Implementing a Staff Development Management System?

Calculate your Return On Investment

How many hours does your staff spend each year taking phone calls or processing registration forms? How much more time is spent communicating with registrants as schedules change or are forgotten? Now, add to that the hours spent addressing the increasing responsibilities to track and report attendance, certification requirements, and additional state mandates related to staff development.

As the federal government transitions power over preK-12 education systems to the state level, the existing processes employed by the states to provide and monitor the training of teachers must change. Current practices have ultimately resulted in a dwindling pool of qualified teachers. State governments are recognizing this and, in several cases, are turning the entire responsibility to train and certify teachers over to the individual school districts.

Hand-in-hand with the transition of power and responsibility is a change in accountability. Staff development departments must train quality teachers. Teachers have a direct affect on the performance of students. Student performance directly affects funding on a number of levels. It follows that staff development has a critical role in the funding of the district and the instruction of all students.

How do you keep up with the paperwork and provide excellent service while preparing quality teachers? You could hire another full-time person, or pay overtime every week for your existing staff. Or, you could automate your staff development management process. Use of an automated system frees your staff to address other projects leading to increased labor efficiency. The Electronic Registrar Online, an automated staff development management system, developed and hosted by eSchool Solutions, reduces time and expenses associated with course and registration management and reporting, making it possible to increase productivity and provide improved service to your registrants.

Additionally, the Electronic Registrar Online offers all of the features required of an effective automated management system. These include, but are not limited to:

• The system is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for registration and checking schedules.

• Registrants are able to self-enroll with ease via the Internet or over the telephone.

• Administrators are able to regulate enrollment without having to constantly monitor waitlists and audience restrictions.

• Reporting is available with up-to-the-minute data and in a variety of formats.

Benefits of Automating the Process

Automating the registration and administration processes of staff development gives you increased administrative control. An automated system with web-access easily consolidates data management, whether staff development activities and costs are centralized in one office or de-centralized across several departments district-wide. A variety of access levels help in delegating tasks to instructors, clerical staff, and school administrators. In addition to increased administrative control and an improved accountability structure, multiple benefits result from the automation of your staff development management process in the areas of service, teacher retention, and interfacing with other systems. Over and above these benefits, numerous quantitative benefits can result in significant savings to a school district. These include decreased printing and distribution costs, as well as decreased labor costs.

Improved accountability and verification. A standard, state audit of a Southern California school district using the Electronic Registrar Online resulted in high praise for the staff development office. In an environment of high accountability, the detailed tracking and reporting of an automated system not only eliminates time consuming manual recording and data manipulation. It also serves to reduce errors and duplication of work often created by manual entry. Registrants can access their registration history at any time via the Internet to verify the accurate recording of hours or credits. Registrants and administrators can easily print transcripts and certificates of completion with up-to-the-minute, real-time information.

Improved service. Two aspects of service are most directly affected. First, universal access to all registrants is possible with an automated system that allows enrollment via the Internet or via the telephone. With access to registration information available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, registrants are able to manage their enrollment at times convenient to them. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology enables registrants to perform basic registration functions over the telephone. Experience has shown that despite changes that promote and encourage Internet use, the IVR is still heavily used for both enrollment purposes and to review schedule information.

Second, service is improved by the use of automatic notifications and real-time data display. Registrants are notified of changes in their registration status, such as being enrolled off a waitlist, using system generated emails. Changes in class location, dates, instructors, etc. are visible and updated in the catalog and on registrant schedules immediately upon being entered into the system. Registrants can view this information online or review it over the phone for the most up-to-date information.

Increased teacher efficacy and retention. Gaining teacher buy-in is an important aspect of any district change. The easy-to-use features empower teachers to take a more active role in their personal and professional growth. With job satisfaction playing such an important role in retention, an automated system that serves both as an administration tool and a registration tool promotes teacher success.

Interface efficiency. Sharing data in simple text formatting is a valuable tool when working in an environment laden with data tracking responsibilities. While reports can easily be passed from one department to another, the Electronic Registrar Online also has the capability for data to be imported and exported at any time for use with other software applications. Importing capabilities have been used to incorporate scan-forms (bubble sheets) as data entry tools for marking attendance. More than half of the Electronic Registrar Online customers have imported personnel and historic (pre-implementation) registration information to dramatically reduce data entry time. Exporting allows the transfer of in-house registration information to a mainframe system for certification tracking for those customers who choose to continue to maintain an alternate database.

Increased funding through teacher certification. For districts that have funding linked to teacher continuing education, certification compliance, and/or alternative certification programs, an automated system provides increased capability to track course offerings and attendance. The development plans of teachers can also be tracked in the form of programs. If used to its full capability, an automated system should result in increased compliance and, therefore, increased funding.

Decreased printing costs. An online catalog reduces - potentially eliminating entirely - the printing costs associated with printing and distribution of course catalogs and registration forms. Reprinting after making changes is no longer required because the online catalog is updated immediately. This quantifiable benefit is used for calculating the return on investment presented in the following pages.

Decreased labor as a result of registration efficiency. With an automated system, your staff will no longer have to spend hours documenting and tracking registration requests, changes, and reminders. Catalogs no longer have to be typed and formatted. Described in further detail, this quantifiable benefit is used for calculating the return on investment presented in the following pages.

Benefits of Selecting an Application Service Provider (ASP)

Given the benefits discussed, the decision to implement an automated registration and administration management system is clear. There is no other acceptable option. The decision is often narrowed to choosing between a "home-grown" system and a product from an outside company. Obviously, many districts have their own systems: either a database application, such as Microsoft Access or Excel, or another system that attempts to provide some of the features found in the Electronic Registrar Online. Seen as "free" because they are developed and maintained by district employees, "hidden" costs associated with "homegrown" systems are often overlooked. Depending on the complexity of the system and the extent to which registration is truly automated, hidden costs associated with these home-grown systems include, but are not limited to: technician labor to maintain the hardware and software and develop and install upgrades, data center space, and, if IVR technology is used, multiple telephone lines and long distance charges. These costs are illustrated in the Return on Investment comparison presented in the following pages. The IVR associated costs are not included in the comparison because it has been our experience that the expense and complexity of IVR technology is not often incorporated into district-developed products.

A system hosted by another company provides benefits above and beyond those of simply automating the process:

Eliminated internal support costs. As an Application Service Provider (ASP), eSchool Solutions offers the Electronic Registrar Online as a service. All hardware and software are maintained in a data center staffed and monitored by eSchool Solutions. A toll-free telephone number is provided for access to the system via the IVR by your district. Upgrades are on-going and included in the annual subscription. As a system administrator or as a registrant, you need only to have reliable Internet access and/or a touch-tone telephone. No other technical support is required after implementation.

Increased security. The ASP environment provided by the Electronic Registrar Online offers the same degree of security used by online banking institutions world-wide. Secure connections and data encryptions are maintained and certified by eSchool Solutions.

Calculating the Return on Investment (ROI)

The Return on Investment (ROI) is demonstrated via a comparison of annual costs associated with a manual registration and administration process, a "home-grown" or district-developed solution, and implementation of the Electronic Registrar Online.

Several assumptions are made and described in the bottom portion of the ROI worksheet. Primarily, this ROI takes into account only the time and expenses that are directly attributable to the scheduling portion of the staff development process. Course facilitation and design, account management, and other aspects of the staff development business, while also assisted by the implementation of an automated system are not calculated in the ROI. Additionally, initial costs associated with the design and development of a "home-grown" system are not included in these calculations.

Number of staff development eligible employees. This field is used to indicate the size of the district and the number of potential registrants.

Number of enrollment periods. The number of enrollment or registration periods affects the frequency of catalog production and distribution. Also, this number is multiplied by the number of registrations per registrant per enrollment period to identify how many registrations the average staff development eligible employee makes per year.

Avg number of courses per enrollment period. The number of courses or class offerings per enrollment period is used to calculate the time spent maintaining course information.

Avg registration per registrant per enrollment period. This field is used to indicate how many enrollments the average registrant makes during each enrollment period. This along with the number of enrollment periods indicates how many registrations to expect per registrant per year.

Labor

The Labor costs are calculated using time spent on particular activities: Course Management, Registrant Management, and Technology Support. The time amounts and assumed salaries are presented in the Assumptions table.

Course management. Course management refers to time spent doing data entry, catalog preparation, and reporting on a per class basis. For example, preparing and printing sign-in sheets or rosters are done per class. An automated system would eliminate having to retype course information into catalog format. Also, course management time is reduced in an automated system because sign-in sheets and similar reports can be printed without having to be typed from scratch each time.

Registrant management. Registrations occur per class per person. Each person must enroll in each class separately. Often, registrants' schedules change and their registration must be dropped or edited. Many districts also spend time sending registration acknowledgement messages or reminders. Additional time is required to prepare and print transcripts per registrant per year. In a manual environment, the highest labor expense is typically on this task. In an automated environment, each registrant still requires attention, including verification of transcript information and marking attendance. However, the time spent on initial enrollment, schedule changes, and notifications is eliminated when using an automated system.

Technology support. As described in the discussion of the benefits of using an Application Service Provider, hidden costs of using a district-developed system include labor costs for a skilled technician. The larger the district, the greater the time spent monitoring and maintaining the home-grown system. Manual environments use little to no technology and therefore require no technical support. The Electronic Registrar Online requires no technical support by a district employee. The system is supported by eSchool Solutions. The cost of this service is included in the annual service subscription fee.

Other Expenses

Expenses listed as Other Expenses are costs associated directly with the scheduling of courses and registrants. Expenses and savings beyond those required for successful registration are not included.

IVR telephone access/charges. IVR expenses are not included in the Manual process because no automation is assumed, despite the possible use of a telephone for registration. IVR would require that a computer interact with the registrant, not a staff member. Additionally, IVR expenses are not included in the district-developed solution because it is not likely for IVR to be included. If it is, you will need to add the cost of telephone lines and long distance charges to the Net Cost. In contrast, the Electronic Registrar Online does include IVR technology and the telephone access and long distance charges are included in the annual service subscription fee.

Computer hardware. Manual processes are calculated as not requiring any special computer hardware. District-developed systems require server and computer costs. Beyond the initial hardware used for development, it is assumed that hardware will need to be upgraded and replaced at a minimum of every four years. These costs are amortized over four years. In contrast, the Electronic Registrar Online does not require the purchasing of computer hardware by the district. Hardware is maintained by eSchool Solutions and replaced as needed with no additional expense to the district.

Computer software/licenses. Manual processes are calculated as not requiring any computer software. District-developed systems may use a range of computer software from a single Microsoft Excel license to server and client licensing. The assumption made in this calculation is that the product closely resembles the Electronic Registrar Online in web access and features. Also, the renewal of licensing and purchase of software upgrades are amortized over a four-year period in the district-developed comparison. The Electronic Registrar Online displays the annual service subscription fee in this field. The subscription fee is a per person rate based on the number of staff development eligible employees.

Printing and distribution costs. These costs were determined using a per user, per enrollment period rate. This includes printing and mailing costs each time a catalog is prepared and distributed. An automated system will reduce the need for distribution by making the catalog available online. We have found that despite this feature, many customers prefer to continue to print a limited number of catalogs. Therefore, in an automated process situation - the district-developed or the Electronic Registrar Online, the assumption is made that printing costs are reduced by as much as 85%.

Conclusions

The chart above illustrates the cost savings possible for school districts of various sizes.

The size of the district is represented by the number of staff development eligible employees. The return on investment was calculated using an average of three enrollment periods, during which one hundred courses are offered and each registrant enrolls for two.

In this scenario, a district with one thousand staff development eligible employees would save $2,673 if performing the same tasks using the Electronic Registrar Online rather than in a manual way. If choosing to develop a "home-grown" solution, the district's annual costs would be $24,000 greater than using the Electronic Registrar Online.

By choosing to use the Electronic Registrar Online, a district with five thousand staff development eligible employees would save $15,258 when compared to a manual process and $15,469 when compared to a district-developed system.

A district with twelve thousand staff development eligible employees using the Electronic Registrar Online would save $38,532 when compared to a manual process and $40,125 when compared to a district-developed system.

The Electronic Registrar Online offers all of the benefits of an automated system at a significant savings to your district.

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