Grand Prairie ISD Finds Success with Skyward and Progress® OpenEdge®

Texas district reports improved accuracy in state reporting, elimination of manual processes, and total control over all administrative data.

July 8, 2009

STEVENS POINT, WI – The Grand Prairie Independent School District (GPISD) streamlines operations, achieves visibility and control of its information, and dramatically improves efficiency and productivity levels by implementing the Skyward School Management System™ which operates on a Progress® OpenEdge® database.

GPISD implemented the Skyward School Business Suite™ in the fall of 2008 and the control over their information quadrupled. Lyle DuBus, Executive Director of Instructional Delivery for GPISD, says that within just a few months of implementation, GPISD is already achieving substantial business results. “I feel like we have literally jumped 30 years into the future, like we are finally doing business in 2009 instead of being stuck in 1979.”

GPISD previously managed the requisition process manually, DuBus explains: “We had one person dedicating at least one half of every day to filling out these requisition forms. Today the campuses are able to submit the purchase orders themselves. Just this one automated process alone is saving our business 20 work hours per week; that is phenomenal.”

With GPISD’s previous system, tasks such as tracking funds for a specific program was not easily accessible. “If we delegate funds for a specific program, we can later go back and track the success of that program and determine if there is a correlation between student improvement and the increase in funding,” said DuBus. “From a decision-making standpoint, we will now be able to better understand our spending and the success of our programs.”

DuBus was unfamiliar with Progress OpenEdge until talking with his peers, “The number one comment I heard about the Progress OpenEdge database was, ‘It requires little to no maintenance and it just works,’” said DuBus. “After I did my own research I learned that Progress has a huge customer base, including Fortune 500 companies. I knew that if it is good enough for companies like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, it must be good enough for us.”

The Grand Prairie Independent School District is the largest employer in Grand Prairie, TX, with approximately 3,000 employees, 25,500 students and 38 campuses, including 25 elementary schools, seven middle schools, two ninth-grade centers, two high schools and two alternative education schools.

Since 1980, Skyward has been serving the K-12 Administrative software needs of school districts. Today, Skyward's School Management Systems™ are found in over 1,300 school districts throughout the United States and internationally. Skyward’s School Management System represents an integrated student and financial management software system designed to keep administrators, educators, and families connected.

Skyward, Inc.
Amanda Fisher
info@skyward.com
800-236-7274