Read on to learn about the agreement between Information Technology Department (ITD) and North Dakota public school districts for the implementation and hosting of PowerSchool software.
Purpose of the Project
The purpose of this project is to implement POWERSCHOOL for North Dakota Public Schools within the State of North Dakota. The implementation requires: installing and configuring the PowerSchool (POWERSCHOOL) application; converting and integrating existing information and systems; training the staff at the school Districts to use the product; and ITD hosting the application in Bismarck.
Customer Description & Information
ITD will implement and maintain the hardware and software necessary for the school Districts to use POWERSCHOOL. EduTech will perform the required implementation activities including project planning and management, data conversion, system readiness testing, training, and deployment for the Districts. In addition, EduTech will act as the help desk for the school Districts. Designated staff will call PowerSchool and ITD help desks as needed.
Proposed Implementation Approach
POWERSCHOOL will be deployed in one limited phase within the Districts and be completed within 60–90 days of the start date of the implementation kickoff meeting.
Initial data loading (data conversion) will be required for the schools prior to using POWERSCHOOL.
Assumptions
The following list identifies assumptions used to estimate the schedule (see proposed plan section 5) and resources (see project staffing section 7). This list covers topics such as hardware, software, sizing, roles and responsibilities, and dependencies.
Scope
- ITD will provide the hardware, software, and training as recommended in requirements (section 6).
- The Statement of Work is for the deployment of POWERSCHOOL to the School Districts sites.
- Initial data load of 4 years of historical data for all schools based on current student enrollment is included in the statement of work.
Approach
- The School Districts will be implemented onsite, in one phase.
- All POWERSCHOOL functionality may be used by all school Districts.
- All Districts should attempt to be on the same version of the POWERSCHOOL application at all times unless minimum requirements cannot be met. EduTech will be required to coordinate with all Districts on deploying new releases.
- All data must be systematically extracted from each legacy system in the file format required by POWERSCHOOL.
POWERSCHOOL Functionality
- No customization of the POWERSCHOOL application is required at the time of implementation. EduTech will provide ongoing consultation regarding customizations to the application.
Resources
- PowerSchool, ITD, EduTech and the School Districts will provide all required resources (see project staffing 7).
- EduTech will take the primary role of managing all implementations.
- After implementation, ongoing operational and production activities (e.g. backups, upgrades) will be performed by ITD.
Proposed Plan
The following plan: STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA STATEWIDE LONGITUDINAL DATA SYSTEM STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEM AGREEMENT describes the activities that are required during the POWERSCHOOL implementation, the role required for the activities, which party (Districts or PowerSchool) is responsible for the activities and an estimated duration for the activities.