

reporting process

2.0 Develop,

Deliver &

Assess

Curriculum

Instruction

• Curriculum standards, guides and publisher supported content are documented and utilized at all levels o Alignment to Common Core Standards

• Professional learning and teacher development is encouraged either via PLCs, instructional coaches, and attending external conferences and resources

o Online professional development application (PD360.com) being deployed for certified staff o Conference registration process is largely paper-based but is planned to be automated this summer

• Extensive instructional technology available at all locations o All teachers have laptops and plans in place for upgrading over the next few years o A combination of computer lab classrooms and mobile laptop carts are available in all schools o All schools have just made iPad carts available for teachers to use in classrooms o Noted that available technology tools are utilized inconsistently by teachers with limited instructional integration

support (e.g., SmartBoards, iPads) • Online NeSA state standard testing completed by students primarily via computer labs and mobile computer carts • Assessment and testing data will be maintained and reported via new Data Director application slated to be

deployed over the summer o Data Director will provide teachers with on-line access to NeSA, ACT, ITBS, DIBELS and other test history for

each student – emphasis expected to put into effective training and support for teachers on Data Director • The SIMS system, hosted and supported by ESU #3, is the primary system of record for all student information

(e.g., demographics, attendance, grades, schedules, testing history) and related reporting o Central office and building administrative staff are primary users of SIMS for administrative activity o Teachers have limited access via web version of SIMS which is being enhanced by ESU #3 – Data Director is

expected to be the primary system teachers will access for student information o A couple of schools starting to use a different application for PBIS model (SWIS) requiring added data entry

Initial

(1.0)

Managed

(2.8)



Process Assessment

Operating Processes (cont.)

12

PROCESS

CURRENT

STATE


2.0 Develop,

Deliver &

Assess

Curriculum

Instruction

(cont.)

Student Information (cont.)

o Data collection of key student information in most elementary schools is via paper-based forms and entered either in

building office or central office (e.g., discipline referrals, daily attendance)

• Ongoing training and focused use of instructional technology planning time are common requested needs from end-user

community

3.0 Design &

Deliver

Student

Support

Services

• Special Education services utilize a number of State provided systems for capturing, tracking and reporting student information (e.g., SRS for IEPs, MPS for Medicaid claims, GMS for grant reporting)

o Staff time is spent ensuring state systems are updated and in synch with RPS systems (SIMS, FinancePlus) due to limited integration between the systems

• Counseling services provided at each school level utilize various technology tools in supporting students’ needs o Truancy reporting and compliance is facilitated via SIMS student information system o Counseling specific functionality within SIMS supports requisite documentation of student interactions o New Response to Intervention (RTI) program being designed and deployed - initially a paper based, with opportunity

to automate (e.g., GoogleDocs) o Guidance counselors utilize on-line career and college planning services with high school students – access Data

Director will enhance planning • Student Health Services track and maintain student immunization information in SIMS

o High school nurses log all student health activity in SIMS; elementary and middle schools still using health cards • ELL services are growing with increase in student population with English as second language – limited access and use of

technology o Increasing need for technology with multiple language and translation capabilities

• Early Childhood curriculum currently available at all schools with extensive technology used by teaching funded via Title I grants (e.g., SmartBoards, projectors)

• High-Ability Learning (HAL) teachers utilize available technology labs and on-line resources – no standard curriculum and resources in place

• Parent engagement technology limited to on-line access to R-Kids application (grades) and Alert Now communications

Initial

(1.9)



Process Assessment


13

PROCESS

CURRENT

STATE


4.0 Design &

Manage

Operations

• Purchasing functionality provided by Finance Plus application hosted by ESU #3

o Paper-based purchase requisition forms completed by staff needing something purchased

o Purchase orders entered into Finance Plus and approved on-line

o Beginning to purchase via vendors’ on-line catalog systems (e.g., Office Depot, Dell, Grainger, AMSAN)

o Procurement Card program being expanded for small dollar, higher volume purchases

• Student transportation needs are maintained within SIMS for special education, ELL and option enrollment students

o Edulog transportation software recently acquired to automate scheduling and routing currently done with use of

paper forms, spreadsheets and on-line maps

• Food Services at all locations managed by third party provider (Sodexo) with stand-alone, point-of-sale system

(NutriKids) used for daily meals and on-line lunch account system (RevTrak) for parents to purchase lunches on-line

o Evaluating options for integrating point-of-sale and lunch account systems

• An integrated library management system (TLC), hosted and supported by ESU #3, is used at all schools

• Copy services provided at Central Office are requested via paper form – opportunity to automate

5.0 Develop &

Manage

Stakeholder

Relations &

Services

• RPS migrated from First Class e-mail to GoogleApps for Education at the time of this report

o Early adopters and central office received training before school ended; additional training planned prior to next

school year

• Emergency communications facilitated through use of AlertNow for mass phone and e-mail distribution

• New RPS website being evaluated at the time of this report

o Current district site primarily static content; building pages inconsistently updated and used (school lunch menu,

newsletter

• Social media is not formally used for district communications

• Annual budget development process facilitated through use of spreadsheets and FinancePlus reports for printing,

presentation and approval by Board of education

• No formal communications strategy and plan in place

Initial

(1.3)

Managed

(2.0)



Process Assessment

Management & Support Services

14

PROCESS

CURRENT

STATE


6.0 Develop &

Manage

Human

Capital

• Finance Plus application, supported and hosted by ESU #3, is the primary HR information system for maintaining

and reporting employee information, job codes, salary and benefit information

o A paper-based Personnel Action Form (PAF) used for documenting and updating employee information

o A paper-based Leave Request Form used for requesting leave/vacation – slated for automation by ESU #3 this

summer

• Hiring process is enabled through the use of an online applicant tracking system (AppliTrack)

o Facilitates capturing and maintaining applications and resumes for open positions

o For certified positions, system used for screening candidates and referrals for interviews

o Not integrated with Finance Plus

• A custom development database application (FileMaker Pro), called EPP, is used by administrators for conducting

teacher evaluations

• SubFinder application, supported and hosted by ESU #3, is used for facilitating finding and assigning substitute

teachers

7.0 Manage

Information

Technology

• IT governance and oversight primarily done via Cabinet team and 21st Century Learning & Technology ad hoc

committee

• Limited IT policies and procedures are documented as part of Employee Handbook – no formal disaster recovery /

continuity plan in place

• Annual District IT budget managed by central administration primarily focused on district support personnel (5.5 FTE),

new hardware equipment purchases (according to 3-year rotation plan) and annual vendor support/maintenance

• ESU #3 provides primary IT services in areas of application development (SIMS, web, custom reporting), application

hosting (Finance Plus, SIMS, SubFinder, TLC), and systems and networking (WAN, Internet connection)

• IT Training of district staff is primarily on-the-job and informal

• Enterprise Information/Content Management primarily distributed throughout district through use of “best-of-

breed” applications that are focused on functional needs with limited integration and interoperability

Initial

(1.6)

Managed

(2.7)



Process Assessment

Management & Support Services (cont.)

15

PROCESS

CURRENT

STATE


7.0 Manage

Information

Technology

(cont.)

• Implementation of private “cloud” application (Stoneware) intended to be a “single-sign” secure solution for accessing

district owned applications from anywhere – currently accessible to teachers, but has had limited usage due to lack of

ongoing training and clarity as to how “cloud impacts daily user activities

• New wireless network components (Dell Aruba) has improved secure network availability and accessibility, but network

performance limited by bandwidth (provided by WindStream) and older connectivity equipment connecting buildings

o If primary wireless controller at high school goes down, a back-up controller would be needed to ensure wireless

connections remain available – critical especially during NeSA testing

• Numerous technology projects were noted to be in progress at the time of this report with limited or no formal project

management besides central office administrative oversight

• End-user support primarily provided by district IT staff without a formal service or “help” desk process or system in

place – ESU #3 in the process of evaluating help desk application solutions to offer to partner schools

• End-user training primarily provided upon deployment of new technology (e.g., “cloud”, GoogleApps, Data Director)

without an ongoing training program for ensuring effective use of technology according to job role

o User survey feedback confirmed this need for ongoing training needs especially in areas of instructional technology

8.0 Manage

Financial

Resources

• RPS’ Primary financial system of record is Finance Plus, supported and hosted by ESU #3

o Access limited to central office accounting personnel, HR personnel, building principal and secretary with proper

segregation of duties and internal controls in place

o School activity funds are handled in FinancePlus

• Finance Plus provides canned reports with the capability of using reporting application from IBM (Cognos Impromptu)

which integrates with Finance Plus directly

o Management analysis and summary reports are limited to ad hoc spreadsheets – no standard KPI metric reporting

• A majority of vendors are paid via paper check (a few electronic fund transfers).

• Payroll is processed using Finance Plus payroll functionality

o Job codes inconsistent between HR and Payroll modules

Initial

(1.8)



Process Assessment


16

PROCESS

CURRENT

STATE


8.0 Manage

Financial

Resources

(cont.)

o Various paper-based forms are used as timecards for hourly employs (except for food services staff clock-in/out on-

line)

o Employees can view payroll information on-line via Employee Access Center portal (e.g., pay advice, deductions,

demographic information)

o All employee payments made via direct deposit file transfer from Finance Plus to bank

9.0 Acquire,

Construct &

Manage Facilities

• Building maintenance requests are entered and routed via web-based application called schooldude.com

• No formal risk management program is in place for managing overall risk factors beyond insurance levels

10.0 Manage

Environmental

Health, Safety &

Security

• A formal District Safety Committee is formed as required by law for compliance, emergency drills, fire prevention and

general building safety and security

o Safety Committee recently subscribed to on-line training content available via Safe Schools Program and will be

deployed over the summer

• Physical security of building limited to key access with all buildings having security alarm system

o Limited video surveillance currently at buildings – would enable greater visibility and monitoring

Initial

(1.4)

Managed

(2.2)



Process Assessment


17

PROCESS

CURRENT

STATE


11.0 Manage

Intergov-

ernment &

Other Agency

Relationships

• Static, searchable Board policies are available via RPS website

• Board meeting information primarily paper-based

• Board performs an ad hoc annual evaluation of superintendent with limited quantified, empirical performance

measures

• Alumni relations is done on an ad hoc basis with a stand-alone database maintained for contact information, as

needed

12.0 Manage

Knowledge,

Improvement

& Change

• School Improvement initiative are focused on adapting and implementing AdvancED Standards for Quality

School Systems o A dedicated School Improvement officer facilitates adoption with building principals with technology support via on-

line ASSIST repository

o Prioritization has been placed by the Board of Education on focusing initiatives on AdvancED Standard #3 – Teaching

& Assessing for Learning

Managed

(2.0)

Initial

(1.8)



Process Assessment

Current State Rating Summary

18

Initial Managed Defined Quantitatively

Managed

Op

timizin

g



Planning Recommendations

Strengths to Build Upon

Strategic Importance and Alignment– Technology is identified as an overall

strategic priority with the district’s focus on Achievement, Character and Technology

(A.C.T.)

Continued Sustainable Technology Investment – for the past three budget cycles

(and for the next three years), technology spending has been steady and focused on

hardware rotation upgrade plan (e.g., laptops, mobile labs, iPads) and network

infrastructure (e.g., storage, virtualization, wireless, broadband) which is critical as

more technology is deployed and accessible to more end-users, namely students

Data-Driven Decision Making – proactive alignment to national standards and

emphasis on data-driven analysis related to school improvement and student

achievement

Process Automation – most of the current processes utilize some level of software

application (many web-based apps) for automating data capturing, processing and

reporting with opportunity to improve integration and interoperability between systems

User Adoption & Change Readiness – based upon survey feedback, over 80% of

respondents indicated use of technology at home and work with a desire for more

technology that improves their productivity and satisfaction

19




Opportunities to Improve

IT Governance – formalization of governance oversight committee and processes will

facilitate communication of end-user requirements and needs of students

Instructional Technology Support – training and support of classroom technology

has been limited and resulting in teachers avoiding use of available technology (e.g.,

“cloud”, SmartBoards, iPads)

Ongoing Technology Training Program – the user feedback survey consistently

reiterated the need for an ongoing, on-demand training program for various critical

technologies available throughout the district

Automating Remaining Manual Processes – several opportunities for automating,

streamlining and/or standardizing manual processes throughout the district including,

but not limited to: Daily attendance

Discipline referrals

Copy service requests

Timecards

Purchase requisitions

Budget development

Financial reporting and analysis

Board meeting documentation

20




Opportunities to Improve (cont.)

Document Management – paper-based records remain a critical method for

capturing and maintaining information which could be an opportunity for scanning

documents, making digitized documents accessible and reducing physical document

storage space

Help Desk Process – formalizing end-user support requests with a more structured

help desk process and system will improve utilization of district IT support and provide

improved, timely service to end-users

Project Management – with multiple technology related projects in progress, the

need for specific project management processes and skills will ensure coordination of

requisite resources and end-user communication for successful implementation

21




Strategic Guiding Principles

Shared Vision Proactive leadership in developing a shared vision for educational

technology among all education stakeholders, including teachers and

support staff, school and district administrators, teacher educators,

students, parents, and the community

Empowered Leaders Stakeholders at every level empowered to be leaders in effecting change

Implementation Planning A systemic plan aligned with a shared vision for school effectiveness and

student learning through the infusion of information and communication

technology (ICT) and digital learning resources

Consistent and Adequate Funding Ongoing funding to support technology infrastructure, personnel, digital

resources, and staff development

Equitable Access Robust and reliable access to current and emerging technologies and

digital resources, with connectivity for all students, teachers, staff, and

school leaders

Skilled Personnel Educators, support staff, and other leaders skilled in the selection and

effective use of appropriate ICT resources

Ongoing Professional Learning Technology-related professional learning plans and opportunities with

dedicated time to practice and share ideas

Technical Support Consistent and reliable assistance for maintaining, renewing, and using ICT

and digital learning resources

Curriculum Framework Content standards and related digital curriculum resources that are aligned

with and support digital age learning and work

Student-Centered Learning Planning, teaching, and assessment centered around the needs and abilities

of students

Assessment and Evaluation Continuous assessment of teaching, learning, and leadership, and

evaluation of the use of ICT and digital resources

Engaged Communities Partnerships and collaboration within communities to support and fund the

use of ICT and digital learning resources

Support Policies Policies, financial plans, accountability measures, and incentive structures

to support the use of ICT and other digital resources for learning and in

district school operations

Supportive External Context Policies and initiatives at the national, regional, and local levels to support

schools and teacher preparation programs in the effective implementation

of technology for achieving curriculum and learning technology (ICT)

standards

22

The following should be considered as guiding principles for RPS to use in developing the

an IT strategy for the next 3 to 5 years (adapted from International Society for Technology

in Education (ISTE) Essential Conditions to effectively leverage technology for learning….



Next Steps

Incorporate Board feedback on Current Assessment and planning

guidance

Identify cross-district representatives to form an IT Steering Team (~10-

12 members)

Conduct planning work shop(s) with IT Steering Team to develop IT

Strategy and Tactical Plans for next 3-5 years

Share strategic plan for Board input and approval

Communicate strategic plan district-wide

Initiate implementation of plans

23



DETAILED PROJECT

RESULTS

24



Detailed Project Results

This section of the report presents detailed information and data gathered during the Current

Assessment stage of the project…

Organization Understanding – describes the scope of the “business” and operations of Ralston Public Schools,

identifies current strategic initiatives and issues driving RPS’ decisions, and areas that RPS is currently being

challenged with and risks that RPS is focused on mitigating

Current Technology Architecture – documents current technology in place and being used throughout the

district including 1) Information Architecture (e.g., data, reports, content), 2) Application Architecture (e.g.,

software, web-based applications, mobile apps), and 3) Hardware & Network Infrastructure (e.g., desktops,

laptops, tablets, mobile devices, servers, labs, SmartBoards, clickers, projectors, “cloud”, wireless network, LAN,

WAN, printers, ESU #3)

Management & Support Structure – RPS’ current organization structure highlighting technology related

roles and positions

Detailed Findings & Observations – using the APQC Business Process Classification for Education, detailed

findings and observations are listed for each Operating and Management & Support Service Processes as discovered

through data gathering interviews, site visits and observations, and review of available documentation

Detailed Process Assessment – using the Capability Maturity Model Index (CMMI), each process is given a

Current State Rating based upon confirmed findings and observations

User Survey Summary Results – high-level results from the technology survey responses received from RPS

staff (detailed results included in Supporting Information section)

Technology Investment Analysis – a summary analysis of RPS’ total technology spend (last 3 budget years)

25



Organization Understanding

Ralston Public Schools (RPS) is a Class 3 Nebraska Public

School District located on the south-central edge of the

Omaha metropolitan area, including the city of Ralston

and parts of southwest suburban Omaha

RPS serves between 3,000 and 3,200 students every year

in six elementary buildings, one middle school, one high

school and one senior high alternative center In 2010-11, 46.5% of student population was Free/Reduced Meals

In 2009-10, total General Fund Revenues was $30,706,885

Ralston employs ~27 0 full-time teachers and maintains a

teacher-to-student ratio of approximately 22-to-1 82% of the teachers have earned college credits beyond their

Bachelor’s degree, while 61 % of teachers hold at least one

Master’s degree

Teaching staff consists of a combination of new and veteran

educators who have an average of 10 years of experience in the

district

All schools within the district are accredited by the

Nebraska Department of Education and AdvancED

26

Our Educational Mission To develop self-reliant citizens who are

motivated to lifelong learning, capable of

living successfully and working productively

in an ever-changing world, and prepared to

relate to a variety of cultures, through a

superior educational environment which

combines effective teaching methods, a

comprehensive curriculum, community

support, and concern for the person.

Unleashing Excellence Achievement – Character - Technology

Source: www.ralstonschools.org/aboutus




Key Organization Drivers

21st Century Teaching & Learning Initiative – including many

elements such as learning outcomes, infrastructure enhancement,

equipment allocation, and training and staff development

District Accreditation – adopting and implementing AdvancED

Standards for quality school systems including district-wide governance

and policies

School Improvement Goals – focusing on improving student

performance in Literacy and Mathematics

Curriculum Alignment – evaluating current curriculum standards to

align with Common Core standards

Home Visits – connecting teachers with parents of students at all levels

via annual visits to families’ homes

27




Key Challenges & Risks

Learning Community – operating under a common levee continues

to evolve and be defined with the 2-county Learning Community

Ever-Changing Student Population – over half of the student

population are on free/reduced meals; 35% minority ethnic mix

Financial Constraints – 80+% of annual operating budget is tied to

salaries; state funding support decreasing

Professional Development – limited resources require targeted

investments in staff development

28



Current Technology Architecture

RPS’s current enabling technology consists of the following architectural

components…

29

APPLICATION

ARCHITECTURE

HARDWARE &

NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

INFORMATION

ARCHITECTURE

What data and content is critical

to the District for providing

educational and support services

and how is it maintained, stored,

accessed and secured?

What software

applications are being

used to capture, process,

report and access

information and content

throughout the District

What hardware components and

devices operate the District’s

applications and how does the

District’s network provide

connectivity, integration and

communications among end-users?

End-User Community

Who are the primary users

accessing and processing data,

utilizing software and using

District technology resources?

Service & Support

Who manages and

delivers technical service

and support of end-users

throughout District?




End-User Community

The following make up the key ‘end-users’ and stakeholders of RPS’

technology resources…

30

Principals Teachers Students

Admin

Support

School

Board

Finance/

Accounting

Curriculum

& Instruct

Food

Services

Buildings &

Grounds

Building

Secretaries

Para-

Professionals

Media

Specialists

Counselors

Human

Resources

Student

Services Transportation

Cabinet

Leaders

IT

Parents

Nurses

Marketing/

Communica

tions

Activities

ESU #3

SCHOOLS ADMINISTRATION

EXTERNAL Nebraska

Dept of

Education U.S. Dept of

Education Taxpayers

Learning

Community




Information Architecture

Information Architecture relates to what types of data and content the District captures,

processes, reports and accesses, how it is maintained and stored, and how often it is

updated

General types of data and content maintained throughout the District include the

following (according to RPS’ primary functional areas): Curriculum & Instruction

Activity Information – school sponsored activities, events, schedules/calendars

Assessment Information – standardized testing and benchmark scores (e.g., Dibels, NeSA, ITBS) maintained for a

student’s academic career in RPS

Classroom Content – curriculum content delivered through classroom instruction and learning (e.g., lesson plans,

student course work and assignments, subject area content, text-book content, on-line research/sources, video, audio)

Curriculum Information – standards, curriculum guides, course master, extra-curricular activities

Employee Information – certifications, professional development activities

Student Information – name, demographic, health, attendance, behavior and grading data, home visits

Student Services Counseling Information – psychological services, behavioral plans, student guidance, career/college planning

Curriculum Information – early childhood, ELL, HAL, WAVE program

Employee Information – Special Ed job codes, teachers/specialists, certifications

Financial Information – Special Ed/Title I grant funds, grant expenditures, Medicaid claims

Nutrition Information – food service data

Student Information – Special Ed/ELL/HAL student demographics, IEPs, health information, bus students,

Transportation Information –school bus schedule and routing data, bus drivers

31




Information Architecture (cont.)

Business Services Applicant Information – job openings, name, demographic and resume data of job applicants

Asset Information – vehicle, furniture and equipment assets, IT hardware, software licenses

Building Information – work requests, construction

Communications Content – marketing brochures, word processing, website content, e-mails, emergency v-

mails/e-mails

Employee Information – job codes (e.g., certified, classified, administrators), employee demographics, salary

history, timecard, benefits, payroll, substitute teachers, custodians, teacher observations/evaluations, attendance, user

roles, system security authorization and access, training

Financial Information – budgeting, general ledger, accounts payable, activity account, purchase requisitions,

purchase orders, p-card transactions, vendor invoices, food service billings, parent lunch payments, IT budget/

expenditures, maintenance budget

Inventory Information – classroom materials and supplies data (e.g., office supplies, cleaning supplies, tools, books)

IT Operational Information – network performance, availability, utilization

Nutrition Information – lunch menus, school menu plans, food purchases

Project Information – project scope, plan, schedule, status, issues

Safety Information – training content, inspections, security monitoring

Service Information – IT services, end-user requests, support, issues resolution

Strategy Information – vision, mission, strategic objectives, plan, key performance indicators

Vendor Information – goods and service suppliers, providers and partners

Other Alumni Information – graduating classes, contacts

Governance Information – Board of Education documentation related to policy, budget and superintendent

evaluation

Quality Standards – AdvancED ASSIST

32




Application Architecture

Application Architecture includes software applications available and used to access,

retrieve, process, report and analyze throughout the District

The following lists the District’s current available applications…

33




Application Architecture (cont.)

34





35





36




Hardware & Network Infrastructure

The following diagram depicts current networked server hardware…

37

ESU #3 DATA

CENTER

RHS DATA

CENTER

FinancePlus

SubFinder

SIMS

First Class E-

mail/V-mail/Web

Server

StoneWare

Private Cloud

Virtual Server

(Dell 710)

Microsoft Active

Directory (2)

Dell SAN

Storage Server A-Plus Credit

Recovery Server

TLC PowerMedia

Plus

FileMaker Pro

(EPP System)

-Internal

-External

-SQL DB

-Terminal Server

RHS DHCP

Network Server*

*Each building has a DHCP server for

supporting wired legacy networked

computers

CENTRAL

OFFICE

SERVER ROOM

Foundation

QuickBooks

PaperVision

NutriKids

NutriKids

NOTE: Hardware for subscription based (SaaS) applications not included.




Hardware & Network Infrastructure (cont.)

The following diagram depicts network connectivity components…

38



Management & Support Structure

39

RPS BOARD OF

EDUCATION

Dr. Jerry Riibe Superintendent

Kristi Gibbs Asst. Superintendent –

Curriculum & Instruction

Dr. Mark Adler Asst. Superintendent –

Business Services

Brad Dahl Director-Student Services

School Building

Principals

Ralston High

School Ralston Middle

School

Blumfield Elementary School

Karen Western Elementary School

Meadows Elementary School

Mockingbird Elementary School

Seymour Elementary School

Wildewood Elementary School

Finance & Accounting

Building & Grounds

Payroll

District IT Services

School Improvement

Special Programs

Transportation Services

Food Services

Instructional Coaches

Special

Education

ELL

Title I Pre-

School

High Ability Learning

Social Services

Nursing/Health Services

Psychological

Services

Certified Staff Admin Classified Staff Admin

WAVE School



Management & Support Structure

Current Technology Support Roles

District IT Services

IT Director (1 FTE)

Assistant IT Director (1 FTE)

District Technologist (1FTE)

Student Information Coordinator (1 FTE)

Student Information Admin Support (1 FTE)

Instructional Technology Facilitator

(0.5 FTE)

TOTAL=5.5 FTEs

Data Analysis & Reporting Services

Student Achievement/Improvement

(0.5 FTE)

School-Based IT Support

High School

Computer Lab Support (2 FTE)

Media Specialist (1 FTE)

Computer Advocates (?)

Middle School

Media Specialist (1 FTE)


Elementary Schools

Media Specialists (3 FTEs)


TOTAL = ~7 FTEs

40



Detailed Findings & Observations

Data gathered from interviews, site visits, observations and document reviews are

documented according to the APQC Business Process Classification Framework for

Education…

41

6.0

•6.0 Develop & Manage Human Capital

7.0

•7.0 Manage Information Technology

8.0

•8.0 Manage Financial Resources

9.0

•9.0 Acquire, Construct & Manage Facilities

10

.0

•10.0 Manage Environmental Health, Safety & Security

11

.0

•11.0 Manage Intergov-ernment & Other Agency Relationships

12

.0

•12.0 Manage Knowledge, Improve-ment & Change

•1.0 Develop Strategic Plan for District

•2.0 Develop, Deliver & Assess Curriculum Instruction

•3.0 Design & Deliver Student Support Services

•4.0 Design & Manage Operations

•5.0Develop & Manage Stakeholder Relations & Services

OPERATING PROCESSES

MANAGEMENT & SUPPORT SERVICES

Source: APQC’s Process Classification Framework for Education (PCF) v. 5.0, www.apqc.org

http://www.apqc.org/



Detailed Findings & Observations (cont.)

Why a “Process” Model? This Process Classification Framework (PCF) is being used to assess RPS’ strategies based upon the

understanding of the key activities described during the data gathering and experience with similar

organizations

The framework helps in describing current processes that are critical to providing services and support to stakeholders and

in providing a framework for assessing current technology enablement and effectiveness - as a whole - against the needs and

operations of the organization

“Process” Defined A “process” is defined as a series of activities that adds value to a “stakeholder”

Stakeholders are, by definition, at the heart of a process – e.g., stakeholders for RPS include students, parents

administrators, teachers, staff, vendors, tax payers and other external entities

Processes typically cross departmental boundaries – there are no natural owners for processes

Technology serves as a “tool” for enabling a single process or multiple processes

All processes and activities are managed and evaluated using key performance indicators that measure

efficiency and effectiveness of the organization

For each process in the PCF, the following components are documented in detail: Process Findings – narrative description of finding and observation

Information Architecture – listing of general data types critical to the process

Application Architecture – listing of software applications and content sources that enable the process

Key Users/Stakeholders – identifying users and stakeholders involved and/or impacted by process

Hardware & Network Infrastructure – identifying technical infrastructure components supporting the process

Architecture Map – graphic overview of the architecture components related to the process

42




Operating Processes

43

1.1 Adopt a vision

and mission for the

district

1.2 Develop an

Implementation

Plan

1.3 Maintain and

monitor the

progress of the

strategic plan

1.0 Develop Strategic Plan for District

Source: APQC’s Process Classification Framework for

Education (PCF) v. 5.0, www.apqc.org

1.0 DEVELOP STRATEGIC PLAN FOR DISTICT

PROCESS FINDINGS

Vision & Mission

• Ralston Public Schools has developed a mission and vision for the district (see previous Organization Understanding page)

• Vision includes emphasis on 21st Century Learning & Teaching

• RPS’ motto is ‘Unleashing Excellence: Achievement-Character-Technology”

• Several initiatives are being implemented that are strategic in nature, including, but not limited to:

• School Improvement and AdvancED Quality Standards (see 12.0 Manage Change)

• Home visits and “Who Cares?” initiative (see 5.0 Stakeholders)

• Curriculum Alignment with Common Core Standards (See 2.0 Curriculum)

• “All ACT” High School

• A defined “scorecard” for monitoring progress and impact of strategic initiatives appears to be informal and ad hoc without a defined program and

reporting process

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

• Strategy – vision, mission, strategic objectives, plan, key performance indicators

APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE KEY USERS / STAKEHOLDERS

HARDWARE & NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Ralston Schools Website • Board of Education

• Cabinet Leaders

• Principals

• Community

• Internet

ARCHITECTURAL MAP

43

Strategy Information

RPS.COM District vision, Mission






44

2.1 Develop

curriculum

2.2 Design and

deliver

professional

learning

2.3 Provide effective

instructional

programs

2.4 Assess student

achievement

2.5 Evaluate

programs

2.6 Design and align

extra curricular

services*

2.0 Develop, Deliver & Assess Curriculum Instruction



* Sub-process tailored to RPS’ situation and re-

categorized here from 3.0 process

2.0 DEVELOP, DELIVER & ASSESS CURRICULUM INSTRUCTION

PROCESS FINDINGS

Curriculum

• RPS has developed a comprehensive set of Curriculum Guide documents that reflect the curricular standards and outcomes at all levels

• Guides are currently MS Word documents that are available to all teaching staff

• The vision is to migrate documents to an online applications that allows for more interaction and navigation of the district’s curriculum

standards

• RPS has adopted and deployed new curriculum programs for key areas including language arts (reading/writing), mathematics, and science

• Third party curriculum vendors provide text books and on-line resources

• Story Town (www.harcourtschool.com) - reading

• Math Expressions (www.eduplace.com) - math

• Think Central (www.ThinkCentral.com) – reading/math

• Pearson SuccessNet (www.pearsonsuccessnet.com) – science

• Lucy Calkins – writing

• RPS is in the process of aligning current curriculum standards with the Common Core State Standards (www.commoncorestandards.org)

Professional Learning

• RPS has adopted a Professional Learning Community (PLC) model for all certified teaching staff at all levels

• PLCs meet during planning time to address issues, share ideas and collaborate as teams

• Primarily school-based, however, some PLCs are forming district wide by subject and/or elementary grade-level

• Instructional coaches are utilized primarily for new teacher induction and first year support

• Coordinated training on district technology including e-mail (First Class), classroom delivery (Angel), student information (SIMS),

curriculum (Story Town, Math Expressions), assessments (Data Director)

• Teacher evaluation intervention support is also provided by instructional coaches (4)

• Instructional coaches coordinate and facilitate ASCD and 21st Century Skills workshops

• RPS is currently piloting an on-line professional development application called PD360 (www.schoolimprovement.com)

• Provides access to certified staff to on-line videos to develop or enhance teaching skills and techniques

• Enables planning and tracking of professional development activities

• Teaching certification information is maintained and updated in SIMS and FinancePlus HR

• RPS encourages employees to plan and attend professional development conferences especially those tie to curriculum

• A teacher seeks approval for staff development from building principal and completes paper request form to attend a conference – approved

request form is sent to central office, registration is completed and paid, arrangements made for substitute teacher

• This process will become more automated this summer with an online application being developed by ESU#3

Continued on next page


http://www.harcourtschool.com/

http://www.eduplace.com/

http://www.thinkcentral.com/

http://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com/

http://www.commoncorestandards.org/

http://www.schoolimprovement.com/





45


PROCESS FINDINGS (cont.)

Classroom Instruction

• Use of classroom technology is envisioned to better impact student achievement and 21st century skills – current available classroom technology tools is perceived to be more

geared to production rather than as a learning enabler

• New teachers within the last three years have been trained and educated on newer technologies, however, such technologies have not been made available in the RPS

classrooms

• Select number of secondary teachers (e.g., science) use an on-line learning management system called Angel (science, math) or Quia (foreign languages) for student

instruction and interaction including content delivery, collaboration, homework assignments, student coursework, quizzes, tests, assessments, student communications

• All buildings provide access computers via stationary computer lab classroom and/or via mobile laptop carts

• At elementary level, computer labs consist of Apple desktops that are 8+ years old; mobile carts consist of ~30 MacBook laptops

• Mockingbird does not have computer lab, but has 3 mobile laptop carts

• Blumfield and Seymour do not have a mobile laptop cart s– suggested redeploying teacher laptops to a mobile cart when updated

• Most classrooms have a few (2-5) older desktops available – typically used as stations/centers or enrichment, too old to run newer software or access on-line content

• Most projects (except at Blumfield) have mobile projector carts used in classrooms – noted wires plugged into projector and teacher machine cause a safety concern

• Noted that TV/VCR/DVD equipment in classroom consistently “not used very often” – videos and content most often viewed with laptop and projector

• Middle school has two Apple computer labs and one PC lab for Industrial technology, 2 mobile laptop carts and projectors (Apple TVs)

• High school has 5-6 Apple computer lab and on PC lab for Industrial technology

• Deployment of iPads has been focused on getting devices into the classroom and into student’s hands

• Each school has at least one mobile cart of iPads (~30 units each cart) – carts are reserved and checked-out by teachers interested in using in classroom

• More than 500 apps have been imaged and made available on all iPads – a formal request process has been put in place to control what apps are installed on the units and to

avoid inequity

• Integration and alignment with curriculum is still being evaluated on how to effectively deploy and utilize iPads in the classroom

• Media specialists have worked with interested teachers in customizing lesson plans that utilize iPads (e.g., 5th grade app evaluation at Meadows)

• Observed how middle school math class used iPads simulate and learn about probability concepts

• The RPS Foundation has funded a pilot program for evaluating methods and practices for using iPads in the classroom – 6-7 teachers in Spring; 10-12 teachers in Fall

• Initial findings highlight need for enabling teachers to be willing to take risk and integrate iPads in learning process and engaging students

• SmartBoard equipment (e.g., interactive whiteboard, projector) and related content management software has been deployed throughout all buildings, however, to varying extents

based upon on adoption by teaching staff

• Most of the schools have mobile SmartBoards which requires a teacher to reserve, move and set-up equipment for use in the classroom – being mobile also tends to be less

stable and requires “recalibrating” if bumped slightly

• Classrooms where SmartBoards are mounted along with mounted projectors appear to be better utilized and more integrated into daily classroom instruction (e.g., Blumfield

2nd – 6th grades; all Pre-K classrooms) – examples of usage include taking attendance, lunch count






46



Classroom Instruction (cont.)

• Several schools have classroom response systems (aka “Clickers”) available for teachers to use for formative assessments within the classroom

• Most schools are rarely using Clickers as part of the learning process – no class observed for this project used the clickers

• At the elementary level, Ashlock instructional delivery methods for language and reading development are being deployed by teachers

• Ashlock training was provided for teachers adopting method in their classroom

• Ashlock templates and guides are available electronically for teachers to access on-line (First Class Conference) and use with their class

Assessments

• RPS performs formative and summative assessments throughout the year with the use of standard testing tools including

• ITBS – Iowa Tests for Basic Skills (by Riverside Publishing) – paper based testing; results accessible via online Interactive Results Manager (iRM) system

• NeSA – Nebraska State Accountability on-line standardized tests (reading, math, writing, science) – made available by State Department of Education and provided by a third

party hosting provider, Computerized Assessments and Learning.

• NeSA testing materials are ordered and prepared for each school by curriculum admin secretary

• Students with testing accommodations are tracked and reported in SIMS (e.g., paper-based testing, language translation, alternate test) – this is used to ensure

appropriate NeSA testing material materials are available and delivered to the school for those students requiring such accommodations

• Check for Learning (C4L) Assessment System is the State’s on-line testing application – not compatible with iPads

• Dibels – test results entered and viewable via www.Dibels.org on-line portal

• ACT EXPLORE – all high school students take the ACT

• RPS is currently in the process of configuring and deploying Data Director, a data analysis and reporting application (“data warehouse”) that enables the capturing, analyzing and

reporting on student performance and achievement -

• Data Director is a web based application provided by Riverside Publishing

• Application will provide data for assessments, standards, longitudinal data, student demographics; potential to load additional data including behavioral, transcripts and

testing history

• Only a limited number of users have access to the system currently as the system is being set-up and prepared for deployment to teachers over the summer

• Student demographic information is exported from SIMS and imported into Data Director – no automated interface is currently available

• SIMS does not have the data consolidation and web-access capability as Data Director, which is “not as cumbersome to navigate as SIMS”

• Roll-out plan for Data Director includes a “train-the-trainer” approach (e.g., instructional coaches, principals and select teachers), train on student demographics over

summer, assessment functions would be later in the next school year

Student Information

• RPS utilizes ESU #3’s hosted, student information management system called SIMS

• SIMS is the primary system of record for RPS’ state reporting

• Primary functions include student demographics, contact information, attendance, behavior/discipline, special education, grade book, course master, counseling, scheduling,

assessments Continued on next page

http://www.dibels.org/





47



Student Information (cont.)

• Accessed via remote desktop to server located at ESU #3– limits speed and performance

• A web-based version of SIMS, called SIMS Online, is available for teachers to access in classroom – functions include student demographics, attendance, grade book

• SIMS Scheduling function is used for creating secondary student schedules

• High school students recently were able to select 2012-13 courses via new on-line registration function via R-KIDS web portal tied into SIMS

• On-line registration was used for last year’s summer school offering with limited effectiveness – this year, pre-populated registration forms mailed to prospective students;

returned forms logged in spreadsheet and imported into SIMS

• Middle school register for classes on-line and are scheduled in SIMS – 7th grade registration is paper-based, with fewer catalog electives

• SIMS Enrollment function is used for adding new students

• Open enrollment application forms are received from prospective parents/students outside of RPS district boundary – acceptance letters are generated and mailed to prospect

• Regular enrollment forms are manually completed by family (e.g., student demographics, emergency contact information, custodial information) and submitted to building

secretary for entry into SIMS

• On-line enrollment function in SIMS will be made available over the summer by ESU #3

• Student Discipline and behavior referrals are documented and logged into SIMS

• Most schools have a paper referral form that a teacher or staff member completes when a student has a behavior issue – not standardized at all schools

• Forms are forwarded to building secretary for data entry into SIMS – typically accessed and reviewed by Principal during referral visit with student

• A couple schools (Blumfield, Seymour) use of an alternative behavior management system, called SWIS, that is more oriented to Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports

(PBIS) methods

• Student Attendance is typically taken by teacher on a paper attendance form which is forward to building/attendance secretary for entry into SIMS

• Some school secretaries log teacher submitted attendance first in a spreadsheet, then those students that are absent are entered in SIMS

• Attendance letters are generated via SIMS using standard form letters (e.g., 5-days, 10-days, 15-days, 20-days) and mailed to parents

• Student Grades are typically captured and entered into SIMS Online grade book by teachers

• Progress reports are available in SIMS but not uniformly used during periodic parent-teacher conferences

• Report cards are generated and printed quarterly by building secretary - paper report card is mailed to household

• R-Kids online portal also makes student homework and grades available to parents – often appears parents are not utilizing and accessing as frequent as expected

• GPA / Class Rank is calculated outside of SIMS using spreadsheet based upon district criteria

• Numerous canned reports are available in SIMS

• Class lists are most commonly generated and printed

• Birthday lists

• Perfect Attendance

• ‘F’ Lists Continued on next page





48



Program Evaluation

• Evaluating program cost effectiveness is ad hoc and analyzed on an as needed basis

Extra-Curricular Activities

• Student participation in extra-curricular activities are tracked in SIMS

• Calendars are maintained for school sponsored events and extra-curricular activities

• High school activities are tracked using an online application called r-SchoolToday (www.rschooltoday.com) – just migrated to this application after using Schedule Star

previously

• Middle school activities are continued to be tracked using an application called Schedule Star (www.schedulestar.com)

• Elementary school activities are shared primarily by school newsletters with calendars posted on school websites

• New GoogleCalendar will replace on-line calendars currently provided via First Class


• Activity Information – school-sponsored activities, events, schedules/calendars

• Assessment Information – standardized tests, student test history, benchmarks

• Classroom Content – course content, student coursework

• Curriculum Information – standards, curriculum guides, course master

• Employee Information – certifications, professional development activities

• Student Information – demographics, behavior, attendance, health, grades, class history, extra-curricular activities

http://www.rschooltoday.com/

http://www.schedulestar.com/





49



HARDWARE & NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Angel (nka Blackboard Learn-ANGEL edition) – web-based

content management for high school math, science

• Common Core Standards – web-based curriculum standards

• Data Director – web-based student profile, test history

• Dibels.org – web-based test score portal

• iPad Apps – various content applications accessible via iPad

tablets

• FirstClass – e-mail communication, district –wide scheduling/

calendar

• MS Word – word processing, curriculum guides, writing

curriculum

• MultiMedia Tools – iMovie, ComicLife, PhotoShop,

GarageBand

• NeSA – web-based state testing

• PD360.com – web-based professional development content

• PearsonSuccessNet – web-based science curriculum

• Quia.com - web-based content management for high school

foreign languages

• R-Kids – web-based parent access to grades, homework

• R-School – web-based high school activity scheduling / calendar

• Schedule Star – web-based middle school activity scheduling /

calendar

• SIMS – SQL Server DB, hosted by ESU #3, student information

management system

• SIMS Online – web-based view of limited SIMS functions,

hosted by ESU #3

• SmartBoard – content management application creating

SmartBoard lessons

• StoryTown.com – web-based reading curriculum

• ThinkCentral – web-based reading/math curriculum portal

• Curriculum & Instruction Admin

• Principals

• Teachers

• Students

• Parents

• Network Connectivity

• Local Wired/Wireless Network – Dell/Aruba

• Internet Access - ESU #3

• Computer Labs

• High School – 5 labs, plus Library (100+

desktops)

• Middle School – 2 labs

• Elementary Schools – 1 lab each (except MB)

• Mobile Carts

• MacBook Carts (30 laptops each) – (all schools,

except Blumfield)

• iPad Carts (30 tablets each)

• Classroom

• Projectors

• SmartBoards

• Clickers

• Hosted Web-based Applications

• ESU #3 – SIMS, SIMS Online, R-Kids

• PD360.com

• Riverside Publishing – Data Director

• Blackboard – Angel

• Quia.com

• StoryTown.com

• ThinkCentral.com

• PearsonSuccessNet

• R-School.com

• Schedule Star





50


ARCHITECTURE MAP

Assessment Information

Classroom Content

Student

Information

SIMS

Certifications

Student Participation

Demo-graphics

WP/ PRES

Assign ments

Web

Subject Matter

MAN

Text Books

Grades Attend ance

Health

MAN

Open Enroll Apps

Assessment Tests

Data Dir

Activity Information

Curriculum Information

Employee Information

WP Curriculum

Guides

Reading

Writing

Math Science

NE Dept of Ed-NeSA Online

Tests

Common Core

Standards

Story Town

Think Central.

com Pearson

Lucy Calkins

Angel Quia

Subject Matter

MAN

Behavior

Data Import

PD360.com

MAN

Assign ments

Professional Dev

Plans Behavior

WP/ PRES

New Teacher

Induction

WP/ PRES

Lesson Plans

iPad Apps

Subject Matter

Content

SmartBoards

Subject Matter

Content

SIMS

Online

Web Interface

MAN New Enroll

MAN

Daily Attendance

MAN

Discipline Referral

R-Kids

Grades

Test History

Test History

r-School Today

Schedule Star

HS Sched

MS Sched First

Class

WP

District Activites

School Calendars

Assessment Tests

Multi-Media Apps

Subject Matter

Finance Plus

Certifications





51

3.1 Identify requirement for support services

3.2 Establish entrance and exit criteria for student support services

3.3 Evaluate support programs and services

3.4 Identify and coordinate community services related to student needs

3.5 Design and implement parent engagement programs

3.6 Design and implement counseling programs

3.7 Design and implement social services

3.8 Design and align extra curricular services*

3.9 Design and implement alternative education/ interventions

3.10 Design and implement student health services



* Sub-process tailored for RPS’ situation and moved to 2.0

process

3.0 Design & Deliver Student Support Services

3.0 DESIGN & DELIVER STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES

PROCESS FINDINGS

Special Education Services

• Approximately 525 students receive services from RPS’ Special Education program according to Nebraska Statute Rule 51 (IDEA)

• RPS uses the Nebraska School Districts Student Record System (SRS) for tracking and reporting special education students via on-line web

application provided by the State Department of Education – e.g., program participation, individualized education plans (IEPs), transfers,

quarterly progress reports

• With SRS not being integrated with SIMS, requires time spent by case managers/admin secretary to manually enter, review and verify that

special education information in SIMS matches information maintained in State’s SRS – e.g., verify students are properly designated as

special education, resolve discrepancies

• RPS accesses the Nebraska’s on-line Medicaid system (MIPS) provided by Fairbanks (www.fairbanksllc.com) to verify Medicaid participants for

eligibility in the district’s Free and Reduced Lunch program and reimbursement special education services

• Case workers are required to manually track date and amount of time servicing eligible students – submit monthly summary of time spent

per student to CO which enters claim into MIPS for reimbursement

• RPS uses the Grant Management System (GMS) for tracking and reporting special education grants via on-line web application provided by the

State Department of Education – e.g., program, personnel, costs

• With GMS not being integrated with RPS’ SIMS or HR systems, requires time spent to manually enter, review and verify program,

personnel and cost information is entered in States GMS

• Recent deployment of iPads has limited applications available for Special Education oriented programs (e.g., learning apps, SAT) – only need a

few iPads to include available apps

• A specialized language sample analysis program, called SALT, is a PC-based application residing on a single PC within the district (Meadows’

library) that can only be accessed by remote desktop

Counseling Services

• RPS provides counseling services with school-based psychologists (Elementary), guidance counseling (Middle/High School), social service

workers (central office based-used district wide), speech therapists (all levels)

• SIMS Counseling function is used to document student interaction

• Student Attendance information maintained in SIMS and is used by counselors for generating requisite truancy compliance

documentation/letters (5-days, 10-days, 20-days)

• Special behavioral services are provided at Blumfield, Seymour and Karen Western Elementary schools

• Behavioral plans are prepared for students and shared among teachers – recently started using GoogleDocs to share plans, which has reduced

opportunities of losing documents

• A new Response to Intervention (RTI) program is currently being developed and deployed – currently, paper-intensive process

• RPS supports Teammates mentoring program district-wide – use data to identify and select student participants and coordinate assignment of

mentors Continued on next page


http://www.fairbanksllc.com/





52



Counseling Services (cont.)

• High school guidance counselors provide students support and resources related to career and college planning

• Naviance.com is a newly subscribed to, web-based guidance and career planning application that provides student and parent access to repository of available college

scholarships, career assessment and inventory, resume builder

• Nebraska Career Connections is encouraged by Business Teachers as a resource for students to use in career planning, and the student receives lifetime access is used

• Access to additional student demographic information (e.g., free/reduced, assessment raw scores) by guidance counselor would allow for expanded scholarship search and

qualification considerations – having parent contact information would also assist in targeted communications

English Language Learners (ELL)

• Students with English as a second language receive services at all school levels

• At high school level, desktops and laptops are available in classroom and shared with ELL students to learn basic language, typing and computer navigation skills – other

learning tools are also used including cassette recorders with headphones, language master cards, TV/DVDs

• At middle school level, access to technology is limited due to limited availability of computer labs, mobile computer cart and iPad cart – SmartBoard is available but lacks

applicable wiring to operate

• At elementary schools, limited access to technology due to limited availability of computer labs, mobile cart and iPad cart

• ELL parents typically have limited access to technology except for public library – consider giving access to school lab

Pre-School

• RPS uses Title I grant funds to provide Pre-school in all elementary schools

• New pre-school parents complete a paper registration form and provide birth certificate, immunization record and proof of Ralston residency

• New pre-school registration packet is prepared and sent to prospective school to interview parent/student and screen for placement – completed paperwork sent to CO for

entry into SIMS

• Returning pre-school registrations are pre-populated with data from SIMS and mailed to parent for confirmation student will be returning – form returned to CO and class

list spreadsheet is updated and entered into SIMS

• Pre-school/Title I on-line training for paraprofessionals is available from ESU #3

• All pre-school curriculum based on Teaching Strategies Gold for Early Childhood program – online resources available (www.teachingstrategies.com) for lesson plans, content and

assessment

• All pre-school teachers have SmartBoards mounted in classroom and utilize for group teaching and student interaction

Parent Engagement

• No formal parent engagement program is in place

• An on-line application called R-Kids (hosted and supported by ESU #3) provides parent access to student information, homework and grades

• Translation of district documentation into other languages (~12) is critical need for communicating with parents (e.g., enrollment/registration process, forms, letters, AlertNow

messages) – hotline support available for Spanish resource located at high school Continued on next page

http://www.teachingstrategies.com/





53



High Ability Learners (HAL)

• No formal HAL curriculum program has been adopted by RPS ; goal is to integrate with overall curriculum standards

• HAL teachers appear to utilize available technology including:

• HAL Links on RPS website for centralizing known on-line sites and sharing student work

• Online Educational games for advanced math

• MS Office used by students to prepare reports, presentations, writing, etc.

• iPads are occasionally used for math games, but mostly for research (e.g., dictionary skills) – limited access to some resources due to Flash incompatibility

• HAL teachers do not have dedicated technology resources (e.g., SmartBoard, projectors, desktops)

• Have experienced slow computer lab resources when accessing HAL on-line resources and creating digital projects/presentations (e.g., iPhoto/iMovie/iDVD)

Alternative Education

• Wave School provides alternative education services – setup as a separate high school course

• Recently received Dell computers for student use

• Hillcrest alternative program uses A Plus application running on very old (10+ years) Apple desktops

Student Health Services

• Student immunization records and health tracking are maintained in SIMS

• Requisite immunization records are entered and tracked in SIMS Health function

• Paper-based health cards are updated and maintained at the elementary and middle schools; high school has all health information in SIMS

• School health assistants recently started entering daily log activity into SIMS – i.e., student visits nurse’s office, log date/time, record incident/recommendations

• Requests for student immunization records are typically faxed – nice to be able to e-mail

• Student medication administration is manually tracked by health assistants

• Medication dispensary functionality is not available in SIMS – new functionality is being designed and developed by ESU #3

• Elementary student health screenings (e.g., vision, hearing) are conducted at the beginning of the school year

• Screening results are manually tracked , not entered into SIMS

• Secondary student Health Enrollment Forms are requested from parents to provide health history information – not entered into SIMS

• Health Services deliver Family Life Education to 5th grade


• Counseling Information – psych services, behavioral plans, student guidance, career guidance

• Curriculum Information – Pre-School, ELL, WAVE program, HAL

• Employee Information – Special Ed job codes, teachers/specialists, certifications

• Financial Information – Special Ed/Title I grant funds, grant expenditures, Medicaid claims

• Student Information – demographics, ELL, Special Education, IEPs, health records





54

3.0 DESIGN & DELIVER STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES (cont.)


HARDWARE & NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

• A Plus – credit recovery application

• Finance Plus – grant expenditures, report, special ed job codes,

special ed teacher/specialists

• GMS – web-based Nebraska grant management system

• GoogleDocs – behavior plans, word processing

• MIPS – web-based Nebraska Medicaid claims system

• MS Excel – spreadsheet lists

• Naviance.com – web-based career planning, scholarships

• Nebraska Career Connections – web-based business career

planning

• R-Kids – web-based parent access to grades, homework

• SALT – PC based, language sampling analysis program

• SIMS – Student information system

• SRS – web-based Nebraska special education student record

system

• Teaching Strategies Gold – web-based early childhood

education content

• Student Services Administrators

• Special Education Teachers/Specialists

• ELL Specialists

• HAL Teachers

• Pre-K Teachers

• Guidance Counselors

• Health Assistants

• Parents




• Classroom

• Projectors

• SmartBoards (Pre-K)

• Hardware

• Apple desktops

• Apple laptops (ELL, Special Ed)

• iPad Tables

• HP desktop PC (SALT program)

• Hosted Web-based Apps

• ESU #3 (SIMS, FinancePlus, R-Kids, SIMS Online)

• GoogleDocs

• State of NE Dept of Education (GMS, MIPS, SRS)





55


ARCHITECTURE MAP

Counseling Information

Behavior Plans

SmartBoards

MAN

Student Information

Financial Information

Curriculum Information

SIMS NE Dept

of Ed - GMS

Special Ed / Title I Grants

Grant Expenditures

Medicaid Claims

Finance

Plus

NE Dept of Ed - MIPS


Special Ed Job Codes

NE Dept of Ed -

SRS

Special Ed Teachers/ Specialists

Special Ed Demographics

Special Ed Demographics

IEP

Pre-K Content

MAN

Reimb Service Activity

Grant Funded Employees

SALT

Language Test Analysis

Attendance

Counseling Notes

Google Docs

RTI

Naviance.com

Career Planning

Data Export

Data Export

NE Career Connect

ions

Career Planning

Scholarships

MAN

Pre-K Registration

SS

Returning Pre-K

Pre-K Demographics

MAN

ELL Content

A Plus

WAVE Program

MAN

Family Life Education

Teaching Strategies

Gold

Pre-K Content

Web

WP

HAL Content





56

4.1 Plan for and

acquire necessary

resources

4.2 Procure

materials and

services

4.3 Manage

transportation of

students

4.4 Manage food

services

4.5 Manage logistics

and warehousing

4.6 Provide library

services



4.0 Design & Manage Operations

4.0 DESIGN & MANAGE OPERATIONS

PROCESS FINDINGS

Purchasing

• RPS processes purchases using FinancePlus Purchasing module

• Paper Purchase Requisition forms are manually filled out by teachers/staff with item information and forwarded to building secretary who

enters request into FinancePlus purchasing module

• Purchase orders are reviewed and approved on-line by building Principal – any expenditure >$500 requires approval from Assistant

Superintendent of Business

• Accounting supervisor converts to Purchase Order (PO) and prints three copies of PO: one copy mailed/faxed to vendor, one copy sent to

building, and one copy filed to match with receipt/invoice

• Office supplies are purchased via Office Depot.com – all building secretaries enter orders via web-based order system, orders are delivered

directly by Office Depot, district is billed monthly

• Buildings & Grounds utilize preferred vendors with on-line supplier catalogs (e.g., Grainger, AMSAN)

• RPS is starting a Procurement Card program with American Express – developing formal program guidelines and procedures

• Administrators, principals/buildings and department heads will receive own card - $500 limit per transaction/$5,000 credit limit per card

• After using card, a receipt is submitted to CO by cardholder and matched with card statement by Accounting supervisor

• Expenditures are entered into FinancePlus and posted to appropriate department/building budget codes

• RPS has a limited number of vendor contracts primarily for Building & Grounds (e.g., HVAC, security, air quality) and IT (e.g., software

maintenance, hardware maintenance, cloud service) – no formal contract management functionality in FinancePlus

Transportation

• RPS provides curbside/home-to-home bus transportation for special education, ELL and open enrollment students

• List of transportation students (~200) are maintained in a MS Excel spreadsheet – extracted from SIMS based upon ‘EduLog flag’ denoting a

student that requires transportation

• MapQuest.com is currently used for routing

• RPS has purchased and is currently in the process of setting up and rolling out the EduLog School Bus Routing System

• Routing and scheduling (10 routes) will be maintained and tracked using EduLog software

• EduLog also provides GPS capabilities, but has not been implemented

• GPS functionality available using smart phones provided to school bus drivers

• Paper-based log forms are completed by bus drivers – e.g., pre-trip inspection, mileage

• Vehicle maintenance is tracked in a MS Excel spreadsheet

• Inspections are manually documented

• All repairs and maintenance performed externally







57



Transportation Services (cont.)

• Van requests are made by schools for activities

• A separate schedule and calendar is maintained in First Class

• Request form completed and submitted to CO

• A Monthly Bus Activity spreadsheet report is updated and submitted to the Board

Food Services

• Sodexo is the third party provider of food service at all RPS locations serving daily breakfast and lunch

• Food supplies are ordered via Sodexo’s online order management system called Market Connection

• Used for managing food orders based upon planned menus – weekly inventory count sheets are downloaded and used for updating on-hand inventory

• Enter and view vendor invoices

• Monitor and approve vendor payments

• Additional food is ordered via eSysco portal – Sysco’s supplier online catalog

• Each school uses a stand-alone “point-of-sale” (POS) system called NutriKids

• Older hardware is used to run POS software – includes cash drawer; typically on a cart by lunch room

• Nightly batch interface has been developed with SIMS to update students in NutriKids

• Food service managers review canned reports – e.g., Daily Activity, End-of Month

• Would be nice to have mobile POS ability – e.g., serve breakfast outside

• School lunch menus are planned and generated by NutriKids system

• District wide monthly menus are defined in NutriKids – published to website

• Accessed and reviewed by kitchen managers – noted performance is slow when accessing system

• Production records are maintained and available for state reviews/inspections – by day/by week

• Parents can fund student lunch accounts via on-line system called RevTrak

• Credit cards are accepted and processed

• On-line Payments summary downloaded daily

• Monthly reports are reviewed – total sales, total transactions, total fees

• At time of this report, RPS was evaluating a single vendor solution for POS and on-line payments – improve timing of payments, parent visibility of student

• Food Services manages district Free and Reduced Lunch program – 52% of student population

• Applications for Free and Reduced Lunch program are received and processed by Food Services – manually enter household free and reduce information into SIMS, review

SIMS reports for number of qualifying students, status, or missing

• Free and reduced lunch certification is tracked and maintained on-line with Nebraska Department of Education SRS

• A physical warehouse located at administrative building is used for storage of Building & Grounds equipment and limited supplies inventory Continued on next page





58



Warehouse Inventory

• Buildings & Grounds does not have inventory (e.g., parts, cleaning supplies, etc.) as items are purchased from vendors and typically delivered directly to the buildings for

usage

• RPS recently received a free user subscription to a new custodial management system called CompuClean (www.compuclean200.com) from Spartan Chemical –

custodial supervisor had just received training and was in the process of setting up the system for evaluation

• CompuClean functions include supplies inventory, supplies usage tracking, custodian workload management, square footage tracking and analysis, vendor profiles,

equipment information and maintenance, employee profiles, building inspection checklist

• Inventory of text books, class room equipment, materials is tracked in MS Excel spreadsheet (by subject, by grade)

• Teachers send e-mail request for materials to curriculum admin secretary who checks inventory and fulfills request, having materials delivered to school

Copy Services

• Building staff can complete a Copy Request Form and forward via inter-office mail to Copy Services center located at CO

• Large copy production jobs handled by high volume copy equipment

• Centralized district mail services is also coordinated by Copy Services staff

• Opportunity for on-line form to be used for teacher requests and tracking volume of requests

Library/Media Services

• Each building has a library / media center

• Most libraries serve as annex computer lab with desktop computers (~8+yrs old) made available for students to access and use when not in class – often open before school

starts and after school ends

• Media specialists continue to see diminishing utilization of library and media specialists in lesson planning and class instruction – maybe average students in the library once a

week

• Each library provides access to the district wide card catalog system called TLC

• Fifth year of using TLC – hosted by ESU #3

• Hardware being replaced

• Accessible via each RPS school website

• Integrated with Ralston Baright library

• New books purchased via Follett – download MARC record and upload into TLC to add to card catalog and make book “shelf ready

• Access to on-line, subscription-based research resources are coordinated by media specialists

• eBooks desired if eReaders were made available to check out – especially for reluctant readers

• Most media specialists teach a “how-to-use” library and media class (e.g., once a week for a number of weeks)

• VHS media is still prevalent in all elementary schools, thus requiring need to have a VCR available

• Need to evaluate current VHS media and what DVD and/or digital resources can replace

• PowerMedia Plus is an online video subscription service supported by ESU #3 – being replaced this summer by new provider

http://www.compuclean200.com/





59



• Classroom Content – on-line research subscriptions, copy service request, on-line videos

• Employee Information – bus drivers, custodians

• Financial Information – purchase requisitions, purchase orders, p-card transactions, vendor invoices, food service billings, parent lunch payments

• Inventory Information – cleaning supplies, library books, classroom materials/supplies, copy supplies, food inventory

• Nutrition Information – lunch menu, school menu plans, food purchases

• Student Information – student demographics, bus students,

• Transportation Information – bus routes/schedules, bus logs


HARDWARE & NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

• AMEX.com – procurement card program

• CompuClean – PC based, cleaning management system

• Edulog – transportation management application for

scheduling, routing

• FinancePlus – purchase order module

• FirstClass – e-mail, bus activity calendar

• MS Excel – transportation lists/logs, classroom / testing

supplies inventory

• NutriKids – point-of-sale lunchroom application, school lunch

planning

• OfficeDepot.com – web-based office supplies ordering

• On-Line Supplier Catalogs – web-based catalogs for preferred

suppliers (AmSan, Grainger)

• PowerMedia Plus – web-based video app hosted by ESU #3

• RevTrak – web-based lunch purchasing(credit-card settlement)

• SIMS – track free/reduced lunch students

• SRS – web-based application for reporting free/lunch students

• Sodexo Apps – web-based food purchasing, inventory, billing,

reporting

• TLC – library card cataloging application hosted by ESU #3

• Principals

• Building/Admin Secretaries

• Food Services Managers

• Building & Grounds Supervisors

• Transportation Supervisor

• Media Specialists

• Teachers

• Students




• Hardware

• Apple laptops (ELL, Special Ed)

• PC Desktops (NutrKids, CompuClean)

• PC Servers (Nutrikids, Edulog)

• High Volume Copy Machine

• Hosted /Web-based Apps

• ESU #3 (SIMS, FinancePlus, TLC, PowerMedia

Plus)

• State of NE Dept of Education (SRS)

• Sodexho Apps

• On-line Apps (AMEX.com, OfficeDepot.com,

RevTrak)





60


ARCHITECTURE MAP


Finance Plus

MAN

Purch Req

POs

Vendor Invoices

MAN Office

Depot

Office Supplies Orders

Inventory Information

TLC

Library Books

Demographics Student

Information

Trans-portation

Information

Classroom Content

AMEX.com

P-Card Trans

CompuClean


Custodians

Cleaning Supplies

Bus Dirvers

SS

Edulog

Bus Routes

Nutrition Information

Classroom Supplies

MAN

Bus Logs

First Class

Activity Bus Schedule

Bus Students SS

SIMS

Bus Students

Data Export

Data Export

NutriKids

Rev Trak

Sodexo Apps

School Lunches Served

Food Purchases

Food Service Billings

Parent Lunch

Payments

School Meal Plans

Lunch Menus

WP / .PDF

MAN

Food Inventory

PowerMedia Plus

On-Line Video

Various Subs

On-Line Research Sources

MAN

Copy Service Request

Form

MAN

Copy Supplies





61

5.1 Develop

stakeholder

relationship strategy

5.2 Manage

stakeholder

relationships strategy

5.3 Develop

communications and

publications strategy

5.4 Manage

communications and

public information

activities

5.5 Manage

stakeholder

relationships and

transactions

5.6 Manage budget



5.0 Develop & Manage Stakeholder Relations & Services

5.0 DEVELOP & MANAGE STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS & SERVICES

PROCESS FINDINGS

District Communications

• Frequency of internal meetings vary throughout the district

• Cabinet Leadership team meets weekly

• Administrators meet twice monthly as a team following school board meetins

• Principal communication with staff varies

• Some send a daily / weekly e-mail communication highlighting school activities and announcements

• Some facilitate staff meetings especially on “early-out” or “late start” days with planning time

• Building secretaries meet annually, typically at the beginning of new school year and receive new administrative procedure and system

training (e.g., forms, software)

• Media Specialists used to have regular update meetings to discuss technology issues – no longer have meetings

• RPS’s primary e-mail and intranet communication application had been FirstClass (from Open Text)

• All staff have an e-mail address along with integrated voicemail box

• Not all students have an e-mail address

• Shared folders are set up for posting files (e.g., documents, forms, reports, etc.) for sharing district-wide or with a specified group

• Conference functions are used for team collaboration

• At the time of this report, RPS had initiated the migration from FirstClass to GoogleApps for Education (i.e., Gmail, GoogleDocs,

GoogleSites)

• Training to “early adopters” was being facilitated by ESU#3 trainers

• RPS’ website is built using FirstClass web development tools and content management system

• Common feedback on website is that it is “not user-friendly” – takes time to keep up-to-date, resulting in “stale” school / teacher sites

• At the time of this report, RPS’ Marketing was leading a project to evaluate new website providers/developers and an integrated content

management system with functions including, but not limited to:

• On-line, paperless newsletters for each building, district-wide

• Better Parent access and engagement tools

• Teacher pages

• Standard, district-wide calendaring – activities, integrated with Google

• Archiving

• Mobile friendly

• Alumni relations

• On-line Store

• Ralston Foundation’s website is built using Adobe InDesign web designer and desktop publishing application Continued on next page






62



District Communication (cont.)

• RPS’ social media usage is limited to individual teachers and/or groups (e.g., Twitter, Facebook)

• Desire to establish Ralston Foundation with more social media

Who Cares Initiative

• Last year, RPS piloted home visits by teachers to engage and interact with parents and the community

• This year, all schools will be performing home visits over the summer

Publications

• Promotional materials and brochures are generated using Adobe InDesign publishing software

• Marketing has been limited to billboard advertising

Emergency Communications

• RPS’ uses AlertNow (aka Blackboard Connect) communication software for district wide and/or building specific notifications/communications

• Central administrators, building principals and secretaries are authorized to access AlertNow and send communications either via phone message or e-mail

• Most messages are sent via phone to households since most have a phone number – e.g., school closings, event announcements, targeted group messages

• Some have just started sending AlertNow e-mails if e-mail address is known/available

Budgeting

• Assistant Superintendent of Business directs and leads development of annual budget using a collection of spreadsheet files

• Director of Accounting manually updates budgeting spreadsheets (e.g., employee data, budget accounts, amounts)

• Prepared over summer (May/June/July), presented and approved by Board and submitted for State reporting by September

• Approved budget amounts are manually entered into FinancePlus Budgeting for reporting purposes – budget prep module available, but not used by RPS

• Building Principals review spreadsheet and provide input on cost estimates and adjustments





63



• Communication Content – marketing brochures, MS Word /GoogleDocs word processing files, e-mail, website content, mass v-mail/e-mail,

• Financial Information – approved budgets, annual budget schedules

• Student Information – contact info, home visit info


HARDWARE & NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Adobe InDesign – desktop publishing, web design

application

• AlertNow (aka BlackBoard Connect) – mass e-

mail/voicemail distribution

• FinancePlus – final approved budget entry

• FirstClass – e-mail, conference, voice-mail, web site

content management

• Google Apps– e-mail, web-site, productivity apps

• MS Excel – new budget development, budget reports

• MS Office – word processing, correspondence

• SIIMS –student contact information

• Board of Education

• Cabinet Leaders

• Principals

• Teachers

• Staff

• Parents

• Community




• Hardware

• Apple Desktop

• Apple laptops

• PC Desktops (Adobe InDesign)

• PC Servers (FirstClass, AlertNow)


• ESU #3 (SIMS, FinancePlus,)

• GoogleApps for Education





64


ARCHITECTURE MAP

Finance Information

SS

Approved Budgets

First Class

MAN Communi-cation

Content

Student

Information

Finance Plus

Annual Budget

Schedules

Budget Reports for

Approval

E-mails

Google Apps

E-mails

Alert Now

Mass V-mails / E-mails

Contact Info

MAN

Home Visit Info

Adobe InDesign

Marketing Brochures

RPS Web Site Content

Sites

WP MS Office

Word Processing

GoogleDocs





65

6.1 Create and manage

human resources

(HR) planning,

policy and strategies

6.2 Recruit, source

and select employees

6.3 Develop and

counsel employees

6.4 Reward and retain

employees

6.5 Redeploy and

retire employees

6.6 Manage employee

information



6.0 Develop & Manage Human Capital

6.0 DEVELOP & MANAGE HUMAN CAPITAL

PROCESS FINDINGS

Human Resource Management

• HR processes and responsibilities are spread among several people in central office – no one person oversees all of HR

• Job descriptions are not up to date – currently being standardized and will be entered into on-line system(Applitrack)

• Document management system needed for personnel records

• Instructional coaches attend local job fairs to promote certified positions and interview new teacher candidates

• RPS provides an on-line wellness employee benefit program hosted by Educators Health Alliance (www.ehawellness.org)

Applicant Tracking

• RPS subscribes to a web-based application tracking system called Applitrack (www.applitrack.com)

• Job postings are typically included on Careerlink.com and in OWH

• Applitrack Recruiting and Applitrack Selection are the primary functions used

• Job openings (e.g., certified and classified staff) set up in Applitrack and available for certified applicants to set-up an account, complete on-

line application and submit resume

• Applitrack provides applicant screening function that enables scoring and rating applicants

• Once an applicant is recommended, a referral notification is sent to principal who accesses and reviews applicant information

• Applitrack is not integrated with RPS’ HR system, therefore, once applicant is hired, all employee information is re-entered

• Classified applicants complete a paper application

• Background checks are performed by third party provider, OneSource

• RPS purchased the AASPA’s Interactive Computer Interview System (ICIS) CD of research-based, hiring interview questions specifically teachers

and administrators

Hiring & Orientation

• A Personnel Action Form (PAF) are completed when an employee is hired, salary updates, certifications, evaluations, coursework, moves,

termination – kept in employee’s master permanent file

Performance Evaluation

• RPS uses a custom-built, FileMaker Pro (v. 10) application for conducting teacher evaluation system called the EPP System

• Principals have EPP loaded on their laptops (FileMaker Pro v.9) – requested if evaluation app will be available on iPads

• During classroom visit, principal documents observations for particular teacher with in EPP System and saved for feedback session

Substitute Teachers

• RPS utilizes SubFinder system hosted and supported by ESU #3

• Teacher calls into SubFinder system notifying need for sub; based upon subject area and qualifications (e.g., secondary algebra teacher),

SubFinder performs automated phone calls to substitute candidates

• Notification of need and who the sub will be are sent via e-mail to the building principal and secretary – noted that it was requested that this

notification be sent earlier in the morning Continued on next page


http://www.ehawellness.org/

http://www.applitrack.com/





66



Employee Information & Reporting

• When an applicant is hired, new employee information is entered into FinancePlus

• Demographic and benefit information entered into HR module

• HR job positions do not match codes set up in Payroll, even though both are within FinancePlus

• When employee changes buildings, have to make sure change is made in multiple areas – unable to make one change for all areas

• Salary letters and state reports are generated using IBM Cognos

• A staff directory is published annually from a MS Excel spreadsheet – takes significant time to update, format and publish; consider on-line directory


• Employee Information - employee demographics, salary history, benefits, substitute teachers, teacher observation/evaluations

• Applicant Information - job openings, applicant demographics, job application, resumes


HARDWARE & NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Applitrack – web-based recruitment and applicant

tracking application

• EHAWellness.org – web-based employee wellness

content site

• EPP System – custom-developed, FileMaker Pro

application for teacher observation/evaluation

• FinancePlus – human resource management

• IBM Cognos – custom report writer

• MS Excel – staff directory

• SubFinder – substitute teacher scheduling and

assignments

• Classified Staff Admin

• Certified Staff Admin

• Cabinet Leaders




• Hardware

• Apple Desktop

• Apple laptops

• PC Desktops

• PC Servers (EPP System)


• ESU #3 (FinancePlus, SubFinder, IBM Cognos)

• Applitrack

• EHA Welleness.org





67


ARCHITECTURE MAP

Applicant Information Employee

Information

Finance Plus

HR/ Benefits

Appli

Trak

On-Line Cert Job

App

Resume

Sub Finder

Sub Name MAN

Personnel Action Form

MAN

Classified Job App

EPP

Teacher Obs/Eval

IBM Cognos

HR Letters

SS

Staff Dir

MAN

State Reports





68

7.1 Manage the business

of information

technology (IT)

7.2 Develop and

manage IT customer

relationships

7.3 Manage business

resiliency and risk

7.4 Manage enterprise

information

7.5 Develop and

maintain IT solutions

7.6 Deploy IT solutions

7.7 Deliver and support

IT services

7.8 Manage IT

knowledge



7.0 Manage Information Technology

7.0 MANAGE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

PROCESS FINDINGS

IT Management

• RPS developed a 21st Century Learning & Technology Plan in October 2011 focusing on five key benchmarks

• A committee has been established with representatives from across the district

• RPS District IT resources (5 FTEs) are focused on installing and deploying hardware, supporting network connectivity, and supporting

SIMS – limited instructional technology support (.5 FTE)

• Each building principal designates a teacher(s) as computer advocates that provide local computer support

• Program/project management and oversight is largely performed by each RPS Cabinet for respective areas – no formal project management

process and role appear to be in place

• IT related policies and procedures are included in RPS’ Employee Handbook focusing on

• Use of Technology

• Monitoring/No Expectation of Privacy

• Cell Phone/Device Use

• Electronic Communication with Students/Use of Social Media

• Student Confidentiality

• IT funding is primarily driven by central office with a centralized IT budget

• In 2010, RPS initiated a ‘Building Computer Refresh Plan’ that budgeted approximately $250,000 per year to purchase new hardware and

deploy at designated locations for students and staff

• 2010-11 – Karen Western / RHS

• 2011-12 – Meadows / Wildewood / RMS

• 2012-13 – Seymour / Mockingbird / Blumfield

• Primary IT services provided by ESU #3 including

• Application development – SIMS/SQL, web development, custom reports

• Application hosting – Finance Plus (finance/accounting, HR/Payroll), SubFinder, SIMS / SIMS Online (student information)

• Systems and networking – wide-area network, Internet broadband connection

• RPS’ IT staff training is primarily “on-the-job”

IT Customer Relationship Management

• IT service management appears to be informal with services provided focused on networking, hardware and SIMS support – no formal IT

services and solution catalog in place

• Utilization of IT resources is difficult to quantify with limited monitoring and tracking

• Recently deployed wireless equipment provides centralized monitoring tools

• No formal service desk to track end-user demand and requests;







69



IT Customer Relationship Management (cont.)

• RPS IT conducts an annual session before school starts with secretaries and often included in monthly administrator meetings – nothing formally in place for more frequent

communications with end-users throughout the school year

• ESU #3 meets with RPS IT representatives on a periodic basis (typically monthly) to discuss service plans and development needs

IT Risk Management

• ESU #3 performs requisite periodic back-up of hosted financial/HR and student information system data

• RPS does not have a formal disaster recovery plan in place

• RPS uses filtering software from Lightspeed Systems (www.lightspeedsystems.com)

• Filtering requirements are perceived to be strict by end-users where many common sites are blocked (e.g., Blogger)

• IT risk management and information security policies and procedures are not formalized and documented

Enterprise Information/Content Management

• Numerous database platforms are currently in place for various core applications used by RPS

• SIMS application stores student information in a MS SQL Server DB

• FinancePlus application stores financial and HR information in an HP/Informix DB

• Custom applications (e.g., EPP) have been developed using FileMaker Pro database solution

• Web-based applications (e.g., Data Director) utilize proprietary database platforms specific to a vendor – although, most applications adopt open standards

• GoogleApps for Education is being deployed for e-mail and document sharing / collaboration functionality

• RPS was in the process of evaluating new content management solutions at the time of this report

• RPS has not adopted standard enterprise data/content policies and standards

• In 2011, RPS’ deployed webNetwork private “cloud” solution from Stoneware, a Dell partner (https://cloud.ralstonschools.org)

• Intended as a ‘single-sign-on’ secure solution for accessing standardized district owned and web-based applications – currently only teachers have access, students will

eventually be set up to access

• Usage of “cloud” appears to be very limited – primarily due to limited ongoing training and lack of clarity of how “cloud” impacts day-to-day user activities

Solution Development & Deployment

• Limited application development is done by RPS IT staff

• Teacher evaluation application (EPP) is a custom developed application using FileMaker Pro supported and maintained by RPS IT

• ESU #3 provides development services for supported applications (e.g., SIMS, FinancePlus, SubFinder, Web)

• RPS IT representatives participate in periodic committee meetings facilitated by ESU #3 to discuss new development and/or enhancement needs

• At the time of this report, new functionality was requested and development effort being planned by ESU #3 for On-Line Leave Requests and On-Line Conference Requests

• Numerous IT projects are currently in progress, however, no formal program or project management process appears to be in place for tracking and monitoring project

deployment

• IT staff are mostly self-directed and respond to user requests on-demand Continued on next page

http://www.lightspeedsystems.com/

https://cloud.ralstonschools.org/





70



IT Operations

• RPS’ district data center is located at high school – primarily housing file servers, private cloud server, FirstClass e-mail, and network connectivity components

• All network traffic routed through high school switches via Windstream broadband connections to all buildings

• Access to Internet performance often appears slow due to older switch and router network components at each building with limited bandwidth

• All buildings have received newly implemented wireless network components Aruba Networks, a Dell partner

• This has improved availability and access, but performance is still limited to bandwidth between buildings and high school

• Need to still install a back-up wireless controller to access to high school be severed

• Network management control tools are place for centrally monitoring and managing district network and resources (e.g., wireless, servers)

• Server virtualization has been implemented using VMWare tools

Service Management

• RPS IT provides district-wide end-user support with a combination of centralized IT staff (4 FTE) and school-based resources

• District IT Director and Technologist (2 FTEs) focus on hardware and network infrastructure support district-wide and RHS data center and PC labs

• Asst. IT Director (1 FTE) focuses on end-user hardware support for middle and elementary school

• SIMS IT support staff (2 FTEs) focus on student information system and process support

• RHS and RMS labs have dedicated technology support

• RHS has computer lab staff (2 FTEs) that support primary Apple Mac lab

• Industrial technology labs (typically PC based) at RHS And RMS are largely supported by designated teachers

• Media Specialists (~5 FTEs) provide ad hoc support at all buildings via library and media center labs

• Limited Instructional Technology (.5) support district-wide is provided by a designated person located at RMS

• Select teachers at each building have been designated as ‘computer advocate’ providing trouble-shooting technical support and general instructional/classroom support

• No formal “service desk” support process or system is in place

• Requests are typically received by IT support either via e-mail or direct phone calls

• Time spent on supporting end-users is not tracked by IT support staff

• RPS’ SIMS application support periodically meets with building secretaries to discuss new SIMS functionality, reports, forms, or procedures

• E-mail notifications are often sent to building SIMS users

• Each school has designated a classroom teacher or two as ‘Computer Advocate(s)’

• This role provides informal, basic end-user support in the buildings

• Media specialists also advocate and support use of technology in each of the schools on an ad hoc basis

• At the elementary level, each media specialist supports at least two schools

• ESU #3 recently made available a “help desk” solution for participating districts to utilize and deploy

• IssueView is the web-based solution provided

• Tracks end-user requests, e-mail workflow integration, and project management cabiliities Continued on next page





71



User Training

• End-user training is ideally provided when new technology is deployed – e.g., ‘cloud’, GoogleApps

• In the past, training has been delivered before users have been able to access technology, and then the technology is delayed resulting in either re-training or no training at all

(e.g., Smartboards)

• Ongoing training program is not available except on an as-needed or as-requested basis by end-users

• Training by proficiency level would be preferred (e.g., basic, advanced)

Mobile Technologies

• Current emphasis and direction is on deployment of mobile devices - “taking technology to kids”

• All teachers and administrators are equipped with laptops (Apple iMacs / Mac Air)

• No standard image exists for machines (e.g., >80 images in place for elementary, middle school machines)

• All machines accessible by IT support via Apple remote desktop if logged into the network

• Wireless network components (Dell Aruba Wireless) have recently been implemented and expanded to all buildings

• Each school has at least one mobile cart of laptops (Apple iMacs)

• In the last school year, each school has received at least one mobile cart of tablets (Apple iPads) – ideally would like to see a laptop assigned to each iPad cart to facilitate

updating /installing apps and replicating to all units


• Asset Information – IT hardware, software licenses

• Employee Information – User roles, security authorization and access, training

• Financial Information – IT budget, IT expenditures

• Operation Information – network performance, availability, utilization,

• Project Information – scope, plan, schedule, status

• Service Information – IT services, end-user requests, support, issue resolution


HARDWARE & NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Dell Aruba Wireless – network monitoring

• FileMaker Pro – IT assets, development

• First Class – web sites

• Google Docs – e-mail, productivity

• IBM Cognos – data extraction/reporting

• Stoneware – private cloud, single-sign-on

• Central Office Admin

• District IT Staff

• Principals

• Computer Advocates

• All End-Users




• Hardware

• Apple Desktop

• Apple laptops

• PC Desktops

• PC Servers (ESU #3)





72


ARCHITECTURE MAP


File Maker

Pro

Usser IDs

IBM Cognos

WP/SS

Asset Information


Operations Information

Project Information

Service Information

Hardware

SS Software Licenses

Custom Financial Reports

SS

IT Budget

Wireless Network

Monitoring

Dell Aruba

MS Active Directory

Stoneware Cloud

Monitoring

Usser IDs

Monitoring Project Status

E-mail

Support Requests

MAN





73

8.1 Perform planning

and management

accounting

8.2 Perform “revenue”

accounting

8.3 Perform general

accounting and

reporting

8.4 Manage fixed

assets (facilities)

budgets

8.5 Process payroll

8.6 Process accounts

payable and expense

reimbursements

8.7 Manage treasury

operations

8.8 Manage internal

controls



8.0 Manage Financial Resources

8.0 MANAGE FINANCIAL RESOURCES

PROCESS FINDINGS

Accounts Receivable

• Property Tax proceeds are accounted for in FinancePlus

• Event and Student activity fees are accounted for in FinancePlus

• Many schools maintain “systems” (e.g., spreadsheets, QuickBooks) to track activity funds as a “double-check” and to be able to confirm

reports from central office

• PTO funds are tracked outside of FinancePlus system

• Food services generate and mail letters to families with outstanding balances on school lunch accounts

General Accounting & Reporting

• Reporting is done on each of the primary funds – General Fund, Building Fund, Bond Fund, QCPUF, Depreciation Fund

• Key financial reports are generated from Finance Plus’ reporting module (“canned reports”) – e.g., Cash Receipts, District-wide Receipts/

Disbursements

• Monthly Detailed Expenditure Status Report is a system generated report from FinancePlus listing detailed balance information for all

expenditure accounts

• Distributed to all budget owners (building principals, secretaries, department heads) monthly via e-mail – reflects budget vs. actual

• “Difficult to read “ – by account number; would like percentages spent, percentages of budget available

• Key performance indicators not defined and deemed “difficult to generate”

• Several reports are maintained and generated using MS Excel spreadsheets – e.g., 1-page Budget, Lunch Program, Monthly General Fund

Performance

• Custom financial reports and inquiries can be generated using IBM Cognos Impromptu reporting software

• Limited use to finance and IT users – limited training provided

• Limited ability to view fully loaded cost of delivering a program (e.g., Reading K-6, Outdoor Education, Elementary field trips) or program

resource management (e.g., HAL program, special course)

• Desire for on-line access to financial information in the form of an executive dashboard of key performance indicators, revenues and expenditure;

on-line inquiry of financial information rather than receiving monthly budget reports via e-mail

• Ralston Schools Foundation uses QuickBooks for accounting and reporting (3 users)

• Ralston High School uses QuickBooks for tracking activity funds received and spent – duplication of FinancePlus activity funds, but easier to view

reports on a more timely basis









Accounts Payable / Payment Processing

• All general fund and activity fund expenditures are tracked in FinancePlus

• Vendor invoices are received via mail by accounting (or sometimes by building), matched to purchase order and approved for payment

• Approved invoices are gathered and batched up until the last week of the month when the accounting supervisor enters into FinancePlus – unable to enter invoice upon receipt

due to limited functionality in FinancePlus to detect duplicate payment

• Paper records (e.g., vendor invoices) are manually stored in filing cabinets –electronic document scanning is not used

• Check payments (~350/month) are generated/printed from FinancePlus and reviewed/signed by School Board

• Several forms are made available in the First Class Essential Documents folder

• An expense reimbursement spreadsheet form is supposed to be submitted for reimbursement expenses including mileage, travel, meals - not often used; does not appear to be

required

• Workshop/Conference form is to be completed when attending professional development conferences – used for processing registration, payment and arranging for

substitute teacher

• Monthly bank reconciliation (Great Western Bank) is completed manually – opportunity to automate

Grant Accounting

• All grant funds are accounted for and reported from FinancePlus –

• Federal Title I – three primary grants

• A small number of State grants

• A few private grants

Fixed Assets

• Paper records are maintained for fixed assets – no formal fixed asset tracking system in place; not in FinancePlus

• Technology hardware equipment (e.g., desktops, laptops, printers) is logged and tracked in a FileMaker database maintained by IT

Payroll

• RPS uses FinancePlus Payroll module to process employee payroll

• Job codes for HR module do not match what is set up for job/position codes in Payroll module – causes confusion when setting up employees and reporting

• Employee attendance tracked in FinancePlus

• Building secretaries track staff attendance and e-mails to CO for payroll processing

• Currently, paper-based leave request (e.g., vacation, sick leave) forms are completed by all staff , submitted to building secretaries, reviewed/approved by principal and

forwards to CO for entry into FinancePlus to update employee leave balance








Payroll (cont.)

• Time-cards are completed by hourly employees and manually entered into FinancePlus Payroll by payroll supervisor

• Food Service (on-line time card) – piloting an on-line time card developed and supported by ESU #3; reviewed and approved online weekly by kitchen manager, then

by food services manager; forwarded to CO for payroll processing

• Custodians (paper time sheet ) – punch clock records time on sheet; record overtime; limited access to computer and little or no training

• Paraprofessionals (paper) – receive ‘even pay’/same hours for the year; submit time sheet to building secretary; principal approves and forwards to CO for payroll

processing

• Substitutes (paper time sheet) – time sheet completed monthly and given to building secretary; principal approves and forwards to CO for payroll processing

• Bus drivers (paper time sheet) – submitted monthly, reviewed by Transportation Director; functionality is available in EduLog, but not currently used

• Employees can view and download pay check stub/advice, W-2 and other payroll documents on-line via the Employee Access Center portal (Sungard Pentamation application

hosted and supported by ESU#3)

• Several canned reports are used within FinancePlus – e.g., garnishments, union dues

• Several interfaces are in place for transmitted payroll data

• An electronic interface exists between SubFinder and FinancePlus Payroll – used for importing substitute teacher information for Payroll processing

• Direct deposit file is exported from FianancePlus and transmitted electronically to bank via FTP

• Payroll tax payments are submitted electronically to the State

• 403b Retirement benefit payments are submitted electronically to Wadell-Reed

• FSA/COBRA benefits are processed via Payflex

Internal Controls

• RPS has segregated duties of accounting staff – management oversight review and approval

• Bank deposits made separately from person entering cash receipts into system

• Payroll processed by payroll clerk; reviewed and approved by Director of Accounting

• RPS does not have an internal audit function – external audit performed annually







• Asset Information – fixed assets (IT equipment, buildings & grounds equipment, furniture)

• Billing Information – student lunch AR

• Employee Information – payroll, attendance, deductions, pay check

• Financial Information - general ledger account balances, fund expenditures, accounts payable, activity fund accounts


HARDWARE & NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Employee Access Center Portal – web-based,

HR/payroll self service portal

• FinancePlus – Windows-based; General ledger,

Accounts payable, Activity funds, Payroll, Benefits,

Employee attendance modules

• IBM Cognos – finance custom report writer

• MS Excel – spreadsheets IT asset lists

• QuickBooks – PC based accounting software

• RevTrak – web-based lunch credit card payments

• Teachers

• Building Secretaries

• Principals

• Finance/Accounting

• Cabinet Leaders


• IT

• Parents

• Foundation




• Hardware

• Apple Desktop

• Apple laptops

• PC Desktops (QuickBooks)


• ESU #3 (FinancePlus, IBM Cognos, Employee

Access Center)

• RevTrak





77


ARCHITECTURE MAP

Asset Information



Finance

Plus

General Ledger Balances

Foundation Funds

HS Activities

Fund

SS Fixed Assets

Salary Info

Billing Information

School Lunch AR

Rev Trak

Fund Expenditures

Quick Books

Cash Receipts

MAN

Custodian Time Card

EE Access Center

Food Service Time Card

MAN

Para Time Card

MAN

Substitute Time Sheet

MAN Bus Driver Time Sheet

Pay Stub





78

9.1 Property design

and construction

9.2 Maintain

classrooms and

furnishings

9.3 Dispose of

classrooms and

furnishings

9.4 Manage physical

risk

9.5 Manage capital

asset



9.0 Acquire, Construct & Manage Facilities

9.0 ACQUIRE, CONSTRUCT & MANAGE FACILITIES

OPERATING PROCESS FINDINGS

Building Maintenance

• RPS maintenance work orders are handled with a web-based application called schooldude.com

• Building secretaries and principals access schooldude.com and enter work order request for any building maintenance need

• Building & Grounds Director receives work request via e-mail, assigns available maintenance engineer and schedules with building

• No formal maintenance scheduling is used to manage resource utilization

• Time spent on completing work order can be tracked, in system but not consistently

• Buildings are not charged cost of work order maintenance

• If parts or materials are required to complete a work order, a paper purchase requisition is completed by maintenance engineer and

reviewed/approved by Building & Grounds Director – forwarded to accounting to enter into FinancePlus and create a purchase order for

vendor order

• A GPS is being considered as a system for dispatching maintenance resources when a building work request is received (especially when time is of

the essence)

• Building HVAC systems have automated controls accessible via control software provided by vendor (Control Masters)

• It would be nice to be able to send out communication alerts related to planned maintenance in the buildings

Other

• Several filing cabinets are in place with documents from completed construction projects and other building related documents that could be

scanned and digitized for storage


• Building Information – work request, construction

• Employee Information – Buildings & Grounds personnel, Custodians

• Financial Information – maintenance budget

APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE

KEY USERS /

STAKEHOLDERS

HARDWARE & NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Finance Plus

• Schooldude.com

• Buildings & Grounds Supervisors

• Principals

• Building Secretaries

• Custodians




• Hardware

• Apple Desktop

• Apple laptops


• Schoolduce.com






79

9.0 ACQUIRE, CONSTRUCT & MANAGE FACILITIES

ARCHITECTURE MAP


Building Information


Work Requests

Construction Docs

SS Budget

MAN

SchoolDude.com

Assigned Personnel





80

10.1 Determine

environmental health,

safety, and security

aspects

10.2 Develop and

execute health, safety,

security and

environmental

program

10.3 Train and educate

employees

10.4 Monitor and

manage health, safety,

security and

environmental

programs

10.5 Ensure compliance

with regulations

10.6 Manage

remediation efforts



10.0 Manage Environmental Health, Safety & Security

10.0 MANAGE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH, SAFETY & SECURITY


Safety Committee

• RPS has established an 8-person Safety committee as required by state law for compliance, emergency drills, fire prevention and safety and general

building safety and security

• Recently subscribed to an web-based subscription of Safe Schools Program (www.safeschools.com) which provides on-line training and

compliance management for all personnel – will be deploying over the summer

• Committee meets monthly and conducts periodic building visits and inspections – started using iPad tablet during site inspections to

document observations and compliance issues

Security

• All buildings have security alarm systems, but with key-entry access

• Considering new security system with swipe card

• Physical access to several buildings should consider “buzz-in” access due to limited visibility by office staff

• Video surveillance is only in place at the high school provided by TransAlarm

• Elementary schools do not have security cameras – principals are interested in evaluating camera solutions


• Building Safety Information – training content, inspections

• Employee Information – staff who require training


HARDWARE & NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Safe Schools Program • Student Services Admin

• Building & Grounds Staff


• Local Wired/Wireless Network –

Dell/Aruba


• Hardware

• Apple Desktop

• Apple laptops


• Safeschools.com


http://www.safeschools.com/





81

10.0 MANAGE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH, SAFETY & SECURITY

ARCHITECTURE MAP

Building Safety

Information


Training Content

Inspections SS Safe

Schools.

com

Required Staff





82

11.1 Build funding

relationships

11.2 Manage

government and

other district

relationships

11.3 Manage

relations with

Board of

Education

11.4 Manage legal

and ethical issues

11.5 Manage public

relations program



11.0 Manage Intergov-ernment & Other Agency Relationships

11.0 MANAGE INTERGOVERNMENT & OTHER AGENCY RELATIONSHIPS


Board of Education

• Board approved policies are available on-line on the RPS website – hard copy book available at central office

• Board packets are prepared and delivered to board members prior to bi-weekly meetings

• Packets include paper print-outs of Board agenda and associated documentation and reports provided by Superintendent and Cabinet Leaders

• Desire for less paper intensive – online document sharing, collaboration, archiving, searching

• Desire for executive dashboard, summary reporting tools focused on key performance indicators and metrics

• Board evaluation of superintendent process driven by Word documentation and spreadsheet analysis – no formal system appears to be in place

Other External Groups

• A stand-alone system and database (Results Plus) of RPS alumni is available for generating alumni class lists and mailing addresses – not actively

kept up-to-date

• Local business partner relationships exist but not proactively engaged


• Governance Information

• Alumni Information


HARDWARE & NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Results Plus – PC based, alumni contact

information

• MS Word – Board documents


• Superintendent

• Admin Secretary

• Communications



Dell/Aruba


• Hardware

• PC Desktop (Results Plus)






83

11.0 MANAGE INTERGOVERNMENT & OTHER AGENCY RELATIONSHIPS

ARCHITECTURE MAP

Governance Information

Alumni Information

Board Meeting Packets

WP/SS

Alumni Demo

Results Plus

MAN

RPS.com

MAN

Board Policies





84

12.1 Create and

manage

organizational

performance

strategy

12.2 Benchmark

performance

12.3 Develop

enterprise-wide

knowledge

management

capability

12.4 Manage change



12.0 Manage Knowledge, Improvement & Change

12.0 MANAGE KNOWLEDGE, IMPROVEMENT & CHANGE


School Improvement

• RPS has adopted the AdvancED Standards for Quality School Systems as the framework for school improvement

• School Improvement team consists of all building principals, high school assistant principal and Director of School Improvement &

Instructional Data

• AdvancED’s Adaptive System of School Improvement Support Tools (ASSIST) is an on-line repository accessible by building principals to

manage, monitor and report school improvement activities – none of the principals mentioned accessing or using this tool

• RPS’s administration has completed a detailed evaluation of RPS operating policies related to AdvancED Standard #3 – Teaching and

Assessing for Learning


• Quality Standards – AdvancEd ASSIST


HARDWARE & NETWORK

INFRASTRUCTURE

• AdvancED ASSIST – web-based

continuous improvement, collaboration,

documentation repository

• School Improvement Team

• Principals



Dell/Aruba


• Hardware

• Apple Desktop

• Apple laptops


• ASSIST






85

12.0 MANAGE KNOWLEDGE, IMPROVEMENT & CHANGE

ARCHITECTURE MAP

Quality Standards

Standards

ASSIST

Resources



Detailed Process Assessment

86

LEVEL PERFORMANCE MATURITY

LEVEL 1:

INITIAL

Processes are usually ad hoc and chaotic; organization usually does not provide a stable environment to support

processes; characterized by a tendency to over-commit, abandon their processes in a time of crisis, and be unable to

repeat their successes

LEVEL 2:

MANAGED

Work groups define a service strategy, create work plans, and monitor and control the work to ensure the service is

delivered as planned; work groups, work activities, processes, work products, and services are managed; service provider

ensures that processes are planned and managed in accordance with policy; process adherence is periodically evaluated

and process performance is shared with senior management

LEVEL 3:

DEFIINED

Service providers use defined processes for managing work; organization’s set of standard processes is established and

improved over time; processes are managed more proactively using an understanding of the interrelationships of process

activities and detailed measures of the process, its work products, and its services

LEVEL 4:

QUANTITATIVELY

MANAGED

Service providers establish quantitative objectives for quality and process performance; quantitative objectives are

based on the needs of the customer, end users, organization and process implementers; performance of processes is

controlled using statistical and other quantitative techniques and predictions

LEVEL 5:

OPTIMIZING

Focuses on continually improving process performance through incremental and innovative process and technological

improvements; defined processes, set of standard processes and supporting technology are targets for measurable

improvement activities; organization is concerned with overall organizational performance using data collected from

multiple work groups; analysis of data identifies gaps in performance which drive organizational process improvement

Adapted from the Capability Maturity Model for Services (CMMI-SVC), v1.3 framework developed by Software Engineering Institute (SEI) of Carnegie Mellon University, November 2010




Operating Processes

87





88





89





90



User Survey Summary Results

In order to gather further input from end-users, an on-line survey was

developed and distributed to RPS staff to provide input and feedback on

technology in the district - see Supporting Detailed Information section for

survey questions and results

Over a two week period, 161 survey responses were submitted

70% of responses were from teachers

Responses from all school levels were received

45% elementary schools

42% secondary (middle/high school)

Most of the respondents use technology at home and at work several times

throughout the day

60% feel they are proficient in their technology skills

91




Software & Web-Based Apps

The most common Software programs (>50%) used by respondents

include: E-mail

Word processing

Presentations

Spreadsheets

Student Information

Classroom Instruction

Calendar The most common Web-Based Applications (>50%) used by respondents

include:

E-mail

Research

Search Engines

Overall, 49% indicated they are Very Satisfied or Satisfied with the

Software and Web-Based Applications available by RPS

92




Software & Web-Based Apps (cont.)

Overall, 49% indicated they are Very Satisfied or Satisfied with the Software and Web-

Based Applications available by RPS

Respondents indicate the following common themes would increase overall satisfaction

of RPS’ Software & Web-Based Apps Ongoing, application specific training especially related to instructional apps and lesson

planning

Standardized and integrated applications that “talk” to each other, support district

curriculum and enables access and sharing of content/data

Improved speed and performance when using web-based apps

Availability of specialized iPad apps (e.g., special ed, speech, ELL, reading, music)

Remote access to programs

Additional Software & Web-Based Apps suggestions include: Smart Board apps

GoogleApps

Music apps (e.g., digital recording, mp3, Sibelius Notartion)

Video Conferencing (e.g., Skype, Google)

Explorelearning.com

Updated Teacher evaluation app

93




Hardware & Devices

The most common Hardware and Devices (>50%) used by respondents include: Apple Laptops

Printers

Projectors

Cell Phones

Nearly 49% of respondents indicated they were Very Satisfied or Satisfied with

Hardware and Devices provided by RPS


of RPS’ Hardware and Devices Upgraded teacher laptops and student computers that are faster and compatible with latest

software and web-based apps

Greater equity among elementary buildings

Greater access to iPad carts

Mounted SmartBoard and projectors in classroom

Limit lost teaching time due to hardware set-up or down-time

Additional Hardware and Device suggestions include: Laptop carts

Digital cameras

ELMOs

94




Technical Training & Support

Overall, ~42% of respondents indicate they are Very Satisfied or Satisfied with

Technical Training and Support provided by RPS


of RPS’ Technical Training & Support: Ongoing, integrated instructional technology training program – most indicate need for

basics or refresher training

More time to learn and use available technology beyond training with ongoing support –

instead of one-time training session and “figure-it-out” approach

Better communication and sharing of how technology is being used throughout district

Better understanding on how ‘Cloud’ can/should be used

Additional Technical Training & Support suggestions include: Instructional Technology Training & Coaching – iPads, SmartBoards, etc.

Role-based Training

OnDemad Training

Cloud Training

Web Page Design

Keyboarding skills training for students

95




Data, Information & Content

Over 51% of the respondents are Very Satisfied or Satisfied with the Data, Information

and Content sources made available by RPS


of RPS’ Data, Information & Content: More timely access to current student data and information in a single location – everyone’s

looking forward to roll-out of Data Director

Shared knowledge for better district-wide collaboration with peers/cohorts – GoogleDocs is

eagerly anticipated by many

Single source for capturing and reporting PBIS information

Additional Data, Information & Content suggestions include: Teacher access to student information (e.g., contact information)

On-line Referral information

Awareness of what data is available on-line

96



Technology Investment Analysis

Based upon financial analysis of the past two actual school year expenditures and current

school year budget, the following is a summary of RPS’ total technology investment…

97



SUPPORTING

INFORMATION

98



Work Plan & Deliverables

99

Stage

Timing

(Est. Hrs) Key Tasks Deliverables

(See Samples in Supporting Information)

1. Project

Planning

Week

1

(16 hrs)

Finalize process scope and deliverables

Organize project resources

Finalize detailed project work plan

Identify key process owners to interview and to request data

Conduct project kick-off meeting

Detailed project work plan &

schedule

Kick-off Meeting

2. Current State

Assessment

Weeks

1-3

(40-50 hrs)

Review existing process and systems documentation

Conduct interviews of key process and technical support personnel

Conduct focus group sessions of larger stakeholder groups (e.g., students, teachers)

Gather input from “external” stakeholders via on-line survey tool (e.g., tax payers, parents)

Inventory and confirm major systems critical to the processes within scope

Identify critical functional requirements

Document key findings and observations in an assessment report

Summarized Findings &

Observations and Assessment

Results

3. Systems

Strategy

Development

Weeks

3-6

(30-35 hrs)

Research relevant business, industry and technology trends

Conduct IT vision and strategy articulation workshop

Document new systems strategy

Identify and prioritize needs and gaps with current systems

Develop future systems architecture and blueprint

Develop and evaluate solution alternatives

Present systems strategy to Technology Steering Committee for approval

Strategic IS Plan

4. Tactical

Planning

Weeks

6-8

(20-25 hrs)

Compile Tactical Action Plan for implementation

Develop staffing requirements and organization

Develop program master schedule

Prepare a business case outlining quantitative benefits vs. costs and organizational impact

Validate Tactical Action Plan with Key Executive Stakeholders

Prepare and Present IT Business Architecture Executive Presentation

Tactical Implementation Plans

Business Case

Final Executive Presentation

Project &

Change

Management

Ongoing

(2 hrs/wk)

Update project work plan

Coordinate project resources

Communicate status to Project Team and other stakeholders

Track and resolve identified project issues

Review work products and deliverables

Project Work Plan

Status Reports

Issues Log

Project Communications



Project Timeline

The following is a high-level project schedule…

100

Phase 3/5

3/12

3/19

3/26

4/2

4/9

4/16

4/23

4/30

5/7

5/14

5/21

5/28

6/4

1. Project Planning

2.Current State Assessment

3.System Strategy Development

4.Tactical Planning

Project & Change Management

Project Kick-Off

MILESTONE KEY

Project Status Update

Target Workshop

Strategic IS

Plan

Final

Presentation

Steering Committee Presentation

Current Assessment

Report



Data Gathering Interviews

PRISM conducted a series of interviews to

gather information about the current use of

technology

PRISM worked with RPS’ Cabinet Leaders

to identify people to interview One-on-One Interviews – central office

administration, business directors/

supervisors, building principals, assistant

principals

Small Group Interviews – 2-3 staff from a

common functional area

Group Interviews – 4-8 people

External Partners and Providers were also

identified and interviewed

An Interview Guide was prepared and

shared with interviewees

The following pages list the individuals

interviewed as part of the data gathering

activities for this project

101



Data Gathering Interviews (cont.)

102




103




104



Documentation Review

The following documentation was requested and received during the

data gathering activities of this project

105



Documentation Review (cont.)

106



Technology Survey

107



Technology Survey (cont.)

108




109




110




111




112




113

PRISM advisors

9135 Polk St.

Omaha, NE 68127

(402) 968-8852

[email protected]

http://www.prism-advisors.com

mailto:[email protected]

