District Background

Location

Zionsville, Indiana

FTE

932 teachers and staff

Products & Solutions

Frontline Central Absence Management Time & Attendance Recruiting & Hiring

Before returning to Frontline	After returning to Frontline
Before returning to Frontline The district’s recruiting experience felt clunkier and less polished, which mattered because it shaped candidates’ first impression of the district.	After returning to Frontline Frontline gave Zionsville a smoother, more connected experience from applicant to active employee.
Before returning to Frontline The in-person onboarding experience from applicant to employee had become cumbersome, making onboarding feel more administrative.	After returning to Frontline Pre-completed online forms made in-person onboarding feel “more personal instead of just transactional,” giving staff more time to connect one-on-one with new hires.
Before returning to Frontline The district lost confidence in the alternative setup; it even stopped moving forward with another absence tool during implementation.	After returning to Frontline After returning to Frontline, Zionsville implemented single sign-on across Central, Absence Management, and Time & Attendance for a more unified HR system.

A growing district that still feels like a community

At The Zionsville Community Schools, just northwest of Indianapolis, this large district still manages to “maintain a sort of small-town feel,” as Robyn Nelson, Human Resources Director, put it. In a district of 7,923 students across 9 schools, with about 65 native languages spoken, that matters.  

When Nelson joined about 10 years ago, enrollment was around 6,500. The district is projected to add another 880 to 1,105 students by 2035. Her four-person HR team supports 932 staff members, including 492 teachers, in a fully paperless environment. “We use Frontline to do everything that we need in the HR process from application through retirement,” she said. For a growing district, HR operations shape how efficiently the district hires, onboards, supports, and retains employees.  

A Reasonable Switch That Fell Short

Zionsville did not leave Frontline because it was looking for a dramatic change. The district originally used Frontline Recruiting & Hiring, Absence Management, Time & Attendance, and the older employee module known as HR Files. When that module was phased out and the district was encouraged to move to Frontline Central, Nelson saw a practical reason to reevaluate. As she said, “Since we have to switch from HR Files to Frontline Central, maybe this is an opportunity for us to look and see what else is out there.”  

At the time, that decision for the district seemed reasonable. However, the experience that followed was not. Over roughly two years with another vendor, the district found that routine HR work became harder than it needed to be. The application process took more clicks, felt less user-friendly, and “didn’t look as good on the outside,” which mattered because recruiting software shapes a candidate’s first impression of the district. The handoff from applicant to employee also became more cumbersome, with extra steps after a hiring decision had already been made. At the same time, the vendor was less receptive to feedback, suggested changes, and support. For a growing district, those kinds of slowdowns add up fast. In hindsight, the district realized that changing platforms had introduced more friction than improvement. 

One part of the story is especially telling. Zionsville never fully gave up Frontline as they continued to utilize Absence Management. During implementation of another absence tool, the team quickly decided not to move forward. Nelson recalled, “We said, ‘Nope. Never mind. We’re going to keep Frontline Absence Management.’” Then she added, “Seeing that the other vendor’s option was not going to meet our district needs, that should have been a clue that the switch was not going to go well.”  

Zionsville came back for connection and confidence

So, after some time away, Zionsville returned to Frontline in December 2025, implemented single sign-on across Frontline Central, Absence Management, and Time & Attendance and reinstated Recruiting and Hiring.

The reason for the return was simple: the district needed a system that worked better across the full employee lifecycle and could keep pace with continued growth. Nelson put it this way: “The connectivity and the fluidity from applicant to active employee to resignation or retirement is so important and so timesaving from the HR perspective.”

That value shows up in everyday work. New hires now complete forms online before they arrive for orientation. Nelson explained, “It’s nice to have that connection one-on-one. We feel like it’s a little more personal instead of just transactional.” Instead of sitting through a room full of paperwork, new employees can spend that time learning systems, asking questions, and getting oriented. Nelson added, “We’re creating a relationship with the person instead of spending time filling out forms.”

Additionally, Frontline Central helps the district manage routine employee changes and compliance work with less manual follow-up. For example, an address change now moves through a defined process instead of sitting in an inbox. Similarly, teachers can submit updated licenses through forms, allowing HR to track certification for 500 teachers, send automated reminders, and run reports.

Going Forward Plan

Zionsville’s return to Frontline was not just about going back to a familiar vendor. It was about using Frontline as a robust, paperless HR ecosystem and building on that system to better support a growing district.  

The team has already started the 2026–27 recruiting cycle using Proactive Recruiting and hopes it will help with hard-to-fill roles such as school psychologists. Growth is expected to continue, so the district is looking for steady operational support rather than a short-term fix. “We are all involved in the core mission which is educating students,” she said. Better HR operations support that mission by giving the team more time to welcome people, guide them, and keep the district running with a little more ease and a lot more humanity. 

Final Takeaway

Nelson’s advice to other districts is grounded in her experience. “The grass is not always greener,” she said. Her takeaway is that districts should look beyond just feature lists and ask themselves whether an HR platform truly supports the full employee lifecycle, is easy for applicants and employees to use, and gives HR staff more time to focus on people instead of paperwork. As she put it, “Frontline has definitely made our job as HR professionals easier.”