For the citizens of Ashe County Schools, their district is a point of great pride. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the rural northwest of North Carolina, Ashe County has about 3,000 enrolled students. For a district of a smaller size, it’s often easier to continue using systems that have proven to work in the past. However, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) in North Carolina is implementing an initiative to modernize all school districts. The goal is to migrate all districts to cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions by 2024.
As a district that is committed to providing the best for its students, the leaders at Ashe County Schools were eager to get a head start on modernizing their ERP and chose to move forward with LINQ ERP North Carolina.
The Problem: Finding a cloud-based ERP that would meet the modern demands of their district
North Carolina’s DPI is implementing a School Business System Modernization (SBSM) initiative. The purpose of SBSM is to modernize all K‑12 districts in the state to a cloud-based ERP solution. Each district is able to select the ERP solution that best suits them, as long as it has been selected by DPI to be part of its modernization program and meets the state’s reporting, benchmark testing, and information exchange requirements. Ashe County Schools was in need of a modern, cloud-based solution to meet SBSM requirements but also that fit the size and needs of their district.
Amanda Coldiron, who works in the Finance Office at Ashe County Schools, described how she and her team searched for a fitting ERP solution. Some systems were “too large and had more than what we needed.” Others simply weren’t a good fit. “We felt like we needed a programmer and, being a small, rural county, we don’t have the funding.”
The Solution: A Cloud-Based ERP Solution Made for North Carolina K‑12 Districts
LINQ ERP North Carolina offers all of the requirements that Ashe County Schools was looking for. It features:
- Integrated accounting, payroll, and human resource management which has the double benefit of solving communication issues between HR and Finance, and eliminating duplicate data entries.
- Built-in compliance with North Carolina regulations.
- A friendly support staff with both industry and North Carolina-specific knowledge.
The Results
Implementing LINQ ERP North Carolina has made Ashe County Schools run more efficiently than ever. Coldiron could not be happier with her district’s results, stating that the district’s “day-to-day operations are very smooth.”
Time Savings in Payroll
Coldiron said it would be hard to put an exact number on the time LINQ ERP North Carolina saves her but that payroll has been the place where she has experienced the most significant time saved in processing. She and her team were amazed at how quickly they were able to write AP checks once the system was up and running. “We ran our first payroll in July and were writing AP checks by July 13th. That was amazing. We had really anticipated we’d probably be more into August getting some things done, but now we are ready to roll.”
User Friendliness
Learning a new system can be time-consuming and challenging, especially as a new hire. However, Coldiron told us that her team was able to learn the new system right away. She also hired a new team member and she was amazed at “just how user friendly it was. It took her no time to learn accounts payable and fixed assets. Nobody likes fixed assets.”
Unmatched Customer Service and State-Specific Knowledge
Our team at LINQ prides itself in providing excellent customer support. Coupled with industry knowledge and experience – many of our team members are former leaders in K‑12 nutrition and business operations – we give our district partners the best possible experience. Coldiron describes LINQ support as “very responsive and kind. You also have a strong, knowledgeable development team that knows what North Carolina needs.”
Are You Ready to Modernize Your District With a Cloud-Based ERP Solution?
Many school districts across the nation are elevating their operations and migrating to cloud-based solutions. Especially if you are in North Carolina, where NC DPI is implementing School Business System Modernization, upgrading your legacy systems will eventually be a requirement. Why not get a head start by reaching out to our team at LINQ and scheduling a demo? Let us show you how simple migrating to the cloud can really be. As Coldiron says, “It’s ready to go. It’s out of the box. Just sit down at your computer and do your work.”