SCISA case study results at a glance
Money saved in 6 months
$7–$10,000
Reduction in phone calls
30%
Increase in productivity
100x
The South Carolina Independent School Association (SCISA) serves independent schools in South Carolina by holding statewide competitions, events, and professional development opportunities that foster community and promote academic and athletic excellence.
SCISA’s event registration and payment processes were once entirely paper-based. Staff mailed forms to clients, who filled them out and emailed them back. And payments were made by check. Event participation certificates were manually printed and handwritten by staff. Now, all of these processes are digital and automated with Jotform Enterprise.
“We didn’t know we were operating in the Stone Age,” jokes SCISA executive director Robbie Braciszewski. “Now I feel like we’re trendsetters.”
The first day I got our Jotform Enterprise account, I created 10 forms and published them on our website. People were immediately calling to say how great it was.
Braciszewski looked at many form solutions but found their customization, payment, and automation options limited. “Jotform Enterprise was the only one that offered automation, branding with our domain, and secure data ownership,” he says. “It literally checks all the boxes.”
SCISA uses Jotform Enterprise to manage professional development and student programs, including 26 state events, regional competitions, and spelling bees.
“The first day I got our Jotform Enterprise account, I created 10 forms and published them on our website,” says Braciszewski. “People were immediately calling to say how great it was.”
Creating certificates for professional development and student competitions
“We uploaded a Canva background to the Smart PDF Forms that Jotform Enterprise automatically populates with student registration data and my signature to create a custom certificate for each participant in the South Carolina State Spelling Bee,” Braciszewski says.
SCISA also automates certificates for teachers who attend its professional development programs. These certificates are necessary for the teachers to earn continuing education credits. Previously, the Department of Education rejected SCISA’s certificates for having “too much possibility of impropriety” (in other words, they were too apt to be inauthentic).
“Because Jotform Enterprise is secure and its PDFs are professional-looking and traceable, the Department of Education accepts our professional development training certificates, enabling teachers attending our programs to earn four continuing education units toward their master’s degree,” says Braciszewski.
Saving time and enhancing services with conditional logic
Event management is now streamlined. Previously, SCISA sent information for its Heads’ Fall Conference in one long email. As a result, people called SCISA’s offices to ask questions and to register.
“With Jotform Enterprise, registrants simply check a box on the form to inquire about lodging or opt into the golf tournament, and the relevant information is automatically emailed to them,” says Braciszewski. “Our email click rates are better, and we don’t get as many phone calls.”
Instead of manually sorting through stacks of PDFs, I can export the registrations in five minutes and set the schedule in a few hours.
Robbie Braciszewski, Executive Director
For another event, Braciszewski used a widget that automatically populates the names of registered schools on the form once the person registering a school submits it.
“Being able to display the schools currently registered cut the number of calls to our office by 30 percent,” Braciszewski says.
Leveraging conditional logic drastically reduces the time required to manage and schedule the more than 1,200 students who register for SCISA’s annual music festival.
“Instead of manually sorting through stacks of PDFs, I can export the registrations in five minutes and set the schedule in a few hours,” says Braciszewski. Next year, he’ll be able to easily clone the form and update the prices, dates, and registration limits.
Next, Braciszewski will incorporate push notifications for his Jotform app. “Jotform Apps is a game changer for our association,” he says.
Collecting payments with Jotform Enterprise
Jotform Enterprise is also saving SCISA money. Previously, every event could have up to $1,500 in uncollected entry fees due to late registrations or no-shows.
“Now that payments are required up front, we recoup all our costs,” says Braciszewski. At the same time, SCISA can accommodate more students through last-minute registrations because there’s no paperwork to process. “Jotform Enterprise paid for itself in one semester. Just moving to online payments we’ve saved $7,000 to $10,000 this first semester alone.”
Maximizing impact and increasing productivity with Jotform Enterprise
SCISA staff can now make a bigger impact. “We’re saving 40 hours per week and completely reimagining my secretary’s job because she no longer has to do mindless clerical work, which was 100 percent of her job,” says Braciszewski. “She’s a degreed professional, so it’s great that she has time to be creative, feed our social channels, and engage our communities.”
SCISA went from almost no social media posts to two to three quality posts per day that celebrate school and student accomplishments.
“With Jotform Enterprise, we’ve had a 100-fold increase in productivity because our staff can now accomplish tasks with the click of a mouse,” Braciszewski says.
“Anything we can think of, Jotform Enterprise can do,” he says. “I can’t imagine a business that wouldn’t benefit from Jotform Enterprise. It’s transformative.”
Advice for school associations struggling with manual work and tight budgets
Jotform Enterprise saves time and money and brings back enjoyment to what we’re doing. It is so worth it. Instead of paying somebody to do work that isn’t needed, you can have boots on the ground for your mission, free staff up to do what they love, and save trees in the process. If you’re on the fence because it’s a bit out of your budget, find the extra money. You will not regret it.
Robbie Braciszewski, Executive Director, SCISA
Photo by cottonbro studio
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