Student Information System - INow
On Friday of this past week, the teachers and administrators from all the Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Owensboro gathered at St. Mary of the Woods Church in Whitesville for a day of professional development. During the Mass that opened the day, Fr. Mike Clark, Diocesan Administrator and Pastor of St. Anthony Parish, thanked those gathered for accepting God's call so simply and with a willing heart. Sr. Claire Fitzgerald, our speaker for the day, reminded us that Catholic education provides the opportunity for our students to encounter God on a personal level. She encouraged us to remember every day that there is an eternal significance to Catholic education. We are created by God, for God. In every sense, we came from God and live to return to God. As Catholic educators, she challenged us to help our students, who are in many ways hijacked by the culture in which they live, to know that they are called to sainthood and aware that God is a loving and merciful Father who is in love with each one of them. With Registration in a few days and the first day of school just a few short weeks away, Sr. Claire reminded us of the importance of what we do in both the lives of our students and also for the Church. To be honest, I left the session feeling alive, refreshed and saying YES again to God's call. It was obvious that I was not alone in my thoughts and feelings based on the standing ovation Sr. Claire received and the obvious sense of commitment to the call in the room. Praise God!
With the start of school right around the corner, I would like to share what I consider to be excellent news. Thanks to a grant awarded by the Mike E. Horn Foundation, OCS purchased this past spring the InformationNow Student Information System from Software Technology, Inc. (STI). INow will allow us to manage all of our daily processes across OCS through a single, web-based, integrated and centralized data management system. It will allow us to control our data so that we can make informed, data driven decisions that support and enhance student performance while streamlining administrative tasks and costs.
Over the summer, we have been working with the professionals at STI to convert the many databases that have served as the backbone of our information system into one, integrated database. Because of its complexity, the conversion has proven to be slow and methodical. The goal from the beginning for both the folks at STI and OCS was to put ourselves into a position where we could start the 2009-2010 academic year working within the new and exciting environment of an integrated software system. David Ralph and a team of our information technology specialists have been working closely with STI to make that happen. We will open the year using the new database. There is, however, still much work to do as we work to complete the implementation process.
As we quickly approach Registration and the start of the year, let me point out the following issues flowing from the INow implementation process:
1. Because of the desire to data enter OCMS student schedules in INow and not in the outgoing database, student schedules will not be available at Registration on Wednesday, July 29th. OCMS student chedules will be distributed at the 7th and 8th grade Orientation Programs to be held on Thursday, August 6th. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes. Schedules for students attending OCHS will be available at Registration.
2. As with any conversion, there is need of data tweaking. We have concentrated on getting the software "set-up" so that it can be used to start the 2009-2010 school year. The data given them was the data from 2008-2009. The necessary assessment of what and how much too clean will take place after the first day of school on August 12th. Until then, all efforts are focused on the completion of the implementation process.
3. One of the greatest benefits for you as parents with INow, is the Parent Portal it will allow us to open and support. For the past several years, parents of high school students have had the opportunity to follow the academic progress of their students through a web based portal tied to the teacher's grade book. Through its parent portal, INow will open a similar window to all parents K-12. Based on the progress of the implementation and training processes, opening the portal will be delayed. Once we have all teachers trained to appropriately use the grade book and insure that all is set-up correctly in the background, you will be issued a pin number to open the portal and instructions on how to use it. We have received many requests for a portal like this and are excited about the information it will provide to parents on the academic progress of their children. It is also our hope to allow parents access to their bill and information in future enhancements to INow.
4. A centralized accounting system is also being implemented. It is our hope to have all the bugs worked out and the new Chart of Accounts implemented by January 1, 2010. We are excited about the opportunity to be innovative and creative in the way we do business.
5. Also on the horizon is new library software that will allow us to integrate our four school site libraries into one, integrated database. In essence, we will have one library with branches at each of our schools. Library holdings from each school site will be viewed across the system.
In the OCS Strategic Plan adopted by Fr. Vaughan and the OCS Education Council in November of 2007, the following is listed as Goal 5 - A road map shall be developed to improve technology for both academics and infrastructure. This move to purchase and implement a web-based, integrated and centralized student information system is a major step in improving our technology infrastructure.
I encourage you to take a few minutes to read the promotional brochure that is linked to this message and join in the excitement expressed by many members of the OCS staff after they spent valuable time being trained a few weeks ago.
I appreciate all you do to help us fulfill our mission of excellence in Catholic faith formation and academics. As always, your comments and insights are important to me. I can be reached via phone at 852-8028 and email at ken.rasp@owensborocatholic.org.
God's Peace!
Ken R. Rasp
OCS Director
Student Information System - INow Overview
With the start of school right around the corner, I would like to share what I consider to be excellent news. Thanks to a grant awarded by the Mike E. Horn Foundation, OCS purchased this past spring the InformationNow Student Information System from Software Technology, Inc. (STI). INow will allow us to manage all of our daily processes across OCS through a single, web-based, integrated and centralized data management system. It will allow us to control our data so that we can make informed, data driven decisions that support and enhance student performance while streamlining administrative tasks and costs.
Over the summer, we have been working with the professionals at STI to convert the many databases that have served as the backbone of our information system into one, integrated database. Because of its complexity, the conversion has proven to be slow and methodical. The goal from the beginning for both the folks at STI and OCS was to put ourselves into a position where we could start the 2009-2010 academic year working within the new and exciting environment of an integrated software system. David Ralph and a team of our information technology specialists have been working closely with STI to make that happen. We will open the year using the new database. There is, however, still much work to do as we work to complete the implementation process.
As we quickly approach Registration and the start of the year, let me point out the following issues flowing from the INow implementation process:
1. Because of the desire to data enter OCMS student schedules in INow and not in the outgoing database, student schedules will not be available at Registration on Wednesday, July 29th. OCMS student chedules will be distributed at the 7th and 8th grade Orientation Programs to be held on Thursday, August 6th. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes. Schedules for students attending OCHS will be available at Registration.
2. As with any conversion, there is need of data tweaking. We have concentrated on getting the software "set-up" so that it can be used to start the 2009-2010 school year. The data given them was the data from 2008-2009. The necessary assessment of what and how much too clean will take place after the first day of school on August 12th. Until then, all efforts are focused on the completion of the implementation process.
3. One of the greatest benefits for you as parents with INow, is the Parent Portal it will allow us to open and support. For the past several years, parents of high school students have had the opportunity to follow the academic progress of their students through a web based portal tied to the teacher's grade book. Through its parent portal, INow will open a similar window to all parents K-12. Based on the progress of the implementation and training processes, opening the portal will be delayed. Once we have all teachers trained to appropriately use the grade book and insure that all is set-up correctly in the background, you will be issued a pin number to open the portal and instructions on how to use it. We have received many requests for a portal like this and are excited about the information it will provide to parents on the academic progress of their children. It is also our hope to allow parents access to their bill and information in future enhancements to INow.
4. A centralized accounting system is also being implemented. It is our hope to have all the bugs worked out and the new Chart of Accounts implemented by January 1, 2010. We are excited about the opportunity to be innovative and creative in the way we do business.
5. Also on the horizon is new library software that will allow us to integrate our four school site libraries into one, integrated database. In essence, we will have one library with branches at each of our schools. Library holdings from each school site will be viewed across the system.
In the OCS Strategic Plan adopted by Fr. Vaughan and the OCS Education Council in November of 2007, the following is listed as Goal 5 - A road map shall be developed to improve technology for both academics and infrastructure. This move to purchase and implement a web-based, integrated and centralized student information system is a major step in improving our technology infrastructure.
I encourage you to take a few minutes to read the promotional brochure that is linked to this message and join in the excitement expressed by many members of the OCS staff after they spent valuable time being trained a few weeks ago.
I appreciate all you do to help us fulfill our mission of excellence in Catholic faith formation and academics. As always, your comments and insights are important to me. I can be reached via phone at 852-8028 and email at ken.rasp@owensborocatholic.org.
God's Peace!
Ken R. Rasp
OCS Director
Student Information System - INow Overview
posted by Owensboro Catholic Schools at
2:48 PM
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