Texas District Shifts to ERP To Control Administrative Costs

  • By Evan Tassistro
  • 08/11/10

In an effort to decrease administrative costs, North East Independent School District (NEISD) of San Antonio, TX is making a move to enterprise resource planning (ERP). The already cost-conscious district cited a need to realize savings through improved operational efficiency while upgrading IT system functionality at the same time.

For the initiative, the district has adopted several modules from ERP provider Lawson, which offers a line of modular software applications designed to automate and streamline administrative tasks for public and private sector organizations. Some of the modules specific to the education sector that were selected by NEISD include Lawson Enterprise Financial Management, Supply Chain Management, and Teacher Contract Administration, among others. Lawson software has also been chosen previously by Greenville County Schools in South Carolina, Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida, and Cherry Creek School District #5 in Colorado.

NEISD is placing a high priority on lowering overhead costs; according to their 2009 fact sheet, the district maintains a 5.25 percent administrative cost overhead compared to a 11.05 percent state standard for districts with more than 10,000 students.

"Our current IT systems and processes lacked the features and functionality we needed to support the business operations of a school district our size," said Superintendent of Schools Richard A. Middleton. "We chose Lawson because of its commitment and proven track record in the public sector, particularly in Texas. Lawson's enterprise-wide system will help us save costs, be more efficient, and better serve our community."

NEISD serves more than 65,000 students in 42 elementary, 13 middle, and eight high schools in Bexar County and employs more than 4,400 teachers and 9,000 total employees.

Further information about Lawson's product line can be found here.

About the Author

Evan Tassistro is a freelance writer based in San Diego, CA.

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