As a distance education facility, SIDE provides most of its services online. Yet the admissions process still required paper-based forms and manual actions. SIDE needed to implement a solution that would let the school process admissions and enrolment forms electronically but still align to the WA Department of Education’s policies.
Tundie Jones, Deputy Principal Primary, SIDE, said, “We had been saying for years that we needed an online process but hadn’t found the right solution despite searching for one.”
“Having a manual process didn’t fit with the school’s ethos of modern, online learning. It didn’t allow for automatic information checking, also opening up the possibility for human error, and creating significant extra work for both teaching and administrative staff.”
“Additionally, it created bottlenecks because people would submit incomplete enrolment forms that needed supporting documentation or additional information. The school couldn’t finalise these enrolments until all that information was together. Having it all in paper form meant multiple paper copies and the potential for elements to get mislaid as they moved from person to person.”
Due to the nature of the students SIDE caters to, there is a steady stream of enrolments throughout the year, as well as the seasonal peaks that coincide with new school years and terms.
Tundie Jones said, “The system we used prior to FileBound relied heavily on manual operations and required teaching and non-teaching staff to be involved. This was at a significant cost to the school because it required multiple staff to pitch in, taking time away from their core roles.”
