Software: Using Software to Serve Your Families
By: Kathleen Butler

In his First Epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul beseeches you “to know them that labor among you, and are your leaders in Christian work, and are your advisers” (1 Thessalonians 5:12).

Can your database help you “know” your school family? Certainly, your database should do a lot for you. It should track student and parent information, grades, and the like. However, does your information system enable you to understand your families and bring them together as a community? Now that you have got the data, does your system allow you to gain the long-term trust and support of students, parents, and faculty?

Here’s an example:

Johnny Hamilton’s dad has requested an emergency meeting. He is waiting in the lobby. Mr. Jacobsen, the head of school, goes to his computer and reviews Johnny’s record. He sees a picture of Johnny and immediately places him. Mr. Jacobson looks at Johnny’s discipline history and finds nothing more than a dress code violation. He can see that Johnny has not had a visit to the nurse’s office. He takes a glimpse at the family’s donation screen. He sees that Johnny’s grandparents are active members of the school community, and there are cousins that are alumni of the school. Mr. Jacobson reviews Johnny’s report cards online and quickly reviews his current class performance. He sees a downward trend in several courses. Mr. Jacobsen glances at the family’s volunteer history. He notes that Johnny’s dad recently assisted in Friday’s fair, in the dunking booth. Mr. Jacobsen is well-prepared for his meeting and feels much closer to the man he is about to meet. His first question to Johnny’s dad is, “Sam, how many times did you get dunked on Friday?” It is a warm introduction.

At the heart of an independent school is the notion of family. A student’s parents, grandparents, and siblings become extended members of the school family. We have done a wonderful job of collecting data. But, using your database to understand your families and support them in extraordinary ways is a matter of design. It depends on its basic structure. It depends on things like “support tables” and “relationships” within its core. If the database does not handle relationships cleanly, you will end up with a “foundation of sand” rather than stone. Hard to grasp and not useful at all.

So, as a layman, what are you looking for? When evaluating a database system, how can you tell if it will help you relate information and understand relationships? What are the tell-tale signs?

A Single Record
“One” is the magic number. Ask questions about how information is stored. Each person or entity—whether parent, grandparent, faculty, or company—should be in your database just once, and then related to each other via relationships.

Here are some good questions to ask:

Can a student matriculate, remain in your database as alumni, then become a parent or faculty member, but only have one record in the database? There should be a single historical record even though the student has had numerous associations with the school. And, what staff members have to do to retain the single record? Hopefully, there is no intervention required.

Are grandparents in your database once or more than once? Grandparents should be supported as a single household. Even if there are multiple grandchildren, or grand “cousins,” they should only be in there once and related to their appropriate families. And, yes, when Grandparent’s Day rolls around, you should be able to direct them to all the classrooms of all their grandchildren.

In the case of a divorce, can you readily retrieve information about each household, from the “individual” student record?

How many times is that doctor or dentist in your database? When it is time to update a student’s medical profile, do you have five different records for the physician, or just one?

Everything from one “employer” in your employer database (yes, you should be able to see all parents that work for the single employer – handy for matching gifts), to one record for a “graduated to” or “previous school.” Harvard University should be in your database just once. Everything is about the “single record” for each constituent – never more.

Groups of Individuals
Even though each constituent has a single record, your families and constituents may be grouped in several ways. For example, trustees are groups of individuals who support your school. Your database should allow you to create groups by adding attributes to the individual’s single record, not adding a record. The attribute ties the group of individuals together. “As it is, there are many parts, but one body” (1 Cor 12:20).

Relationships
Print a report of all trustees. That report might list the trustee’s children, grandchildren, or alumni children, or whether they are an alumnus themselves. This is because individual records are also related via relationship tables. Better databases will provide for multiple relationship tables.

Gifts to the School
Knowing your families and constituents provides a helpful advantage for acknowledging gifts. The result of good fundraising benefits all school families. With one clean record for each family, you can accurately track gifts over time. On the reverse side, if you have multiple records for a constituent, such as a grandparent, how do you really know how much they have given?

If your database integrates donations to the family record properly, then participation rates are immediate and accurate. You can easily honor those that have assisted the school financially and raise awareness among your participants and non-participants alike. With awareness comes a sense of responsibility toward goals.

Beyond the basics of managing and collecting student data, your database system should help you improve relationships in a significant way. Advances in technology have benefited schools. Web technology allows teachers to disseminate information quickly to parents and students. Online applications and forms allow for streamlined data entry and less manual intervention.

Regardless of data flow, your database design will determine your ability to use that data in a way that allows you to know your families and support them better. “To know them is to serve them.” If the structure is poor, you will be supporting your school family with sand. On the other hand, a good database design can give you a foundation of stone and help you serve.

Kathleen Butler is president and chief executive officer of Achieve Technology, www.achieve-technology.com.