Modern Digital Business | DocuWare Blog

How K-12 School Systems Can Resolve New IT Challenges with Office Automation

Written by Joan Honig | Oct 21, 2020

K-12 school systems are spending more time and resources managing technology for remote learning and hardware-intensive projects like providing students with laptops. Other issues including virtual recruiting and hiring, collecting student information, compliance and responding to potential cyberthreats are as pressing, but there often isn’t time to do it all.

According to an article in EdTech magazine, the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) reports that more than half of K–12 IT directors they surveyed say their budgets do not allow them “to hire the personnel needed to support the tech assets that have already been purchased.” Stretched thin, they’re mostly “reacting to technical problems” — instead of taking proactive measures to prevent them.
 
DocuWare Cloud addresses many of these concerns. It flexes with evolving technology needs without adding work for the IT team. The solution protects confidential student records against cybersecurity threats and natural disasters with a fail-safe disaster recovery plan.
 
DocuWare also provides a Building Access eform with accompanying workflows that makes mandatory daily screenings easier. Now students, teachers and staff can fill out a COVID-19 questionnaire that meets exposure-notification obligations, complies with privacy regulations and limits risk.
 
A Document Management System Can:
Store student records in a secure, searchable digital archive to protect student privacy and comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Use public-facing eforms that parents can complete online to collect registration information, health data and permission for participation in extracurricular activities
Exchange information easily between staff, for example, a teacher, psychologist and guidance counselor developing an IEP
Create automated workflows so all administrative processes run smoothly and quickly
Allow permission-based access to HR records such as job applications, teacher evaluations and benefits enrollment documentation
Adapt to the need for remote hiring, onboarding and maintaining faculty credentialing records
Enable private schools to track admissions and financial aid through shared access to files and speed up processing with retrieval and routing tools 

School district achieves new HR efficiencies by eliminating paper

Independent School District 196 is a nationally recognized K-12 public school district with a central office in Rosemount, Minnesota. The district serves more than 29,000 students and is one of the area’s largest employers.  By implementing DocuWare, the district eliminated paper applicant files and the administrative headaches they caused. HR staff operates more efficiently and can focus on their core responsibilities rather than spending 10-12 hours per week on filing. Automating the hiring process was such a success that the HR department decided to maintain employee files in electronic form as well. The HR department improved the security of confidential employee information, thanks to DocuWare’s security features.  Interested in hearing a real-world perspective? Tom Voigt, Information System Coordinator for Independent School District 196, shares his district's success story at this free on-demand webinar: