What email account do I use for the Email Center?

You use your own email account with our software. We recommend using Gmail, as their service works well with our SMTP setup. Gmail is free. You can also use your current email account but will need to contact your service provider for instructions on the specific SMTP server settings.

Check with your service provider for daily email message limitations. For example:  a standard Gmail account*  limits to 500 email addresses per day, max of 100 per hour.

If your organization is a 501(c)3, you may qualify for a Free Google Apps for Education Account.  This account will let you send up to 2000 messages per day.   Check with Google for exact details.

My data is currently in a spreadsheet. Can I import this into your program?

Yes. Our Importer feature was built just for that purpose. We provide a standard importing template that can easily populated with your current data. Simply click on the import button, select the file for import, and you're done.

Is the software transferrable? Our volunteers change from year to year.

Yes. We understand that the nature of your organization is that volunteers come and go. Especially at the school, where parents leave as their children graduate. The software is licensed to your organization. This license can be transferred as the directory coordinator changes each year.

Why doesn't your software run on the web?

We've spoken to parents of school age children across the country and learned that most would not trust their family information somewhere out on the internet. Especially when it comes to our children's information. That's why we built desktop software instead of a web-based application.

However, we also understand that the ideal situation would be where the parents can update their own information, rather than having the directory coordinator having to update it each year.  Our Econfirm service  provides the ability to allow parents to update their information, while keeping the database on a secure, protected server. A great desktop application with "online" capabilites.

We also know it was important to provide the ability to communicate with parents and the school community at large. That's why we created our software with features that allow you to share and communicate via the web. Features like PDF formatted reports and integraded email with attachments round out or product. 

Does your software require an annual maintenance fee?

No. No. Purchasing a license entitles you to the complete software, with periodic maintenance patches. As new upgrades are released, you may purchase those at a discounted price as a current user. There is no obligation to purchase an upgrade, except that you may want the latest "cool" new features.

How does your software help me protect parents privacy?

A standard feature of our software is the printing of data confirmation letters, addressed to the parent, with their current information. Schools typically distribute this letter out to parents before the beginning of the school year, with a stated deadline for their return. The Federal Education and Privacy Act (FERPA) requires that schools inform parents about the directory information that is to be published and allow a reasonable amount of time for the parent to "opt out" if they wish.

How does your software help me get ready for all the work at the start of the school year?

The automatic graduation and promotion process deletes graduating students from the database and promotes all other students to the next higher grade. For new students, our entry form is easy to use and has city, state and zip default values to speed data entry.

We don't have a directory now. How do I get started?

The software comes complete instructions for setting up your directory, including templates that can be modified for your school to send out to families to collect information. You may also want to talk to your school to see if some data can be imported using our importer tool.

My directory includes more that just family information. Can I have advertising and other school specific information?

 The Ad Manager provides a complete system for tracking business listings and creating the ad pages for your directory as well as a Business Listing.