Roseville, CA - In 1999, the Technology Committee of the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) Regional Occupational Program (ROP) had a burning question -- how to streamline operations and improve the speed and quality of information to 21 school districts and their 45,000 students? The Technology Committee and a dedicated SDCOE team interviewed three vendors before finding the answer in Schoolhouse Software's AIM-Student Relationship Management™ system.
"Schoolhouse Software's AIM-Student Relationship Management was the solution, including having the depth of talent necessary to tackle such a large project," explains Robert LeVine, President of Schoolhouse Software. LeVine states, "Our AIM-Student Relationship Management system is an enterprise-wide solution designed specifically for large adult and vocational enterprises."
Today, the SDCOE is operating Schoolhouse's AIM-Student Relationship Management version software on an IBM® RS6000 using an Oracle® database. SDCOE is also running the system in a Citrix® MetaFrame™ server-based computing environment from Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq.CTXS) to reduce bandwidth requirements and provide exceptional remote site support. "The plan was to take advantage of centralized data at the county level while giving users efficient access to management data at all 21 districts in the program," says LeVine. "The Citrix server-based, thin-client architecture helped SDCOE-ROP to achieve their support and performance objectives because we can provide efficient access to a central database and keep overall support costs down," LeVine adds. What's more, the AIM-Student Relationship Management/Citrix combination of software makes the addition of users easy because it is intuitive. "We can have a new user up and running on AIM in 15 minutes via Citrix," explains LeVine.
New functionality added to the AIM-Student Relationship Management software has helped the County's vocational program address the administrative and reporting requirements of the Perkins Act and CDE-101. Additional features include the ability to quickly and efficiently print student competencies and certificates and conduct user-defined surveys that help improve the quality of programs, giving the San Diego regional occupation program an advantage over the competition.
SDCOE-ROP's plans go beyond administration to bring the benefits of the software directly to classroom teachers. Because the bandwidth-efficient Citrix MetaFrame software eliminates the need for expensive network infrastructure, SDCOE is interested in other applications, such as Schoolhouse Software's eClassManager™ program, where teachers can access class information from anywhere they can get Internet access and record daily attendance, grades and competency entries.
From the system manager perspective, the centralized Oracle database and the application management features that come with the AIM-Student Relationship Management/Citrix approach allow for troubleshooting of most problems from the data center. This is accomplished through a Citrix capability called "shadowing", which allows technical support staff to remotely join or take control of a user's session for diagnosis, support and training. The shadowing process helps eliminate problems by training users, or enables support staff to obtain accurate specifics about the problem to relay to Schoolhouse Software for quick resolution. The result is a reduction in the need for SDCOE-ROP staff to visit remote offices to train or troubleshoot.
In today's school district IT world, achieving district objectives is more about efficient access and effective user support than adopting new technology. Controlling access to student data is still somewhat of an open issue with the true Internet/ASP approach. Schoolhouse Software customers are finding a higher comfort level with security and system issues in general with the Citrix server-based, thin-client solution and Schoolhouse Software's Student Relationship Management version built on world class software (Borland® Delphi™ and Oracle)." Says LeVine, "AIM-Student Relationship Management is a solid product that works extremely well with Citrix."
About Citrix MetaFrame
Citrix MetaFrame application server software is helping organizations deliver a "Virtual Workplace" to users everywhere - on any device or network connection - by providing secure, reliable, cost-effective access to the same applications and information available at the office. Citrix MetaFrame extends the functionality of Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Terminal Services and Windows NT® Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition, as well as UNIX® operating systems including Sun Solaris™, IBM AIX® and HP-UX®. It provides key benefits including centralized, server-based management, rapid scalability, Web enablement of existing applications using Citrix NFuse™ application portal software, and flexible access to applications via the full Net - LANs, WANs, Internet, intranets and extranets.
About Schoolhouse Software
Schoolhouse Software, Inc. ("SSI") improves the lives of people in the educational arena. The company develops enterprise-wide information systems that assist administrators of the largest adult and vocational school districts in the country to efficiently manage their course offerings and maintain accurate records. The company also provides point-of-sale and back office administrative software that enables school food service managers to run more efficient and profitable cafeteria operations. SSI is a major supplier to state and county education departments, school districts and K-12 school food service operations with over 16 years experience in these markets and an installed base of systems that handle the administrative and reporting needs of 4.5 million students and 25,000 classes in 14 states.
For more information, please contact Pete Belknap at 916.784.7878.
AIM-Student Relationship Management™ and eClassManager™ are trademarks of Schoolhouse Software, Inc. Citrix®, MetaFrame® and Citrix Business Alliance™ are registered trademarks or trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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