IT Services and Management Consulting
Solutions for Education
Technology in K-12 and Higher Education
Establishing technology as a strategic resource for faculty, staff and students is imperative for education institutions to succeed in the 21st century. With an abundance of education technology solutions available—from eLearning and Enterprise Resource Planning to Student Information Systems and eProcurement—the opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness are endless. But so can be the financial investment.
We leverage the Synch-Solutions Polaris Methodology to help educational institutions define a clear strategy for achieving business objectives while implementing the right technology solutions. In addition, we assess the current environment and determine how future technology solutions will impact client institutions. Our service offerings for education institutions include:
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solutions for Education Sector
We understand that it is critical for educational institutions to keep accurate and reliable data while managing core administration processes. Synch-Solutions helps organizations effectively implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions covering human resources, financial management, self-service and portal solutions.
In addition, we have deep expertise with Student Information Systems, which offer a variety of student services and administrative functions ranging from student application processing to the development of individual study plans and timetables. Our student administration solutions enable clients to increase efficiencies across administrative and service areas, while leveraging pre-existing technology investments.
Synch-Solutions’ Enterprise Security Assessment and Toolkit provide the 360-degree perspective higher education institutions need to objectively define current internal application exposure and quickly reduce system access vulnerabilities.
Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Solutions
Synch-Solutions provides education institutions with the tools they need to extract, from masses of data, relevant information that can make a real contribution to strategic decision-making at the various levels of institutional leadership. Our dashboard enables real-time predictive analytics, proactive intelligence and alerts, analytical reporting, ad-hoc queries and more.
Our pre-configured solution interfaces with Oracle/PeopleSoft and other ERP systems to enable the building of a robust, multidimensional data warehouse architecture in a relatively short period of time. Our BI solution is interactive and action-oriented, offering capabilities for development of user-friendly, high-level reports, and upward and downward drill-through for detailed analysis. It collects data, measures performance against targets and alerts users, enabling them to take timely action.
Legacy System Modernization
Maintenance and support of legacy systems continues to become increasingly difficult and expensive. Institutions supporting legacy systems face such challenges as a scarcity of trained personnel, growing license and maintenance fees, and connectivity problems. Synch-Solutions helps such education institutions migrate from legacy system applications and databases to modern industry-standard platforms and systems. After making a global assessment of the legacy data, we utilize industry-leading automated migration tools, proven methodologies and expertise to bring each modernization project to a successful completion. Our legacy modernization solutions increase flexibility while creating efficiencies and cost savings and reducing business risks.
Managed Services
Our Synch-SMARTS managed services proactively manage the whole technology stack, including the IT infrastructure and software applications and databases, and also provide performance monitoring.
By engaging Synch-Solutions as a partner to manage commodity services, institutions can better focus on their core missions, and can leverage the cost reductions and improved service levels achieved through the economies of scale that we bring to bear. Some of the benefits of Synch-SMARTS to institutions include increased operational efficiency, reduction and improved control of operating costs, and minimized system downtime.
Integral Services
A number of components of our Core Four solutions can be offered to institutions as stand-alone offerings. These include:
Solutions Enabling Shared Services
Synch-Solutions can provide school systems and districts with solutions enabling shared services that reduce the costs of administrative functions, freeing up existing budget dollars to be directed to learning activities and producing higher service levels for the price than can typically be managed on an internal system. Such services include:
- Back-Office Functions
- IT Infrastructure
- Software as a Service
Operational Assessment
The first step in any successful IT implementation is to ensure that the current environment is prepared for change. Our assessment teams mitigate project risk by collaborating with clients to audit, assess and report on operations. Using best practices, our teams perform comprehensive capability reviews of:
- Existing Business Processes
- Technology Plans
- Software Rationalization
- Change Management Acceptance
Our assessment teams also determine if the client’s current technology infrastructure is adequate to meet the requirements of the IT initiative, as well as the needs of faculty, staff and students. Operational Assessment covers:
- Network Capacity
- Applications
- Architecture
- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
- Training and Development
Operational Assessment, a solution set within the Synch-Solutions Polaris Methodology, provides a framework for defining the vision and objectives for information technology, relative to the organization's business strategy.
Change Management
Implementing new applications and upgrading existing systems requires a commitment to training and communication among the client’s most important assets—the faculty and staff. Because we understand the need for short-term vocational and technical training, and adult education, Synch-Solutions can provide direction regarding training programs for teachers, administrators, parents and educational stakeholders. In addition, we will observe the current organization in order to isolate roadblocks, identify the strongest threats and neutralize existing barriers to prevent derailment.
To help facilitate effective change, Synch-Solutions provides the following services:
- Extended IT Services
- Customized Training
The Synch-Solutions Polaris Methodology helps ensure that the Change Management program is positively embraced across the organization.
To learn about one of our recent projects at a higher education institution, read this press release: Synch-Solutions Teams with BluePhoenix Solutions to Modernize and Re-Host Systems for the City Colleges of Chicago. For more information about our Education solutions and experience, please download and read our Higher Education data sheet; our service offering sheets Business Intelligence Solutions for Higher Education (or for a more technical perspective, Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence for Higher Education), Enterprise Security Assessment and Toolset for Higher Education and our Higher Education case studies, or contact us.