1,500 Students

Adel DeSoto Minburn (ADM) Community School District is located in central Iowa. The district faced numerous problems with their student information system (SIS), JMC. When ADM experienced an issue, it was very difficult to get a response from a support representative. After 10 years of using JMC, ADM heard about Infinite Campus from neighboring districts. With a 95% support satisfaction rating, and fully-integrated and Web-based functionally, ADM knew they needed to make the switch from JMC to Infinite Campus.

Challenges
With JMC, it was challenging for ADM staff to communicate efficiently with parents. According to Kendra Wolf, ADM Technology Integration Specialist, “JMC’s parent portal had limited functionality, so two-way communication was difficult. We wanted parents to be more involved in their student’s education, so we needed an SIS with an easily accessible parent portal.”

Also, JMC’s outdated technology did not satisfy ADM’s needs. “JMC lacked innovation,” said Wolf. “With 1,500 students, we needed an SIS with flexible, comprehensive features to help with student scheduling. JMC did not have these capabilities, so scheduling was a complicated and timely task.”

Additionally, JMC was not Web-based. “We wanted our staff to be more hands-on, and with multiple databases, this was not possible,” remembered Wolf. “Accessing the system was very cumbersome. We needed one, centralized SIS that was easily accessible for every staff member in our district.”

ADM heard of Infinite Campus from multiple neighboring districts, including Des Moines Public Schools. “Word of mouth is huge,” said Wolf. “Even before we demoed Campus, our minds were made up. But to be fair, we formed a committee, and demoed Infinite Campus and PowerSchool. The demo confirmed our initial choice. The functionality of Campus soars above any other SIS on the market.”

Solution
By June 2012, ADM was up-and-running with Infinite Campus. The district was instantly relieved by its support options. “We’re amazed at Infinite Campus support. I don’t ever have a problem getting someone to respond to us. They’re constantly checking in to make sure everything’s working well,” Wolf stated.

In addition to phone support, the Campus Community is an online support option that is available 24/7. “The Campus Community is a great resource. It’s comprehensive and very helpful,” said Wolf.

With Infinite Campus, ADM benefits from the Campus Portal which is included at no additional cost. Parents and students have real-time access to grades, attendance, assignments, schedule information and much more. It allows parents and students to track academic progress and stay up-to-date with assignments.

The new Campus Mobile Portal is an intuitive app that can be accessed from any Apple® iOS or Android® device. The mobile portal provides ‘push notifications’ that automatically alert users of grade, assignment and attendance changes. With all of the Campus Portal features, communication between stakeholders is increased immensely.

Results
ADM continues to benefit from the innovation of the Campus Development Team. Monthly updates are included for free and added to ADM’s system without disruption. According to Wolf, “Infinite Campus is dedicated to continually improving their system. The newest technology is always available.”

With 1,500 students, Infinite Campus handles ADM’s scheduling needs with ease. Using district-defined rules, ADM quickly and efficiently sets up schedules and possible variations in real time. The customizable scheduling tools allow ADM to optimize time, space and motion and efficiently leverage limited resources.

“With the Campus Scheduler, our staff is more productive. We save huge amounts of time,” said Wolf. “Also, Campus Scheduler is based on calendar years, so I have the ability to compare different years which is very important.”

Overall, ADM is very happy with their switch to Infinite Campus. They have the tools and support to streamline educational processes. “Infinite Campus is a one-stop-shop,” said Wolf. “We use the system’s flexibility and functionality to accomplish our goals of today and tomorrow.”