How four K12 districts went paperless, fast, with Adobe Sign
District of >50K students, Ohio
Chitra Mittha
June 30, 2021
Like so many others, one of Ohio’s largest school districts, with students and staff spread across 100 schools, had to rapidly adjust to mandatory distanced learning when the pandemic hit. It became mission-critical to shift admin processes from a traditional paper-based model to a digital, multi-surface one that could allow the school to get forms accurately completed and signed with little or no in-person interaction.
The district acted fast and was able to get Adobe Sign up and running quickly, which enabled it to establish centralized workflow management for multiple departments within weeks.
The district processes over 40,000 digital transactions per year, with a focus on digital IEPs and new hire workflows. The benefits of using Adobe Sign for these workflows made surviving the pandemic possible, and long-term, they will transform the district’s operational efficiency:
-
Seamless integrations with Microsoft and Google for easy implementation and easy use for staff, every day
-
Outstanding tracking and visibility into workflow progress
-
Ability to send documents like consent forms to thousands of parents at once, in one click, using Adobe Sign’s MegaSign feature
-
Centralized workflow management for multiple departments
Managing paper-based forms for a district serving over 100K students, faculty and staff has become increasingly challenging. “Paper” work moved from pain-point to impossibility when COVID-19 hit, inciting the district to seek a solution to help it go paperless.
The district evaluated several options, including DocuSign and PandaDocs, but ultimately chose to partner with Adobe Sign. The district appreciated Adobe Sign’s simplicity of use, visibility into document status, and consistent pricing model.
Furthermore, because the district was already a Creative Cloud organization, choosing Adobe Sign meant it could bring in an e-signature solution without needing to add a new vendor and manage the associated complexity.
In the words of the project’s implementation lead, “We use Adobe for all our creative products — why wouldn’t we use them for e-signatures as well? It’s a great product — so simple. It takes so much off my plate and lets me give my team a tool that really changes the way they manage their signature processes.”
The district uses Adobe Sign for a wide range of high-transaction, high-priority workflows, such as staff onboarding and 1:1 device management and consent agreements, which are sent out to each and every student household. Adobe Sign has helped the district improve the user experience for both staffs, who benefit from enhanced workflow visibility and tracking capabilities, and parents, who can easily sign school forms from any device, anytime.
For years, this Georgia district has used Adobe Creative Cloud to promote digital literacy to over a third of its vast, diverse student population. Success prompted the district to expand access to an even larger groups of students in 2019. While preparing to close the deal, COVID surfaced a new and separate need for tools that could help the district keep its nearly 150 schools operating smoothly in new, remote setting.
Adobe, in partnership with Microsoft, advised the district on Adobe Sign, a no-brainer solution for the district, which had just recently rolled out Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Active Directory.
Because Adobe Sign is Microsoft’s only e-signature partner, this district was able to convert to paperless workflows without complex or lengthy integration or training needs. Now, staff can send out staff- and parent-facing forms quickly and easily for completion and e-signature without ever leaving the Microsoft apps they work in every day.
The district is seeing HR efficiencies, improved compliance, increased productivity, and reduced costs.
This large Florida school district is using Adobe Sign to support their early childhood programs, which provide early education opportunities and comprehensive services to the district’s birth-to-5YO students and their families.
The programs require extensive amounts of paperwork and forms, and the burden became greater when its services turned remote and required more consent forms and waivers for therapists, teachers, and parents.
The district implemented Adobe Sign to help reduce the administrative burden and help ensure service continuity during the pandemic and its operational shifts. Adobe Sign’s integration with Microsoft Teams and post-sales training and implementation guidance helped the district get the solution up and running quickly during a critical time.
Curious how Adobe Sign can save your institution time and money? Use this estimator tool to find out, and then get started on your paperless journey today.