Intand CIO, Scott Otis was interviewed by Channel 9 to demo Tandem for School’s integration with Microsoft code name Geneva Server and Windows CardSpace by using the Zend Framework for information card support. This allows Tandem to consume claims from the school’s “Geneva” server, to authenticate users with the school’s database (Active Directory).

See the video that explains how it was done here.

To Intand was on TechCrunch recently for their partnership with Cozi to launch the site SchoolCal.org which provides parents with information on online school calendars and lets them vote to encourage their school to consider implementing an online school calendar.

From TechCrunch:

It can be a struggle for parents to juggle their kids’ school events, games and conferences and it’s becoming increasingly common for parents to use web services to manage family calendars. But schools still remain stubbornly disconnected from parents online. While more and more schools are turning to the web as a platform, less than 5% of schools, both public and private, are offering parents internet school calendars.

While we don’t think schools are being stubborn, we do want to let schools and parents know about the tremendous benefits that an online school calendar provides. SchoolCal.org describes some of these benefits such as:

• Access to school calendar information anytime you need it.
• Parents can be immediately notified of schedule changes, like snow days or baseball rain outs.
• Parent can sync school events to their current web calendar like Outlook, Cozi, iCal, Google Calendar, etc.
• Plan vacations, after-school activities, and appointments more easily.
• Eliminate accidental double bookings on your calendar.

To learn more visit SchoolCal.org.

Intand was recently featured on Channel 9, the Microsoft community site in which President Bryan Otis and CTO Scott Otis were interviewed about Tandem’s integration with Microsoft’s “Geneva” project. Instead of the school having to manually setup user accounts inside Tandem for students, teachers and parents, this integration allows Tandem to consume claims from the school’s “Geneva” server, which tells Tandem if the user is authenticated to the school’s database (Active Directory) and other details about the user (like name, email, position, groups, etc…).

In the interview Bryan Otis gave an overview of Tandem for Schools:

“If you think about a school as an entity, as an organization, it’s a very complex organization with
a lot of moving parts. There are many roles that run the school district and manage the schools. You also have parents outside that are really looking to connect with the events. Tandem manages all the facilities and the groups that are doing events in those facilities…Tandem does this online in a seamless way that allows parents to connect in. It also allows a school district to be conflict free with all the events they have going on across their district.”

“Before this project, we set up permissions on a directory we had inside Tandem. You (the person in charge of running the application)  would have to identify those the administrators that had the ability to add events. Also you would need to set up parents roles, which allows them to see a little more information than the general public. Other roles include students and you may also have community members who are interested in what’s going on in the school district. With all of those roles you have varying levels of permissions that are granted inside our application. Whether someone signed themselves up, or an administrator who has administrative privileges inside of Tandem signed them up, it took someone at the school district granting those permissions to that person on an individual basis.”

The significance of Tandem’s integration with Geneva Server for school tech directors who use online third party applications is that they can manage user permissions across multiple applications with Geneva Server, without having to export user information into all of the applications. This can save them considerable time and head aches. It also improves security because school’s do not have to give out individual’s personal information to third parties.

We have all been hearing the latest news of financial disasters, tightening budgets, and families that are keep a much closer eye on their spending.  The latest money news hits all of us.  And it hits your school. What the future holds is uncertain.

Will lower home pricess drive lower assessments and thus les money from bond levies, if they pass as people think more about where their money is going?  It’s hard to say, but we have solutions that inform, update, and build your school community, even during the potentially tough times ahead.

Tandem for Schools is a comprehensive calendar tool for schools and districts that offers the following benefits:

• Very simple event and calendar management with less paper.
• Easy, and FREE, school master calendar creation with flexible electronic distribution options.
• Registered users (parents, students, etc.) get updates when events get changed or cancelled, potentially saving wasted trips and gas.
• Very low cost system that will cost no more than $499 per school.  No per user license costs.
• Low cost of ownership.  We host Tandem on our servers and maintain all the technicalities.  All you do is get started entering and managing your events.
• No additional costly and complicated training necessary.

Tandem for Schools will save you:

• Time
• Paper
• Money
• Gas
• and Grief!

Check out Tandem for Schools today to see our easy, inexpensive and green solution that will help you make the most our of your school or district budget while strengthening your school community.  Get started with our FREE version, Tandem Basic, with absolutely no cost or obligation by clicking the button:

Or try a FREE, 30-day trial of our complete calendar system by clicking here…

Or fill out this demo request form to have one of our experts walk you through Tandem for Schools with a live web demo.

Tandem for Schools is a powerful way to manage calendar events,
and communicatethem as well.  Tandem provides a variety of ways
to distribute your calendar to your
school community:

1. On your school web site
2. As a PDF file
3. As a Calendar Link for iCal, Google Calendar, and Outlook
4. As an RSS feed

We have provided a new support link to provide more in-depth information on RSS and XML within Tandem for Schools.  This information will help you supercharge your calendar distribution in all the ways Tandem has to offer.

Find our more about RSS and XML in Tandem for Schools…

And click on links to the left if you need more information about our products.

Hello all, my name is Darin and I’m a part of the Intand Sales Team.  Prior to joining Intand, I was on staff at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), also known as the governing body for high school sports and activities in Washington.  One of the major areas that the WIAA office emphasized was the member schools sending in their athletic schedules and scores.  Often this was a time-consuming task because most of that information had to be collected and organized by an already-busy athletic administrator or secretary.  This is where Tandem can help you.

With Tandem you can create “Schedules” that essentially search your database of information for any area you want.  You can search for groups, teams, facilities and schools in less than 15 seconds.

Plus the schedules automatically update themselves when you make a change or edit to your main Tandem calendar.  OK, so this is related to my WIAA story because, in less than 15 seconds, you can create your 2008 Varsity Volleyball schedule and export that data to a .CSV file (which is readable by Microsoft Excel).  Now all you have to do is email your 2008 Varsity Volleyball schedule to your state activities office.  It’s that quick.

And, what’s more, you can create an unlimited amount of schedules in your Tandem calendar.  So just imagine that you have all your sports teams schedules, band practice schedule and gymnasium schedule all ready at the click of a mouse!

Best of all, extensive technological knowledge is not required to use Tandem.  Our tool was created by school administrators and they know what it takes to make navigating the system a breeze.

For more quick tips and Tandem product information, let me or any of my co-workers know if we can be of more assistance.  You can reach us at 866-685-3449.   And be sure to check out our support area too.  You’ll find tutorials, videos and other posts there that you will find helpful.

Enjoy your summer!

As you consider any calendar product, you’ll likely want an in-depth walk through of the product to get a solid idea of how it can serve your school’s needs.  That’s why we offer you the opportunity to get on the phone with one of our Tandem experts (who, by the way, are very familiar with the administrative environment at schools and districts just like yours) and take a personal tour of Tandem for Schools.

Using GoToMeeting, we’ll guide you through two key features:

• One centralized calendar - Take away the confusion of multiple calendar points.
• Conflict checking - Avoid event conflicts before they create grief for you.

And you’ll experience a host of other ways that Tandem will make your job managing your school calendar much easier.

Set up a demo today to find out how Tandem for Schools can help you - Click here…