A Single Location (URL) for Everyone, A Single Login for Members

Many schools use several different vendors / systems to address school management and communication needs. One vendor may provision a SIS, another the school's website, and yet another may handle teacher pages and secure online content for parents and students.

Members of the school can end up needing multiple passwords and using multiple URLs. Keeping track of it all can be a challenge.

By securely siphoning the content generated in a school's student / school information system (SIS) into the branded website and allowing webpage owners to configure security settings on web pages and content, SchoolFront portal provides a single online repository for all school information and content. Everyone goes to one URL. Users with passwords are able to login once and see both public content and secure private content relevant to them.

Vendor Consolidation

Consolidate spend to a single technology vendor, driving cost-reduction via volume pricing.

One vendor. One simple bill. One comprehensive and elegantly integrated solution to meet your needs.

Enjoy an Afforadable Best-in-Class System

Customers avoid the cost of setting up and maintaining an in-house solution because the hosted SchoolFront system configuration affords customers access to powerful software operating in a powerful environment:

Reliability and Redundancy Scalability System Data Backup and Storage Secure Class-A Data Center and System Monitoring Reduce IT Staff Strain Many school IT groups are understaffed and already have difficulty keeping up with desktop support issues and providing the energy required to keep the school technologically up, running, and online. Let us handle the burden of system management, maintenance and user support.

SchoolFront Portal offers extremely granular security, including distribution of read and write privileges for whole pages and for individual components (i.e. web-parts) on pages. Because of this granularity, responsibility for the development and management of content pages and areas in a SchoolFront Portal can be distributed amongst school staff members.

Examples: Each teacher can manage his or her own classroom and activity / club page(s). Alumni can be given a special area which only they can access with forums and event information. Staff can have their own area in SchoolFront which students and the public cannot access where they can post forums and document libraries. The Athletics department can distribute ownership of individual team calendars to athletics coaches and then automatically compile a complete athletics calendar for the whole school. Departments like Admissions and Fundraising/Development can manage their own set of pages which they can update as frequently as they desire.

Publishing content in SchoolFront Portal is as easy as the click of a button, but a review process, wherein content owners submit edited and new content to a designated person for review before it is published, can also be put in place if a school wishes to exercise rigor in vetting website or intranet content.

Granular content security makes it easy to protect private student and school information in SchoolFront Portal.

Pages and/or content on pages can be hidden from all but a very specific set of users or be made viewable only by any authenticated users.

Rather than refraining from posting student pictures from school events, you can post them but restrict access. This principle can be applied to intellectual property like artwork and literary works from students and staff, to document libraries, to image galleries, etc.

In addition to the much-lauded environmental benefits of reducing the usage of paper in schools, there are many good reasons to go paperless:

• Quicker access to information by making it searchable and accessible from any Internet-connected computer with a standard web browser.
• Save storage space and make it possible to save information for longer periods of time without having to free up space in your building.
• Eliminate the fire hazard of masses of stored paper.
• No need for school staff members to label, file, and store individual documents.
• Increase security by encrypting and password protecting school and student information.
• Make it easier to share information and documents.
• Make processes a collaborative exercise and spread responsibility for information across resources.
• Make it easier to scale business (e.g. enroll more students, hire more teachers, offer more courses).
• Encourage standardization and consistency in data and processes.
• Use the information stored electronically for reporting and analysis purposes and improve operations.
• Empower users. Those who before would have called the school office for information can now login and get the information themselves.

Social media websites like Facebook (a social media platform), Wordpress (blogging), Flickr (image galleries), Twitter (micro-blogging and messaging), etc. are fast becoming a standard part of the lives of young people. Educators have begun leveraging such tools to engage students, alumni, families, and the community at large but some encounter issues with public-facing sites such as anonymous bullying and intellectual property theft.

Leverage Social Tools Safely

In addition to linking your SchoolFront Portal to your school's social media pages and allowing users to "like" and "tweet" about content within the school's website or intranet, SchoolFront Portal allows teachers to leverage social tools like blogging, instant messaging, forums, and image and video galleries privately.

Examples:

• An English teacher could create a forum for an AP Literature class which only students in the class could access and require that everyone post one question about the book the class is reading and write 2 responses to other student's questions.
• A student writing club could have a blog accessible only to authenticated students, teachers, and parents.
• The staff in the school could have a private forum for staff-only where they can request help with curriculum, student issues, and other professional topics.
• A teacher can embed an Instant Messaging web-part on his or her page and have online office hours when students and parents can instant message them in the evening to ask for help preparing for a test or on homework.

Using social tools in the safety and security of the SchoolFront Portal allows students to express themselves, leveraging online tools which they will continue to use personally as well as in college and professionally, while school staff oversee the system. Supervision, traceability of content, and restricting audience ensures productive social media engagement and proper usage of the tool. No bullying. No adverse exposure.