Synergy

"Our first Secondary admissions round using Synergy went incredibly smoothly – everyone, from the school admissions team to senior managers, were really happy. 99.3% of parents/carers applied online using the Synergy parent portal. When asked whether the process felt quicker and more streamlined than the system we previously used, the Co‑ordinated Rounds Lead said, ‘Yes, 110%!’ We couldn’t ask for better than that."

The Admissions, Early Years and Free School Meals modules proved to be far better designed than our previous system, and the functionality was much more sophisticated. The consultants who steered us through the various module implementations and data migration were excellent.

With Synergy, we can better manage our online attendance services and assist customers with any issues. Synergy’s flexibility means we spend far less time on admin. As well as having better functionality it was the most cost-effective in comparison to other suppliers, allowing us to re-direct funds back into continuous improvement of the service we provide.

When people are recording data separately in spreadsheets, it very quickly becomes out of date. It also doesn’t allow our colleagues access to the full picture. Synergy gives us a standard way to record, to aggregate data and work together as a department.

Our long-standing relationship with Servelec has grown and developed over time. Today, we consider ourselves development partners in the Synergy technology – we’re often trialling new features and providing key feedback.

Synergy gives us a standard way to record, to aggregate data and to work together as a department.

The School Admissions module has modernised the way in which parents make school applications while reducing the number of paper applications and administration time to input the data. The implementation of Synergy was an efficient and straightforward experience.

They have been fantastic in meeting our required timescales – delivering all projects on time, and within budget, without a single system glitch.

Schools can now log in and see all the allocations that we have worked on in a particular week. For us that was a big success factor, we could see the interaction and the immediacy and we loved it.

When we went out to market, Synergy stood out as a system that was able to meet our needs. It is very user-friendly, and affordable too.

We had staggered the implementation to align with our business and development strategy.

Throughout this journey, we have continued to receive vital support and guidance and we felt that they really understood how local authorities work.

As part of our Digital Strategy, we’re undergoing a complete digital service redesign, rather than simply replacing like for like. We’re making sure that our customers’ journey with us is easy and straightforward. We were looking for a system that was user-friendly, intuitive and had longevity.

Let’s face it, local authorities are complex and large organisations, we tend to work in silos and purchase systems without interoperability in mind. So, working with systems that integrate with one another is very important for helping us provide joined-up services.

Linking all of these systems together allows for faster decision-making and more accurate forecasting, and it allows us to react quickly to potential situations around exclusions and attainment checkmarks.

Synergy’s highly customisable functionality will allow us to design and modify the system to the great benefit of our working practices. The effects of which we are confident will contribute toward the continuing excellent service provision to the children, young people and families of Swindon.