Cloud-Deployed ERP Solution Helps School District Meet Goals
Organization Profile
- Industry: County School District
- Tyler Client Since: 2003
- Number of Employees: 3,600
- Number of Students: 21,000
- Location: Beaufort County, South Carolina
- Tyler Products/Solutions: Enterprise ERP, Data & Insights, Student Transportation
Challenges
South Carolina’s Beaufort County School District implemented Tyler Technologies’ Enterprise ERP application in 2003 to centralize data, connect departmental information, and gain insight into trends and performance. However, the school district realized there was room for progress and began considering a software as a service (SaaS) model. Intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, the district set goals to function more efficiently. Among the opportunities for improvement were:
- Automating processes such as approvals and analytics
- Enhancing the user experience and increasing flexibility with remote work
- Freeing up IT resources for priority projects
- Improving disaster recovery efforts
“One thing that was important for us was the user experience, both system access and a more user-friendly approach to process,” said Sheila Burtz, business systems coordinator, Beaufort County School District. “We want the user to have that flexibility to work remotely when needed and to have a one-stop shopping approach to their work. The transition to SaaS was very important, particularly in our coastal location, to have the flexibility to work off site in case of a weather or other unforeseen event.”
“I believe the implementation of a cloud environment is a huge win just for disaster recovery purposes, considering the geographical location that we’re in. By using a SaaS model, we have given more flexibility to our end users. We have that ability to work remotely and to still function as a team.”
Sheila Burtz
Business Systems Coordinator, Beaufort County School District
Solution
Ultimately, the district decided on an upgrade to a cloud-deployed version of Enterprise ERP for a better user experience, flexibility, and efficiency. The school district knew that the SaaS model would deliver the functionality that could meet its goals.
“We were very satisfied with Enterprise ERP on-premises, but we knew it was capable of doing more and could be more user friendly,” said Tonya Crosby, chief financial officer, Beaufort County School District. “We knew the system had capabilities that we weren’t fully utilizing, and that if we upgraded, we would be in a better position.”
The district got right to work to plan its move to the cloud from an on-premises version of Enterprise ERP.
“We started meeting almost immediately,” said Burtz. “Since I had a previous background with ERP implementations, I already knew what the project plan basically needed to look like. We began building the project plan, and as soon as Tyler gave us a test environment, we immediately started testing.”
Onboarding the end user was a smooth task, according to Burtz. “It was really just cosmetic for the user,” she said. “You’re going from an old version of Enterprise ERP into more modern screens, and I knew once we got past all of the set-up, that flipping the user over was going to be fairly easy.”
Working as partners with their Tyler team during the transition to a cloud environment proved to be yet another positive experience for the district.
“The team from Tyler was outstanding at getting answers to us,” said Burtz. “We listened and talked and communicated. I think this was one of the smoother projects I have been through.”
Results
Beaufort County School District is able to operate with more agility and operational benefits with the upgrade to a version of Enterprise ERP deployed in the cloud.
“I believe the implementation of a cloud environment is a huge win just for disaster recovery purposes, considering the geographical location that we’re in,” said Burtz. “By using a SaaS model, we have given more flexibility to our end users. We have that ability to work remotely and to still function as a team.”
The district has already experienced the value of remote-work flexibility.
“IT staff welcomed this idea, and we’ve actually moved several other products to the cloud as well. They were encouraging of us moving in that direction. Relieving them of supporting Enterprise ERP has allowed them to focus on other pressing issues such as cyber security.”
Tonya Crosby
Chief Financial Officer, Beaufort County School District
“We’ve already had a hurricane warning here where we had bookkeepers working from home,” said Burtz, “Just through the authentication process, we were able to get [the bookkeepers] into Enterprise ERP, and still be functional at home.”
The Beaufort County School District IT Department is also recognizing and feeling the benefits of a cloud deployment.
“It has relieved IT,” said Burtz. “Before, if the system went down, we immediately had to contact IT to work on it. So far, we’ve not had any downtime with the system.”
“IT staff welcomed this idea, and we’ve actually moved several other products to the cloud as well,” said Crosby. “They were encouraging of us moving in that direction. Relieving them of supporting Enterprise ERP has allowed them to focus on other pressing issues such as cybersecurity.”
Providing up-to-date analytics for the end user has been another great enhancement, reflected Burtz.
“We wanted better analytics, and Tyler’s Hub is included in the latest version of Enterprise ERP. Our school principals receive many daily requests that they have to do, and their lives have changed greatly with Hub’s functionality. They’re able to see their approvals in a ‘one-stop shop,’ as well as their analytics, their budgets, their spending, and so forth.”
“Of course, we’re not stopping here,” said Burtz. “We’re going to continue to evolve, to see how we can continue using Enterprise ERP’s features to make us better.”