Administrative Software
Peter Ostrom
30 August 2001
________________________________________________________________
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 17:39:24 +0300
From: Peter Ostrom <PeterO@ISH.EDU.HEL.FI>
Subject: Admin Software
To: HEAD-NET@TC.UMN.EDU
Dear Headnetters,
Thanks to the 17 or so who responded to my quiery about Admin software. There is no clear winner, so I have compiled the narrative answers for your information.
Peter Ostrom IS
We used ADMIN . It does all that you listed here, but takes an administrator who is well
trained by these people to run. Also we needed to hire a programmer in the
beginning to tweak some issues, which I am sure was expensive but by now, it
should be up to speed as long as the Program Admin stays.
We use Administrator Plus, a PC Windows system. It works well for us.
We use Administrator's Plus, including Grade Quick, an add-on module for
grades. This is used by many overseas schools and comes from
the
not perfect but we are generally quite satisfied. I have had no experience
with an Access-based program. A+ (as it is called) is a complete package.
You can find them online.
Check out this site for Rediker Software, Inc., Administrator's Plus software package.
I would be interested in what feedback you get here. Sorry I have nothing to
contribute as the system, RS4, is terrible in my opinion.
Have you tried REDIKER? It is really very complete and the service is good.
We are extremely pleased with Blackbaud. It's expensive, but is remarkably
powerful and comprehensive. Took awhile to learn to use it, but having our
billing, student records and admissions information all on one database -
with alumni and development components available has been a real plus.
You might want to look into Admin-Plus from Rediker Software. You can
contact Rich Rediker at (RedSoft@msn.com) for more information. It is a very
effective and comprehensive student accounting system. It can do even more
than you currently need. Good luck.
We use Admin Plus. It does all of the things you want. The difficulty is
getting people inserviced to use the software. It is somewhat complicated
and difficult to use. Otherwise it is a good program.
Take a look at Senior Systems.
Howdy! We use
figuring it out, it seems a vast improvement on its predecessor. It does
most of what you are looking for, I think except invoicing and library. I wish it
had room for comments on the report card template, but we are otherwise pleased.
The scheduler worked particularly well with a funky rotating semi-block deal
That we have.
We have MacSchool for grades, etc. It has other modules we do not use
as we should.
I wanted to let you know that our school has been in the process of
converting to Oracle over the past 18 months with very limited success. In
addition, it appears that our end product will be very cumbersome and time
consuming. Also, we will still have about half of our systems on different
platforms and systems, non-Oracle, after the conversion without links. At
this point, I would not recommend Oracle as a possible solution.
I was previously the Finance Director at the
xxxxxx where we used Blackbaud. Having made a brief comparison, Blackbaud
would win handsdown against Oracle. The positive about Blackbaud is that
all the systems are linked and can easily be updated without running on
different platforms and systems. Blackbaud does have it's limitations and
unresolved issues as well, but by comparison they are very tolerable.
For registrar, work orders . purchasing, bus lists, etc. we decided
to design our own with a programmer. It has been three years in the
works and is still not working well. It does merge with MacSchool,
but there are some real bugs in the purchasing module. I guess my
suggestion would be to go with a package if there is a good one out
there.
We have just done some research on this and have adopted
a super program.
> What do you use? WE ARE STARTING TO USE WINSCHOOL. Package or adapt a
database programme for your needs?PACKAGE
> Do you recommend it?STILL LEARNING, BUT IT HAS POTENTIAL.
> What are its strengths and problems? STRENGTHS ARE A POWERFUL DATABASE, GENERATES REPORTS, DOES GRADES, GENERATES TRANSCRIPTS, AND SCHEDULES.
PROBLEM IS SOMEONE HAS TO SPEND TIME TO LEARN IT AND BE THE RESIDENT EXPERT.
> Any other advice? GET TRAINING. THESE PROGRAMS ARE COMPLICATED AND THE TERMINOLOGY IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT YOU THINK IT IS. (I.E. IN WINSCHOOL A "BLOCK" IS SIMILAR TO A CELL IN A SPREADSHEET; NOT AS IN "BLOCK" SCHEDULE.)
Peter Ostrom
Headmaster
Selkamerenkatu 11
00180
tel: 358 9 686 6160
fax: 358 9 685 6699
mobile: 050 565 9100 www.ish.edu.hel.fi