A Tale of Two High Schools: Sending Digital Transcripts and Preserving Data for Helena Public School District

Learn how transcript automation is helping the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) save countless hours, shave a week off admissions decisions, and provide better service to prospective students.

Helena High School and Capital High School, neighboring schools in the Helena (Montana) Public School District, work separately but cooperatively to serve their clients, particularly when those students are requesting transcripts. One more thing they have in common is Parchment.

Meet Registrar Patsy Althof and Office Manager Betsy Allen from Helena High School who, along with Sherri Colberg, the library secretary at Capital High School, got together to share how Parchment has benefited both their schools. Think of them as the three musketeers of student data.

“We’re doing the same thing just with different data sets,” explained Sherri. “While we process individual files at separate schools because that’s where the records are physically, we coordinate because we have to have a united front when we go to the superintendent and our principals. We want to create consistency across the district.”

Before Parchment: Slow, Cumbersome Process

According to Patsy, processing transcripts was all manual before Parchment, getting the copy, certifying it, and then mailing or faxing (although most places didn’t take faxes). “It was all mailing, so we had the paper and postage costs, and it was a very slow, cumbersome process,” she said.

Requests came by mail or an in-person request as the schools can’t take orders over the phone. “Time from received requests to mailing depends on when students graduated,” explained Patsy. “If the student was a more recent grad, it was pretty quick. If the records were on microfiche, we would have to go over to CHS to do it as HHS doesn’t have a fiche reader.”

“A safe bet would be an hour for processing each transcript, but it easily could be three weeks before the student received it, depending on the speed of the student’s mail when sending and receiving,” added Betsy.

With Parchment: Online All the Time

The web portals at both high schools link to Parchment, according to Betsy. “Students can go on in their jammies and make requests any time of the day or night,” she joked. “Once we get the request and verify that their transcript is current and has no fines (by checking the PowerSchool SIS), it’s quick to go.” So, with Parchment, both schools spend less time and reduce the cost of paper and postage.

HHS also has an iPad out front of the registrar’s office for students to make requests at a cost $8 to $9. “We can usually get confirmation that the transcript has been sent in 10 minutes tops while they are standing there”, Betsy reported. “During the summer, the height of season, I’m checking Parchment at least three times a day and sending things off as fast as we can.”

Disaster Recovery: Flood and Fire

Yet another thing the two high schools share is that both had significant disasters that put their physical data in danger. According to Sherri, CHS had a frozen pipe that burst above their offices, so there was a lot of water damage. “While a lot of files were out the SASI server, many that were older than 1998 were all paper files and microfiche, and got physically wet,” she explained. “That started the ball rolling for us to better protect that data.”

At HHS, students started a fire three years ago that resulted in $3.2M in damage. “It scared me,” Patsy revealed. “If the drawers of microfiche even got warm, they would be just a plastic block, and the paper would be in ashes. That would be of no value to anyone. We knew that we had to do something about it.”

Data Preservation: Parchment Records Digitization

“Right now, we are in the process of digitizing legacy alumni transcript records, loading multiple years of data using Parchment Scan & Index,” continued Patsy. “While we would like to see more data, like certificates, letters of recommendation, and immunization records along with transcripts, we’re not there yet because we have to focus on legacy data first. And there are only four of us working on it, two at each school.” (Sherri has another resource at CHS who didn’t participate in the interview.)

Both high schools are pulling student data from their old SASI server first, then microfiche and paper. “We are doing data preservation right now so that the records are protected because we could lose the old server any day,” Patsy added.

“Currently, we have 4 years of data loaded into Parchment and are working on another 12-year period now,” said Betsy. “When talking to our superintendent, it’s clear that he gets it. He has given us permission to go forward with this project because we have to do a better job of record keeping at HPSD.”

Customer Service: Meeting the Needs of Students

“In regards to customers, our students, I think they are pleased, amazed that it goes so fast, and that we have this service available,” explained Betsy. “HireRight and all those employment companies are using Parchment, too and really like it. We can transfer funds easily and get graduation verifications, for which we send transcripts.”

“It’s nice to be able to go in to see that they have it, and it’s available for download,” Patsy added. “So, if they call, we can verify that they got it. The Parchment tracking mechanism on transcripts is really helpful.”

Working with Parchment: No Complaints Here

And how has Parchment been to work with? According to Betsy, Parchment is awesome. “Our rep Heidi Dodge was great,” she said. “Then when Heidi went on sabbatical, Matt (last name) was really awesome. He helped us corral the cats, keep us going, and keep us on track. Matt also worked with our IT department, and he did a great job there.”

“Then when we got down to the nuts and bolts, we’ve really had quite a few project managers, and they have been right there,” she added. “They helped us set up our Parchment secure transmission site, and they work closely with the superintendent’s office and our chief of staff. So, I don’t have any complaints about Parchment.”

Benefits: Security, Convenience, Accessibility, and More

“We are preserving our data, in a way that we can manipulate it by being able to index it, so it’s searchable,” said Betsy. “But most important is that we are servicing our customers the way they are accustomed to doing things – online. So, it’s important that we realize that and are cognizant that we are taking the steps to meet the need.”

“In addition, using Parchment for two things, sending transcripts and preserving data, is an absolute plus because we have so many apps and programs we have to use,” Sherri said. “So, anytime you can combine things to simplify, that is absolutely incredible.”

Patsy concluded that Parchment is secure, convenient, and accessible. “Convenience is the big one,” Betsy added. “You can be making a college application at two o’clock in the morning and get your transcript. Plus, receiving universities don’t want a paper copy either. They want it electronically so they can scan digital documents into their own records. It just makes it easier and more convenient for both parties.”

There’s always more to learn.