Greater Egg Harbor: A Model Student in the Advancement of Education
Silanis Technology, the market leader in automating business approval processes, today announced how its electronic signature solution is being used by the Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District as part of a long term initiative to streamline administrative tasks and improve educational processes.
(PRWEB) May 27, 2005 -- Silanis Technology, the market leader in automating
business approval processes, today announced how its electronic signature
solution is being used by the Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District
as part of a long term initiative to streamline administrative tasks and improve
educational processes.
Since September 2004, its Oakcrest and Absegami
high schools in Atlantic County have eliminated paper from many of its internal
approval processes by substituting handwritten signatures with its electronic
equivalent. Eliminating the need to print, hand-sign and route paper documents
between the two schools, which are 12 miles apart, has enabled teachers and
faculty members to complete administrative tasks faster, and spend more time
working with students and improving programs.
“Silanis’ solution is one
component of a three-year initiative to make use of innovative technology to
create a fully connected, integrated and automated environment,” says Joseph
Filinuk, the District Supervisor of Technology of Greater Egg Harbor Regional
High School District.
“Our objective for the first year was to keep all
internal information electronic, and get teachers and faculty members accustomed
to signing electronically,” adds Filinuk. “Next year our goal will be to
automatically link that information to our database so that we eliminate
duplicate data entry, increase the accuracy of database information, and
automate the generation of monthly and yearly reports. By year three, we want
parents to electronically sign their child’s IEP (individual education plan) so
that we can reduce that amount of paper used in the district”.
Since
introducing Silanis’ solution seven months ago, more than 3000 internal forms
have been signed electronically. They include requests for leave of
absence, student information, class schedules, class lists and reserving the
school’s e-learning lab. The school district has seen a 25% reduction in the
time to process the approvals, as well tremendous cost savings due to the
elimination of paper, shipping and handling.
“Technology definitely
helps off-load teachers and staff from doing tedious and time-consuming tasks,”
says Filinuk. “Today each time a student cuts class, for example, the teacher
has to fill out and sign a truancy form, and then physically walk around the
school to check logs in different locations to find where the student was. Next
year teachers will spend less time on this task thanks to electronic signatures
and a new student ID card scanning system”
An average of 100 truancy
forms are filled out each week. To save teachers time, the high school district
plans to use the ID cards to scan and log students’ entry into different parts
of the building. When a student cuts a class, the teacher will fill out and sign
the truancy form electronically, upload it into the database and then do an
electronic search to locate the student.
“The key to successful technology
integration is ease of use,” adds Filinuk. “That’s why we chose Silanis’
solution. It was easy to deploy because it supported our existing IT
infrastructure. More importantly, it was easy for people to use. Not only could
they continue signing Word and PDF documents, their electronic signature looked
identical to their handwritten signature. We were pleasantly surprised at how
quickly people embraced the technology.”
About Greater Egg
Harbor
Greater Egg Harbour High School District offers grades 9 through 12 in
Atlantic County, NJ, serving the constituent districts of Galloway Township,
Hamilton Township, Mullica Township and Egg Harbor City, together with the
sending districts of the City of Port Republic and Washington Township
(Burlington county). The high school district offers exceptional educational,
sporting and extra-curricular programs to support their belief that students are
the future. The board of education, administration, faculty and staff work
together to provide an educational experience designed to challenge our students
and prepare them to become productive adults.
About Silanis
Silanis
Technology is the leading provider of solutions that automate the Business
Approval Process. The company's award winning desktop and server-based solutions
leverage electronic signature and approval technology to achieve total
automation. With over 1,000 customers across government, mortgage, auto finance,
insurance, banking and FDA regulated industries, Silanis has over a decade of
experience in developing and delivering solutions that work the way
organizations do. Customers of Silanis within the government include Kentucky
Department of Natural Resources, GSA Federal Supply Service, GMAC CM, BMW
Financial Services, Stewart Title and an enterprise license with the U.S Army,
U.S Joint Chiefs of Staff and Kansas Department of Transportation.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb244719.htm