Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
The Board of School Trustees of Tri-Creek School Corporation is receiving proposals on its
Student Management System for five schools. Proposals will be accepted until
December 20th, 2013 at 10:00 am at 195 West Oakley Avenue, Lowell, IN 46356, at which
time they will be opened. Submit two copies of the proposal. An additional digital copy
in searchable PDF format should be emailed to Jay Blackman
(jblackman@tricreek.k12.in.us) prior to December 20th, 2013.
Proposal specifications can be obtained from Jay Blackman, Director of Information and
Educational Technology, at 195 West Oakley Avenue, Lowell, IN 46356, online at
www.tricreek.k12.in.us or by calling the Tri-Creek School Corporation Administration Office
at 219-750-1293.
Board of School Trustees
Tri-Creek School Corporation
Douglas Ward, President
Michelle Dumbsky, Vice President
Robert Martinez, Secretary
Timothy Cottingham, Member
David Stanton, Member
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Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
Tri-Creek School Corporation Request for Proposal for Student Information System
Brief Overview of Tri-Creek School Corporation
Tri-Creek School Corporation (TCSC) is located in Lowell, Indiana. There are five main school locations;
● Lowell Senior High School (grades 9-12 with approximately 1,200 students)
● Lowell Middle School (grades 6-8 with approximately 850 students)
● Lake Prairie Elementary School (grades K-5 with approximately 400 students)
● Oak Hill Elementary School (grades K-5 with approximately 525 students)
● Three Creeks Elementary School (grades K-5 with approximately 475 students).
All five of the main schools and the Central Office are all connected by a fiber optic and wireless WAN. TriCreek School Corporation (TCSC) has additional student facilities and satellite classroom locations that would
require real-time access to the Student Information System (SIS) for staff and administrators at those locations
through Internet connections since those locations are not on the district’s WAN.
Basic Software/Hardware Requirements
● The SIS should be based on a true web-based architecture not a client-server or “web-enabled”
system.
● The SIS must be School Interoperability Framework (SIF) Compliant
● The SIS must use a single district-wide database with real-time online access for all users.
● The SIS must have complete solutions for all mandated Indiana state reports.
● The SIS must provide a student/parent portal to view assignments, grades and attendance.
● The SIS must provide a user-friendly method of online registration, customizable by district staff.
● The SIS must provide customizable grade books and seating charts with little to no setup required on
the staff side
● The SIS must meet the operational needs of TCSC as outlined in the Operational Details section.
● The SIS must allow TCSC to add and define new data fields and sections to maintain unique data
requirements and organization.
● The SIS must allow all building-level office staff to be able to both import and export data in various
formats including XML, CSV and text.
● The SIS should include the ability to export any/all data maintained in the SIS to user-defined reports.
● The SIS must allow for the design and development of customized reports and form letters that can be
shared with all users in all school locations.
● A clear and complete listing of all hardware/server requirements, operating system(s) requirements, as
well as any additional software requirements (such as database software) needed for the purpose of
running the SIS system shall be part of the bid.
● The proposal shall include the itemized costs of licensing, conversion, training and annual support
and/or maintenance and all other related costs of purchase and implementation.
Training Plan - Please include a breakdown of the amount of time required to provide training for all users
including teachers, administrators, counselors, clerical staff, and system administrators for a Summer 2014
start date for the 2014-2015 school year. Provide a list of sample curriculum items that would be covered for
each category of users and a sample training plan that includes expectations for annual refresher training.
Also include any state or local user groups or conferences that provide additional support for staff seeking
training.
Support Services - Please outline how your organization provides support and maintenance services to your
customers. Include the process by which TCSC staff contact the vendor for support, an expectation of
timeframes for resolution of minor and major issues, availability of services for both on and off-hours support,
including weekends/holidays, and tracking of status of issues.
References - The Customer may, with full cooperation of the Vendors, visit client installations to observe
system operations and consult with references. The vendor must provide a complete list of ALL Indiana school
districts currently using their SIS along with total student count and years as customer. If requested, specified
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Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
visits and discussion shall be arranged through the Vendors; however, the Vendor personnel shall not be
present during discussions with references. The Vendor must provide a minimum of three (3) Indiana reference
accounts at which the Vendor provided services within the last two (2) years.
Right to Reject - The Customer reserves the right to reject all bids. The Vendor's proposal should reflect their
most favorable terms. Price will be a major consideration. However the Customer reserves the right to select
the Vendor who, in The Customer's determination, will best meet their needs on a long-term basis regardless
of price. Other factors taken in consideration include, but are not limited to, prior experience and performance
of the vendor, personnel qualifications, service quality, and management capability.
Value Added Incentives - List and explain voluntary alternatives, additions or services to the bid
specifications that would come at no additional charge to Tri-Creek School Corporation.
Evaluation
As part of the review process, a demonstration of the SIS may be required of those vendors who appear to
meet the specifications outlined in Operational Details Section listed in this RFP. The demonstration will take
place in a TCSC facility and will include teachers, administrators, guidance, front office personnel and TCSC
technology support personnel. Evaluations are required to be on current generation software in a live
environment with a considerable number of students in the database. Additional requirements for live software
demonstrations will be shared with vendors selected to present.
The following are the criteria by which Tri-Creek School Corporation will evaluate the SIS:
● SIS meets the operational needs of TCSC as defined in the Operational Details Section
● SIS has a competitive price, including yearly maintenance cost
● Vendor can easily export and convert all data in our current SIS, LogicKey Harmony 2
● Quality and completeness of response to this RFP provided by Vendor
● Reputation, capacity, experience and financial stability of the Vendor
Specifications
Tri-Creek School Corporation has created a technical survey for the Vendor to fill out that will identify the
operational capabilities of the SIS being proposed. Tri-Creek School Corporation has titled the SIS technical
survey the Operational Details Section. The Operational Details Section provides specifics on the operational
needs for a student information system for Tri-Creek School Corporation. The Vendor will need to print out the
Operational Details Section and identify if the SIS that is being proposed provides the operational capability
described in each section by placing a check mark in either the Yes or NO column.
Also identify if an additional module or component would need to be purchased to add to the base system
for any item that is marked with a YES. To identify if an additional module is needed, just put a check mark in
the Additional Module column for that item. The Vendor may create codes to place in the Additional Module
column to identify different or specific modules. The Vendor would need to provide a list to define the codes.
The final installation price quoted must include any and all modules/components to provide the operational
capabilities that are marked as YES in the Operational Details section that is submitted with your proposal.
Feel free to add notes to any section to clarify any issue in the Operational Details Section. The completed
technical survey is required with each proposal submitted.
Web Browser – Platform Independent - The SIS must be based on a true web-based architecture and not a
client-server or “web-enabled” system. The SIS must use a single district-wide database with real-time online
access through a web browser for all users in all locations. The SIS should be platform independent for the
end user and work if the end-user is using Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Chrome web browsers for both
Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OSX. Additional consideration will be given to vendors who demonstrate a
mobile interface compatible with Apple iOS and Android operating systems.
If there are limitations, compatibility issues or differences in functionality with any of the current releases of
the four browsers listed above, the Vendor needs to provide documentation on the issues in the appropriate
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Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
section in the Operational Details Section. If the SIS is able to provide full access utilizing other operating
system platforms, please provide that information as well.
Software Integration - The SIS needs to integrate our new Student Information System with other existing
student databases. It is critical for Tri-Creek School Corporation to develop a system where student data is
shared and transferred across a wide range of systems with minimal user interaction. We have listed the main
student databases that we currently use that we would need to integrate with our new SIS.
School Fiscal Accounting System - Tri-Creek School Corporation is investigating different options where the
SIS is able to share data in an automated manner with a school fiscal accounting system. Please provide all
information on what school fiscal accounting systems that the SIS can integrate with, including online payment
portals. Tri-Creek School Corporation may request the Vendor to provide a list of school districts where the
Vendor has successfully integrated the SIS with a school fiscal accounting system within the last two years.
The list does not need to be provided with the submitted proposal but may be requested during the review
process.
Master Schedule Builder and Online Course Registration - The SIS must provide an integrated Master
Schedule Builder as well as options for Online Course Requests and Online Registration. Please provide
information on the Master Schedule Builder for the SIS being proposed as well as details on what options are
available for Online Course Requests and Online Registration for our middle and high school students.
Please provide the additional costs that would be associated with the Master Schedule Builder and Online
Course Registration, including information on any additional modules that would need to be purchased for the
SIS, additional hardware/software that would need to be purchased above and beyond what is needed for the
operation of the SIS as well as contact information for the individual who can provide more details regarding
the Master Schedule Builder and Online Course Registration options.
Email Lists – The SIS must provide the capability for office personnel or individual teachers to send out email
notifications to specific groups of parents or students. As an example, the elementary office would have the
capability to send out an email through the SIS to all email addresses listed in the student contact section for
all students in the entire building or just one grade level. The classroom teacher would have the ability to send
out an email to all email addresses listed in the student contact section for all students listed in one specific
class through the SIS. Furthermore, individual athletic/extracurricular coaches and sponsors would be able to
email groups of students based off of sports or activities. Staff members should be able to create user-defined
groups.
Please provide a general overview of how email messaging works with the SIS and the additional costs that
would be associated with providing that capability to all staff, including information on any additional modules
that would need to be purchased for the SIS, additional hardware/software that would need to be purchased
above and beyond what is needed for the operation of the SIS as well as contact information for the individual
who can provide more details regarding the email messaging options.
Emergency Alert System – An Emergency Alert System will be a critical communication component for TriCreek School Corporation. Please provide clear documentation on which Emergency Alert Systems the SIS
can integrate with and the steps needed for contact information entered in the SIS to be transferred to the
Emergency Alert System. The preference for Tri-Creek School Corporation is if there an automated process
which will automatically update contact information in the Emergency Alert System when contact data is
updated in the SIS. If an option for parents and guardians to add other contact information to the Emergency
Alert System is available, please provide information for that option.
Automated Exports – The SIS must provide a method by which TCSC staff can develop user-defined
automated exports without submitting a request for support to the vendor. Please provide an explanation of
the process by which TCSC staff members are able to develop a user-defined export, schedule the automation
of the export (including options for time, date and frequency) and the location of exports within the system.
Exports should be able to be exported to a local server for upload by client programs defined in the next
section.
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Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
Tri-Creek School Corporation utilizes other systems with student databases. If there are options to
integrate/share data with our other systems, please provide any information on how the proposed SIS can
integrate with the following systems:
● Acuity - Tri-Creek School Corporation utilizes Acuity as our testing/evaluation software for our
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students. Please provide some documentation on how data that is exported out of the SIS and
entered in the Acuity system.
Edulog – Tri-Creek School Corporation utilizes Edulog as our transportation software. Please provide
some documentation on if or how data can be shared between the SIS and Edulog. If additional
hardware/software would be needed (such as some form of a SIF Zone Integration Server) please
provide some documentation on what would be needed.
Lightspeed TTC - Tri-Creek School Corporation utilizes Lightspeed TTC as our Internet filter/content
management system. Please provide data on import of student demographic information into
Lightspeed for user and group management.
Renaissance Learning STAR Reading - Tri-Creek School Corporation utilizes Renaissance Learning
products for all schools. Please provide documentation on automation of export of demographic and
course scheduling data to the Renaissance Learning RDI process for automatic uploads.
Mealtime- Tri-Creek School Corporation utilizes Mealtime’s web-based mPower product for all schools.
Please provide documentation on automation of export of demographic data and import of
free/reduced lunch data from mPower.
Destiny - Tri-Creek School Corporation utilizes Destiny as our school library management system.
Please provide documentation on automation of export of demographic data into Destiny.
SchoolMessenger - Tri-Creek School Corporation utilizes SchoolMessenger as our emergency
notification system. Please provide documentation on automation of export of demographic data into
SchoolMessenger and import of changes from SchoolMessenger’s parent interface.
Moodle/Echo - Tri-Creek School Corporation utilizes Moodle and New Tech Network Echo as our
school learning management systems. Please provide documentation on automation of export of
demographic data into these systems and import of grading data into the SIS from these systems,
including integration of gradebooks.
Pearson Inform - Tri-Creek School Corporation utilizes Pearson Inform as our grade and assessment
clearinghouse. Please provide documentation on automation of export of demographic and test score
data into this system.
Questions - Questions about this RFP can be made in writing to Jay Blackman, Director of Information and
Educational Technology for Tri-Creek School Corporation to his email account: jblackman@tricreek.k12.in.us
This RFP and all clarifications or other answers to questions about the RFP will be posted on Tri-Creek School
Corporation’ website at: www.tricreek.k12.in.us
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Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
OPERATIONAL DETAILS SECTION
Print out and return with your proposal
Item
NO
Core Design
1
SIS is based on a true web-based architecture and not a client-server or
“web-enabled” system.
2
SIS uses a single district-wide database with real-time online access
through a web browser for all users in all locations.
3
SIS is platform independent for the end user. The end-user can use
Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Chrome web browsers.
4
SIS provides a mobile compliant interface for Apple iOS and Android
devices.
5
SIS is School Interoperability Framework (SIF) Compliant.
Vendor Comments for Core Design
6
YES
Additional
Module
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
Item
NO
Conversion of Data
1
Vendor has successfully converted data from the LogicKey Harmony 2
system within the last two years.
2
Vendor can provide a methodology for importing document/file data (i.e.
report cards, guidance memos, student photos, emails) from LogicKey
Harmony 2 system into proposed SIS.
3
Vendor can provide a list of school districts where the Vendor has
successfully converted data from LogicKey Harmony 2 systems to the
proposed SIS within the last two years. The list does not need to be
provided with the submitted proposal but may be requested during the
review process.
Vendor Comments for Conversion of Data
7
YES
Additional
Module
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
Development of Reports
The process of reviewing data and creating a wide range of reports is a critical issue in the evaluation of the
SIS. The SIS must have complete solutions for all mandated Indiana state reports, including all STN reports
listed by the Indiana Department of Education at: http://www.doe.in.gov/stn/
In Tri-Creek School Corporation state reports are submitted at both the corporation and building level. The SIS
must provide a solution where appropriate corporation and building-level personnel can review all building level
data for a specific state report and then generate and submit the report to the STN Application Center. The
Indiana Department of Education has discussed developing a process to submit daily STN reports
automatically without any user-intervention in the creation and submission of the reports. If the SIS is able to
generate and submit some STN reports automatically, the Vendor should provide a brief general overview
regarding the capabilities for the SIS to accomplish that task.
Item
8
NO
Reporting and Data Management Details
1
SIS allows for the recording of all data related to all Indiana and federal
reports.
2
SIS allows for automated generation of STN reports that will allow for
automated submission to the state. If SIS is capable of accomplishing
this task, please provide brief overview of how the task is accomplished
and which STN reports can be automated.
3
Building-level access to create STN state reports either in CSV or XML
format using the format and codes required by each report.
4
Provide building-level review and error-checking capabilities for all STN
Reports listed by the Indiana Department of Education at:
http://www.doe.in.gov/stn/
5
Provide user-friendly user-defined reporting, including AND, OR, NOT,
wildcards, and historical data
6
Capability to set up and keep pre-defined groups or filters which can be
included or excluded in the creation of reports.
7
Provide honor roll, class rank, grade exception, grade verification and
other standard reports
8
Identify students with legal documentation on file, such as Child Custody
Orders, Restraining Orders, adoption documentation..etc.
9
Accommodate mass upload of any student data into SIS based on
student’s STN. This is critically important for student testing data such
as ISTEP, ECA, LAS Links, ACT and SAT.
10
All data in SIS can be exported to a user-defined report.
11
SIS has ability to create a template to export student data in the correct
format for automated exports and make it available to other users.
12
Provide real time full integration of information between schools and the
district; ALL data available real-time throughout system
YES
Additional
Module
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
13
All information about a student is entered only once and is thereafter
available real time throughout all modules, both online and for reporting
14
Accommodate unlimited user-defined fields and comments
15
Ability to limit customization of data field types or inputting of incorrect
data using standardized field types (i.e. text, numerical only, dropdowns
with pre-defined choices for demographic/ethnic data)
Vendor Comments for Reporting and Data Management Details
9
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
Item
NO
Enrollment Details
1
Record and keep first date of enrollment in US school for reporting
2
Identify and track non-traditional/non-conventional students, such as
infants, preschoolers, private school students, inter-district transfers, out
of district residents
3
SIS has capability to allow building-level office personnel to
add/transfer/drop individual student information electronically on a realtime basis from school to school.
4
Capability for office personnel to lookup and export historical enrollment
data for any specific date in the past for any student in any school.
5
When adding a student, SIS is capable of identifying sibling, from which
to import demographic data, even if sibling is enrolled in another school
in the district.
Vendor Comments for Enrollment Details
10
YES
Additional
Module
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
Item
NO
Attendance Details
1
All building and classroom/period attendance details and tardies are
available in real time at the District level.
2
Capability to track non-public part time pupils in order to take credit for
the part time enrollments of home students and special needs.
3
Capability to track students who are on limited or reduced schedules for
various reasons.
4
District-level personnel can view current ADA data for both individual
schools and the district as a whole
5
District-level personnel can look up historical ADA data on any specific
date in the past for any school.
6
Provide user-friendly user-defined reporting, including AND, OR, NOT,
wildcards, and historical data for all attendance data.
7
Provide monitoring and alerts of absences and truancies according to
user or school defined policies.
8
Provide generation of notices for truancy, habitual truants, and
unexcused absences, all based on user-defined criteria.
9
Provide differentiation of school-counted absence info and IDOEcounted absence info reported to the state.
Vendor Comments for Attendance Details
11
YES
Additional
Module
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
Item
NO
Health and Medical Details
1
Provide teachers with a clear alert in the gradebook program of students
with special medical needs.
2
Provide office personnel with a clear alert of students with special
medical needs in the student data entry section of SIS.
3
Capability to record narrative comments for each medical condition and
requirement.
4
Accommodate unlimited number of doctors and specialists to be entered
and maintained with descriptions and unlimited phone numbers.
5
Accommodate narrative comments on each doctor record.
6
Generate exception letters based on number of immunization shots
required for each vaccine according to grade level. Ability to modify
required shots table.
7
Provide means for service providers to document services required by
IEP or Section 504
8
Record and report medication administered, including medication name,
staff assessment of condition, date, time, and staff member who
administered. This information should not be limited to nursing staff.
9
Record and report standard health screenings, including total
students screened by grade level as well as the ability to add other test
results that may be required in the future as well as retain with the
student record from year to year.
10
Identify students who have various medical forms on file (e.g. Parent
Consent form for our Wellness Center, EMA form, CHIRP consent form,
doctor consent form on file) as well as the ability to add other forms that
may be required in the future
11
Capability to generate student health record reports to verify compliance
with various state and local laws.
12
Capability for immunization surveillance and a report for immunization
compliance.
13
Conforms to HIPPA data security requirements
Vendor Comments for Health and Medical Details
12
YES
Additional
Module
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
Item
13
NO
Grading/Transcript Details
1
Provide web based teacher record/grade books that can be accessed
on any web browser.
2
Maintain K-12 report card/course grade history for student. Include
support for transfer students with grade histories/report cards from
outside schools.
3
Capability for individual schools to specify optional subjects to be
graded and reported with a mixture of scales/score types.
4
Print report cards in English and Spanish.
5
Capability for teacher to create progress reports at any point in the
semester.
6
Capability to track repeated courses, applying district rules regarding
earning multiple credit, suppressing D's and F's, etc.
7
Accommodate data collection and reporting related to standards based
grade reporting including the acceptance of input of like S,NS or U or
numerics.
8
SIS allows for customized report card and transcript templates (ICAN,
TCSC-specific elementary standards-based report card)
9
SIS allows for assignments/grades to transfer with the students if
student switches to another section of a subject they are in.
10
SIS gradebook allows for a district bank of pre-defined comments and a
personal bank of comments for report cards and progress reports.
11
SIS gradebook allows a teacher to email parents of students in a
specific class through the SIS, without the teacher having to maintain
the e-mail addresses.
12
SIS gradebook allows a teacher to not post grades or assignments still
within the gradebook, if the teacher does not yet want them published to
the student/parent portal.
13
SIS gradebook for a specific class or course can be viewed by
administrators.
14
SIS provides for an easily viewed assignment summary for students
without needing to view the entire gradebook.
15
SIS gradebook seating chart allows for pictures.
16
Attendance can be taken from an on-line seating chart.
YES
Additional
Module
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
17
Allow user-defined reporting and saved querying of GPA's and grades,
selecting by student, teacher, subject, etc.
18
SIS allows early graduated students to remain in GPA calculations
throughout the entire school year.
19
SIS allows for reporting of varied formulas for graduate honors based
on student grade level (valedictorian/salutitorian vs. cum laude/magna
cum laude).
Vendor Comments for Grading/Transcript Details
14
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
Item
15
NO
Guidance Details
1
Record Four-Year Plan providing for annual updating during
articulation
2
Record RTI information
3
Record student visits to counselor including date, purpose,
outcome, reason for visit, and notes
4
Provide honor roll, class rank, grade exception, grade verification
and other standard reports for current and historical dates
5
Identify students meeting district requirements for athletic and
other co- and extra-curricular program participation
6
Record, track, and report on students participating in various
categorical programs, including English Learner Programs, Gifted
and Talented Education, McKinney-Vento, Title I, and Migrant
Education.
7
Maintain record of student eligibility for categorical program
participation independent of actual participation and be able to
link/compare eligibility and participation.
8
Record changes in a student’s participation in a categorical
program, keeping start and end dates of program participation,
student's eligibility, etc.
9
SIS allows for cross enrollment of students between two schools.
10
SIS allows for one teacher to be scheduled at multiple schools
11
SIS allows for multiple teachers to have non-standard sections and
class times to allow for online/blended courses.
12
Provide calculation of many different GPA's (ex: term, cumulative
7-9, 9-12, 10-12, weighted, unweighted, academic, total, a-f, core
courses, etc.)
13
Graduation – SIS can record and report completed courses and
graduation requirements according to graduation plan.
14
Graduation – SIS provides automated credit check (by subject and
totals) for graduation status check.
15
Graduation – SIS provides capability to add points to GPA
calculation based on student schedule or other weighting factors
as determined by the administration.
16
Generate warnings of students at risk of not meeting graduation
requirements in real-time and historically.
YES
Additional
Module
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
17
SIS supports the development and management of Student
Behavior Intervention Plans
Vendor Comments for Guidance Details
16
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
Item
NO
Fee Details
1
Capability to pro-rate fees for students who do not complete a full
semester in a class.
2
Capability to provide parents automated fee invoice that
accurately reflects any changes to fees that may occur after a
course change.
3
Capability to carry over fees from previous years.
4
Capability to provide reporting to staff and parent by fee and
course as well as provide detailed transaction reports
5
Capability to track fees that are to be waived for specific students.
6
Capability to interface with 3rd party payment portals for collection
of online textbook rental payments, damages/lost equipment, and
extracurriculur/athletic fees.
Vendor Comments for Fee Details
17
YES
Additional
Module
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
Item
NO
Parent Portal Details
1
SIS provides the ability for parents to view real-time grade,
assignment, discipline, transportation, fees/balances and
attendance data online.
2
SIS provides the ability for parents to update demographic data
for students online.
3
Updated parent demographic data must be approved by staff
before populated into SIS and available for reporting.
4
SIS provides the ability for parents to directly contact teacher or
administrator directly through parent portal to address concerns.
5
SIS provides the ability for staff to schedule customized
messages to be displayed on the parent portal.
6
SIS provides the ability for parents to initiate payment of textbook
rental and fees through the parent portal (may utilize 3rd party
payment portal)
7
SIS provides the ability for parents to register students online via
the parent portal.
8
SIS provides the ability for staff to customize all registration
documents and fields required.
9
SIS provides the ability for students to register for class
schedules online and request add/drop courses with guidance
approval.
Vendor Comments for Parent Portal Details
18
YES
Additiona
l Module
Tri-Creek School Corporation – Student Information System
Additional Vendor Comments Not Addressed Above
19