It was like a movie scene. Corrin Reynolds, transportation manager at San Jose USD in California, was chatting with a colleague at Tyler Technologies’ Connect conference when someone approached him with an idea: What if we could integrate a ride-share service with your student transportation software? Reynolds said, “Put that in my contract.”
Connecting Student Transportation Solutions
San Jose USD was already using an alternative transportation solution and Tyler’s Student Transportation software, and Reynolds immediately saw the potential of connecting those solutions to better serve students and increase efficiency. Unfortunately, their existing alternative transportation provider wasn’t interested. “They balked at the idea that we would be able to see some of the information in their system,” said Reynolds. But, to him, that information sharing was a benefit.
Connections like these are the purpose of Tyler Technologies’ Onboard Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) network. It’s a one-stop data exchange that uses Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to bridge the silos of information between transportation technology providers, empowering transportation managers with more customization and flexibility to support their communities’ needs.
To learn more about Tyler Technologies’ Onboard iPaaS and the network of integrators, register for their upcoming vendor panel discussion.
Partners With a Shared Goal
ADROIT, an Onboard iPaaS integrator and a company with roots in special needs transportation, specializes in the ride-share style alternative transportation that San Jose USD requires to best meet the needs of its students.
“For trips where it doesn’t make sense to send a bus, such as McKinney Vento students who need to travel well outside the district or students with special needs or IEPs who don’t do well in a school bus environment, we use a car service to get those kids to and from school,” said Reynolds.
The district switched to ADROIT for alternative transportation, and they’ve started to connect it with the data from their Tyler Student Transportation software through Onboard iPaaS.
“The ADROIT drivers have the same comprehensive information our bus drivers would have, including the routes built in Student Transportation and the students’ information. And we get information back from them, such as incident reports,” he said. Sharing this information between their solutions helps the San Jose USD transportation department keep their routes efficient and their reporting up to date. But it’s only the beginning of Reynolds’ vision of what’s possible with deeper integrations.
Looking Ahead to Seamless Connections
The San Jose USD transportation department is looking forward to more data from ADROIT flowing into their Tyler Student Transportation system to help increase efficiency.
“We want to look at AVL data and the planned versus actual run times to see where we can make improvements,” Reynolds said. Centralizing this information alongside their school bus data will help the district see the full picture of their transportation operation and keep it running smoothly.
Reynolds is also eager to see ADROIT’s data in the district’s Student Transportation software to improve transparency. “We’re working toward having information from their drivers import into our GPS system so we can see where the vehicle is, make sure they’re going where they need to go, and getting there on time.”
As the integrations progress, the students’ information and assigned runs will match up seamlessly to provide real-time updates on student pick-ups and drop-offs. “That’s the benefit I saw right away when I first heard the idea,” he said. “I want to be able to track our kids and take care of our kids. That’s what we’re here for.”
To learn more about Tyler’s Onboard iPaaS and the network of integrators, register for their upcoming virtual panel discussion.
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