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Overview

The problem with most student information systems is that they limit the user’s view of information across the organization. For example, upon receiving a phone call from a parent, a teacher wants to be able to quickly see everything about the student; what are his/her grades in progress for all classes, is the student missing any assignments, what is the student’s attendance record, has there been any disciplinary or health incidents, have other teachers recently spoken with the student or parents, and more. We know that a system needs to provide a staff member with this level of information at the click of a button, and Backpack 2008 does just that!

Backpack 2008 minimizes the time and effort required to develop your master schedule. The key behind our solution is that we capture and include all of the data elements that factor into a master schedule – and combine this with a state of the art scheduling engine.

Backpack 2008’s reporting module addresses state, district and school reporting needs. The Backpack 2008 system allows you to capture all of your state required data elements. Based upon your state's IT capabilities we can either send the information electronically or generate intermediate reports that match the formats for manually keying the data into the state system.

Backpack 2008 allows you to import standardized assessment test results directly into the system for further analysis and sharing with the appropriate staff. You can also define "local assessment" tests and perform the same types of analysis as on standardized tests.

A fully-integrated Student and Parent/Guardian portal is also included with Backpack 2008. All content is managed and published using the Backpack 2008 system. Via the portal, users can access Newsletters, School Calendars, Cafeteria Information, School Contacts, Syllabus, Homework assignments, Grades, Attendance Records, Disciplinary Incidents and Course Enrollment information.

All users of Backpack 2008 can subscribe to alerts and reports that can be displayed on a dashboard, delivered via e-mail or even as a message to a mobile device. Parents, for example, will now have instant access to updated information on missing assignments or grades as soon as they are generated.

With Backpack 2008 there is no jumping between systems to get your job done. It provides everything a district needs in a single system. With its ease of use and multi-application abilities, it’s ideally suited to solve the problems educators and administrators face.

Backpack 2008 is built upon the Microsoft Dynamics CRM^TM platform, and leverages its built-in functionality to provide a rich user experience. And Backpack 2008 also integrates beautifully with Microsoft Outlook – all calendar/activity information is automatically synchronized for you. You can also access Backpack 2008 directly from the Outlook interface, so there’s no switching back and forth between applications.

Here's an overview of what Backpack can do for your campus:

• Registration & Enrollment
• Course/Class Management
• Administrative Applications
• Master Scheduling
• Health Record Management
• Parent/Student Portal
• Attendance & Seating Charts
• Special Education
• Comprehensive Reporting
• Grade Books
• Discipline Records
• Report & Alerts Subscriptions

   ...and more!

When you choose Metaphor’s Backpack 2008 software, you make your employees’ jobs easier. Backpack 2008 will give your entire organization a level of communication and efficiency that until now you could only dream about. Imagine how much easier Parent/Teacher conferences will be for your teachers, once they have access to all of a student’s records. What better way to get a 360-degree overview of a student’s progress – grades, attendance, behavior and transcripts. It’s all right there for your staff to access with just a quick click of the mouse.

So why wouldn’t you choose Backpack 2008? It’s the ideal software system that lets your district run more smoothly, makes both teachers and parents happy, and gives you unparalleled communication and efficiency.

Contact us today to learn how Backpack 2008 can be integrated into your campus!