South Australia's DECS Licenses VIP Tone's School MATRIX® Enhanced Student Attendance System (ESAS)

Adelaide, South Australia (PRWeb) December 13, 2006 -- VIP Tone, the sole supplier of school administration software to both the state and Catholic departments of education in South Australia, announced today that it has licensed to the Department of Education and Children's Services (DECS) a series of software applications, School MATRIX®-ESAS, for enhanced student attendance tracking. VIP Tone has recognized the emerging need for schools to maintain more accurate and detailed information about student attendance.

School MATRIX-ESAS allows schools to record roll class absences, lessons absences as well as incidental absences (late arrival, early departure and periodic absences during the day). The system provides options to record this information using a variety of input devices including a standard PC keyboard, bar code readers and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). School MATRIX-ESAS also provides a comprehensive reporting system which includes automatic notifications to parents when their children are absent from school.

DECS has a need to provide schools with facilities to better manage their student attendance data and has accredited VIP Tone's School MATRIX -ESAS for use in schools. The flexibility and comprehensiveness of the package means that it will suit all schools from the smallest primary school to the largest secondary school.

The Incidental Absences module is of particular interest to schools as it offers a secure self-service terminal that students can use to register their late arrival or early departure from school. This will allow schools to maintain data regarding student movement during a school day without the added workload for its staff.

High schools will be very interested in the Teacher's Assistant module, which allows teachers to capture attendance data each lesson. Using an inexpensive PDA, teachers can securely access class roster data, capture attendance data on the spot and synchronize the data with the school administration system. This simplifies attendance data capture while lowering the overall cost to schools.

Schools will find it very easy to adopt these new add-on packages because School MATRIX-ESAS is integrated with the VIP Tone developed and supported EDSAS administration system that is used by South Australian schools.

DECS has negotiated a statewide license with VIP Tone that will enable schools to implement all of the ESAS modules for a reduced annual maintenance fee that includes upgrades and support.

Robert Iskander, CEO and founder of VIP Tone, said that VIP Tone was proud of its long association with the South Australian Department of Education and Children's Services since 1992. "We believe that attendance at school is one of the principal indicators for student achievement. We also believe that students who are regularly absent from school are at the greatest risk," said Iskander. "We therefore feel that School MATRIX-ESAS will contribute to enhanced student achievements by allowing schools to effectively and efficiently manage attendance data."

About VIP Tone, Inc.
VIP Tone, Inc. provides a unique data integration, knowledge management, and convergence platform for the global education market. VIP Tone's School MATRIX® Platform is a key enabler in addressing the K-12 education market's two highest priorities: measuring and benchmarking of student achievement and improving school accountability. The VIP Convergence Platform integrates various networks for communications, computing, and information, into a single, remotely and securely managed IP-based network.

About VIP Tone Australia PTY, Ltd.
VIP Tone's wholly owned Australian subsidiary based in Adelaide, South Australia, is a market leader in Australia, with a client base consisting of Australian State Departments of Education. VIP Tone is a privately held company headquartered in Alameda, California. For more information, visit the VIP Tone web site at www.viptone.com.

###

Image hosted with ImageShack.us

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com