Customer Story
Summit Montessori’s dedication to families, staff, and increasing connectivity
Rebecca Crawford, Director of Advancement, for Summit Montessori School, based in Framingham, Mass., identified the school’s need for cloud-based, connected admission, enrollment, and billing management system. The school needed to simplify the family experience, reduce staff manual processes and connect the entire student lifecycle with one centralized solution.
To learn more about their journey to connectivity download the full case story.
“BigSIS gives me the information I need quickly and easily—which ultimately, from an administrator point of view—supports the Head of School in communicating transparently with the board and allows them to have comfort in taking votes that they need to set tuition rates for the next year, approve the budget, and anything else that comes up.”
– Rebecca Crawford, Director of Advancement
Solution
BigSIS met all criteria as a cloud-based, all-in-one solution for admission, enrollment, tuition management, student information, and fundraising. The price point and capabilities were perfect for a small but mighty team looking to provide a top-notch experience for students and families while optimizing day-to-day operations.
BigSIS Capabilities:
- Cloud-based system
- Connected modules
- Automated workflows
- Staff, family, and student portals
- Real-time updates
- Data and reporting across school functions
One thing that has been a huge benefit—and we were looking for—is a streamlined system for parents. Parents appreciate that they can sign a contract, access the directory, or fill out a form in one place. School forms take returning families about five minutes because BigSIS saves the information they entered the year before. We’ve had parents specifically comment on how fast and easy the school forms are.
Results
Since implementing BigSIS, Rebecca has continued to receive positive feedback from families. Families love the convenience of the connected portals; they can easily find and update information in one place: apply or re-enroll at the school, update contact information, manage tuition payments, and view student progress or school updates.
“One thing that has been a huge benefit—and we were looking for—is a streamlined system for parents. Parents appreciate that they can sign a contract, access the directory, or fill out a form in one place. School forms take returning families about five minutes because BigSIS saves the information they entered the year before. We’ve had parents specifically comment on how fast and easy the school forms are.” -Rebecca Crawford, Director of Advancement
Beyond improving the family experience, Rebecca observes time savings across the board in the following areas:
- Admission and Enrollment: Moving from the initial expression of interest to the application and signing an enrollment contract happens seamlessly in BigSIS. This eliminates confusion and reduces the number of questions to the front office during the busy admission season.
- Tuition Management: Preparing, printing, and mailing tuition contracts used to take a whole week. Tuition deposits were made via mail or brought in to the school. Then, payments were made through FACTS, requiring an additional username and password. Now, flexible contracts can be built, sent, and signed within BigSIS, along with processing online payments—providing convenience while creating efficiency.
- Reporting: Between crunching numbers and manually entering data into spreadsheets, preparing board reports for admissions and fundraising took an entire workday.
Now, Rebecca can easily create the reports she needs via BigSIS and quickly filter data to address specific questions. She notes that she can now produce both admissions and development reports in half a day.