Meet the Client
Bonneville Joint School District No. 93 serves over 12,550 students across 24 schools in Bingham and Bonneville Counties, Idaho. As Idaho’s fourth-largest school district, D93 operates 14 elementary schools, three middle schools, and four high schools (with a fifth under construction and set to open soon). The district employs over 1,600 people, including nearly 800 certified educators who serve families across a mix of rural and suburban communities. D93 balances rapid enrollment growth with quality education delivery through traditional campuses and Bonneville Online, their virtual learning program.
Daily Detour: When 30 Minutes Per Student Adds Up Fast
Registration season meant chaos. School secretaries faced mountains of paperwork as parents filled out 10 separate paper forms for each child. Manual data entry consumed 20 to 30 minutes per student. Multiply that across 24 schools, and the bottleneck became severe.
With over 12,550 students, the district processed more than 125,000 pieces of paper annually. Secretaries spent registration periods deciphering handwriting and typing information from forms into PowerSchool, their student information system. Unclear handwriting led to data errors that required follow-up calls to parents. Replicated information appeared across multiple forms, forcing parents to write the same address and phone number ten different times. Forms got misplaced or damaged. Storage space filled with banker boxes.
The bigger problem wasn’t just inefficiency. Secretaries couldn’t focus on what mattered most: helping anxious parents navigate enrollment, answering questions about school programs, or addressing urgent student needs. Instead, they typed. And typed. And typed some more.
The district needed a reliable way to capture accurate demographic data. They wanted parents to complete forms digitally while information flowed directly into PowerSchool without human transcription. They needed to reclaim thousands of staff hours lost to manual entry.
About our Client
CLIENT NAME:
CHAMPION:
David Covert
Enterprise Applications Supervisor
POPULATION:
24 school sites with an est. 12,500 students
SOLUTIONS:
The Solution: Laserfiche Forms and Workflow Connect Families to PowerSchool
MCCi implemented Laserfiche Forms and Workflow to automate student registration. Parents now complete electronic forms directly on the school website. No paper. No printing. No scanning.
The form uses dynamic fields that appear based on parent selections. Only relevant questions display, making the experience cleaner. A hidden field automatically routes each submission to the correct school secretary using a database lookup. Secretaries review the form, verify information (especially addresses) is formatted correctly, and approve. The form then saves to Laserfiche and triggers the automated workflow.
For returning students, the process accelerates dramatically. Parents enter their child’s student ID number. The lookup feature pulls existing information from PowerSchool and autofills the entire form automatically. Parents review, update what changed over the summer, and submit. This autofill capability became especially valuable for returning student registration, which represents the majority of annual registrations.
Behind the scenes, Laserfiche Workflow pushes approved data directly into PowerSchool’s database. The system updates three separate tables: Students, Studentcorefields, and U_Studentsuserfields. For existing records, it updates changed information. For new students, it creates complete records from scratch. Special cases like Spanish-speaking students trigger automatic field updates in the U_Spanish field. Email confirmations notify secretaries when registration completes successfully, creating an audit trail.
Parents get immediate confirmation. Staff know the data is accurate. The district maintains complete digital records in Laserfiche. The entire process runs smoothly from start to finish.
What started as a registration project revealed bigger possibilities. Working with forms and workflow opened up a new world for D93. They realized they could build custom forms for any process instead of purchasing expensive single-purpose programs. Cost savings over individual entry programs added up quickly. The district gained flexibility to tailor solutions to their exact needs rather than conforming to vendor limitations.
MCCi’s expertise as the world’s largest Laserfiche solution provider made this integration possible. The team understood D93’s PowerSchool environment and designed workflow that respected existing data structures while adding automation that works. Implementation focused on making the system user-friendly for both parents and staff.
The Results: 96% Time Savings Let Staff Focus on What Matters
Registration time dropped from 30 minutes per student to just one minute. That’s 96% faster.
The district eliminated 120,000 pieces of paper annually that previously required reading, filing, and storage. Thousands of staff hours recovered each registration cycle now redirect to helping families and handling issues that need human attention.
Data accuracy improved dramatically. No more misreading handwriting or transcription errors. Information flows directly from parent input to PowerSchool. Digital records are instantly searchable in Laserfiche. Parents complete forms at home on their schedule. Returning families value the autofill feature that pre-populates information.
David Covert, Enterprise Applications Supervisor at Bonneville Joint School District No. 93, led the implementation. The district has since improved more than 150 different processes using Laserfiche Forms and Workflow. What began as eliminating paper forms became a platform for districtwide efficiency gains.
The project proved automation doesn’t require compromise. D93 maintained data accuracy while improving speed. They enhanced parent experience while reducing staff workload. They achieved cost savings while gaining flexibility.
Other school districts can achieve similar results. Success requires working with a Laserfiche solution provider who has proven education sector expertise. MCCi provides ongoing Laserfiche training and customer support to ensure systems continue delivering value year after year.