SIS Hidden Gems: Get to Know Maintenance Manager

We love hearing from users about how FACTS Student Information System (SIS) has helped them save time, improve communication, and stay focused on what matters most at their schools. One of the most frequent comments we get from school leaders, however, is how they’re constantly learning new things about what the SIS can do.

While it’s great to hear that people are continuing to find new ways to refine processes and save time, we want to make sure our schools are making the most out of FACTS SIS. One of the greatest tools for working smarter instead of harder? Maintenance Manager, a hidden gem included in FACTS SIS.

What is Maintenance Manager?

Maintenance Manager is a built-in automation tool that keeps your school running smoothly behind the scenes by allowing you to set up customized email alerts based on activity in your SIS. It makes it simple to stay on top of important student data and alert the right people at the right time without adding to your team’s workload. Say goodbye to having to dig for information to keep your staff and families informed!

Set It and Forget It

If you haven’t explored this feature yet, now’s the time. Here’s a quick overview of some of the top automated alerts you can set up in Maintenance Manager:

• Attendance Notifications: Automatically alert parents or staff when a student reaches a certain number of absences. This is an easy and effective way to support early intervention.
• Behavior Updates: Send automated messages based on the demerits or merits entered into your SIS, ensuring that behavior concerns or praise don’t go unnoticed.
• Missing Attendance Reminders: Automatically nudge teachers or admins if class attendance hasn’t been submitted. That means fewer data gaps, more complete records, and no more awkward reminder emails.
• Gradebook Alerts: Keep families informed by alerting them to missing, failing, or incomplete grades as soon as they’re entered. No surprises at report card time!

No Extra Work. Just Smarter Work.

Maintenance Manager is only one example of how the team here at FACTS is constantly improving our products based on feedback from schools and their real, day-to-day needs. The best part? You don’t need additional logins or training to start using this product; it’s already included in the SIS and just waiting for you to get started!

To learn more about Maintenance Manager, visit HubHelp for a quick training overview or to learn more about setting up reports. You can also check out our latest Product Roadmap Blog to learn more about FACTS product updates.

We’re excited to announce that Enquiry Tracker is the preferred, endorsed
enrolment solution for FACTS School Management. This extended integration
gives schools a more streamlined way to manage the enrolment journey—from
the initial enquiry through to student onboarding. Key data collected in Enquiry
Tracker flows directly into FACTS School Management, reducing manual data
entry, saving time, and improving accuracy. Together, FACTS and Enquiry
Tracker are helping schools simplify administrative processes and build a
connected school ecosystem that supports staff, caregivers, and students every
step of the way.

Enquiry Tracker helps schools collect the right information at the right time,
enabling them to build relationships with prospective families throughout the
enrolment process and grow enrolments.

“Enquiry Tracker integrates with FACTS School Management to make it easy for
schools to manage enrolments digitally via a sophisticated and easy-to-use CRM.
From capturing data at the initial enquiry stage to managing school tours and
open days, automating communication, and providing powerful analytics, Enquiry
Tracker delivers a modern experience for the school business office and families,”
said Simon Shenton, Head of Sales & Partnerships at FACTS.
Today, more than 550 schools globally trust Enquiry Tracker to help them gather
leads, nurture prospects via personalised workflows, and monitor their enrolment
pipeline in real time.

“We know many schools often use multiple systems to manage enrolments—
including spreadsheets that require data to be manually entered into the school
management system. Without a clear and consistent approach, staying on top of
enrolment documents – some submitted in person, some online, some via email,
and often from multiple email addresses —can be time-consuming and
inconsistent,” said Greg Campitelli, Director & Co-Founder at Enquiry Tracker.

“Enquiry Tracker has been designed and built by educational specialists
specifically to solve these common enrolment challenges,” added Greg.
“FACTS is committed to partnering with organisations that share our vision to
elevate the education experience for schools and their communities. We’re
excited to collaborate with Enquiry Tracker to offer schools a best-practice
enrolment experience,” said Mr Shenton.

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.

Employees who feel unsure about their roles hesitate, second-guess decisions, and struggle to deliver great service or sales. On the flip side, confident employees work faster, engage better with customers, and contribute to a more positive team environment.

1. Provide Clear, Comprehensive Training

Structured training ensures that employees understand their roles, expectations, and how to handle challenges.

Pro Tip: Short, interactive learning modules help reinforce key concepts without overwhelming employees.

2. Recognize Achievements & Celebrate Wins

Acknowledging employee efforts—big or small—creates a stronger workplace culture and encourages performance growth.

Pro Tip: A “Star Employee of the Week” program can boost morale and encourage friendly competition.

3. Use Use FACTS to Track Growth & Encourage Learning

FACTS helps build confidence by:

• Offering structured learning paths that reinforce key skills.
• Providing real-time progress tracking to show employees their growth.

Confident employees don’t just perform better—they deliver exceptional guest and customer experiences, work more efficiently, and contribute to your bottom line. By focusing on structured training, clear expectations, and ongoing support, your seasonal workforce can be more than just temporary help—they can be an asset to your business.

Confident employees don’t just perform better—they deliver exceptional service, contribute to team success, and stay engaged throughout the season. With the right training, recognition, and performance tracking, businesses can create a workforce that is productive, motivated, and ready to excel.

Ready to build a more confident, high-performing seasonal workforce? Schedule a demo to discover how the FACTS Learning Platform makes it easy to train, track, and develop confident seasonal employees.

That wraps up our Seasonal Hiring Success Series! Which strategy will you implement first?

Many businesses focus heavily on hiring and onboarding seasonal staff, but engagement often falls to the side once employees start working. However, disengaged seasonal employees are more likely to underperform or quit early, leaving businesses scrambling to fill gaps.

A motivated, engaged seasonal workforce means better service quality, higher productivity, and a stronger team dynamic.

1. Provide Regular Feedback & Recognition

Seasonal workers may not be around long, but they still want to feel valued and supported. Frequent check-ins help employees stay on track and feel connected to the team.

Pro Tip: Recognizing employees with shout-outs, small incentives, or leaderboard challenges keeps engagement high.

2. Make Training Interactive & Fun

Nobody enjoys sitting through dull training sessions. Gamification, interactive quizzes, and role-playing exercises make learning more engaging and boost retention.

Pro Tip: Leaderboards and custom badges adds an element of friendly team competitions and fun to training.

3. Use the FACTS Learning Platform to Drive Engagement

FACTS helps businesses keep seasonal workers engaged with:

• Gamified learning experiences that make training enjoyable.
• Progress tracking to help employees see their growth.
• Peer discussion board tools to keep communication open.

When seasonal employees feel involved and valued, they work harder, stay longer, and contribute more.

Seasonal employees may be temporary, but their impact on your business is lasting. A strong training and recognition program keeps them motivated, productive, and committed—leading to better service, higher efficiency, and reduced turnover.

Looking for an easier way to engage and train your seasonal workforce? The FACTS Learning Platform offers interactive training, real-time feedback, and gamified learning to keep employees motivated and performing at their best.

Next up: Why building confidence in seasonal staff leads to stronger performance.

Your school management software is your school’s engine room, so choosing whether to host it on-premises or in the cloud is a significant decision. Hosted school management systems (SMS) are becoming more popular as decision-makers see the value in shifting from traditional, server-bound solutions to flexible, internet-based platforms.

This blog explores five reasons why a hosted school management systems is a smart choice for schools in 2025 and beyond.

Managing your school’s SMS on site requires a large initial and ongoing investment in IT infrastructure. These servers and data storage facilities are expensive to buy, require regular maintenance and upgrades, and should be replaced every 3-5 years.

With a hosted school management system, the software provider takes care of the IT expenditure and complex technology tasks. Schools pay a subscription to use the platform and can scale up or down as required, eliminating SMS-related capital expenditure and providing cost certainty. In this way, using a cloud-hosted school management system will strengthen your school’s cash flow management.

With cyber threats continually on the rise and the education sector a popular target for cybercriminals, it’s crucial that schools protect sensitive student, family and payment information with robust data security measures. While some schools have the expertise and resources needed to manage this in-house, most are unable to provide an equivalent level of security to cloud-based solutions.

A hosted SMS is one of the most secure ways to collect and store data. Platforms like FACTS School Management offer multiple layers of security to keep your school’s information safe, ensure only authorised users can access the system, and proactively monitor for unusual activity that may signal a cyberattack. FACTS is hosted on Microsoft Azure and is protected by Cloudflare.

Transitioning to a hosted school management system relieves pressure on your IT department. With specialist external teams handling server maintenance, upgrades, security patches, backups and monitoring, your IT resources can prioritise more strategic tasks. Rather than getting bogged down in the day-to-day of infrastructure management, they can focus on opportunities to leverage technology to drive efficiency and boost learning outcomes across your school.

Cloud-based school management software lets staff, students and families access information from anywhere, anytime, via a secure login.

Whether teachers are writing reports from home, taking attendance remotely during an excursion or camp, or checking a student’s medical information during an offsite swimming carnival, they’ll have access to up-to-date information, and their changes will be reflected in the system in real time. Likewise, students can access homework, assignments and study materials wherever they are.

One of the most significant advantages of a hosted SMS is its scalability. As your school grows or needs change, cloud-based systems can flex to accommodate more users, faster bandwidth, or greater data storage requirements.

By paying only for the services and resources your school needs right now, you can avoid spending more than necessary on systems and equipment to support future needs, such as growing enrolments.

Hosted school management systems like FACTS offer a flexible, secure and scalable solution to schools looking to reduce the cost, complexity and risk of their operations. By choosing a cloud-based SMS, schools can spend less time and money managing complex IT infrastructure and focus instead on elevating the education experience.

One of the biggest challenges seasonal hires face isn’t just learning their job—it’s knowing where to find answers when they need them. A strong training program is essential, but even the best-trained employees will have questions on the job.

When employees struggle to locate resources—whether it’s store policies, hotel service standards, or compliance guidelines—it slows down operations and frustrates both employees and customers.

1. Centralize Information with a Digital Knowledge Hub

Employees should never have to guess where to find answers. Creating a single, digital resource hub ensures that seasonal staff can quickly access:

• Hospitality service protocols, room cleaning checklists, front desk scripts, and food service guides.
• Retail-specific resources like product training, return policies, and customer handling tips.

Pro Tip: A mobile-accessible knowledge base ensures that employees can search for answers instantly—without disrupting operations.

2. Encourage Peer-to-Peer Learning & Mentorship

Seasonal hires often learn best from experienced employees who know the ins and outs of the job. Whether it’s mentorship pairings or quick team huddles, creating a support system helps employees feel confident and connected.

Pro Tip: Daily pre-shift meetings allow teams to ask questions, clarify expectations, and reinforce key learnings.

3. Use the FACTS Learning Platform for On-Demand Access

FACTS ensures that seasonal employees always have instant access to the right resources with:

• A centralized digital library for training materials, company policies, and job-specific guides.
• Multi-language support, making it easier for diverse workforces to access critical information.
• Live & on-demand training, so employees can revisit lessons and refresh skills whenever needed.

By making resources easily accessible, businesses reduce delays, improve service quality, and empower employees to perform their best.

When employees can quickly find answers, they feel more confident, make fewer mistakes, and get up to speed faster. Easy access to policies, training materials, and real-time support improves both service quality and employee performance.

Need a better way to support your seasonal workforce? The FACTS Learning Platform provides on-demand training, centralized knowledge hubs, and real-time communication tools to help employees succeed.

Next up: How ongoing engagement prevents turnover and keeps seasonal employees motivated.

Seasonal employees don’t have months to ramp up—they need to learn quickly and start performing efficiently. Instead of overwhelming them with information, businesses should focus on essential job functions, compliance requirements, and key service skills that directly impact daily performance.

For hospitality teams, this means guest interactions, safety compliance, and brand standards. In retail, it’s customer service, product knowledge, and sales techniques. A targeted training approach ensures that employees can confidently serve guests and customers from day one.

1. Identify Critical Skills for Each Role

Every seasonal job requires a specific set of must-have skills, and focusing on these ensures employees can perform effectively, even with limited training time.

For hospitality, front desk employees need to master reservation systems, housekeeping staff need efficiency training, and food service workers must understand health and safety regulations. In retail, associates need to know store policies, handle customer inquiries, and manage point-of-sale systems.

Pro Tip: Use role-based learning paths so employees receive only the training that applies to their specific job function, reducing unnecessary information overload.

2. Prioritize Compliance & Safety

Compliance training is non-negotiable—especially in industries where health, safety, and regulatory requirements impact both employees and customers.

Hospitality businesses need to train seasonal hires on data security (for guest privacy), fire safety, and food handling protocols. Retail teams must focus on loss prevention, customer interaction policies, and workplace safety.

Pro Tip: Scenario-based training—where employees work through real-life compliance situations—helps them retain critical safety information better than text-heavy manuals.

3. Leverage the FACTS Learning Platform for Focused Training

With FACTS, businesses can:

• Create and deliver role-specific training, ensuring front-line employees receive only the most relevant learning materials.
• Track real-time compliance completion, ensuring all seasonal hires meet health, safety, and brand standards.
• Provide mobile-friendly learning, so employees can complete training from their phones, tablets, or in-store kiosks.

By focusing on core training objectives, businesses train seasonal employees smarter—not longer—so they can contribute quickly and confidently.

A focused, role-based approach to training means seasonal staff learn exactly what they need to succeed—without unnecessary distractions.

Simplify seasonal training with the right tools. The FACTS Learning Platform helps businesses deliver targeted, compliance-ready training that prepares employees faster and ensures they perform with confidence.

Next up: Why easy access to resources is a game-changer for seasonal staff.

First days can be overwhelming—especially for seasonal hires who have limited time to get up to speed. Businesses that introduce training before employees officially start their roles set the stage for smoother transitions, faster productivity, and greater confidence on day one.

In industries like hospitality and retail, where guest satisfaction and customer interactions are critical, employees must understand service expectations before they take their first shift. Pre-onboarding training ensures hotel front desk staff are brand-ready, housekeeping teams know efficiency protocols, and retail employees understand promotions, upselling techniques, and compliance requirements—all before they even step onto the floor.

1. Assess Candidate Competencies Early

Not all seasonal hires come with the same level of experience, and a one-size-fits-all training approach isn’t always effective. Pre-assessment tools allow businesses to gauge candidate skill levels before their first day, helping managers customize training based on individual needs.

For example, a hospitality employee working in food and beverage needs different onboarding than one working at the front desk or in housekeeping. Similarly, a retail associate needs specialized training based on whether they’re handling sales, customer service, or inventory management.

Pro Tip: Use role-based learning paths so employees receive only the training that applies to their specific job function, reducing unnecessary information overload.

2. Offer Digital Training Before Day One

With limited time to onboard seasonal workers, businesses can’t afford to wait until an employee’s first shift to start training. By offering online training modules before their first day, new hires can familiarize themselves with company expectations, safety procedures, and job responsibilities at their own pace.

For hospitality, this could mean guest service standards, safety compliance, and food handling protocols. In retail, this could include customer service best practices, sales training, and product knowledge.

Pro Tip: Ensure pre-onboarding training is mobile-friendly, so employees can complete it from their phones, tablets, or store kiosks, making it more flexible and convenient.

3. Leverage the FACTS Learning Platform for Pre-Onboarding

A streamlined, digital-first training approach makes pre-onboarding easy. The FACTS Learning Platform allows businesses to:

• Create customized training modules for specific roles, ensuring front desk staff, housekeeping teams, retail associates, and food service employees all receive relevant, job-specific learning.
• Track employee progress before their first shift, ensuring compliance and readiness.
• Offer multi-language support, ensuring training is accessible to a diverse workforce.
• Keep training updated automatically, so every seasonal hire learns the most current brand and regulatory standards.

With FACTS, businesses can turn pre-onboarding into a structured, seamless experience, ensuring new hires feel prepared, confident, and ready to contribute from the moment they walk through the door.

By implementing a proactive training strategy, businesses can save valuable time, reduce first-day confusion, and create a more engaged, well-prepared seasonal workforce. When employees arrive with the right knowledge and expectations, they integrate faster, work more efficiently, and contribute to a better guest and customer experience.

Make training part of your hiring advantage. See how the FACTS Learning Platform helps businesses deliver role-specific, mobile-friendly training that gets seasonal employees up to speed before their first shift.

Stay tuned for the next post in our Top Five Priorities for Onboarding and Developing Seasonal Staff series, where we’ll explore how focusing on core objectives helps maximize seasonal training effectiveness.

In industries like hospitality and retail, seasonal employees play a critical role in handling high-traffic periods. However, ensuring these employees are well-trained, engaged, and set up for success in a short timeframe can be a major challenge.

With evolving workforce expectations and the growing demand for digital-first training solutions, businesses need an onboarding strategy that is not just fast—but effective. Whether you’re preparing for the holiday rush, peak travel seasons, or event-based hiring, structured onboarding is the key to maximizing productivity and reducing turnover.

We’ve identified five essential priorities to help businesses onboard and develop seasonal staff efficiently. Over the next few posts, we’ll dive deeper into each of these priorities, but here’s an overview to set the stage.

The best onboarding doesn’t start on an employee’s first day—it starts before that.

• Assessing Candidate Competencies: Screening tools and pre-assessments help determine whether candidates have the right skills and knowledge before they even begin training.
• Leveraging Digital Platforms: Online training modules allow seasonal hires to review company policies, job expectations, and safety procedures before they clock in for the first time.
• How FACTS Helps: The FACTS Learning Platform makes pre-onboarding simple by offering mobile-friendly training, assessments, and interactive courses that employees can complete before their official start date.

Time is limited when onboarding seasonal employees, so training needs to focus on what matters most.

• Identify Critical Skills: What do seasonal employees really need to know? Prioritizing essential job functions ensures they hit the ground running.
• Emphasize Compliance & Safety: A well-trained team reduces liability risks and ensures a smooth, secure working environment.
• How FACTS Helps: Our platform delivers focused training programs that help seasonal employees learn exactly what they need—without information overload.

New employees often struggle simply because they don’t know where to find information.

• Centralized Information Hubs: Having a one-stop shop for policies, FAQs, and job aids ensures that employees aren’t constantly seeking guidance from busy managers.
• Mentorship & Support Systems: Pairing new hires with experienced staff can help them acclimate quickly.
• How FACTS Helps: Our platform provides a centralized resource library, real-time communication tools, and instant access to training materials, so employees can find answers on demand.

Seasonal workers may only be around for a short time, but their engagement still matters.

• Regular Feedback: Frequent check-ins help address concerns and build confidence.
• Interactive Training: Gamification and microlearning make learning more engaging and encourage active participation.
• How FACTS Helps: Our platform keeps employees engaged with interactive courses, progress tracking, and real-time feedback features.

Confident employees work faster, serve customers better, and contribute to a positive work environment.

• Comprehensive Training: The right learning path ensures seasonal staff feel competent and capable in their roles.
• Recognition & Incentives: Acknowledging employee efforts—big or small—creates a stronger workplace culture.
• How FACTS Helps: Our platform offers customizable training programs that reinforce key skills, along with reporting tools to track employee progress and celebrate milestones.

Hiring seasonal employees is only half the battle—effective training and development make all the difference. In fast-paced industries like hospitality and retail, where guest satisfaction and customer service are critical, a well-trained seasonal workforce can enhance efficiency, boost sales, and improve the overall customer experience.

By focusing on these five key priorities, businesses can create a workforce that is well-prepared, engaged, and productive—right from day one. Whether you’re operating a hotel, restaurant, or retail store, ensuring seasonal hires receive the right training at the right time is essential for smooth operations and long-term success.

Ready to simplify seasonal staff training? The FACTS Learning Platform helps businesses quickly onboard seasonal employees, standardize training across locations, and create a more confident, productive workforce.

In the coming weeks, we’ll explore each of these priorities in detail, sharing practical strategies and tools that can help you optimize seasonal hiring, onboarding, and training. Stay tuned!

We know that managing school data across multiple systems can feel like an uphill battle – which is why we recently hosted a webinar for FACTS schools to explore how seamless data integration can drive better outcomes for students, educators, and administrators alike.

Hosted by our Directors of Software Development, Jeff Fry and Brittany Wilson, the webinar broke down what data interoperability really means, why it matters, and how schools can benefit from a well-integrated ed-tech ecosystem. Here’s a quick recap of the key takeaways from the discussion.

What Is Data Interoperability?

At its core, data interoperability refers to the ability of different systems and software to communicate and share information in a standardized and meaningful way. In a school setting, this means that student information, enrollment details, financial aid records, and academic performance data can flow seamlessly between platforms without requiring tedious manual entry or reconciliation.

Without interoperability, schools often face discrepancies in data reporting. For example, one system might list 152 enrolled students while another lists 160 – creating unnecessary confusion and extra work to align the numbers. When data is interoperable, these inconsistencies are minimized, and administrators can focus on making informed decisions rather than troubleshooting mismatched records.

The Benefits of Interoperable Data

Data interoperability isn’t just about convenience; it’s a game-changer for schools looking to enhance collaboration, improve efficiency, and personalize learning. Some of the key benefits discussed in the webinar include:

Seamless Collaboration: When departments across a school or district have access to the same accurate data, communication and decision-making become much more efficient.

Personalized Learning Experiences: With integrated data, educators can tailor instruction based on a holistic view of student performance, attendance, and engagement.

Efficiency and Cost Savings: Reducing manual data entry and reconciliation efforts means less time spent on administrative work and more resources directed toward student success.

Data-Driven Decision Making: Schools can leverage data dashboards and insights to track trends, monitor student progress, and make informed strategic decisions.

FACTS’ Commitment to Interoperability

FACTS is continuously enhancing our product suite to improve data integration. In the webinar, Jeff and Brittany highlighted several initiatives we’re working on, including:

– OneRoster integration to streamline data exchange between systems.

– An external developer portal offering API-based access to school data.

– Ed-Fi certification for FACTS SIS, aligning our platform with industry-wide data standards.

– Advanced reporting solutions, including our new Data Insights product and Dashboard Builder powered by Power BI, providing administrators with easy-to-use visual data tools.

These advancements are designed to ensure that schools using FACTS can seamlessly access and utilize their data, making their operations smoother and more effective.

See Interoperability in Action

During the webinar, we also shared a sneak peek at our Data Insights dashboards, which help schools visualize key metrics like enrollment trends, financial aid distribution, student demographics, and more. By integrating data from multiple sources, these tools empower schools to make smarter, data-driven decisions.

Want to dive deeper into how data interoperability can transform your school’s operations?

Watch the full webinar on-demand to explore these concepts in greater detail and see firsthand how FACTS is leading the charge in data integration for K-12 education.

With data breaches on the rise in K-12 education, the team here at FACTS knows it’s more important than ever to ensure that our schools feel their information is protected. As part of our commitment to data security, FACTS IT Director – Cybersecurity Erik Brown recently led an insightful webinar discussing evolving cybersecurity threats to K-12 education, new strategies from attackers, how schools remain vulnerable to risks, and ways you can make cybersecurity a more significant part of your school’s day-to-day activities.

Understanding the importance of protecting your school’s data is the first step in creating a safe space. Let’s recap what was covered in this webinar and how to discover what threats are lurking for K-12 institutions – and how you can establish a process that lowers risk and gives everyone at your school peace of mind.

Cybersecurity Challenges Schools Face

K-12 systems host a wide range of valuable data for attackers on the dark web. Your students, staff, and parents’ personal identifiable information (PII) are in high demand, and ensuring your cybersecurity system is ready to handle incoming attacks is a necessity. However, every school faces challenges beyond online attacks that make it difficult to keep your school’s information safe.

Some of the most prominent challenges schools may face when it comes to securing their data from attackers are:

• Staffing: Many schools lack a dedicated cybersecurity team or don’t have a large enough team to tackle an influx of cybersecurity attacks. With staffing shortages, it becomes even more challenging for some schools to maintain a full and robust team of cybersecurity professionals.
• Exploitation: Exploited vulnerabilities make up 29% of the cybersecurity compromise rate. Your faculty and staff are busy and may become overwhelmed, and attackers may take advantage of these vulnerabilities with targeted cyberattacks.
• Budget Issues: While the industry-standard budget for cybersecurity is 5-8%, K-12 institutions set less than 1% of the IT budget for cybersecurity on average, giving schools fewer resources to get the security systems they need.

These internal issues only enhance the risks and boost those safety concerns. Combined with other external factors, managing your school’s cybersecurity becomes more complicated.

The Ransomware Surge

On top of school-wide issues when it comes to cybersecurity, ransomware attacks on educational institutions have become even more prominent, especially gaining attention in May and June of 2023. Even with the takedown of ransomware attackers like Lockbit and Rhysida, these pressures remain.

As ransomware continues to be an issue for educational institutions everywhere, developing your cybersecurity system to combat these attacks is crucial.

Navigating the Risks

Throughout the webinar, listeners were able to learn about how cybersecurity is a critical factor in protecting your school and how schools may struggle with it. Now, it’s time to take your school toward a safer future with better cybersecurity tools and practices.

Make cybersecurity a bigger priority for your school and enhance training and education to keep everyone aware, engaged, and ready to help protect your school from unwanted cyberattacks.

Explore our other webinars for more on cybersecurity and to learn more about how FACTS is your resource for thought leadership in K-12 education.

The hospitality industry is evolving, with job growth projected to reach 17.4 million by 2033. As businesses expand and adapt, so must their approach to training—helping employees not only start their careers but thrive in them.

Offering consistent training, high-quality training from day one and throughout an employee’s tenure sets the stage for a confident, engaged workforce. Especially in times of change and growth, investing in the right training can be the key to higher employee satisfaction, stronger retention, and an exceptional guest experience.

So, how can hospitality businesses keep pace with industry shifts and ensure their teams have the skills they need to succeed? Here’s how to overcome today’s top training challenges in the world of hospitality.

For 17% of employees, their biggest challenge is inconsistency in tools and technologies used across the company. This lack of uniformity extends to training—when employees receive different instructions depending on location, your brand experience suffers.

No matter where an employee trains, they should receive the same clear, standardized guidance to ensure consistency in service, operations, and expectations. Without a unified training approach, employees may struggle to perform their roles effectively, and customers who frequent multiple locations might receive inconsistent experiences, damaging brand loyalty.

By standardizing training, all employees—from new hires to senior staff—are prepared to deliver high-quality service no matter where they are. A centralized training platform ensures that every team member has access to the same learning materials, reinforcing brand consistency, employee confidence, and customer satisfaction.

Operating across multiple locations or jurisdictions means keeping up with the varied health safety, and legal requirements — a challenge that can quickly become overwhelming. Compliance isn’t just a one-time training event: it requires ongoing awareness and up-to-date record-keeping to ensure employees are following the latest regulations.

A centralized compliance training and management system helps reduce risks, streamline processes, and ensure audit readiness. By integrating all compliance requirements into a single platform, your team can stay current with mandatory training, track certifications, and avoid costly violations. With a more efficient system in place, employees can focus their time on delivering great service and maintaining operational excellence, rather than chasing down compliance updates.

According to a study by Cornell University’s School of Hospitality Management, turnover costs hospitality companies an average of $5,864 per employee. For a company with 500 employees and an industry-average turnover rate, that equates to over $2 million annually. Retaining top talent not only reduces these costs, but also improves your employee satisfaction and strengthens your company’s reputation.

Providing more effective training solutions can create a more engaged and committed workforce. 72% of employees have experienced career progression thanks to their company-provided training and 66% of employees acknowledge that continuous skill development is essential for career growth. By offering personalized learning paths, upskilling opportunities, and leadership development, you create a culture where employees see a long-term future with your organization. When employees feel valued and supported in their growth, they are far more likely to stay.

To successfully navigate the challenges of running a hospitality business, leveraging modern training technology is key. A well-designed learning platform can:

• Simplify compliance management.
• Save on costs by maximizing efficiency and reducing turnover.
• Improve employee retention.
• Enhance customer satisfaction with consistent service.

With the right technology, you can create a a training system that benefits your entire team—from HR and administration to customer-facing employees. When staff feel confident, prepared, and supported, they’re more likely to deliver great service and stay with your company long-term—leading to happier employees and more satisfied guests.

The FACTS Learning Platform, empowers hospitality businesses with a flexible, scalable training solution designed to keep employees engaged, compliant, and ready to deliver exceptional service. Modernize your training with:

• Centralized Compliance Training: Simplify compliance with automated reminders, real-time tracking, and centralized resources for all locations.
• Consistent Training Across Locations: Standardize onboarding and role-specific training to ensure brand consistency and operational efficiency. Monitor progress in real time, identify gaps, and keep employees on track with their learning.
• Personalized Learning Paths for Employee Career Growth: Adapt training to meet the needs of both customer-facing and behind-the-scenes roles. Offer upskilling and professional development opportunities that boost motivation, engagement and retention.

Now is the time to rethink hospitality training and equip your team with the skills they need to thrive in a competitive industry. A modern training platform doesn’t just prepare employees for their roles—it enhances service quality, streamlines operations, and drives business success.

From ensuring exceptional guest experiences to giving your back-end staff the tools they need for maximum efficiency, leveraging the right technology is the key to overcoming today’s biggest hospitality training challenges.

Learn more about the FACTS Learning Platform and discover how you can transform training, improve efficiency, and elevate both employee and customer experiences.

Corporate training is the engine that drives a skilled and motivated workforce. Yet many organizations face obstacles that slow productivity, disengage employees, and hinder growth. Challenges like prolonged onboarding, inconsistent training, and resource-heavy content creation prevent organizations from realizing the full potential of their training programs.

The FACTS Learning Platform addresses these hurdles by offering a robust suite of AI-powered tools, community-based learning features, and customizable solutions designed to transform corporate training. Discover how these innovations align with emerging industry trends and elevate your approach to workforce development.

Organizations must navigate a complex training landscape that demands flexibility and innovation. Common challenges include:

• Prolonged Onboarding: Lengthy processes delay new hires from contributing effectively, impacting ROI.
• Inconsistent Training Materials: Variability in training content leads to knowledge gaps and uneven skill development.
• Time-Intensive Course Creation: Building scalable, branded learning materials can overwhelm teams with limited resources.
• Inefficient Tracking Systems: Managing certifications, compliance, and progress across teams often creates unnecessary bottlenecks.

1. Personalized Learning Journeys

   Tailored learning is no longer optional—it’s essential. The platform uses AI to create role-specific learning paths that align with individual career goals and organizational needs, ensuring relevant and impactful training for every employee.

2. AI-Powered Course Authoring

   Simplify course creation with AI-driven tools that automate content design, generate learning modules, and reduce the time required to build professional, branded training. Create impactful content without the heavy lifting.

3. Gamified Learning Experiences

   Turn learning into a dynamic and engaging experience with features like badges, leaderboards, and rewards. Gamification boosts participation, knowledge retention, and enthusiasm, making training more enjoyable and effective.

4. Community-Based Learning

   Build a culture of collaboration with tools that facilitate knowledge sharing and peer engagement. Community-based learning enhances teamwork and fosters an environment of continuous growth.

5. Automated Certification and Compliance Tracking

   Ensure compliance and streamline operations with automated tracking of course completions, certification renewals, and training requirements. Simplify complex processes and stay ahead of deadlines.

6. Advanced Analytics and Reporting

   Leverage actionable insights to refine your training strategy. FACTS offers powerful reporting tools that identify gaps, measure progress, and guide data-driven decisions.

7. Flexible eCommerce Storefront

   Expand your reach by delivering training to external stakeholders through an integrated eCommerce storefront. Monetize training programs and extend your organization’s impact.

FACTS Learning Platform’s features align with key trends shaping the corporate learning landscape. Explore how advancements in AI, gamification, and personalized learning are transforming enterprise training by checking out Talented Learning’s Enterprise LMS Trends for 2025.

Personalization is critical to driving engagement and achieving measurable success. Tailored training addresses individual learning styles and goals, delivering results that matter:

• Enhanced Engagement: Employees connect with content that aligns with their aspirations.
• Improved Retention: Personalized pathways foster a sense of value, reducing turnover.
• Greater Efficiency: Focused training minimizes wasted effort, delivering faster ROI.

Rooted in the innovative foundation of CD2 Learning, the FACTS Learning Platform builds on years of expertise in simplifying complex training needs. With the addition of cutting-edge AI tools and enhanced features, FACTS has created a solution that meets the evolving demands of today’s corporate landscape.

AI is not just a trend—it’s a game-changer. The FACTS Learning Platform is designed to streamline onboarding, improve engagement, and deliver measurable outcomes through innovative, personalized solutions.

Discover how the FACTS Learning Platform can transform your training programs.

Schedule a Demo today and unlock your organization’s potential.

Consultation is a vital opportunity for private schools to collaborate with their Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to ensure equitable access to federal funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). For your students and teachers to benefit from these resources, it’s important to understand the timeline, process, and your role in advocating for their needs.

The consultation process must be timely, meaningful, and ongoing by law. While discussions may happen throughout the year, late winter to early spring is a key time to watch for your LEA’s outreach. This is when LEAs will likely send Intent to Participate forms to private schools. Responding promptly to this form is critical, as it determines your eligibility to access services for the next school year.

We strongly encourage every private school to check “Yes” on their Intent to Participate form. Here’s why:

1. These Are Your Students’ Funds: Federal funding, including Title I and Title II allocations, is intended to support your students’ academic needs and your teachers’ professional needs.
2. Equity and Opportunity: Participating ensures your students and teachers receive the resources they are entitled to, leveling the playing field for their success.
3. Flexibility in Use: Responding “Yes” does not commit your school to a pre-defined program. It opens the door for meaningful discussions with your LEA about tailoring services to meet your school’s unique needs.
4. Maintain School Autonomy: Checking “Yes” also ensures access to essential services while maintaining your school’s autonomy. It does not mean you’re relinquishing control or inviting unwarranted government interference into your school’s operations or decision-making.

Once you’ve confirmed your intent to participate, the next step is to schedule a planning meeting with your LEA. This meeting is a crucial step in the consultation process, ensuring that your school is fully prepared to maximize the benefits of federal funding. Here’s what to expect and prepare for:

• Consultation With Your LEA: The LEA will usually contact your school to schedule this meeting. During the consultation, they will explain the program specifics, ensuring your school understands the expectations, obligations, and opportunities associated with federal funding.
• Program Planning: Collaborate with the LEA to develop a detailed plan outlining how the federal funds will address the specific needs of your students and teachers. During this discussion, you can also request to use a trusted third-party provider, like FACTS, to implement programs, ensuring the services are tailored to your school’s unique needs and requests.
• Data Collection and Reporting: Be prepared to provide data on student demographics, academic performance, and other relevant metrics. This information will help demonstrate your school’s eligibility and track the progress of the funded programs.
• Compliance Requirements: The LEA will review federal compliance regulations with your school. This includes ensuring that appropriate procedures are in place to meet the funding program requirements.
• Establish Clear Goals: Work together to set measurable objectives for the program’s outcomes, such as improving academic performance, offering targeted interventions, or enhancing teacher professional development.
• Clarify Roles and Responsibilities: Define the roles of your school and the LEA in implementing and managing the program. This ensures accountability and smooth coordination.

Participation in the consultation process is your chance to advocate for the resources your students and teachers need to succeed. By responding promptly, preparing thoroughly, and engaging actively with your LEA, you can ensure that federal funds are used effectively to support your school community.

At FACTS, we understand that navigating the consultation process can be complex. Our team is here to provide guidance, support, and tools to help your school make the most of the opportunities available. To make it even easier, we’re offering a free consultation checklist designed to help private schools prepare and stay organized throughout the process. Don’t leave funding on the table—take the first step by saying “Yes” and partnering with us to plan for a successful school year ahead.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can assist your school during consultation season.

Keeping your team informed about compliance and adapting to evolving regulations are essential for any manufacturing organization. According to Thomson Reuters’ 2023 Risk & Compliance Survey Report, staying on top of upcoming regulatory and legislative changes is a top strategic priority for many organizations. Navigating these changes effectively not only ensures compliance but also helps your team build and retain the skills they need to stay safe and productive.

By leveraging technology-driven compliance tools, manufacturing teams can reduce risks, eliminate inefficiencies caused by outdated processes, and streamline training efforts. Let’s explore how compliance and skill-building work together to benefit your workforce.

Modern compliance training isn’t just about meeting regulations—it’s also an opportunity to enhance workforce skills. Keeping necessary certifications and following safety requirements requires a system that is efficient, organized, and easily accessible for frequent updates.

Compliance training does more than ensure your team is following the rules. Provide more efficient ways for your team members to complete their work, enhance safety practices, and foster collaboration for a safer, more compliant workplace.

By leveraging an integrated technological solution, you can combine compliance and comprehensive training into one platform. Offer training that teaches your team policies such as the ISO 9001 while training them on your products and best practices for managing them.

Adopting a modern, technology-driven approach to compliance training offers numerous benefits, from boosting team efficiency to streamlining processes for added convenience. Here are three key advantages of modern compliance training technology:

1. Increased Efficiency: Make it simple for your employees to learn, train, and get their necessary certifications, keeping your whole team current and compliant in less time.
2. Improved Accuracy: Minimize reporting errors and simplify compliance training with all the right tools in one place.
3. Audit Preparedness: Stay ready for regulatory reviews with reliable and up to date data.

Make managing compliance at your company easier, more efficient, and more effective by implementing a solution that tackles all your challenges in one system and create an environment that is safer and better managed for the benefit of your team.

FACTS Learning Platform is designed to simplify compliance processes while empowering HR and compliance managers to focus more on building your team’s workplace skills. Experience key features such as:

• Automated Compliance Tracking: Eliminate the need for manual spreadsheets and paperwork. With automated tracking, you can ensure consistent monitoring of compliance requirements while reducing the risk of human errors. Make it simple for your employees to learn, train, and get their necessary certifications, keeping your whole team current and compliant in less time.
• Safety Certification Management: Keeping employee certifications current is critical. The FACTS platform makes it easy to manage certifications, send reminders, and ensure compliance deadlines are met.
• Real-Time Reporting: Instantly access accurate data to stay prepared for audits and make informed decisions. Real-time insights help you track progress and identify gaps in compliance or training efforts.

With FACTS Learning Platform, you can not only streamline administrative tasks but also ensure your workforce remains audit-ready and equipped with the skills you need to thrive.

Ready to simplify compliance and build workforce skills? Discover how the FACTS Learning Platform can transform your team’s compliance training today.

Parents value flexibility and convenience when it comes to paying for their student’s tuition. By offering payment plans at your school with tools like FACTS Tuition Management, you can simplify tuition payments for current families and stand out to new families looking for the right school for their student.

But how? Here are some ways implementing an efficient tuition management system can elevate your school’s marketing and bring in new families while remaining effective and efficient for your school staff.

Offer an All-in-One Experience

Your families are busy. Make it simple for families to manage their tuition finances with a tuition payment solution where they only need one login to access both student information and financial details, showing your school’s commitment to convenience and efficiency. Families can handle everything from tuition payments to extracurricular fees all in one place and on their own time, maximizing convenience for them and reducing time spent by your administrative staff answering their questions.

Reduce Enrollment Barriers with Comprehensive Options

Integrating payment plans into your enrollment process eliminates friction and makes it easier for families to commit to joining your school community. Give parents the option to pay for their student’s tuition over a longer period rather than all up front, giving them more room to breathe and peace of mind. Offering these plans alongside features like incidental billing and prepay accounts also reduces enrollment barriers for prospective families, positioning your school as flexible and accommodating to families with various needs.

Let Your Team Focus on What Matters

Leverage easy-to-use dashboards and make it simple to stay on top of payments, allowing for better budgeting and improved cash flow that can be invested back into the school. Automated payment processing and advanced accounting features also free up your administrative team to focus on building relationships with families and students.

Strengthen Family Relationships

Reduce misunderstandings and foster trust with transparent, consistent communications regarding tuition and fees between your school and families. Keep parents informed while also offering flexible payment options that demonstrate your school’s understanding of the diverse financial situations families face. When you build trust and create a strong connection between families and your school, you can also experience better student retention as parents value these close-knit bonds.

Offering tuition payment options that are flexible and affordable can be a crucial part of making your school the right choice for more families. Learn more about FACTS Tuition Management to see how.

The role of the school business manager has always been diverse and demanding. Covering a wide range of functions and dealing with many stakeholder groups, school business managers wear many hats – and the demands on them are growing as the education sector evolves.

In a day, a business manager may find themselves reconciling accounts, dealing with staff issues, negotiating supplier contracts, acting on behalf of the principal, arranging a board meeting, supporting the fundraising committee, and more. For this reason, they must have skills in a range of areas including finance, management, project management, and compliance.

Equally important is that they’re supported by a comprehensive and intuitive payment platform that allows them to manage payments flexibly, securely, and efficiently. Purpose-built school payment software like FACTS enables schools to simplify and streamline their approach to payments, providing more control, visibility, and convenience to both administrators and families.

Managing tuition payments effectively is a key challenge for schools. Many still take a manual approach which is time-consuming and inefficient.

Schools without a flexible, centralised payment system will often have teams of staff who take many weeks to coordinate the payment process at the start of each school year. Managing year level or subject-specific pricing, discounts, and any credits or debits to be applied to an account becomes labour intensive and error-prone. Additionally, neither the school nor families have visibility of their financial position.

FACTS supports K-12 schools to deliver a better payment experience for families while reducing the workload of their administrative team. Our world-class billing engine gives both user groups real-time visibility of payments made, scheduled and missed, 24/7, wherever they are.

Paper-based forms and payment slips are unpopular with administrators and families alike. Easy to forget or misplace, it’s inconvenient for families to manually record information the school already holds about them – and collecting payment information on paper forms is not PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliant.

FACTS’ flexible online forms allow simple and efficient management of permission and payment for extras like school excursions and trips. FACTS forms collect information via a secure and encrypted platform, with any costs automatically added to each family’s account, so no cash or manual payments are needed. It’s a more flexible, convenient, cost-effective, and secure way for schools to manage permissions and payments required throughout the year.

Many schools without a comprehensive payment system lack a strong understanding of their current financial position. Managing tuition fees, fundraising efforts, and incidental expenses in separate spreadsheets can make it impossible to get an accurate real-time view of a school’s financial health.

School payment software allows administrators to view key financial metrics at a glance. Business managers can build customised reports and schedule these to be created and shared with key stakeholders on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Powerful analytics let the administration team identify and manage arrears, hardship, and other financial aspects with confidence the latest information is at their fingertips.

Keeping personal and payment information safe is imperative for all schools. The traditional approach of sending forms home in schoolbags to be completed and returned presents many opportunities for this confidential information to be lost.

Tools like FACTS allow schools to collect and store this information securely and give families the opportunity to update their information at their convenience via a secure online portal, 24/7. This means no need for the school administration team to chase forms and payments or enter data manually. It’s also more efficient for families, who won’t be asked to provide the same information each time there’s a camp or excursion.

FACTS is PCI level 1 compliant, the highest level of validation given by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).

FACTS supports a seamless flow of information between a school’s administration team and its teachers, students, and families. From enrolment to graduation, it allows information to be captured and stored securely – meaning no manual data entry for schools, and no need for families to provide the same information time and time again.

A complete school payment platform supports business managers to meet the competing aspects of their role with agility, and give families and the administration team better flexibility, control, and visibility.

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.