Modernization efforts in organizations across sectors have been a norm in the last decade or so.

Schools have been increasingly focusing on using technology to not only simplify many processes, but also digitizing a lot of their records.

Student and parent profiles, finance records, and other details come together to help schools take informed decisions, provide better care for their students, and prioritize needs.

Glenmore Christian Academy wanted to step away from paper-based documentation and records keeping, bring in transparency between the institution and the parents, while also introducing some much-needed efficiencies into their procedures.

Launchcode developers created the myGCA portal in response and it was all that the school needed and much more.

The web-based external- and internal-facing platform features online applications, re-enrollment, accounting functionalities, document center, family center, field trip forms, enrolled programs, school history, and more.

Integration with an accounting software and a student information system were successfully completed to create a well-rounded platform.

Like most organizations out there, schools have a complex ecosystem of their own. While some of the functions cross over from a typical commercial business - HR, accounting, IT, etc. - there are others that are very specific with their own set of challenges.

There are multiple stakeholders that are invested in the operations at a school, and many would say that the external stakeholders (read parents) are perhaps a lot more invested in the day-to-day functioning of the organization as compared to a conventional business.

Understandably then, for GCA, their modernization and digitization plan was not only about integrating various workflows in their organization, but also about transparency and giving parents a more hands-on easy-to-use access portal.

Organizations, including schools, also want to future-proof their operations, create a consistent user experience across profiles and reduce cost.

Schools also have a few functions that are largely repetitive in nature and can benefit from automation. For instance, field trip forms are a constant across an academic year.

Manual processes, Excel spreadsheets and paper-filing systems may have served organizations well over the years, but as processes grow more complex, compliance becomes tougher, numbers increase, technology can help.

With changing lifestyles, parents look forward to simpler collaboration tools and processes, and easy-to-use touchpoints.

GCA has been part of the Calgary community for decades together and being able to help a community-focused organization become efficient has been part of Launchcode's DNA since the beginning.

And when kids of the company partners are enrolled in the said school, the motivation just goes a notch higher. After all, you have insights and are privy to the kind of conveniences parents would like, among other things.

This helped with the discovery stage of the process. Coupled with what the school administration wanted in terms of features and functionalities, insights of Launchcode personnel as parents was key.

Following the agile sprint methodology, Launchcode developers first focused on creating software architecture, user relationships, authentications, profiles, etc.

For the platform to work seamlessly and efficiently, two core applications were to be created - Family Portal and GCA Portal.

The Family Portal focused on creating an easy-to-use solution for families to access all GCA services, while the GCA Portal intended to streamline the business management side of the school.

Development progressed through multiple sprints, dealing with integration of already existing software, creating student and family profile options, and creating a repository of forms and documentation for parents to access.

With schools organizing multiple field trips through an academic year, one of the focus areas for the platform was to simplify parental consent forms for these trips.

The school had a very meticulous and structured multi-stage admission process that meant a lot of paperwork and led to ambiguity for parents. The myGCA portal sought to create an online module that not only made it simpler for the administration to manage the process, but also helped create transparency with the parents.

Parents could also get details about and/or register their kids to be in GCA programs, and then be able to track the application status on the platform itself. The tool allowed parents to talk about their reasons for applying to GCA programs, provide a statement of financial commitment, while also gaining access to GCA's Beliefs and Statement of Faith.

From an events and activities calendar to a message board, the family portal was emerging as a one-stop platform for everything that the parents needed.

On the other end of the spectrum, the priority with the GCA portal was to keep all the information up to date without any manual intervention and assist with day-to-day management through a logic- and process-based workflow.

The application gave administrators access to student and family profiles, enrollment in programs, program management, events and activities calendar, and message board to name a few.

The Application Central provided administrators a complete admission management module, including a real-time dashboard and key metrics.

The myGCA portal was everything that GCA was aiming for and then some more.

With its two core applications, myGCA managed to automate a lot of the workflow, reducing manual intervention and chances of human error.

For instance, the field trip module made it simpler for parents to provide consent for their kids, while reducing paperwork for the same for GCA administrators down to zero.

The admission and student registration process was taken online, making it paperless and efficient at the same time.