Greetings!
What better time than budget planning season to review how our document collections save you time and money? This month's issue of the TransACT eNewsletter illustrates some of the incredible value your subscription brings you. Scroll down and you may also view how other districts use federal funds to pay for their subscription, read about the Pennsylvania Department of Education's smart partnerships and get a little bit of Hollywood trivia! Click here to see a printer friendly version.
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| Incredible Value: Get more than you pay for
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Your subscription provides you access to document libraries that a district could easily spend over $1 million dollars in trying to recreate.
The individual costs of creating, translating, publishing, distributing and maintaining a compliance library are astronomical, possibly reaching as much as $1 million per year per district. That is clearly impossible for districts to absorb. Regardless, you are still required to
provide school-to-home communication in languages parents can
understand.
Ideally, schools should be able to translate everything they need from scratch. This puts an unreasonable strain on budgets already stretched by salaries, text books and testing materials. That's where your TransACT subscription comes in.
Remarkably cost effective, your TransACT subscription provides you with the forms, notices and documents you need to reach the most families in your district. Districts that subscribe to TransACT report that 75% of their parent communication needs are covered by our collections. This leaves a larger pool of discretionary funds to spend on worthy projects of their own choosing.
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Surveyed districts reported that, with TransACT, they were able to fulfill 75% of their federally mandated parent notification needs while spending just 25% of their allocated budget.
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Did you know that you can use federal funds to pay for your TransACT subscription?
Federal Funding Poll
Want to see how other districts use federal funds to pay for their TransACT subscription? Take part in our February Funding Poll and see how other districts responded.
Click here to view the poll.
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Happenings: What's new at TransACT?
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Congratulations to our iPod shuffle winner!
The winner of our iPod shuffle drawing is Joan Fitton of Worcester, MA.
Thanks to all our current subscribers who filled out a two-question
survey regarding audits. Your input will help us improve our
collections and serve you better.
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TransACT keeps you on top of new mandatesNew documents, revisions and translations are posted in your collection every month. These collection revisions are completed at no cost to you. Our goal is to ensure that our parent notification collections accurately reflect requirements set forth by NCLB, IDEA 2004, Ofiice for Civil Rights and by the U.S. Department of Education. Subscribers can be assured that TransACT closely monitors the changing landscape of federal programs and the impact on parents' right to know. Collection changes are regularly posted in the breaking news section of our website. Check in often to see what's new for you. To learn more about the full line of TransACT parent notification collections, click here to view available free online demonstrations. Questions about document updates should be sent to TransACT Customer Care by e-mail ( support@transact.com) or phone (425-977-2100). |
Implementation & Training
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The Power of Partnership
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has teamed with the Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU) and TransACT Communications, Inc. to provide a consistent statewide solution for parent notification requirements. The statewide subscription option provides a solution for all included districts at a fraction of the cost of individual plans.
Click here to read about Pennsylvania's smart partnership.
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Corrie's Clues: This month's tip from our Customer Care Guru
Have you tried the Favorites Wizard?
TransACT is all about saving school administrators time. Creating a 'Favorites Sets' allows you to create a multi-document set of your frequently used forms and notices. I recommended you create a Favorites Sets be created for regularly sent out notices that can be grouped together, such as registration packets, first day of school, etc. Use the Favorites Wizard located under the 'Tools' button to create a Favorites Set.
To access the Favorites Wizard:
- Login to http://www.transact.com/public/login.htm
- Go to 'Tools' in the upper left corner of the screen on the red toolbar
- Select 'Favorites Wizard'
- Read the instructions and then select 'Click here to begin'
(Note: There is a 10 document limit for the Favorites Wizard)
Additional documents from the TransACT site can be added to previously created Favorites Sets by following these steps:- Open the document to be added to a Favorites Set by clicking on its title.
- As you view the document in the document display area, locate the 'Add to Favorites Set' pull-down menu in the upper right, above the Document Details region.
- Select a previously created set from the pull-down menu. The document will be added to that set and a complete list of documents contained in that set will be displayed.
Hint: Adding documents through these steps will also allow you to have Favorites Sets that contain over 10 documents
Want to learn more? To register for training visit:
http://www.transact.com/public/training/.
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Custom translations
Did you remember to budget for customer translations? You can enhance the collections available to you by adding your district's custom translated documents. For a price quote, simply use the online quote request form. TransACT customers receive a special rate from our translation partner, Iverson Language Associates. Using the form is quick and easy. Once complete, your translations can be loaded into your District Masters folder within your TransACT Parent Notification collections. (For more information about translation services or to request a quote, please click here for the custom quote request form on the Iverson site.)
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Patrick White
Regional Accounts Manager (CA/TX)
ActPoint Account Manager
How long have you been with TransACT?
Since June, 2007.
Please describe what you do:
I am responsible for new sales in CA & TX for existing TransACT products, and nationally for the new ActPoint product.
Birthplace:
I was born in Inglewood, CA and raised in Simi Valley, CA. I resided in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys until moving to the Seattle area in 1991. (Bonus trivia question: name the famous actor who got his first lead role in the movie "Valley Girl", answer below)
Birthday:
November 4th. I share this birth date with Will Rogers, Art Carney and Sean Combs. I possess neither Mr. Rogers wit, Mr. Carney's comedic genius, nor Mr. Combs number of name iterations.
College:
UCLA
What was your favorite subject in school?
Math - good grief.
What aspect of working at TransACT do you enjoy the most?
I like our office both in terms of physical design, as well as culture. I believe that both our flagship TransACT line of products, and the very exciting new product, ActPoint, are terrific - as are the training and support provided to our customers. I look forward to being an integral part of the continuing success of TransACT, and especially to the opportunity to help ActPoint flourish.
 When do you feel successful in life?
I have been very fortunate and blessed my entire life in all matters of importance. I am married to the girl of beyond my dreams, and we have three healthy children who are doing very well (most of the time!).
Outside of work, what do you enjoy?
I enjoy sports, music, vacations to beach locales, and I am extremely passionate about playing competitive bridge at both the club and tournament levels.
Whom do you admire most?
My wife, Colleen (Please tell her about this if you ever meet her - I am always in need of "husband points")
If you did not work at TransACT, what would be your dream job?
I would be the GM of the Los Angeles Kings and instead of not making the playoffs this season, we would be preparing for a run to the Cup Finals culminating with bringing the most cherished of all chalices, Lord Stanley's Cup, to Los Angeles for the first time ever.
(Trivia answer: Nicholas Cage. And to really impress people with your arcane "B" movie knowledge, Deborah Foreman had the lead female role.)
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TransACT Contact Information
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We love to hear from you!
If you have a suggestion for a topic that you would like to see covered in future newsletters, drop us a line. We always enjoy hearing from our customers and welcome any comments or suggestions.
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TransACT Communications, Inc5105 200th Street SW, Suite 200 Lynnwood, WA 98036-6397 tel. 425.977.2100 fax. 425.776.3377 www.transact.com |
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