What’s New and Next at FACTS: Q1 Product Roadmap Update

We believe the best ideas come from listening to our customers. Your feedback has been instrumental in shaping our products, which is why we’re so excited to keep you informed with our new quarterly product roadmap updates. We’re looking forward to giving you a behind-the-scenes look at what’s new, what’s on the way, and what’s coming down the road across our product suite. Here’s your first update for 2025.

Product Updates:

• Student Information System
• Application & Enrollment
• Grant & Aid
• Payment Plans & Billing

What’s New with Student Information System

Security Updates:
We’ve added two new staff security permissions which allow for more nuanced data permissions.

• School List All – Allows the user to assign a staff member to any school in the district.
• School Information – Allows the user access to a staff member’s school information on the staff security screen.

Maiden Name:
Maiden name is now available in Family Individual Demographics and Staff Demographics.

What’s Near with Student Information System

MFA:
Multifactor Authentication (MFA) is currently available for all users accessing Tuition Management and Financial Aid, and we are in the process of rolling it out to SIS school and parent users. We expect MFA to be available for all SIS school and parent users by August!

There are a few changes that will occur as part of the update to add Multifactor Authentication to the SIS sign in process. Here’s what you need to know.

What’s Changing:

• MFA will be available as an option for staff and parents; however, students will not be prompted to use MFA.
• Users will have the option to enroll with email or an authenticator app.
• MFA will be optional, meaning users will have the ability to bypass setting it up and log in. We will continue to prompt the user every time they log in until they enroll.

Username/Password Management:

• Schools will no longer create or update usernames or passwords for staff or parents. Users will create and manage their own usernames and passwords.
• Schools will retain the ability to create usernames and passwords for student accounts that access the Family Portal.
• All users with an account will be required to have at least one email address, which must be entered in the “Email #1” field
• Usernames will need to be unique across all of FACTS. Today, usernames are unique to your specific school. If the existing username is not unique, the user will be prompted to update it the next time they login.
• Password requirements will be streamlined across all FACTS products and will no longer have an expiration date.

Dashboard Builder:
Currently in beta, the new dashboard builder allows you to create custom PowerBI dashboards. Schools may also enjoy selecting from various data options to create their own report. Using filter options, schools can drill down their data to get exactly what they need! We plan to have a full release of the new dashboard builder in Q2 2025.

We’re always listening, learning, and improving—and it’s all because of you. Your feedback continues to guide our work, and we’re excited to keep sharing updates as we roll out new features. Stay tuned for more to come!

What’s Next with Student Information System

Here’s a sneak peek at some things we’re exploring and building behind the scenes. These updates are on our roadmap, but they might take a little time—good things are worth the wait! Want to share your thoughts or stay in the loop in the meantime? Join the conversation in FACTS^SPACE.

Scheduling:
We are doing a large comprehensive update to scheduling that will be a theme over the next year. This project will include an updated interface to make scheduling more intuitive for school staff, added features such as teacher recommendations and the ability to mass update classes, and improvements to reporting to make it easier to manage scheduling conflicts and ensure your school scheduling is complete, along with other enhancements to courses and classes that make up a vital part of the school scheduling process. This will be an ongoing project, but we will be releasing features as they become available! We plan to roll this out in phases:

• Phase 1 – Templates and Patterns Configuration Enhancements
• Phase 2 – Course Requests
• Phase 3 – Courses, Classes, and Rooms

Here is a sneak peek at some of the plans for Templates and Patterns!

District Management Tool:
For our dioceses and districts, we’re creating a new system to help you better manage all your schools. Our first focus will be migrating the functionality from our current DART system with a few new improvements and will continue to update with more robust functionality over the next couple years. Reporting, security, configuration, district wide IDs, and more are heading your way!

Events Label Change:
Thank you for the large amount of feedback you gave us in FACTS^SPACE on this! We have changed the default label in events from “Not interested” to “Not at this time.”

What’s Near with Application & Enrollment

Inquiry Triggers for Email Series Manager: We will be adding Inquiry Triggers into our Email Series Manager that allow you to automate parent reach-out. This will include the option for parents to opt out of marketing emails, ensuring they have control over the communications they receive.

What’s Next with Application & Enrollment

New Look and Experience for Inquiry & Application:
We are modernizing the Inquiry and Application experience! Over the next year, we will be transforming the look and feel of our platform to provide a more modern and visually appealing experience. But that’s not all—our focus is also on enhancing the user experience with improved, intuitive, and streamlined workflows. Expect a smoother, more efficient process that will make your interactions with our system easier and more enjoyable.

Here is a sneak peek at the design:

What’s New with Grant & Aid Assessment

SIS Enrollment Status & New/Returning Status in Reporting:
You can now add the Application & Enrollment Status and the New/Returning status from the SIS directly into financial aid reports! Whether you want to see how a family is progressing through their admissions process or quickly identify returning new to aid families, that information is now at your fingertips.

IRS Integration:
With IRS Integration, applicants can now securely retrieve their tax transcripts directly from the IRS, eliminating the need to manually scan or upload financial documents. This not only streamlines the application process for families, but also reduces administrative work for schools and enhances data security. For more information, including a video and step by step brochure for families go to: https://factsmgt.com/grant-aid-assessment-irs-integration/

Student Level Internal Tracking Fields as Smart Tags in Notices:
Our Notices, including award and denial notices, now have even more customization options. Internal tracking fields can be added as smart tags, allowing you to include dynamic content in your notices.

Remaining Need Reporting Field:
The remaining need reporting field is the FACTS calculated need minus any reserved awards for that student. This new field is available in any of our custom reports.

What’s Near with Grant & Aid Assessment

Supplemental Document Enhancements:
We have two exciting enhancements on their way for our supplemental document feature, which allows you to collect extra documents outside of the FACTS collected and reviewed tax documents.

Both enhancements add more options to conditionally request documents so only families needing those documents see them as a requirement. You will be able to conditionally request documents based on:

• Family Not Filing Taxes (DNF Status): Request documents from families not filing taxes, such as an attestation of non-filing.
• Internal Tracking Fields selection: This allows you to tie a document requirement to a checkbox or drop-down option for internal tracking, allowing you to add document requirements after reviewing a family’s submitted application. You will be able to leverage all the tools associated with internal tracking, such as being able to assign the documents in mass within reports.

Turn Off W2 Wage Adjustment:
Currently, our system automatically adjusts a family’s income based on the most recent W2 when paired with a prior year tax return. Some users have requested the ability to turn off this automatic adjustment, allowing them to receive a more recent year’s W2 without it affecting the family’s assessment. This will now be an optional setting.

What’s Next with Grant & Aid Assessment

More IRS Integration Options:
We will be adding the ability to get the most recent year tax return, W2s, and a co-applicant experience to the IRS integration. We’ll release these as the come available but will have all options added by September.

Turn Off Tax Return Override:
Currently, when we receive the newest tax return from a family, our system automatically updates the assessment with the new values. However, some schools and organizations have requested the ability to still require the prior year tax return, even if the new return has been received, to keep all family data consistent with the same tax return year. This new feature will allow you to turn off the automatic override and maintain the requirement for the prior year tax return.

Internal Tracking Fields in Award Notification Reporting:
You will be able to add internal tracking fields to the award and denial notification reporting, enhancing your ability to sort and filter and assign the appropriate award and denial message for students.

Returning User Experience:
We currently streamline some of the application experience for returning families by prefilling demographic and student information (including automatically increasing the student’s grade), but we are always looking at families’ experiences and thinking of how we can make it even better. This project will be a multi-phase initiative, so we will keep you updated on our plans and progress.

What’s New with Payment Plans & Billing

Ability to Apply Mass Corrections:
Schools now have the ability to post payment plan corrections for multiple agreements in one mass balance adjustment process rather than entering them all individually. A mass correction can be entered when a user selects agreements and is in open column entry mode. They will be given two different mass correction options: charge correction or credit correction.

What’s Near with Payment Plans & Billing

3rd Party Payment at Institution:
We are adding the ability to record a Payment at Institution from a third party, such as payments from school choice programs. This will give you better reporting on the money received from school choice programs and ensure the parents’ payment summary is accurate, as it will not include these payments.

What’s Next with Payment Plans & Billing

Auto-Replenish Prepay Accounts:
We will be working on adding the ability for families to have their Prepay Account automatically refreshed from a saved account when the balance reaches a certain threshold. Love this idea and want the most up-to-date news? “Like” the idea in FACTS^SPACE and you’ll be among the first to know!

Mass Transfer of Funds & Credits:
We are excited to announce that we will soon be adding the capability to transfer funds and credits in mass. Previously, we introduced this feature for balances due and received valuable feedback indicating a need for similar functionality for funds and credits.

School management platforms exist to streamline school operations and automate time-consuming administrative tasks and processes. However, today’s best school management platforms (SMPs) deliver benefits beyond a school’s business office, revolutionising how teachers perform their roles too. Quality SMPs support classroom teachers to simplify the way they plan, deliver and assess learning, track attendance, communicate with students and families, and more. By streamlining or eliminating various daily processes, student management software empowers teachers to spend less time on administration and more time on teaching and learning activities.

In this blog, we share six ways school management platforms can improve teachers’ productivity and performance.

SMPs allow teachers to plan lessons and collaborate in year-level or subject-area groups to build and deliver a curriculum that’s engaging and consistent. Working digitally, teachers can lesson plan at school or remotely, add resources that align with the subject matter, and stay on top of the homework that’s been assigned. A digital approach also allows substitute teachers to step into a classroom with confidence that all the information they need to deliver the day’s learning is at their fingertips.

Most schools now record attendance digitally. However, attendance data can be fractured, incomplete and unreliable without an integrated school-wide approach. Modern SMPs let classroom teachers record, monitor and report on attendance with consistency and confidence, while automatically notifying families if a student is late or absent. They make it easy to stay on top of planned absences and offer sophisticated reporting and analytics that highlight any emerging trends.

Student assessment is a notoriously time-consuming teacher task. A quality SMP removes much of the administrative burden of assessment and reporting by providing tools that streamline the report writing process. Functionality like test importing, editable comment banks, and integration with state and national standards empowers teachers to create student reports accurately and efficiently.

Schools are increasingly focused on student wellbeing as a critical component of their school experience. A good SMP will allow teachers to edit and view important behavioural and wellbeing information, including any interventions in place to support an individual student’s wellbeing.

An SMP provides an invaluable communication bridge between teachers, students and families. Most platforms offer multi-channel options including email, SMS and app. Teachers value the opportunity to contact families privately without providing their personal phone numbers and the flexibility to send bulk or individual messages. Chasing consent or payment digitally is much more efficient than trying to catch parents at drop-off or calling each relevant family individually.

Getting access to shared school resources when they need them is central to a teacher’s ability to deliver their lesson plan. Whether teachers need to use the gym or art room, sports gear or IT equipment, their ability to see and book available resources – both in advance and in real time – via an SMP is invaluable.

School management software can be used in various ways within the classroom to help teachers maximise the time they have for learning delivery. With everyday tasks executed quickly and accurately and automated where possible, improved teacher productivity can in turn have a meaningful impact on student learning and performance.

FACTS School Management’s comprehensive suite of school and financial management tools empowers K-12 schools to operate more efficiently and effectively in all areas. Trusted by more than 11,500 K-12 schools across the globe, FACTS empowers administrators and classroom teachers to spend less time on routine tasks and more time delivering high-quality learning.

The inaugural Elevate Guam conference took place September 5 and 6 at the Hyatt Regency Guam, bringing together 80 educators, school leaders, and sponsors from across the island. The conference aimed to foster innovation in K-12 education and provide vital training to schools in Guam, helping them maximize the benefits of FACTS technology and federal funding programs. The beachfront hotel served as the perfect backdrop for an event that was all about building bright futures.

FACTS has a long-standing relationship with Guam, largely thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Toves family. For 17 years, valued added resellers Jesse and Anna Toves introduced and promoted FACTS Student Information System (SIS) to private schools across the island, helping schools transform their administrative processes with new technology. Today, their daughter continues that legacy with JessieMarie Toves leading the charge in connecting schools with FACTS solutions. This conference was a testament to the Toves family’s commitment to advancing education in Guam.

As a U.S. territory, Guam private schools are eligible to receive $5 million in federal funding to provide services to students and teachers. Utilizing these funds responsibly to support student outcomes is a top priority for school leaders across the island, and FACTS Education Services has the expertise and services to support them with these goals.

Before the official start of the conference, FACTS international product manager Aubrey Humm and senior marketing manager Caitlin Miller, alongside JessieMarie, visited local schools that have embraced FACTS technology. Among these was Santa Barbara Catholic School, the first Catholic school on the island to adopt FACTS SIS. iLearn Academy Charter School, emphasizing on STEM and technology, and the admin team from the Office of Catholic Education for the Archdiocese of Agaña also made time for a FACTS visit.

“It was great connecting in person with the schools who use our services every day to create a better education experience. We often communicate behind computer screens, and while we’re efficient that way, it was an honor to shake hands and hear thoughts from the people regularly supporting students and families with our unique tools,” said Humm.

Day one of Elevate Guam was packed with enriching sessions, including a special track by Dr. Patrick Haggarty, President of FACTS Education Services. Known for his deep knowledge of federal funding programs, Dr. Haggarty provided Guam’s private school educators with essential insights into Title funds and how schools can take full advantage of the financial resources available to enhance student outcomes.

FACTS SIS Admin and Classroom training also took place on day one, along with introductions to FACTS Application & Enrollment and FACTS Family App. The afternoon saw a Modern Classroom Symposium led by Dr. Matthew Murphy, where he used the Design Thinking framework to help educators create more personalized and engaging learning environments for students. This session was widely praised for offering practical strategies that can immediately be applied in classrooms.

The second day began with a keynote panel that tied all the conference themes together. The panel included Dr. Haggarty from FACTS Education Services, Dr. Murphy, and Alex Urrea from Eduscape, alongside Dr. Juan Flores, former superintendent and current board member for a charter school in Guam. The panel addressed pressing issues such as the mental health crisis impacting both students and educators, the growing importance of AI in education, and the critical need for educational leadership that prioritizes student well-being.

Dr. Murphy highlighted the challenges educators face, especially the rising mental health crisis, by saying, “The mental health epidemic of young people is the most significant problem we’re facing as educators.” He emphasized that if students are not mentally well, it becomes difficult for them to engage in the classroom effectively.

Dr. Haggarty brought attention to the importance of elevating the value of education in the eyes of policymakers and said, “One of the biggest challenges is raising the importance of education to our elected leaders. Whether it’s public or private, K-12 is often the last funded area. The way to break the cycle of poverty is education, but we need to educate those in power to make better decisions about funding our schools and students.”

As the panel wrapped up, attendees were given powerful takeaways. Dr. Murphy encouraged educators to stay grounded in their purpose, reminding them, “If you can take just one nugget of wisdom back to the classroom, remember why you became a teacher in the first place. Don’t get overwhelmed. At the core, kids just need…you.”

Urrea inspired attendees to view themselves as more than just teachers by saying, “You’re not just educators. Shift your mindset to be inspirers. Prepare kids for life, not just college. Ask them what they want to solve, not what they want to be when they grow up.”

Dr. Haggarty’s final piece of advice was practical and impactful, saying, “There are opportunities out there, like coupons, from the government that can help fund our schools. We just need to put in a little work to collect those resources for the benefit of our kids, teachers, and families.”

Elevate Guam 2024 was an extraordinary event that provided Guam’s educators with the tools, knowledge, and inspiration to elevate the education experience for students across the island. As FACTS continues to support schools in Guam, the future looks brighter than ever, and we look forward to visiting again for Elevate Guam 2026!