Efalia ECM : Public Schools Found A Solution for Managing 75,000 Student Records

With the help of our partner Active Data Systems (ADS), Sioux Falls Public Schools (SFPS) has adopted the Efalia ECM solution to efficiently manage the records of over 18,000 students, generating more than 75,000 documents each year. This transformation has enabled rapid digitization and easy access to student records, optimizing administrative processes and improving service quality. Find out below how SFPS achieved space and cost savings while providing secure, centralized access to essential information thanks to Efalia ECM.

With over 18,000 students generating over 75,000 pieces of paper that were being generated each year – you can only imagine the challenges faced by Sioux Falls Public Schools (SFPS).

“Schools are required to keep records of students and must be able to share those records. So we must have a very user friendly way to share the records,” says Dr. Bill Smith, Director of Instructional Support Services for SFPS.

When the Sioux Falls Public Schools made the decision to change how it was keeping their student records it was time to look into a document imaging.

The system they determined would best fit their many needs was the Efalia ECM Document Management product. Efalia ECM provides many of the solutions to the challenges that the Sioux Falls Public Schools was experiencing.
Efalia ECM is based on a modular system, which allows the school system to effectively tailor their own solution, and as their needs grow Efalia ECM can fully adapt to meet their demands, says Dr. Bill Smith.

GETTING CONNECTED

With documents digitized, SFPS could now utilize their city wide computer network to access documents.

“We got all our registrars hooked up to that. So we have 5 or 6 users at remote sites that can get on there and look up student records and can either print, email, or fax them,” said Smith.

RETRIEVAL & HANDLING

Mavis Benda, Student Records Clerk for SFPS highlighted the retrieval and quality abilities of the Efalia ECM/Canon system.

“All we have to do is type in a name, retrieve the record, print it out to the printer and mail it, all in less than 5 minutes. She added, “What’s good about it is the image is so much better than the old microfilm machine. You don’t have to feed in one sheet of paper at a time. You can set a stack of 90 or a hundred pages and it just feeds them through – front and back!”

SFPS needed a system to handle many different sized documents.
Their new systems ability to han-die that was pointed out by Jeannie Forsberg SFPS’s Central Reg-istrar.

“You can do a birth certificate that is 3″ x 7″ and everything on up to a folder which is 18 inches. You don’t have to separate the sizes you can just feed it all at once whether it’s small or large. Than it prints out a nice, clear 8 ½ x 11 copy.”

MANY USES

According to Dr. Smith the success of handling student records has motivated them to explore other possibilities.

“The Human Resources Department will be scanning all applicant files. We’ll be giving principals access to that and they will be able to view them right at their desk in real time without having to travel across town to review applications.”

With the addition of principals SFPC will have 31 remote sites connected to their imaging system.

SPACE SAVINGS

One of the many benefits of their document imaging, is the cost and space savings of eliminating filing cabinets that are no longer need-ed.

Said Smith, “Each one of those cost $900 to a thousand bucks for a four drawer fire file.”

SUPPORT & VISION

Good service and support is a plus for SFPS, but Smith says you need to choose a vendor that is willing to work with you along the way.
You have to have someone that can help you be a little visionary.
Together it allows you to think bigger and to see futuristic ways to make this work better and more efficient, so we are able to save money as well as balance budgets.