Virtual Implementation Success
Organization Profile
- Industry: K-12 Education
- Location: Doylestown, PA
- Employees: 2,000
- Tyler Client Since: 2019
- Students: 18,400
- Tyler Products Used: Munis
Central Bucks School District, Pennsylvania, Implements Munis in a Pandemic
After a thorough review process, Central Bucks School District (CBSD) chose to invest in Tyler Technologies’ powerful enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Munis®, to handle its financial and human resource management needs with accuracy, transparency, and efficiency.
As the third largest school district in Pennsylvania, CBSD had outgrown the software it had been using for more than ten years. The legacy software was not made for a district of CBSD’s size, and it was no longer able to provide key information or reports required by the district on a daily basis.
The CBSD team was looking forward to implementing Munis. Director of Finance Barbara Markowitz said, “We felt [Munis] was more robust, that it would better fit the needs of a district our size.”
However, at the onset of the implementation process, the school district closed its doors until further notice due to COVID-19. All employees were directed to work from home.
Virtual Implementation Becomes “New Normal” in a Pandemic
Said Markowitz, “Our team started working virtually in mid-March, and since that day, it has really been business as usual.” So, halting implementation was not an option. Luckily, it was not even considered. For the past five years, 35% of Tyler’s implementation services have been delivered remotely — with some projects delivered 100% virtually. CBSD and Tyler were primed for success.
Access to materials and information was paramount. All materials related to the CBSD implementation were delivered via a secure site, allowing for a single source repository for information and documentation. As for one-on-one trainings, Markowitz said: “There’s something nice about seeing someone in person. But other than physically seeing our Tyler consultant during the implementation process, we haven’t missed out on anything.”
Continued Markowitz, “All the people who needed to do the implementation trainings have online access. We were able to continue working from home and working on the implementation of Munis. Our questions were answered right away, and the Tyler folks have been great.”
We’ve been using GoToMeeting™ and Microsoft® Teams with great success. It’s as though our trainer is at our physical location; we all join into the conversation and see the screen the trainer is using.
Barbara Markowitz
Director of Finance
District Meets Critical Business Needs Remotely
Today, CBSD is manually working with a $342 million budget in Microsoft® Excel. When the district goes live with Munis after the virtual implementation process, it is looking forward to maximizing the efficiency of its business processes — and turning the manual budget into a more efficient, effective, and responsive one.
According to Markowitz, staff at CBSD are looking forward to modernizing their ERP software. “This online process has kept our project moving, and we do not expect any delays in our implementation. In fact, we will likely go live virtually, as well.”