Alma Upgrades SIS with Multilingual Portals, App Center and More

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 08/18/21

A company that produces an integrated student information system and learning management system has updated the platform's functionality to address new needs in K-12. The latest version of Alma SIS from Alma now includes Spanish language versions of its parent and student portals, an app center featuring third-party apps that integrate with the software, and a "navigator" to steer new customers through the transition to Alma.

The core product includes functionality for administration of the school and its operations as well as student, instructional management, communication, reporting and analytics, and admissions and enrollment.

The new versions of multilingual parent and student portals are now available in both English and Spanish, with other languages to come, according to the company. The update covers enrollment and registration and a mobile device portal for student registration and viewing of academic progress.

An app center steers districts to third-party apps that integrate with the SIS. Administrators select their desired application from a vendor library and select which schools' files and data to share and how often the information is updated by Alma. An integrations dashboard provides visibility into usage of the SIS and the third-party apps.

Navigator helps schools more easily switch to the Alma SIS system, through step-by-step onboarding instructions, project management tools and a migration progress monitor. Those in charge of deployment can set up project plans and assign tasks (such as setting up the GPA scales, class schedules or LMS integrations) to various team members. Users with proper permissions can track the status of everyone's tasks and the Navigator Dashboard displays progress by school and for each subcategory.

Alma is in use at West Central School Corporation in Indiana, Wilmington Area School District in Pennsylvania and Brush School District in Colorado, among other districts.

"Alma's upgrades make the onboarding and overall day-to-day SIS experience for schools and districts even better, and also support our mission of increasing educational equity, inclusion and family engagement," said Andrew Herman, CEO and founder of Alma, in a press release.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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