Perris, California
10,500 Students

In 2009, Perris Union High School District was told that their student information system (SIS), SASIxp, would no longer be supported by its manufacturer, Pearson, as of summer 2010. After thoroughly discussing their options, the decision was made to switch SIS vendors. They needed a long-term, reliable company with a vision for the future. Fortunately, Perris Union discovered Infinite Campus, a living solution continuously evolving to meet the every-changing needs of K12 education. By the 2009-10 school year, they had fully-implemented Infinite Campus and knew they made the right decision.

Challenges
Perris Union experienced many challenges with SASIxp. The district had multiple schools with their own servers. Without true integration, it was almost impossible to keep data consistent among the schools.

Ben Markley, Perris Union High School District Supervisor of Student Information Systems and State Reporting, was in charge of the server upkeep. “I had to manually enter routine updates on each server. Every update would take around three hours,” explained Markley. “My entire weekend was devoted to this task.”

Additionally, SASIxp shut down at least once a week. Markley said, “Sometimes I wouldn’t even know the source of the problem. A server would go down and hours of data would be lost.”

Perris Union knew many other districts would be switching from SASIxp, and they wanted to get a head-start on the implementation process. So, the district created an RFP and received about 20 responses and selected four vendors to demo. The final decision came down to Infinite Campus and PowerSchool.

Markley said, “We brought in 50 of our most advanced SIS users who demoed both systems for eight hours. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of Infinite Campus. The decision was clear.”

Solution
After implementing Infinite Campus, Perris Union saw immediate benefits. The district eliminated the need for multiple servers. Now, data is stored in one location and information is transferred seamlessly between schools.

“Information is in real time with Infinite Campus,” said Markley. “I’m confident that our data is always consistent and up-to date."

Perris Union relies on Campus Support for issues and questions. Bothphone and online support through the Campus Community is offered. “Any time I have a problem, I can call Infinite Campus directly. Their support representatives find the issue and explain step-by-step how they’re going to fix it,” said Markley. “Also, the Campus Community has been a huge benefit. I can search the Campus User Forums for a solution, or ask a new question, and within minutes I’ll have an answer.”

The Campus Portal is greatly accepted among district stakeholders. Parents and students have real-time access to grades, attendance, assignments, schedule information and much more. In addition, the new Campus Mobile Portal is an intuitive app that can be accessed from any Apple® iOS or Android® device.

“During our first year with Campus, we saw immediate parent involvement,” stated Markley. “Fifty percent of parents had signed up for a Campus Portal account. Both parents and students check their account weekly.”

Results
Infinite Campus is a huge time saver for Perris Union. According to Markley, “Before Infinite Campus, I would have to manually backup each school’s data. This process would take me about 30 minutes per school. With Infinite Campus, nightly backups are provided. This saves me so much time.”

In addition, monthly updates and enhancements are added regularly without disruption and at no additional cost. Perris Union sees Infinite Campus as a long-term investment. “Within seven to eight years we’ll be saving around $200,000 in support and maintenance costs,” stated Markely. “We know Infinite Campus is in it for the long-haul. Our district will never have to re-implement a system again which would cost over $150,000. Our return on investment is extensive.”

In today’s world of corporate mergers and acquisitions, Perris Union can rely on the stability of Infinite Campus.

According to Markley, “We chose the best system on the market that meets our needs today and for years to come. I find comfort in knowing I don’t have to be looking ahead. Infinite Campus does that for me…they’re our district’s ally. I know I can count on them.”