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Byline: David Linthicum In the cloud era, it's getting tougher and tougher to make it as a traditional enterprise software vendor. The latest example: Oracle. In the last quarter, rapid [...]

Last month's Back-to-School Merchandise Show looked like a madman ran amok in a paint factory, splashing neon brights, military khaki, and environmental greens across the giant exhibition hall. Color, real [...]

Sports medicine is at a crossroads. As vendors edge into performance products with moisture-wicking technology, doctors and trainers have steered athletes toward self-diagnosis. The best way to service both of [...]

What should a school district procurement officer ask when he or she sits down with a sales representative from a vendor of digital education products? Who else should be at the table? How do districts and providers become partners in instruction, rather than adversaries in negotiation? These are increasingly critical questions as public school districts in the U.S. are under more pressure than ever to buy digital services and products. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the vendor transitioning process in schools districts which work with supply and service vendors. Topics discussed include vender review for consideration of changing vendors to improve quality of service, bid process which is required for specific contracts within a school district, and maintenance of interpersonal relations with district staff members and vendor management.

The article discusses learning management systems (LMSs) in grade schools, noting competition among vendors of LMSs. Topics include advances in educational technologies, data sharing efforts, integration of various software applications, and the marketing of LMSs. LMS firms noted include Blackboard Inc., D2L (previously Desire2Learn), and Instructure Inc.

Offers ideas on selecting vendors to provide education-related products and services. Sources of information about a vendor; Factors that need to be considered in selecting vendors; Preparation and evaluation of product bids; Techniques in negotiating products and services.

An excerpt from the article "Change Doesn't Need to be Disruptive" by Robyn Stirmell in the March 2017 issue of "School Business Affairs" is presented which focuses on changing vendors within a school district.

The article discusses the contracts school districts arrange with various vendors, such as food vendors or special education vendors, focusing on the need to review labor contracts in order to regulate school district finance. Topics include teacher union contract negotiations and their impact on school budgets, vendor fees that should be included in the contracts, as well as the importance of including a clause that allows districts to audit vendor expenses associated with the contract.

The article reports on efforts by U.S. school districts to promote interoperability standards between digital education tools and resources. Accounts are given describing moves by several counties to refuse business with vendors without such features to better unify and streamline educational technology use. Additional topics addressed include the extent to which publishers and vendors are working to meet this demand and the features of several prototype software platforms.

The article focuses on the issue of vendor fraud. It notes that most vendors are reliable and honest but others are likely to take advantage of the lax controls over new spending. It mentions that pressure, opportunity, and rationalization are ever present when fraud happens. It adds that more than 400 fraud investigations are involved in corporations and governments with school districts comprising of 26% of the fraud cases in 2008. It suggests that school boards need to take leadership role via compelling administrators to establish strong internal controls, check company ownership records, and the use of vendor approval process can limit chances for fraud.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which discusses several reports published within issue on topics including ways to transform school districts which involves innovations; changes in school vendors; and school business official.

The article covers the search by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers (PARCC) and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) for vendors to write questions for the Common Core assessments. According to the article, PARCC will award a contract in April 2012 with the hope of implementing the test by 2014-2015. SBAC estimated that its contract would run until November 2013. U.S. states will then be given the choice of either the PARCC or SBAC assessments.

The article reports on the efforts to improve interoperability in educational technology in the Highline School District in Washington. It presents the comments of chief technology officer Mark Finstrom on the work the district has done to manage its data, the challenges when dealing with vendors, and the standardization of data collection.

The article offers suggestions on development of procurement expertise in school districts for better technical solutions and price negotiations. Topics include the views of Jeff Mao, senior director for nonprofit Common Sense Education's Learning Solutions Program, on procurement expertise's benefits, role of procurement expertise in getting technological advantages from the vendor, and steps for developing procurement expertise such as evaluating a district's need.

The article discusses the sharing of school data between learning management systems (LMSs), gradebooks, and other school software platforms. Topics include interoperability with regard to information on student assessment, conflicts between educational software vendors, and the use of LMSs to organize student data. INSET: HOW SOFTWARE SYSTEMS TALK TO EACH OTHER.

The article evaluates several antivirus software which include the Trend Micro Premium Security from computer security firm Trend Micro Inc., Kaspersky Total Security from Kaspersky Lab Inc., and Symantec Norton Security from Symantec Corp.

The article evaluates how school officials can ensure a successful security assessment by following a holistic approach to security assessment, due diligence in selection of vendors, and special considerations for written reports. School officials must rectify written reports before a report is finalized. It discusses that retaining unqualified experts or firms to conduct analysis not only fails to abate exposure to civil liability, however can ameliorate exposure to several risks.

The article discusses the factors that schools should take into consideration when considering which safety notification system to purchase. Kenneth Trump of National School Safety and Security Services says that such school should be careful when choosing a vendor for such services since an increase in school shootings in the U.S. has expanded the need. Chuck Hibbert of Hibbert Safe School Consulting provides suggestions for choosing a vendor.

The article presents some suggestions for chief information officers of schools on how to make successful service-level agreements (SLAs) with vendors. It is opined that one should make sure that management-level end-users are there during SLA development. According to the author, one should clearly understand what service level to expect and then cost and practicality issues should be analyzed. It is opined that it is critical to know vendor's average tech-service response time. It is recommended that while making a deal with any vendor, a district should have key people that the vendor contact routinely.

While society worries about hackers stealing financial data, third-party vendors to the education establishment are amassing a myriad of personal data about teachers, students, and their families. The author says it is imperative that this data be handled with sufficient safeguards from those who would exploit the information for business or political gains. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents information on how vendors can create a long-term relationship with school business officials. It states that vendors must be competitive and are willing to take full responsibility for their products. It mentions that a vendor should have a knowledgeable sales team who know the product and the client and can help school officials see how the product can benefit the school district.

The article offers guide for student activity advisers on who to select business partners and vendors that will provide good service at a fair cost. It suggests that advisers must establish a selection committee and choose a chairperson and members who have an interest in the selection. It notes that they should make a list of requirements such as type of goods or services they are searching for and other optional items.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the changing role of information technology (IT) on campus and the relationship between vendors and campus IT.

The author discusses the green programs of schools with reference to budget and staff reductions along with suggestions to keep moving a program forward. He suggests to ask current vendors for new innovations. Evaluation of other vendors should also be done. Staff and student engagement in green cleaning programs is essential. Focus should be made on supply chain reporting like the amount of energy, water, waste and transportation used.

The article reports that the City Council of Iowa City approves the zoning changes and property acquisitions on vendor rules among Melrose Avenue on the University of Iowa football games event. Iowa City's director of housing and inspection services Doug Boothroy, outlines the agreed-up-on changes to the ordinance such as requiring a 75 dollars fee for temporary use permits. Also, the ordinance requires vendors to have health permits, more trash receptacles, and are not allowed to sell alcohol.

In this article the author presents his views on the issues related to information technology (IT) decisions taken by educational institutions. According to him staff members, superintendents and technology directors should evaluate the role of IT departments in purchasing choices regarding education technology. They should contact multiple vendors before buying a product. The teachers should also be included in decision making.