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Case Study
Tyler ISD provides employees with a simple time capture solution using Synel timeclocks and Frontline.
District Background
Location
Tyler, Texas
K-12 Enrollment
~18,500
Full-time Employees
~2,700
Product & Solutions
Tyler Independent School District is the largest school system in northeast Texas, with around 18,500 students and 2,700 full-time employees. Chief Information Officer Kevin Bogue has spent decades in the district, overseeing software support, databases, and Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) reporting.
Years ago, Tyler ISD tracked employee time using an ERP system and timeclocks that were difficult to use together. As the district’s needs evolved, they began using Frontline ERP. In fact, they were one of a handful of districts involved in working with Prologic (now part of Frontline Education) to build Frontline ERP.
A few years later, they added timeclocks from Synel Americas, a leader in time and attendance data collection for over 20 years and one of the more cost-effective solutions available. Synel timeclocks integrated with Frontline ERP’s payroll system. “By 2011, the entire district had been moved over to Frontline for payroll and Frontline timekeeping,” says Kevin, “and Synel timeclocks, at least two per building. Some of our larger installs may have as many as four timeclocks available.”
All buildings and workplaces in Tyler ISD are equipped with Synel timeclocks — even nontraditional spaces like the sports fields and the outdoor aquatics center, so staff can clock in and out as they work various events.
The fact that the Synel timeclocks communicate smoothly with Frontline ERP (and now with Frontline’s Time and Attendance as well) is one reason Kevin is so happy with Synel. “It worked well with us because it worked well with the Frontline software that we were using,” Kevin explains. “The solution fit really well with Frontline, and we are very happy with Frontline.”
“Frontline and the Synel folks are so tightly partnered that I don’t need to see them or talk to them, unless I particularly want to, because the clocks come to us ready to be plugged in and work with Frontline.”
Kevin Bogue – Chief Information Officer
In addition to offering biometric hardware like facial recognition and fingerprint scanning, Synel also offers programmable touch clocks, which look like tablets and can be customized to show on the screen exactly what is needed and no more. “We don’t have to show functions and features that we’re not using, so our users can look at that screen and it’s simpler for them to use,” says Kevin.
“The clocks themselves are reliable and they work well. I am very happy with the latest, greatest models.”
That decision led to a much-improved experience for employees. Kevin heard no negative feedback when switching to the new touch clocks. “It seemed everybody understood immediately and intuitively what to do.” Kevin wanted an option that would be crystal clear to operate, even if someone had not encountered the clocks before. “We use RFID on the swipe in. Your badge has a chip in it, you just get it near the clock with a nice little X. It says, ‘Hold your badge here,’ and it clocks me in.”
The process works so well that the district is now moving everyone they can onto the new sign-in system, even temporary and itinerant workers who previously filled in timesheets.
When someone holds multiple roles in the district, those roles may have different rates of pay in Frontline ERP. Because the Synel timeclocks are easy to understand, the district added the ability for people to clock in as various roles. “You are allowed to clock in with activity codes that specifically designate a different rate of pay or a different funding for your pay. The software handles how that gets paid — overtime, blended overtime, all that stuff — really well. And the clock makes it easy for them to understand and use.”
The district is using this functionality to pilot a program to address a staffing shortage in the transportation department. Custodians or food service workers have schedules that mean they either leave early in the morning or arrive later in the day, and now they are driving school buses as well. “At the end of their shift when they are ready to move to being a bus driver, they clock out of that job and can drive over to Transportation, grab their keys, and punch in,” Kevin says. “So the bus barn is paying for their time at that point. The custodial staff is really happy, Food Services is really happy, Transportation is really happy because this alleviates a little bit of shortage they have on staff, and Payroll is really happy because they did not have to do manual calculations on blended overtime.”
Kevin appreciates that Frontline responds to what Tyler ISD needs in an ERP system. “We have seen features constantly being added to the software over the years,” he says. “The breadth of software requirements that the state and the federal government has put on school districts is such that if we had a different partner, it would be hard to imagine us achieving our goals.”
“We have been really pleased in partnering with Frontline, and I do not say that word lightly, partnering with them, when the school systems that use the software all see a new need, that they are attentive to listen and quick to respond.”
When it comes to tracking time, having hardware that works with Frontline ERP is paramount. “You might find a timeclock system that works just as well and maybe even has some shiny, pretty features. But if it does not work with our software, it is of no value to us,” he says. “We have been able to craft the clock to meet our needs in a way that is as simple as possible. I do not know of anybody else that has a solution that would work as tightly with the software that they are using.”
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About Frontline Education
Frontline Education is a leading provider of school administration software, connecting solutions for student and special programs, business operations and human capital management with powerful analytics to empower educators. Frontline partners with school systems to deliver tools, data and insights that support greater efficiency and productivity, enabling school leaders to spend more time and resources executing strategies that drive educator effectiveness, student success and district excellence.
Frontline’s broad portfolio includes solutions for proactive recruiting and hiring, absence and time management, professional growth, student information systems, special education, special programs, Medicaid reimbursement, school health management, inventory control and asset management, payroll, benefits and financial management, and analytics solutions that help district leaders tap into their data to make more informed decisions for the benefit of their students and communities. Over 10,000 clients representing millions of educators, administrators and support personnel have partnered with Frontline Education in their efforts to develop the next generation of learners.
