Private School Administration (Preschool - 12)

Description

Every private school has the need to keep archival records regarding their community. For small schools with tight budgets the options are not plentiful. Enterprise systems in use at large institutions cost thousands of dollars to purchase and more money to maintain licenses for over time. Usually these systems are comprised of "modules" which extend the usage of the overall system at a higher cost. Alternatively, smaller schools can use ready-made templates to track various components of their system, allowing for many things to be tracked cheaply, but at the cost of efficiency as most things are double-entered (for instance, Admissions may maintain their own files, Development their own, and the Registrar, yet another set).

Software-wise, FileMaker provides small institutions the ability to develop their own system to the limits of their knowledge of the FileMaker "language." The schools I\'ve worked with have returned to FileMaker after trying larger enterprise systems. Their consensus was that the enterprise system was not only too expensive, but not finely tailored enough to allow the smaller school to track finer details that are usually lost in larger bureaucracies.

This private school administration system is currently in use at two Waldorf/Rudolf Steiner schools which teach preschool - high school. The system tracks Admissions (inquiries and applicants), core demographics (addresses, family relations, mailings, phone numbers, etc.), Development, and Students (including medical records, nurse visits, absenses, tuition contracts, summer camp registration, and parent-toddler groups). Correspondence logs, flag files, and salutation tables are managed by each department with a notepad and mailing record file being shared by all the departments to aid in the dissemination of information between departments.

Architecture

FileMaker Pro

Growth and Current Restrictions

Ideally, future versions would feature a more intuitive interface for setting up mailing lists and creating letters for particular recipients. Structurally, the database is capable of handling mailings and letters as actual records (as opposed to a different layout per letter - these letters are true form letters in that a database of letters exist with the letter content residing in a field and scripts providing for form variables on a per recipient basis), but the interface leaves a lot of room for mistakes on the part of the user. Basically, the structure is too complex and the interface doesn\'t simplify things enough. Sadly, this is more or less due to restrictions within the actual FileMaker language. When a more relational version of FileMaker is released, perhaps this issue can be addressed in a new and better manner.

For now a wiki is serving as a help forum for the community of users. Completing the documentation on that wiki would also be a worthwhile next step.

Creation

Angela Labrador


Home About Me Projects Websites Mail	Private School Administration (Preschool - 12) Description Every private school has the need to keep archival records regarding their community. For small schools with tight budgets the options are not plentiful. Enterprise systems in use at large institutions cost thousands of dollars to purchase and more money to maintain licenses for over time. Usually these systems are comprised of "modules" which extend the usage of the overall system at a higher cost. Alternatively, smaller schools can use ready-made templates to track various components of their system, allowing for many things to be tracked cheaply, but at the cost of efficiency as most things are double-entered (for instance, Admissions may maintain their own files, Development their own, and the Registrar, yet another set). Software-wise, FileMaker provides small institutions the ability to develop their own system to the limits of their knowledge of the FileMaker "language." The schools I\'ve worked with have returned to FileMaker after trying larger enterprise systems. Their consensus was that the enterprise system was not only too expensive, but not finely tailored enough to allow the smaller school to track finer details that are usually lost in larger bureaucracies. This private school administration system is currently in use at two Waldorf/Rudolf Steiner schools which teach preschool - high school. The system tracks Admissions (inquiries and applicants), core demographics (addresses, family relations, mailings, phone numbers, etc.), Development, and Students (including medical records, nurse visits, absenses, tuition contracts, summer camp registration, and parent-toddler groups). Correspondence logs, flag files, and salutation tables are managed by each department with a notepad and mailing record file being shared by all the departments to aid in the dissemination of information between departments. Architecture FileMaker Pro Growth and Current Restrictions Ideally, future versions would feature a more intuitive interface for setting up mailing lists and creating letters for particular recipients. Structurally, the database is capable of handling mailings and letters as actual records (as opposed to a different layout per letter - these letters are true form letters in that a database of letters exist with the letter content residing in a field and scripts providing for form variables on a per recipient basis), but the interface leaves a lot of room for mistakes on the part of the user. Basically, the structure is too complex and the interface doesn\'t simplify things enough. Sadly, this is more or less due to restrictions within the actual FileMaker language. When a more relational version of FileMaker is released, perhaps this issue can be addressed in a new and better manner. For now a wiki is serving as a help forum for the community of users. Completing the documentation on that wiki would also be a worthwhile next step. Creation Angela Labrador