Student Information System Transformation
About the Engagement:
The fourth largest public-school district in the country identified high impact, enterprise-wide technology solutions to make student information more accessible, reduce paperwork, and allow teachers more instructional time with students. These critical elements are the guiding principles to achieving its mission to be the premier urban school district in the country. The engagement included comprehensive project management which resulted in the replacement of the legacy system and the integration of new systems. Together, the team closed out the delivery of new instructional management programs and academic communication tools in addition to the implementation and integration of new student, curriculum, and special education systems.
Business Problem
The district used 40+ year old legacy systems. Over this period of time, they struggled to implement a project management strategy for developing needs and changes in district strategy. The goal was to improve educational outcomes and standards, but this could not happen without the consideration of system updates.
Challenges
One of the challenges of the engagement was requirements gathering across a large group of critical stakeholders. Given the size of the district, the number of stakeholders and areas of subject matter review were extensive. In addition, we wanted to ensure that the systems implemented supported the needs of students, faculty, and administration over-time, as priorities and/or standards may shift.
Project Impacts and Outcomes
Over an 18-month period, the engagement team worked with the client’s project leaders to develop organizational and operating changes to improve the productivity of the team and accelerate program deployment. The team transformed the technical Project Management Office through portfolio and project management oversight, systems, and tools. The end result of this foundation work was the full implementation of the student information system. In addition, the engagement team focused on developing and implementing documentation models and templates to improve business and technical analysis – leading to improved requirements, coding, and testing.