Alief Independent School District (ISD) in Texas, with nearly 50 campuses and over 45,000 students, must know at any moment where its technology devices, components, and library resources are located. This need intensified in early 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and has only increased since then.

The Challenge

The district successfully managed library collections, library lab resources, and department materials with Follett Destiny® Library Manager, a market-leading library management solution. However, Alief ISD recognized the need for a device management system to keep up with the multitude of other valuable resources in circulation.

“Once the district started talking about going 1:1 with its devices, the need for a solution such as Destiny Resource Manager took on greater significance,” said Charla Hollingsworth, who spent 25 years with Alief ISD, most recently as the Information Literacy and Digital Program Specialist.

The Solution

Based on the district’s successful history with Follett, Alief ISD turned to Follett Destiny® Resource Manager, a web-based asset management system specifically designed for the needs of schools and districts. It enables educators to keep tabs on technology and curriculum resources in one easy-to-use software system, handles audit reporting with full transparency, and integrates seamlessly with Destiny Library Manager.

“Destiny products are invaluable in the way they can track items centrally, provide needed reports, interface with our student information system, and allow students to log in and see the available resources,” Hollingsworth said.

Once Destiny Resource Manager was integrated, the program was immediately recognized as a game-changer in terms of accuracy, budget savings, and efficiency. “Getting our technology items into Destiny Resource Manager enabled us to forecast needs for a 1:1 program rollout,” Hollingsworth explained. “We were able to compare the number of devices at each campus against the enrollment and which devices met the standards needed for various tests. We were then able to predict the number of devices we would need to move forward with 1:1 purchasing. It was all so reassuring to feel confident in our purchasing decisions.”

Quick and Accurate Reporting is Key

Beyond that critical need, Alief ISD used the key information gleaned from reports generated by Destiny Resource Manager to prepare for district bond proposals. “We were able to provide the device insurance company with the necessary data to purchase device insurance and track lost devices as they moved through the insurance claim process,” Hollingsworth said.

The ability to see which campuses are checking out devices is very helpful. Since the Alief ISD Board of Trustees mandated the 1:1 program for students in Grades 2-12, staff have been able to use Destiny Resource Manager to analyze the number of devices checked out at each campus, providing valuable information on which campuses are fully checking out devices to students and which have further to go.

Destiny Resource Manager reports have turned out to be widely popular and time-saving tools used by no fewer than four departments at Alief ISD: technology, federal programs, accounting, and digital learning. “Each department has their specific need for the data,” Hollingsworth noted. “They all can collaborate with the data provided from the reports. The reports are wonderful as they pull data together from multiple disparate sources. Most of the reports can be run in .csv files, which means we can then export into Excel and run PivotTables and other tools to analyze the data.”

Integration with Destiny Library Manager

For Alief ISD, Destiny Resource Manager proved to be the perfect companion to Destiny Library Manager, which the district has used in their libraries for more than five years. “Prior to using Destiny Library Manager, our LMS was not a union catalog. We had campus silos of books and data. It was very difficult to see which campuses had what items across the district. There were no centralized reports or collections of resources,” Hollingsworth said. “Implementing Destiny Library Manager enabled students to access resources from across the district. When the students search for a topic, they can receive feedback on which databases have information about that topic.”

Prior to the arrival of Destiny Library Manager, librarians had to upload student data at the beginning of the year and individually add any new students, which was time-consuming. “With Destiny Library Manager integrated with our student information system, the librarians never have to worry about this function as the data syncs nightly. This enables librarians to be involved in teaching instead of always being mired down in administrative data tasks.”

Hollingsworth attests that the district’s decision to use both Destiny Library Manager and Destiny Resource Manager made sense for many reasons. Now, the district can make data-informed decisions for all their investments in the library and through all departments, with seamless reporting that empowers all users. Would Hollingsworth recommend both Destiny solutions to colleagues in other districts? “Without question, yes,” she said. “Destiny products are invaluable and helped Alief ISD save time and money.”

For more information on how Follett Software can support your district, visit Follett Software.