Hello all, my name is Darin and I’m a part of the Intand Sales Team.  Prior to joining Intand, I was on staff at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), also known as the governing body for high school sports and activities in Washington.  One of the major areas that the WIAA office emphasized was the member schools sending in their athletic schedules and scores.  Often this was a time-consuming task because most of that information had to be collected and organized by an already-busy athletic administrator or secretary.  This is where Tandem can help you.

With Tandem you can create “Schedules” that essentially search your database of information for any area you want.  You can search for groups, teams, facilities and schools in less than 15 seconds.

Plus the schedules automatically update themselves when you make a change or edit to your main Tandem calendar.  OK, so this is related to my WIAA story because, in less than 15 seconds, you can create your 2008 Varsity Volleyball schedule and export that data to a .CSV file (which is readable by Microsoft Excel).  Now all you have to do is email your 2008 Varsity Volleyball schedule to your state activities office.  It’s that quick.

And, what’s more, you can create an unlimited amount of schedules in your Tandem calendar.  So just imagine that you have all your sports teams schedules, band practice schedule and gymnasium schedule all ready at the click of a mouse!

Best of all, extensive technological knowledge is not required to use Tandem.  Our tool was created by school administrators and they know what it takes to make navigating the system a breeze.

For more quick tips and Tandem product information, let me or any of my co-workers know if we can be of more assistance.  You can reach us at 866-685-3449.   And be sure to check out our support area too.  You’ll find tutorials, videos and other posts there that you will find helpful.

Enjoy your summer!

In a new survey (PDF) by the National Governors Association, budget cuts are ahead for many school districts throughout the nation.  That means cutbacks in many areas for schools, and the need for more efficient spending in the budgets that remain.  You can read a summary here of how these cuts will be felt by everyone, not only schools.

How can Tandem for Schools help when budgets get tight?

For one, it can offer technology that won’t break your bank with software license fees or expensive ongoing training needs.  Plus, it will enable efficient and easy calendar planning that will free up your valuable staff to manage other key needs.

And if you opt for trying out our Tandem Premium tools, you will be able to manage transportation and its budgets with great ease and financial efficiency.

Tandem can definitely help your school or district, but it will help parents too.  What if that baseball game gets cancelled, or the PTA meeting moved to another day?  Tandem is great at keeping your staff and parents informed so they don’t go driving to events that aren’t even happening.  Plus, you will avoid getting slammed by a bunch of phone calls in your office by parents wondering what’s going on.

All in all, Tandem can help make life easier, all the while saving your school or district money and time. What a better way to help manage your school in these times of tight finances.

We’d love to personally show you how Tandem can help your school enhance it’s limited resources.  Schedule a personal demo now, using the form, and we’ll get with you right away to show you Tandem benefits.  Or call us.

As you consider any calendar product, you’ll likely want an in-depth walk through of the product to get a solid idea of how it can serve your school’s needs.  That’s why we offer you the opportunity to get on the phone with one of our Tandem experts (who, by the way, are very familiar with the administrative environment at schools and districts just like yours) and take a personal tour of Tandem for Schools.

Using GoToMeeting, we’ll guide you through two key features:

• One centralized calendar – Take away the confusion of multiple calendar points.
• Conflict checking – Avoid event conflicts before they create grief for you.

And you’ll experience a host of other ways that Tandem will make your job managing your school calendar much easier.

Set up a demo today to find out how Tandem for Schools can help you – Click here…

Tandem for Schools is easy to implement and use, but our users still have occasional questions.  That’s where our support forum comes in handy.  It doesn’t stop there.

If you are still in the information gathering stage and figuring out whether to implement Tandem for Schools, this forum is for you too.  All of our FAQ’s and feature videos are located there, as well as interaction from current Tandem users.  Our support area is a great resource, actively monitored by our developers and support staff, which are there to assist anyone with any questions about the product.   Including prospective users.

Check out our support forum and let us know if you have any questions.

You may be considering Tandem for Schools as a calendar tool to use at your school or district.  We’d like you to have the most information possible so you can make the best decision.  Though we’re kinda biased and think Tandem works great, there are some ways for you to learn more:

Our Product Information Page – Tons of info here, along with videos that clearly explain product features.

Support Forums – Even though you may not be set up with Tandem yet, this is a great place to learn more about Tandem features.

Email Us or call us at 866-685-3449 – Free free to contact us with your questions.  We’ll get back to you ASAP to see how we can help out.

Let us know how we can help you!

Tandem for Schools is powerful, and adaptable to your every need.  You can customize schedules, for instance.  Tandem enables you to filter items by team, activity, etc.  and set them as public or private, depending on if your schedule is for internal use or not.

This handy feature allows you to create event lists for sports teams, drama groups, music groups — or whatever group suits your needs — allowing you to display times and locations in one easy-to-read schedule format.  Use these custom schedules on your website or to create handouts, or whatever else you  need.  Tandem allows great flexibilty in how you use your school calendar and event information.

Scholastic.com has a great article about some things to consider when planning for new school technology.  Some key points:

• Think open – Does the technology tool you are considering implementing play well with the other tools you already have in place?
• Keep and eye on total cost of ownership – What is the entire picture of costs incurred to get up and running, train and maintain the system?  Oh, and don’t forget the hidden costs not many seem to mention: What is the cost in lost productivity and morale as a result of frustration with the tool?
  
• Share the risk – Are you taking on the entire load of the technology, it’s weak spots, potential obsolescence, etc?

Here at Intand, we are passionate about providing great technology tools that empower rather than frustrate.  And we are keen on giving you technology that is a tool that does not distract you from getting your job done, with effectiveness and ease.  Here’s how Tandem for Schools, our web-based, database-driven calendar system can meet the above concerns:

Tandem for Schools integrates easily into your current system, without fuss.  All you need to do is set up the calendar with your facilities, events, etc.

Tandem for Schools costs very little to own. We host it in one of the best data centers on the West Coast, so you don’t have to manage hardware.  It takes little time to get users up to speed and does not require weeks of training.  Licenses are per school, not per user.  When we upgrade the system, you are automatically part of the upgrade.  Easy.  High value for minimal investment.

Tandem for Schools takes on risk for you. You can try before you buy for 30 days.  Support is free.  We maintain the hardware. You don’t have to invest thousands of your scarce school dollars into technology that just may end up going unused.

In this day and age of over-engineered technology tools, Tandem for Schools will take the pain out of your calendaring and event planning processes.

With over 80 million users on MySpace alone, social networking is not going away. And that National School Boards Association report said that 50% of students using these services are specifically talking about schoolwork using these social networking tools.

There is a compelling article at TechLearning.com discussing the proliferation of social networks amongst kids. Of course, much of the press has been bad — cyberstalking, online porn, etc., etc. But, social networking is not going away. And kids are definitely using tools like MySpace and Facebook to keep connected. The above stat is huge: 50% of kids use social networks to chat about homework.

So then, how can it be used to keep kids, and parents, connected to the school community? And how can it be used to drive higher participation? These are huge questions. And we are working hard to try and answer them.

Imagine school events being added to calendars which then automatically feed the information to students on Facebook or MySpace. Students use these sites incessantly, much to the chagrin of parents. And parents should be discerning. But we’d love to help schools use these technologies for the benefit of the school community, which will hopefully filter out the bad.