Frequently Asked Questions
Who is School Data Solutions (SDS)?
SDS is a division of Counting Opinions (SQUIRE) Ltd. (CO). Since 2004, CO has been delivering data capture and report output services (SaaS) to the library sector. CO is now extending its solutions, refined by over a decade of experience, to the schools sector.
How customizable is the SDS platform?
School boards/regions often approach their data needs in different ways. Generally there are consistent data that all regional boards reports but then each board also captures data that is specific to its goals and objectives. As such, the SDS platform is fully customizable. SDS is designed so that all aspects of a school region's, as well as individual school board's, data management needs can be accommodated.
What data collection frequency is available?
Data can be captured in whole or in part daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually.
Does the SDS platform support the capture and management of both quantitative and qualitative data?
Yes.
Can we employ the SDS platform to streamline Directory management?
Yes.
Can the SDS platform accommodate/integrate Third-Party Data?
Yes. Third-party summary data can be easily integrated within the SDS platform. This simplifies data collection and integrity enabling more holistic school and regional views. And, by doing so on a single data platform, simplifies and streamlines data management processes.
Why should I consider employing a data platform solution that is currently widely used in the Library sector?
School boards/regions and their member schools are dynamic, complex organizations, each with its own unique organizational and data ecosystem and strategic plan. As a result of our comparable work in the library sector, the SDS data platform has been designed to be highly configurable and as such, easily morphs to meet a wide range of data capture and reporting needs, including the aggregation of data to automatically produce on-demand summary reports for local and board staff levels.
What is the SDS development strategy?
We treat each subscriber as a partner. A partner whose feedback, aggregated with other subscribers, determines ongoing development priorities and drives our corporate culture of "continuous improvement.”
How will my data be managed?
The SDS data management service is fully hosted. Your data is stored on SDS servers located in a fully managed, 24x365 world-class data facility. Data access is browser-based; via a dedicated portal; in combination with multiple subscriber-specific managed-access levels.