News & Events

Apps, Web Tools Help Directors Organize Data, Manage Staff

By Nicole Schlosser
School Bus Fleet -October 2013

 

Directors deal with packed schedules and the need to frequently be offsite. The latest apps and web tools provide the ability to manage attendance, access up-to-date fleet information, and more quickly share vital information with staff in emergencies even when they are not sitting behind their desks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Infofinder mobile, a web-based solution from Transfinder, lets district personnel access and share data and reports on student bus stops and locations, schools, bus routes and maps from their mobile device or computer.

 

With an increasing number of people relying on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets at work and at home, apps and web-enabled tools that can be accessed through mobile devices are more handy than ever.

 

These tools can be particularly helpful to transportation directors, who often need to be offsite and have to compile and analyze data from several sources to make decisions. SBF spoke with some suppliers and rounded up a few tools that are designed to help store, share and analyze information, and provide on-the-go access.

 

Infofinder mobile shares vital info anytime, anywhere

The Infofinder mobile, a web-based solution from Transfinder, lets district personnel access and share data in emergencies, as well as information on student bus stops, routes, and locations, from their mobile device or computer.

 

Infofinder gives transportation directors the ability to immediately disseminate data to several different people, ranging from teachers to administrators. All district personnel listed in the app can look up student and route information, submit requests for field trips and run and view reports without having to install special software on their computers.

 

The app also prevents directors from having to take the time to piece together paperwork to react to emergencies such as accidents, violent incidents or fires.

 

In situations such as responding to a bus accident, Clinton Smith, product manager, Transfinder Corp., says directors have the data they need at their fingertips and can make it accessible to first responders, such as the police or fire department, school administrators, faculty members and students, with one e-mail right from the field with their mobile device.

 

Additionally, Smith says, Transfinder built security into the app so that whoever is managing Routefinder Pro, the software that enables the app, can allow different subsets of people to see different sets of information. If, for example, there was sensitive information in the staff module, they could turn that off to all other users.

 

Chuck Paquette, transportation director for Homer and Cortland central school districts in New York, uses an iPad3 to access Infofinder. He says the ability to access data from anywhere is especially helpful for him since he manages transportation for two districts.

 

Infofinder is available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and iPad mini.