Student Data Systems

PRE INSTALLATION

Before installation, a few easy deployment decisions need to be made. Does your school have a computer network with a file server? Where will teachers complete their reports? Who will print the completed reports?  

ISSUES TO CONSIDER

1. All teachers may elect to complete their reports at school via the school computer network. This is the easiest option but not always practical. This means there is no data transference from home to school and vice versa. It also means that there will be somebody on site who is the residential Report Card “expert” who can assist teachers if they require trouble shooting.

This method works best if your school has a file server.

School administrators can periodically browse reports via the school network to assist teachers.

 2. All teachers may elect to do their reports at home. You will need to decide how the data is managed. The residential expert may do this, or teachers themselves may do this. It’s easy to manage ... but some teachers don’t like doing this for fear of data loss.  Reports Card has safety mechanisms to prevent data loss. The only time this can really happen is if two part time teachers are completing reports from home and they don’t manage the data properly.  In this case its best if the residential expert manages the data for them.  

Trouble shooting may become an issue.  Report Card is very easy to use. Yet when technology is involved, Murphy’s law tends to rear its ugly head. Whilst Report Card offers after sales support, this is only during business hours. Therefore, if teachers require assistance after school hours, this task falls back to the residential expert. If the “expert” isn’t able to assist, a call or an email can be made the following day and the trouble shooting passes along to the appropriate teacher.

3. Some teachers may elect to report at school and some teachers may elect to report at home. And some teachers may want to do a combination of both.

In this case, Report Card needs to be installed on a file server where computers can access Report Card.

For those working from home, teachers receive a home version of Report Card. When they are complete, the data is transferred back to the file server.  This way, there is only one complete school wide copy of student reports.  

This makes Printing streamlined and searches efficient.  

Again, support issues need to be considered.

PRINTING

You need to decide who will print completed reports. Will teachers print their own reports?  Different printers will produce different quality print.

Will printing be conducted centrally using a quality printer?

INSTALLATION

Once these issues have been carefully considered, you are now ready to install Report Card. Install report card in a location which will collect all the data. If you have a server, then install it on the server and make a shortcut icon on user desktops.

In a small school, install it on a computer where you will print from.