New and enhanced functionality across all solution sets positioned K-12 districts for operational success in 2023 and beyond
[Malvern, Pa.] (March 21, 2023) –Frontline Education, a leading provider of administration software purpose-built for educators in K-12, released a summary of new and enhanced product functionality across its broad portfolio of connected solutions for human capital management, student and special programs and business operations—all with powerful analytics. Product advancements and new partnerships launched in the second half of last year were developed to support school leaders in enhancing operational efficiencies while navigating current market conditions through the use of best-in-class administrative solutions and services.
“As a company dedicated to serving the administrative technology needs of K-12 educators, our innovation strategy concentrates on areas that help school leaders increase operational performance while gaining time back in their day to focus on student success,” said Kevin Haugh, Chief Product Officer of Frontline. “The new products, enhancements and partnerships help clients address today’s needs while proactively preparing them for the future. We are proud of our innovation strategy and humbled by the fact that more than 10,000 K-12 clients leverage our mission-critical solutions on a daily basis.”
Second Half 2022 Product Highlights
Human Capital Management
Frontline’s Human Capital Management (HCM) solution helps school districts attract, engage, grow and retain great people while strengthening the employee journey. HCM has become a strategic priority for school districts as they continue to face labor shortages among teachers and non-instructional staff. Several of Frontline’s new HCM products or enhancements support school leaders in attracting and retaining staff.
- Human Capital Analytics is a net-new product that provides school leaders with unprecedented access to personnel data from Absence Management, Recruiting & Hiring and Professional Growth. The product delivers actionable insights so district leaders can confidently and optimally manage staff.
- Frontline Central and Frontline HRMS now offers enhanced functionality that allows admins and users to manage form workflows by assigning individuals directly to tasks and workflow steps, which will ensure accuracy and accountability – a critical notion as school leaders juggle multiple tasks and positions in light of the current staff shortage.
- A new partnership between Frontline and Wagestream has brought a unique benefit to the K-12 market which enables substitutes to gain earlier access to earned wages, ahead of traditional payroll cycles, directly from the award-winning Frontline Mobile App.
- The products under Frontline’s comprehensive HCM solution are continually advancing to enhance the user experience and increase output. Some examples include ongoing modernization of the look and feel of pages; creating efficiency models to produce comprehensive reports with “one-click”; developing stronger permissions and auditing triggers to protect personal information; and increasing usability and flexibility within integrated solutions. All efforts work to build a more cohesive, connected experience supporting K-12 leaders through their digital transformation.
In 2022, Frontline HCM helped school leaders address the K-12 staff shortage by processing over 2.5M job applications, placing 21M substitutes and supporting over 7.5M professional development sessions.
Student Management
Frontline’s student software supports school districts in managing student information, special populations and student health information leading to better student outcomes and accurate reporting that optimizes funding and increases the administrator’s impact on education. Innovation priorities for the second half of last year focused on increasing efficiency for staff.
- Recognized as an exceptional innovation by Tech & Learning for two years in a row, School Health Management now supports case management for 30+ disease types. This offering processed 14M health checks in 2022 helping to keep students and staff safe with functionality to track health checks, test results, vaccine tracking, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine data, and statistics.
- Frontline Special Programs Management priorities continued to focus on implementing regulatory changes across the broad range of solutions. Investments were made in existing solutions to support district compliance requirements and enable a holistic approach to serving students, while at the same time building the next generation of Frontline Special Programs which will provide a unified, connected experience and increase interplay between products.
- New features added to Student Analytics Lab provide updated user management functionality and an enhanced user interface for easier and more efficient data management, helping school leaders to save time while ensuring accuracy.
Business
Frontline’s Business Operations Suite can support district administrators with everything from HR, Finance and Payroll to Inventory Management and Hep Desk Ticketing. Enhancements to Frontline’s Business Suite continued throughout last year.
- New features toAsset Management enable users to change the status of an asset while performing everyday inventory while simultaneously opening a help desk system. This new feature streamlines processes and effectively brings the ease of the help desk to everyday inventory.
- WithinHelp Desk users now have the ability to close out their own tickets that they may have resolved on their own or were mistakenly opened. This feature enhances the user experience for both the end user and the technician. Additionally, Help Desk is now available via the mobile app making it possible to work effectively on the go.
- Budget Management Analytics and Financial Planning Analytics now include Guided Analysis, an easy-to-use tool that shows users the “why” behind their data. New automapping capabilities match new account information to corresponding reports which helps to save time when uploading monthly actuals. Comparative Analytics investments focused on ongoing functionality upgrades and updating core data sets to help districts better analyze their own data while reviewing peer and state-specific data.
- Frontline’s ERP system for Texas continued to be modified to support new Texas Education Agency requirements for Teacher Incentive Allotment designated teachers. Building compliance towards TEA next-gen reporting methodology also continued. Improvements were made to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas to automate data collection in order to increase accuracy and the speed of reporting, which impacts district funding. The product’s dashboard was enhanced to support position and employee management workflow and the interface was enhanced to provide tighter and stronger integrations with financial institutions.
- Enhancements to Frontline’s ERP system for California focused on Online 6 which is a completely web-based solution built for the unique needs of California school districts and County Offices of Education. Working alongside the existing solution of Escape Online (Online 5), the solution offers an enhanced user experience, new search capabilities and intuitive data entry, while continuing to keep information secure and compliant.
Already into the first quarter of 2023, Frontline’s product strategy will continue to deliver market-leading solutions that bring unique value to districts. The benefits that Frontline solutions bring to K-12 operations are being expressed through a new case study initiative, including video and written stories, that elevates the voice and technology needs of K-12 leaders across the country.
- Pearland Independent School District: Executive Director of Human Resource Services & Communications highlights how Frontline HCM supports and advances the organization’s digital transformation.
- Suffolk City Public Schools: Learn how this medium-sized district modernized their HR department to optimize employee recruitment, management and retention with the help of Frontline HCM.
- Comal Independent School District: As demand for school nurses continues, read how this district was able to support nurses in saving time, avoiding errors and providing better care for students by leveraging Frontline School Health Management.
- Canton City School District: Discover how a member of a strategic alliance in Ohio retired their antiquated ways of tracking inventory and adopted Frontline Asset Management to manage 14,000+ devices effectively and efficiently.
- Tehama County Department of Education: Managing the financial needs of the county’s schools is complex but doesn’t need to be daunting with the support of Frontline ERP.
Review Frontline’s product innovation summary for the first half of 2022 here. Learn more about Frontline Education here and what K-12 clients have to say about Frontline solutions here.
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.