AccuTrack Case Study

By Kathryn Lea Temple, Coordinator, Student Support Center, Tri-County Community College

When I attended the Kellogg Institute in Developmental Education at Appalachian State University during Summer Semester 2000, I learned about the AccuTrack Attendance Tracking software, and immediately, my interest was peaked. At the time, I was relatively new in my role as Coordinator of Tri-County Community College's Student Support Center (TCCC / SSC). I was charged with the responsibility to rebuild the program and lead the department into a more modern form of service.

One of my goals was to look for a way to replace the archaic attendance tracking, which was primarily done on time cards that had to be constantly monitored for errors and for weekly totals. Before I had arrived as Coordinator, there had been an attempt to move to a "time clock" system; however, the system was totally inflexible for the demands of this educational department and proved to be a dismal failure to the faculty, staff, and students. Thus, the time cards reigned supreme over the problematic technology, and that hand-written, timecard system was still in place when I arrived in the department. Nevertheless, I felt that somehow, somewhere there was technology that would allow us to break free from the card system. At Kellogg, I had found the answer: AccuTrack! Upon seeing the information and the web site provided, I knew that this was definitely the product for our SSC labs.

After Kellogg, my next step was to encourage my supervisor, Dr. John Cabe, the new Vice President for Academic Affairs and Student Services, that AccuTrack was a "must have" for our program. My sales pitch to him included highlights about AccuTrack's amazing features: attendance tracking, staff tracking, appointment tracking, media tracking, communications, detailed reports about users such as specific attendance logs and traffic analysis - the list goes on and on! While I knew that our small program may never use every feature in the deluxe version, I realized that the AccuTrack program would allow us to expand and grow as needed. We had the opportunity to grow into it!

Dr. Cabe was convinced that it was a necessary product for us. In June 2001, when funds were available, TCCC purchased its first two AccuTrack Deluxe V6 licenses, and there began our relationship with the amazing Engineerica team.

Due to some departmental situations, lab changes, and restructuring, we were a bit slow in getting started with our new, electronic tracking system. However, when we did, the fantastic folks at Engineerica, like guardian angels, were there to guide us every step of the way. They helped us make the important transition for the old time card system to technology, and we have been forever grateful for their support.

Now, with the system in place, my lab instructors have more time to spend with the students themselves rather than their time cards and attendance information. They have time to teach, which is what they want to do! AccuTrack has made the whole department more efficient, and it is a product enjoyed by students, staff, faculty, and administration alike. Administration loves the professional reports generated by AccuTrack, reports that please state auditors and provide well-organized, accurate lab data at glance. Faculty and staff love the fact that they do not have to monitor time cards and decipher handwriting in small data blocks. Students love the fact that they can request an instant report of their lab hours and activities - information that they can share with their program advisors, instructors, childcare providers, financial supporters, etc.

AccuTrack's amazing collecting and reporting features allow us to easily manage and maintain a huge database of information, which would be a nightmare if attempted from time cards or other written formats! Attendance / tracking activities that used to take us hours… even days…can be conducted in minutes, accurately and professionally, thanks to our customized, user-friendly AccuTrack system. We can print lovely, detailed reports for each student's SSC activities, and each report has our logo at the top, which gives the document a very official feel! The information / survey features allow us to discover important fact s about our students: 1) who their advisors are; 2) what their majors / academic programs are; 3) what their student status is-full time, part time, special credit; 4) which hours they spend in the SSC / the most popular time periods; 5) what SSC services are most utilized-just to name a few of our abilities with AccuTrack!

So amazing and customizable is the AccuTrack product that TCCC has discovered that more of its departments can benefit from it. When our Cosmetology department's time clock system died in the middle of Spring Semester 2004, there was a real concern about what should be done as student progress is directly measured and monitored by hours spent in their labs.

Institutional funds due to statewide cuts in community college funding were tight, and a whole new time clock / swipe card system would cost thousands and thousands of dollars. Beyond installation, there would be other potentially costly activities: training and regular regimens of upkeep / maintenance, some that would have to be done on-sight and conducted solely by the product's providers.

I recommended that TCCC abandon the whole time clock route and simply add an additional AccuTrack license for Cosmetology, which by comparison, was extremely economical and infinitely more beneficial. I also knew that the product could be up and running more quickly than any time clock system, and its user-friendly, carefully labeled administration and preference screens would pure delight for those who were not so technically inclined when it came to specialized computer software. I also knew from experience that we would have Engineerica's stellar support and service behind us in any direction our needs would take us with the product.

For product, potential, placement, performance, price, and pleasant, professional service-in my mind, how could we beat a deal like AccuTrack? When we already knew the best tool for the job, could we honestly choose some lofty, expensive time clock package that may or may not produce the results needed?

My supervisor agreed and decided that AccuTrack was the way to go! [The fact that SSC's AccuTrack was instrumental in helping the college declare certain needed data in a recent state audit had convinced him of the product's power, potential, and impact!] Like me, my supervisor realized that it was now time for TCCC to investigate other uses for the product on campus. Therefore, in Spring 2004, TCCC upgraded to a campus-wide license because other programs including our library expressed interest in AccuTrack.

We were highly impressed with AccuTrack Deluxe V6, which was pretty much our faithful workhorse until this spring. With the recent license upgrade and Engineerica's caring guidance, TCCC is using AccuTrack Deluxe Version 7.02 in various departments, and we will all be in attendance-tracking heaven with all the new features including preference enhancements, increased performance with data back-up, and cool repair tools!

At this writing, I can already see a day, a day really soon, when we will need to upgrade to the full college wide license to cover all the possibilities for AccuTrack at TCCC and its ever-growing educational communities in the tri-county area, on our campus and beyond! Now, if a little school like us can benefit from all that is AccuTrack Deluxe, imagine what this incredible product can do for large institutions! [Our institutional enrollment is usually between 1,000-1,200 students.]

I whole-heartedly recommend AccuTrack Deluxe to any educational program or institution that wishes to validate attendance documentation with error free reporting, to increase learning lab productivity, to enhance data collection, and to track people, places, and things! In my view, there is only one good way to track and that is AccuTrack!

I also invite anyone who wishes to see AccuTrack in action to visit TCCC. We welcome the opportunity to show others what the product has done and will continue to do for us!

Thank you, Engineerica, for developing and providing such a wonderful product! Your time and effort in AccuTrack has allowed AccuTrack to free educators from tedious paperwork and number crunching. It has freed our time and effort, placing it where it is most needed and most desired-with educating the students!

Sincerely,

Kathryn Lea Temple
Coordinator, Student Support Center
Harper Building
Tri-County Community College
4600 East U.S. 64
Murphy , NC 28906

Download a free evaluation version of AccuTrack to experience it yourself.

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