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How Do Schools Determine Compliance?

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This post is part of The Datamation Guide to Managing School District Records.

It is legally necessary that student records are kept for a certain amount of time, often until long after the student graduates or leaves. These records contain information like the student’s name, address, contact information of the parent or legal guardian, grades and test scores, health and discipline records, attendance records, and more personal, vital information. How long this information needs to be kept often differs by state or even by school district.

Most public schools are required by law to have some kind of records management policy in place. With the help of administrators and the school’s legal counsel team, the school board makes a plan that stipulates how long it is appropriate to keep student records, often based on state standards. Making and following this kind of plan prevents schools from being penalized for destroying a record too soon.

It is necessary to keep records in the event of an investigation of a student or a lawsuit against the school. If either of these scenarios occur and there is no documentation to support either events, the school itself is liable to punishment.

When your district is working with paper documents, having to remember the right date to destroy old records can be tedious and prone to error. These files also take up huge amounts of space when stored in boxes and filing cabinets, not to mention that they are extremely susceptible to fire and flood damage. Recovering these documents after a disaster is difficult and painstaking, and can take time that your district doesn’t have.

Digitizing your records with Datamation can make document compliance effortless. After your documents are scanned, you can use one of many enterprise content management (ECM) systems offered to implement retention policies that keep track of compliance dates for you, eliminating the need to manually keep track of the dates and the worry of non-compliance. Besides compliance, scanning your records allows for quick access, organization, and storage in the digital cloud or a single disk. Your records are also always safe from physical harm and natural disasters.

Maintaining compliance is lawfully necessary, and more practically, it helps protect your school from being unprepared during student or employee investigations and lawsuits. It’s up to your district to create a compliance and retention plan, but that plan will always be optimized when your district scans student and employee records.

Make compliance organized and effortless with Datamation.

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2018-03-14 00:00:00

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Keep Your Student Records More Secure Than Ever

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This post is part of The Datamation Guide to Managing School District Records.

Keeping your student records secure is of the utmost importance for your district. Under FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), students have the right to privacy concerning their records, and with new changes to the Student Online Privacy and Protection Act (SOPPA), it is the school’s responsibility to keep those records safe. Many districts still maintain their student records in paper form, which makes them susceptible to physical damage and prying eyes. Datamation can ensure that student records will be as secure as possible, and accessible to the right people.

Because paper records are, well, paper, if there were to ever be a fire, flood, or natural disaster in or around your school, those records would be badly damaged or even destroyed completely. Attempting to recover these documents would involve extensive time and effort that could have been directed elsewhere. Because these records are stored in filing cabinets or boxes all in one room, no one can be sure who has accessed what record, and at what time.

The first step in making these records as secure as possible is to digitize them. Though that may seem like a daunting task to have thousands of documents scanned, Datamation can pick up these files and scan them either on-site or at our own secure facilities. You can also have access to these documents as they are being scanned, if need be. Your district can even track the progress of the scanning process.

Beyond having your records scanned and digitized, Datamation offers many more ways to manage your digital documents. ImageSilo is a great example of a storage and management system that keeps your records both safe and organized. Because your documents are stored in a digital cloud, they can’t be harmed by fires or floods, and with five layers of security, records are safe from human threats as well. Unlike paper records, access to digital records with ImageSilo can be tracked—you can see exactly who accessed the records and when.

Scriborder is also a great program that can be implemented to more securely send requested academic documents like transcripts, diplomas, certificates, and more. Scriborder enables school districts to manage all requests through one portal. Orders are made online, and the document is sent digitally rather than by mail. If there are any issues detected during the mailing process, the student’s private data is automatically captured before it can be seen by anyone. Because the data is sent digitally, it is much more secure than if the transcript was sent by regular mail.

Scanning your student records with Datamation is just the first step in making the records more secure than ever. Paper records and their storage are outdated, risky, and inconvenient, especially where sensitive records are concerned.

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2018-03-14 00:00:00

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Managing School Board Meeting Minutes

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This post is part of The Datamation Guide to Managing School District Records.

Digitizing and storing records doesn’t just apply to student and personnel records. Managing and storing School Board meeting minutes electronically gives your district reliable access to a comprehensive record of important district decisions.

And where do those important district decisions happen? School board meetings. These meetings include decisions like appointments to new offices, donation approvals, vendor contracts, treasury reports, project progress reports, the announcement of new programs, and changes in policy. The minutes taken from these meetings are vital records of each and every decision made by the School Board, and can be referenced if one of the decisions is questioned.

Meeting minutes can also be referenced in order to identify patterns in voting. For example, voting patterns can be examined over a period of 5 years, identifying patterns with board members individually, or the Board as a whole. In short, these records may protect any decisions made by the school and the Board.

Because these records are so important, storing them in paper form makes them susceptible to fire, floods, or just getting lost in the fray. It also takes considerable time to find the correct paper document, digging through filing cabinets or boxes. If something came into question from the meeting that needed to be resolved quickly, it may take hours or days to find the correct file and that wastes a lot of time.

When these minutes are scanned and stored electronically, you can be sure that they will be safe from harm, and can be accessed within a few seconds with a simple keyword search. If a record needs to be sent, there will be no need to worry about making copies, printing, or mailing, saving both time and money. Every single important record will be saved for as long as is necessary, and can be referenced and shared quickly and efficiently.

Preserve every important decision for your district today with Datamation.

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2018-03-14 00:00:00

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5 Benefits of Scanning School Personnel Files

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This post is part of The Datamation Guide to Managing School District Records.

More and more schools are digitizing both their student and employees records. Employee records contain vital information like employment records, resumes, evaluations, education records, certification records, medical records, and much more.

When all of these records are stored in paper form, they have the potential to get lost, damaged from fires and floods, and are subject to general disorganization that can lead to serious legal problems within your district. Here are five reasons why scanning your personnel files is the way to go:

1. Files can be found in a matter of seconds

The average employee spends 51 minutes per day trying to find a certain paper file or document. Think about how much time could be saved and directed towards more important things if files were easy to find. With digital storage and management options like ImageSilo, each file can be find with a simple keyword search, making it easy to monitor files or access them in case of an emergency.

2. Files are more secure than ever before

Personnel files can only be accessed by those with explicit permission. Because they are stored digitally, they are also no longer susceptible to physical damage, like fires or floods. This preserves them until they are no longer needed.

3. Digitizing files saves space

Schools and businesses often have rooms dedicated solely to storing student and personnel records. These rooms are filled with boxes or filing cabinets that need to be sorted through to find a document. The space that is reclaimed by scanning and digitizing files can be used in countless different ways, as space is at a premium in most schools.

4. It’s easier to follow retention policies

This is a big one. Most schools have a document retention policy that is created by the school board, administration, government mandates, and the district’s legal team. This system determines how long certain documents are kept, and when they should be disposed of. It is important that these dates are followed in case of an investigation or lawsuit against the district, but if this policy is not followed correctly, the district can be penalized.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to monitor paper documents for compliance and to remember the different dates, so this often is overlooked. But the good news is that there is software for digital documents that can manage files according to the specific policy they follow, making compliance and retention effortless.

5. The completeness of files can be monitored

Making sure that all vital documents are in place is important in the event of an investigation, a lawsuit against the school or an employee, or if general questions are raised about an employee. These records serve to support employees during in the case of termination, but can also be used to justify hiring and promotion decisions.

Datamation makes maintaining employee files effortless and secure. We offer scanning services and managing software that help your district keep track of compliance and completeness while saving space and offering incredibly easy access.

Do your district a favor and digitize your records with Datamation.

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2018-03-14 00:00:00

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Why Immediate Access to Student Records is Vital

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This post is part of The Datamation Guide to Managing School District Records.

Student records contain a huge amount of very important information that must be readily available. When your school district has hundreds of students, handling paper records can be extremely inconvenient. When records need to be accessed immediately, even if they are well-organized, it can take time to find the right one. Scanning and digitizing student records can bring organization and accessibility to the level it should be.

Student records primarily consist of the student’s name, address, and phone number, their parent/guardians contact information, grades and test scores, health and immunization records, discipline and attendance records, the schools they have attended and the courses they have taken, awards and degrees earned, and any IEP (Individualized Education Programs).

While some of this information usually isn’t a matter of immediate concern, some of the information, like medical records and parent/guardian contact information, are incredibly important. Medical records detail any allergies, medications, or disabilities that a student may have, which will be invaluable in the event of an emergency. Having to dig through a filing cabinet to find the record can take valuable time that could be spent treating the student for that medical emergency and contacting their parent(s) or guardian(s) immediately.

Having quick access to attendance and behavioral records is also vital to understanding what is best for a student academically. Keeping track of attendance, behavior, and grades can help identify patterns that can be used to recognize behavioral or academic issues before they grow and get worse. Having these records readily available is also helpful to recognize signs of depression, anxiety, or problems at home that may be affecting academic performance.

Having quick access to student records is also vital for better communication between schools, whether they are within the same district, or not. If a student transfers from one school to another, their records must go with them, but sending records by mail is risky and often subject to delays. Even when a student moves from elementary to middle school or middle to high school, those records travel with them.

With many school districts having hundreds or even thousands of students coming in and out each year, organization is absolutely vital. Digitizing all of these records means that each and every record can be sent with just a couple of clicks, ensuring that all records get to their destination without delay.

We know that the well-being of your students is the first thing that you have in mind, and Datamation wants to make it easier and safer for you to access and share vital student records. Having immediate access can make a huge difference in the event of an emergency, but can also help ensure a students long-term academic and behavioral well-being.

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2018-03-14 00:00:00

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ImageSilo R84 Updates: Everything You Need to Know

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Over the next few weeks, ImageSilo, your document repository, will be undergoing some significant user interface changes designed to make your user experience even better.

As a premier reseller of ImageSilo, our team at Datamation is here to keep you informed and minimize the impact to your organization. Everything about this update is intended to make the user experience more comfortable and powerful for all users in any organization.

For those of you not using the new site already, the largest change will be the organization of projects. Instead of scrolling through the small list of projects as before, going forward all projects will be visible and pinnable to favorites in the new User Interface. Simply select one of the projects from your list and you will see the search screen that you are familiar with.

Here are a few of the other notable new features:

  • Simplify password changes and allow users to reset forgotten passwords via email.
  • Quickly create duplicate documents to modify index values, and keep the duplicate tied to the original.
  • Simplify sharing of information by converting e-forms to PDFs to send in email messages or to print.
  • Access projects, worksteps waiting/owned, e-forms, destruction lists, favorite and recent documents directly from the Home page.
  • Drag-and-drop files to the Add Documents, Project Search Criteria, Project Search Results, and Folder Results windows.
  • Utilize the Quick Search toolbar at the top of every page to perform an Advanced Search of all fields in all projects (previously called global search) or to search within a specified project, giving you secure, instant access to any document. Quick Search enables full-text search as well, simplifying your ability to instantly find exactly what you need.
  • Search for documents using Document ID or Document Creation Date.
  • Access User Options, Destruction Lists, Migration Jobs, Notifications, the Recycle Bin and Advanced Search using the menu bar.
  • Use icons to quickly access common functions, such as search, upload documents, or scan, simply by hovering over a project in the Home screen.
  • All values that were blank that displayed [Blank] now display no text information in the field. You can still search for blank values by typing [Blank] into the search fields.
  • New Thick Client. This is a full fledged version of the ImageSilo website used to resolve connectivity issues. This is a new application you can choose to use to launch from your computer after updating your PaperVision Client (previously PaperVision Web Assistant)

If you’re not quite ready for change the current site version (83.5) will be available for a limited time at: https://legacy.imagesilo.com

Our experienced team is ready to help you make the most of your ImageSilo software. If you have any questions or concerns, please give us a call or fill out our contact form below and we’ll be in touch right away.

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2018-03-09 00:00:00

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Are You Scanning Your Special Ed Files? You Should Be!

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Like any student record, Special Education records need to be kept and maintained in order to comply with state regulations, and to assess the future needs of the student. The real difference is that student files for children with special needs can be hundreds or thousands of pages long, depending on how much attention the child has needed throughout the years. With this being said, it can be very difficult to keep hard copies of records of these lengths. Finding a single piece of paper in a file of thousands is time-consuming, if not impossible, so the best solution is to have these records scanned by Datamation.

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