Skyward's School Management System Gets UI Redesign

Skyward has collaborated with Gomoll Research + Design to redesign the user interface (UI) for their Web-based School Management System (SMS).

The School Management System comprises Skyward's School Business Suite and Student Management Suite. The School Business Suite features finance and human resources software with accounts payable and receivable processing, budget management, project and grant management, personnel profiles, insurance tracking, employee evaluations, and more.

Features of the Student Management Suite include:

  • Scheduling;
  • Grading and Transcripts;
  • Guidance office management;
  • Bus scheduling;
  • Access for families, teachers, advisors, adminstrators, and students;
  • Response to intervention; and
  • Data mining.

As part of their research for the redesign, which will be available in February 2012 with the launch of SMS 2.0, Gomoll observed how new and experienced Skyward customers at a variety of schools and districts used the SMS to accomplish their daily tasks. "With that in mind," said Tom Gomoll, principal, Gomoll Research + Design, "we designed the new Skyward web UI to meet the unique needs of both large and small districts, and to ensure a user friendly experience for both existing users and new customers."

Gomoll Research + Design then followed the initial redesign with usability tests. Participants reported "that the new UI is very easy to use, visually appealing, and enables them to quickly navigate between screens," according to information released by Skyward.

"One overall theme that is very strong with our district is the number of clicks it takes to get to the areas you work on the most" said Joel Margliano, instructional technology manager for Consolidated High School District 230 in Orland Park, IL. "With the new SMS 2.0, most features will be just two clicks to get to the pages we need to work on."

Visit skyward.com for more information on the School Management System.

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

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