In 1972, our founder invented the student information system, a first-of-its-kind technology that used student data to create efficiencies and deliver reporting for school districts. Today, the SIS exists much the same as it did 50 years ago.

It’s still a repository of student data that can be queried and analyzed to make decisions and report on progress, so when we think about this industry we created, we also consider how to innovate beyond that initial invention. The questions we ask ourselves today are:

• What are the next levels of a SIS?
• What can we learn from similar platforms to integrate best-of-breed interactions that promote usage, and by extension, outcomes?
• How can we advance an industry with entrenched, legacy processes?
• How can we make a more meaningful impact on society and change our students’ futures?”

The answer: INNOVATION!

“We believe empathetic innovation starts with us.”

Consider the industries that have changed in just the last few years. AirBnB disrupted the hospitality industry, Uber upset the taxi monopoly, and Open Table rewrote the rules for reservations. These were decades old industries that few thought would be upended, until someone had an “AHA! Moment.” This is where innovation comes in.

During his keynote at virtual AeriesCon, you heard from our President, Brent Lloyd, that our North Star is delivering data-driven, intuitive, and innovative solutions that empower communities to ADVANCE STUDENT SUCCESS.

When our Product & Development division thinks about this mission, we investigate the new and exciting technologies around us, and we adopt new processes and methodologies to make our work more efficient and effective. We ideate on ways we can extend the data stored within our software to other modalities like mobile applications, portals, and more. Today, we’re innovating Aeries in four key ways.

First, Quality. Innovation isn’t done when the product has shipped; it’s an ongoing effort to improve the end-user experience. And driving toward student success requires us to deliver user-centered products with fewer bugs and better performance. It also means delivering scalable solutions that provide greater opportunities for new enhancements, while ensuring the security and reliability our stakeholders expect.

To accomplish this task, we’re investing in Process & Methodology, including efficiencies in our software development lifecycle, where we’re engaging our users to solve problems, managing requirements, and following a proven process for development, testing, and quality assurance. This commitment requires dedication to both change management and project management, so we can more consistently track our product development and engineering processes to deliver new features and functionality.

One of our most recent innovations was moving Aeries into The Cloud, which provides us with high reliability and scalability. It also allows our customers to host their SIS off premise and achieve greater uptime and reduced risk, while dedicating more staff time toward technologies that drive student success. Additionally, the cloud provides nearly limitless options, giving us the power to innovate even further. The opportunities are endless.

Finally, we’re looking at Future Tech and asking ourselves “What if.” What if we incorporated the future of technology into our world today? How is the technology landscape shifting, and how could we leverage new technologies to improve our world today? What if we could leverage Generative AI and machine learning to harness the vast amount of data stored in the SIS? How could that impact student outcomes across your district, state, our country, and the world? How do we change, disrupt, reimagine the ways we measure success, overcome challenges, and learn continuously?

The Aeries Product & Development division is dedicated to crowd sourcing ideas and information from you, our customers and partners, empathizing with your work and your world as we continue to innovate. Together, we’re dedicated to making a meaningful impact on society and change our students’ future.

The post Guiding Principles Series – Innovation appeared first on Aeries.

Last month, our Leadership Team convened for our annual Major Strategic Offsite. The gathering included strategic initiatives to continue our mission of building out the best product possible for our customers. The MSO included an added bonus: a special, hands-on visit to Habitat for Humanity, San Gabriel Valley.

Habitat for Humanity aims to decrease homelessness for populations in our very own backyard. Did you know that “California has the 3rd lowest home ownership in the nation”? In an effort to support Habitat for Humanity’s goal of “creating more opportunities for low-income working families to own a home in California”, our team was tasked with creating fifteen walls for two families in need.

“With our mission centered on student success, Aeries Software recognizes that it is impossible to separate the personal and familial demands that students face from the purely educational ones within their school settings. Housing instability is just one such challenge that has drastic effects on students and their families. We immediately recognized that the mission of Habitat for Humanity and for Aeries Software closely aligned in our desires to help families establish certainty and give their children a place to thrive,” said Brent Lloyd, President of Aeries

Our team found many similarities between building the framework for a house and the framework for a great product. Separated into sub teams with specific tasks, our company values guided our mission for the day.

We collaborated to build an action plan that would be efficient, timely, and capitalize on everyone’s strengths. Much like building a great product, building a house takes the skillset of all divisions.

We were respectful: for our teams, our work, our mission, and the families we were serving. When the sun beat down, we kept our eyes on the prize.

Sometimes, things didn’t go according to plan. Mismeasurements or improper hammering meant returning to the drawing board for a quick fix, but our team members remained mutually supportive.

Strokes of brilliance appeared when we allowed ourselves to be vibrantly innovative. Throughout the day, our pace continued to increase as we found effective shortcuts and solutions from thinking outside of the box. At times, this meant increasing the number of people measuring, while others meant repurposing wood to new project pieces.

Most importantly, we were customer centric, keeping the needs of these families at the forefront of what we did. We are committed to understanding and empathizing with the families’ needs, just like how we tailor our products to the needs of our users and students.

Brent added: “With housing and rental affordability a constant uncertainty shared by most families across the nation, bringing our leadership team together to assist in solving that challenge for even just a few deserving families felt extremely gratifying.”

Together, we can continue to build strong communities and positive changes in our society. Because when communities thrive, our students thrive.

To learn more about how you can get involved with Habitat for Humanity, click here .

The post Building Stronger Communities, Together appeared first on Aeries.

Tune into this special message from President Brent Lloyd as he speaks about the future of Aeries, feature modernization, and how we continue to embrace our company values.

The post Looking Toward The Future of Aeries: A Message From President Brent Lloyd appeared first on Aeries.

Can you believe it’s been three weeks since we wrapped up AeriesCon Spring 2024? The energy was truly palpable as we celebrated the Golden Tradition of AeriesCon together in Sacramento!

Through our conferences, growth of our company, and product enhancements over the past 29 years, we’ve remained committed to building a community that fosters knowledge and the constant need to be adaptable. In fact, President Brent Lloyd took the stage Friday morning to present his vision of how we keep our eye on the future, ear on the present, and hand on the past.

Guided by our north star of advancing student success, we’re harnessing the power of our compass to steer toward the 10th version of Aeries. We remain committed to enhanced security, greater optimization, and faster performance. But most importantly, we remain committed to continual, vibrant innovation. (Want to learn more about the future of Aeries, Feature Modernization, and how we continue to embrace our company values? Click here to view “Looking Toward the Future of Aeries: A Message from Brent Lloyd”!)

We leverage new tools (including AI), in a manner that preserves the relationship that we have with all of our customers. Instead of replacing the human element, we want to optimize it and supplement it with tools that make it more impactful for you.

Additionally, Brent shared a few sneak peeks of what our teams have been working on, including enhancements to the Login Page, Landing Page, and Student Profile page. These improvements will allow for consistency between pages, a more consistent user experience, and improved response times.

In a nod to our strong and growing Community, Brent also announced the winners of our inaugural Golden Tradition Awards. Positively impacting their district, work site, and colleagues, these individuals embody everything that makes Aeries, Aeries. Congratulations to the following winners:

Jerry Lloyd Legacy Award: Celebrating individuals who design, implement, and support innovative uses of Aeries SIS, setting new standards in supporting student success.
Sarah Knox, Director of Prevention & Intervention, Napa Valley USD
Peter Abboud, Director of Data & Assessment Services, Napa Valley USD
Brandon Usher, Integration Engineer, Aeries Software

Golden Service Award: Honoring people who consistently demonstrate the highest standard of customer-centricity in supporting the use of Aeries.
Sherry Ross, IT Tech Database Coordinator, Lake Tahoe USD
Elena Lohr, Customer Success Advocate, Aeries Software
Suzette Kellar, Senior Support Analyst, Aeries Software

Golden Community Award: Recognizing individuals who consistently model and advocate for the values of collaboration, respect, and mutual support.
Nic McMaster, Director of Student Services, Castro Valley USD
Natasha Perera, Marketing & Communications Manager, Aeries Software

Golden Mentor Award: Acknowledging leaders who go above and beyond in guiding, supporting, and mentoring their colleagues.
Cecil Wright, Director of Information Technology, San Bernardino City USD
Sam Defeo, Trainer, Aeries Software

We hope you join in our excitement for the bright future of Aeries. To all of you who attended this year – and to those who sent their well-wishes from afar – we can’t wait to see you again and continue building meaningful experiences.

Save the date for Virtual AeriesCon Fall 2024: November 4-7, 2024. To stay updated, visit www.aeries.com/aeriescon.

The post A Look Back at AeriesCon Spring 2024 appeared first on Aeries.

When we say our Support Department has your back – we mean it! Our knowledgeable and experienced team is here to provide you with the guidance you need to efficiently navigate Aeries. The team has heard hundreds of thousands of questions, and they’re ready to find you an answer, existing documentation, or resources to help you along your journey. The first step to connecting with the Support Department is a Support Ticket. (Note: If you are unsure if you have unique permissions to submit a Support Ticket, please be sure to connect with your district’s Aeries Admin). Let’s dive in to see how you can best navigate the ticketing process!

1. Make the Support Portal Your First Stop and Learn Even More from our Resource Hub

The most effective way to have a rapid response to your ticket is through our Support Portal. It should be your first stop to truly tackle your issue, as there are endless resources available to you while you’re there.

Have you taken advantage of our Aeries Resource Hub? This valuable, in-product feature pulls together all the resources at our disposal in one single place, like our Aeries Support Site. Check and see if your question has been answered before. If it’s not in our Support Site or Resource Hub, then feel free to submit a support ticket via your my.aeries.com account.

2. Choose the Correct Category in the Portal

When submitting a ticket through the Support Portal, you’ll have the option to properly categorize your ticket. This triggers the workflow quicker, kicking your ticket off for success. This allows your ticket to be analyzed as quickly and efficiently as possible.

How can you figure out what category is the right one for your problem? Take a look at the entire list of Category options. There are more than 50 categories as well as subcategories to help us understand your needs, ranging from Aeries Communications to Security, CALPADS to Database, and more.

If you’re not the original user with the issue, test the issue yourself to get a better understanding of it. Remember, being choosy helps us help you!

3. Include Full, Clear Details…But Don’t Overshare

We need the pertinent information to your issue, but not necessarily all of it. It’s important to make sure you do NOT include any Personally Identifiable Information, or PII. (To learn more about PII, visit the US Department of Education)

A strong ticket includes the issue, your questions, steps that your team has taken to investigate the problem, and any recent changes to the database that could have caused the issue. Include important information including your name, school information, school code, ID numbers, and school-specific information.

We ask that you do not include email threads, as it may slow the analyzing process.

4. Check for an Outage

While rare, an outage could potentially be the cause of the issue you’re reaching. Before submitting a ticket, check http://www.aspstatus.com. If you subscribe to the page, you will be notified of all pertinent outage related information. If, after resolution of the incident, you have any ongoing issues related to the outage, please do submit a ticket!

5. Understand Priority Level Definitions

Knowing our priority level definitions will help you best explain your urgency and severity so we can tackle your problems accordingly.

Low: A standard request that does not hinder business or productivity.

Medium: An individual’s ability to perform a job function is slightly impacted or inconvenienced but can continue working normally without interruption.

High: A mission-critical business application or function such as Aeries or a 3rd party application is severely impacted or unavailable, but a workaround exists, or other options are available within a reasonable time.

Urgent: The entire school, district, teachers, or parents are unable to function due to a mission critical business application or operation being down and there is no alternative or workaround.

We take our Support Tickets very seriously, as they provide us with valuable insight on how to better serve you. For example, if we see a pattern in tickets, we can create more resources and webinars for all users to learn from, like our free “Good Morning, Aeries” webinars. Knowing these five tips will better equip you for when a problem may arise, and it will help us tackle your problems as efficiently as possible. Here’s to an easy, efficient, and educational ticketing process!

This blog is based off an AeriesCon Spring 2024 presentation by Allison Lambson, Carrie Muchow, and Diana Martinez. To further your Aeries knowledge and expand your understanding, visit My.Aeries.com.

The post 5 Ways to Make Your Support Ticket Work for You appeared first on Aeries.

As the school year wraps up, we’re excited to announce a series of updates to Aeries that will be available at the start of the next school year. These are more than just enhancements to the Aeries platform: they are a testament to our unwavering commitment to advancing student success—a core value that drives everything we do at Aeries. If you joined us at AeriesCon or caught our earlier blog post, you might recall the sneak peek we gave of what was on the horizon. We’re excited to share some more details of what you can look forward to in the coming school year!

With our upcoming updates, our focus is on refining the user interface and user experience across Aeries. From home page customization to streamlined account settings, our goal is to support educators in providing the best possible educational experience, thus directly elevating student achievement. 

Increased Consistency

Consistency is key to creating an intuitive user experience. With our latest updates, educators can expect uniformity in the layout and functionality across the platform, which reduces learning curves and helps users feel at home with the system quickly.

• Navigation: Student Search: We’ve improved the location and visibility of the ‘Student Search’ area, now consistently placed to the right of the screen, making it easier to access and distinct from other navigation elements. This change means less time spent searching and more time engaging with student data.

Personalization at Your Fingertips
Understanding that each educator has unique needs, our updates emphasize customization, allowing users to tailor their Aeries experience to fit their daily activities better.

• Home Page Customization: Tailor your dashboard to your needs with draggable widgets, ensuring quick access to the tools that matter most in your day-to-day educational activities.

• Enhanced Account Settings: Customize your experience further by setting a default landing page or having Aeries remember your last visited page, saving you time and helping you focus on what’s important.
• Updated Global Messages for Administrators and Teachers: These enhancements to our messaging system are designed to keep you better informed and seamlessly integrated into the daily flow of school and district news.
  • Notification Alerts: Whenever there’s a new message or announcement, the bell icon, currently available for administrators and teachers, at the top of your dashboard will light up, displaying the number of new messages. This immediate visual cue ensures you’re always aware of the latest updates without disrupting your workflow.
  • Expandable Message Window: You now have the option to enlarge the message window. This makes reading and understanding the details easier, streamlining your workflow and enhancing message clarity.

• Celebrating Students: Our new Teacher Widget includes a feature recognizing each student’s birthday, fostering a positive and inclusive educational environment.

• Welcome Banner: Includes a personalized touch and a “Get Started” Button for a Quick Tour.

Beyond Aesthetics: A Foundation for the Future

This modernization goes beyond improving the look and feel of Aeries; it also helps streamline workflows. We’re building a foundation for a responsive, future-ready platform that addresses the needs of teachers, administrators, students, and parents.

As staff return from summer break they will notice some of these new features. Your feedback is invaluable as we continue to develop Aeries into a tool that not only meets but exceeds your expectations. We thank you for your trust and partnership as we work together to empower educators, engage students, and elevate outcomes!

To stay updated on the exciting Future of Aeries, click here.

The post Empowering Every Student: A Sneak Peek at Aeries’ Enhanced Features appeared first on Aeries.

In the fast-paced world of software development, where innovation, regulatory landscape, and customer expectations evolve rapidly, transparency is more than just a buzzword – it’s a necessity. Our Aeries users are naturally inquisitive, inquiring about product information to help plan and budget for the coming school years. While we enthusiastically share updates during AeriesCon, User Group Meetings, and other customer-facing events, we are excited to share plans for a new level of transparency via the Aeries Roadmap.

The Aeries Roadmap is a visual representation of product progress and updates, based on quarter, theme, and priority. This easy-to-navigate resource actively bridges the gap between company priorities and customer expectations by offering a high-level view of upcoming initiatives, features, and integrations.

The roadmap provides valuable insight into Aeries’ plans, allowing your district to make informed decisions related to student data and information. Its transparency allows your teams to better budget for the upcoming year, update necessary training documentation and procedures, communicate upcoming features to your stakeholders, generate excitement about enhancements, and so much more. Most importantly, the roadmap servers as a vital, two-way communication channel for feedback and enhancements while fostering a culture of trust.  While roadmaps are intended to be plans, do note that items may evolve to better align with customer needs, changing regulatory landscape, and emerging advancements in technology.

A sneak peek at the soon-to-be unveiled Aeries Roadmap

Our internal teams have been hard at work conducting extensive research, internal collaboration, and customer focus groups to ensure a smooth rollout of the Roadmap in the Resource Hub in the coming months. In order to support this transition, you will receive additional resources on how to best navigate the roadmap, including tips and tricks, a summary of changes and helpful links, videos explaining the roadmap planning and prioritization process, and more.

We know that the features we have planned will help support your goals and the roadmap will provide the reassurance that we are listening and actively working to address your ideas and opportunities for growth. We are hopeful that this tool will help foster a continued culture of visibility and transparency, emphasizing the importance of a true partnership during the evolution of Aeries products. As always, we are invested in your success and will continue to enhance our product offerings to meet your evolving needs.

To stay updated on all things Aeries, visit www.my.aeries.com.

The post The Aeries Roadmap: Guiding Us Through the New Year and Beyond appeared first on Aeries.

Recent high-profile breaches underscore the risk of exposing sensitive information to millions of users’ data, reminding us that our education system, as part of our nation’s critical infrastructure, is a prime target for attackers. Just as personal hygiene prevents illness and promotes health, cyber hygiene helps prevent data breaches, identity theft, and other forms of cybercrime. Working in education, we handle sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII) on a regular basis. We have an important responsibility to uphold and promote the highest data security standards: our customers and their students depend on it. Along with formalized standards like NIST and ISO, we also use the most up-to-date information available regarding recent breaches and other cyber incidents to guide best practices. 

How can you maintain cyber hygiene standards within your school or district?  

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) adds an additional layer of security to your online accounts by requiring a second form of verification beyond just your password. This could be a code sent to your phone, a fingerprint scan, or even a physical token. Although use of 2FA has historically been viewed as supplemental in nature for enhanced security, it is now recognized as a fundamental practice of access control. Implementing 2FA is a critical component of any cybersecurity program, as modern tools and information available to attackers has made passwords alone insufficient for preserving long-term protection. Aeries currently already offers 2FA as an easily enabled feature; we continue to promote and strongly recommend the adoption of it for users who have yet to enable it in their environment. We also welcome and encourage feedback from our users regarding their experience in implementing 2FA. 

Regular permissions audits are critical and involve reviewing and adjusting the permissions and access rights of users within your organization. This not only ensures that only authorized individuals have access to sensitive information, but also that any unnecessary or outdated permissions are revoked. A common symptom of irregular or neglected auditing is “privilege creep” – the gradual accumulation of unneeded permissions. Privilege creep often occurs over time as users change roles and their access needs change. It is critical that regular audits of systems and audits to user’s need-based permissions are updated at the same time their workflows change. 

Long and simple passphrases are now being recommended instead of highly complex passwords. At Aeries, we refer heavily on The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)’s standards to ensure best practices. They suggest that passphrases should:  

• Be between 16-64 characters 

• Include capitalization, spaces, and punctuation 

• Be a combination of memorable but unrelated words (ex. “Luk3Skyw@lker Saxophone Donuts Skateboard Beehive.”) 

• NOT be common phrases or easily guessable information 

• NOT be reused from one account to another  

Avoiding prolonged or unnecessary data archiving is an essential component to minimizing the impact when a breach occurs. “It’s not if a breach happens, but when a breach happens” — that is the mindset of those who remain vigilant in protecting data and ensuring they recognize the constant threat of a breach and its consequences. Collecting unnecessary data and retaining data longer than mandatory creates a stockpile of data that attackers will leverage when a breach occurs. Implementing and conducting regular audits of data retention requirements, policies, and data destruction practices ensures that the only data retained in your systems is data that is essential for operations or compliance purposes. Data found during your audits that does not comply with your data retention policies should be reviewed by a dedicated data retention group and should be disposed of in accordance with documented data destruction procedures. 

Recognizing and countering social engineering attacks requires consistent training. Social engineering relies on manipulating human psychology to gain unauthorized access to systems and data. With the advances in AI, social engineering is becoming exponentially more frequent and pervasive – capable of reaching nearly all users in a very convincing fashion. Recent successful breaches have shown that social engineering tactics are one of the most effective used by attackers. The greatest defense against them is educating employees and ensuring that vendors and partners are doing all they can to ensure their employees are educated as well. It is critical that every user, contractor, or partner be aware of common tactics used in social engineering (ex. phishing, smishing, impersonation, phony password reset requests, etc.) and how to recognize and respond to them. Regular training and awareness programs are the principal tools used to help in mitigating these risks.

Aeries is committed to upholding and continuously improving the cybersecurity posture of our critical infrastructure that supports our nation’s education systems. We understand and listen to the schools, parents, students, and staff that are counting on us to stay informed and vigilant. Please join us in helping to secure the privacy of our users and the data we have all been entrusted to protect. We encourage you to continue providing your staff members with the professional development, resources, and reminders they need to promote the best cyber hygiene possible.  

To learn more about how to protect your students’ data, read the NIST Digital Identity Guidelines or the CISA Guidance on Phishing and Social Engineering. 

The post Cyber Hygiene: Keeping your Data Safe and Secure appeared first on Aeries.

Earlier this month, nearly 1200 attendees gathered in Ontario, California for our 53rd (yes, you read that right!) AeriesCon. Our biannual user conferences are the perfect culmination of knowledge-building, networking, thinking outside the box, and fun. With a musical festival theme in tow, the good vibes were everywhere we looked!

Our mornings began with invigorating keynotes. Jerry Almendarez, Superintendent of Santa Ana USD, kicked off our Monday morning by speaking about the power of integrating AI into the education. On Tuesday, transformational performer, Val Vigoda, guided us through the importance of optimism with the help of her accompanist, Ryan, and some fantastic live music.

What would AeriesCon be without our informative sessions? More than 100 individual sessions were offered, ensuring all attendees had plenty of opportunities to learn and expand their knowledge. Our top 3 most attended sessions were:

• Basic Query with Diana Martinez
• Intermediate Query with Diana Martinez
• Aeries Roadmap: An Early View of 2025 & Beyond with Elen Meltonyan and Randy Catiller

Open Forum was packed with collaboration and knowledge-building. Users joined on Monday and Tuesday to connect with Subject Matter Experts on all things Aeries. Some stopped by just to say hi and exchange a hug, while others spent valuable 1:1 time discussing everything from CALPADS to query to gradebook.

Casino Night was extra special this year. Not only were the normal casino games and delicious hours d’oeuvres in tow, but we also celebrated our Jerry Lloyd Golden Legacy Award Winners: Albert Kwan of Azusa USD and Susan Prow of Aeries. Albert and Susan were both nominated by individuals who felt their impact in the student information space deserved to be recognized and celebrated – and indeed, they were! Additionally, we celebrated the retirement of our previous CEO, Barry Lloyd, and our Co-Founder, Rich Lloyd. Speeches by Craig Tschuoff and Sam Defeo brought back great memories of Aeries’ past, with our current President and CEO, Brent Lloyd, speaking of his excitement for the future

Nothing says ‘music festival’ quite like two special live appearances. We are so thankful for Harvest Hill STEAM Academy Concert Band and Menifee Valley Middle School Eagle Band for their fantastic lunchtime performances!

We had a packed house at Day 3 of Aeries, where attendees chose between CALPADS Day or Aeries IT Professional Day, expanding their learning each step of the way. And, of course – there were plenty of M&Ms to go around each day of conference- it wouldn’t be AeriesCon without it!

We are so thrilled we spent the week jamming with so many members of our Aeries community: we truly love seeing, connecting, and supporting our users. While another AeriesCon has come and gone, we can’t wait to see you at other Aeries events! Are you ready to start planning ahead for another set of great conferences? Save the date:

• AeriesCon Fall 2025: November 3-5, 2025 – Virtual
• AeriesCon Spring 2026: March 10-12, 2026 – Monterey, California

On behalf of the AeriesCon Committee, we thank every single attendee, staff member, and vendor who helped make this event such a success!

To stay updated on all things AeriesCon, visit www.aeries.com/aeriescon. 

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