Putting it All Together Automating Data Exchange

Carl Hoffman, Monroe Public Schools

After Implementing PowerSchool, how do we best manage student data in . . .

•Meal Magic – Food Service Software•Follett Destiny – Library Circulation•Transfinder – Transportation •Inform and Benchmark•Scholastic – Read 180, FastMath•Pearson – Successmaker•Type to Learn

The Challenges facing Districts Declining enrollments and decreased State funding has

put a crimp on available $

85% of $ spent in the average district is on personnel

Districts are cutting staff to save $When we’re laying of instructional staff asking

for additional support staff was out of the ?Data interoperability is becoming more of a

focus and more “Network Solutions” are implemented

The Challenges facing our District Data on demand, complexity of data, and urgency has

EXPLODED! Enrollment process occurs at multiple locations

through out the district, and we didn’t . . .Leverage technology to automate processesConcern ourselves with accuracy and timeliness of

data

Sustainability of district knowledgeo Staff attritiono role changes

The Challenges facing our DistrictStudents are transient, moving multiple times a

year within the districtOur Free and Reduced lunch counts were so

messed up we didn’t know what was the “Authoritative Source” for this critical dataFour of us spent more than a week validating data

between PowerSchool and Meal Magic

Accuracy of student addresses created problems with GeoCoding in TransFinder

State reporting has become a nightmare

Technology Department Responsibilities• 17 District Buildings including the Community Pool• Community Education Program• Pre-K • Public Library with 30+ computers• After Hours Computer Lab• 1500 Networked Computers• 200 EEEPC Student Computers (different OS,

connected wirelessly to our Filtered Internet)• 11 EEEPC computers for Board of Education

members and Staff. (Online in October!)• 500 5 year old Palm Pilots (still working!)• VOIP Phone System with 400 phones and faxes• 60 Analog phone lines (for emergency)• 10 District owned Cell Phones (3 with Internet access)• Automatic Calling System • TV, VCR/DVD player in every room• 80+ Security cameras• 100 Data Projectors in the process of being mounted• Wireless Infrastructure covering 95% of each building• 30+ servers (Maintenance, Updates, Troubleshooting)• 100+ Printers, Copiers, Scanners• 3 PolyCom Video Conferencing Carts• Backup for network• Internal Exchange Server with 450 accounts

• Email Offsite Archiving• Anti-Spam Device• Content Filtering Device• 3400 Students• 450 Staff• 3500 Network user accounts• Google Apps accounts for 1000+ HS Students• Moodle Accounts for 1700 MS and HS Students• Data Warehouse Imports (DataDirector)• Technical Support for SIS Program (PowerSchool)• 50 + Software Programs to support• Webmaster• Manage USF• Hundreds of Work Orders per year and countless

emails and phone calls• Order Tech equipment and software for district• Inventory all equipment• Poster maker and Laminator• Resale and Disposal of Equipment• Teacher Technology Professional Development (over

80 teachers trained at least 4 hours this summer)• Secretary and Administrator Training• Other duties as assigned• Love our jobs!

What are our options?

• AutoCom

• AutoSend

• SIF – Schools Interoperability Framework

• A third party professionally managed solution– Operates via the WWW– Fee based, annual subscription

What is AutoComm

• Use AutoComm to synchronize the data in PowerSchool with that in another system. Use it to synchronize your data, set up intervals at which PowerSchool automatically imports files of data from the other system.

• To use AutoComm, create an AutoComm record where you determine the synchronization parameters for each of the following files:– Courses – Teachers – Sections – Students – Student schedules

What is AutoSend?

• PowerSchool system can automatically create a copy of the information you specify at the selected date and time intervals, and export the file to another system.

• When creating an AutoSend record, you can determine the export parameters for each of the following types of data:– Attendance

– Course

– Section

– Student schedule

– Student demographic

– Teacher

What is SIF?

• Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF). SIF is a neutral consortium that develops standards that allow districts to select and integrate various best-of-breed applications into a single enterprise-level system.

• SIF ensures that your instructional and administrative software applications can share information seamlessly across multiple applications.

What is SIF?

• SIF Requires a Zone Integration Server.

• Probably an additional network engineer to manage it

The Monroe Schools Level Data Implementation

How Level Data has Helped

Automatically creates Student Accounts-ALSO disables student accounts upon

request/transferCreated literally thousands of student

accounts in minutes- historically, this was a 5-10 day process

Creates New Staff Accounts-dailyIncreases quality of DataIncreases the timeliness of our data

Level Data-The Foundation for Quality Data

Level Data is a managed solution that automates the processes requiring redundant data shared between district applications. This is accomplished in a way that is meaningful to each school district. This solution is the FOUNDATION for Data Driven Decision Making. We refer to it as “Information Made Easy….”

The Approach

Discuss and analyze the knowledge storeso Best of breed application suiteo The spawning tentacles of new applications

Act as a change-agent to promote process work flow within the District cultureo The connected TEAM starts with- Student

Information, Food Service, Transportation, Library, Network, Instructional/Assessment

Work collaboratively with application vendors.

The Level Data Model

Student Info. System Enroll New Student

Demographic Data

Name Smith, Mary A.

Address 123 Triangle Lane

Phone 555-555-1212

Date of Birth 1996-03-28

Guardian James Smith

Grade 7

…

…

Single Point of entry for Student data thru your Student Information System.

Student Info. System Updated in

Demographic Data

Smith, Mary A. Food Service

123 Triangle Lane Library

555-555-1212 Transportation

1996-03-28 Directory

James Smith

7

This “clean” student information is updated automatically in your other critical systems.

Benefits of Level Data

Why Level Data?Level Data is a managed service. There are no

additional district resources required to manage and maintain the system once it is in place.

We work with the existing applications in the district.o Best of breed applicationso Staff continues to use applications they are

familiar with without additional training. Very scalable and flexible for adding new

applications and functionality

Benefits of Level Data

AdministrationNo redundant data entryClean and accurate data, the first time and

every time.District personnel should spend time interpreting

data, not cleaning it.Data people in the district should be focusing on

reporting information, not moving data between applications

Real time access to information

Benefits of Level Data

Technology DepartmentReduced time managing clean up of multiple

data sources- How many applications are running in your district?

Reduced support costsSave time in user account management

oAutomates account creation and deletionoScalable to handle new applications as they come

on the scene

Benefits of Level Data

Application Vendor PerspectiveVendors are uniformly supporting this initiative

o Reduces their cost o Can result in higher client satisfactiono Much more flexible than SIFo No supporto Maintain competitive edge

Vendors don’t see payback in SIFo Too costly for districts to buy and MAINTAINo No ROI for vendorso Not enough data movement to justify costs

Vendors interested in Level Data Summito Discuss collaborative futures and enhanced functionality

Questions and Answers

Thank You!