Consulting Services

Software Development

Many of our consultants and partners have spent long careers in software development.
They conceived and produced numerous Enterprise wide software packages and solutions on a wide variety of platforms and technologies both past and present. These covered all the major areas of Higher Education from Student Systems, Billing, Human Resources and Accounting to Alumni Development. Tenures at such well respected companies as Information Associates, SCT/SunGard, Wolfpack and others means we are very capable of filling virtually any software development need that you may have.

Project Support

Our consultants and partners can play a multitude of roles in any of your projects. We are able to provide support in specific areas including temporary staff backfill, right through project lead or management. We can augment any project with appropriately qualified staff, filling any void whether it be in the areas of technical specialization, requirements gathering, functional design, technical specification, build, testing, documentation, end user training and so on. You will find that engaging our staff in your projects will be worth the investment, adding significantly to the success of the project.

Vendor Selection

During our tenure at previous Higher Education Software firms, responding to RFPs was part of our business. At Skootz, we are well qualified to assist you in preparing RFPs to vendors in whom you may have an interest. It is a vital activity that must be completed both with diligence and understanding, as this process is one of the rare occasions when you can formally ask and subsequently receive answers to the most important issues regarding their products and how they might fit within your institution and to what degree. Asking the right questions in the right manner to force unambiguous responses is key, and we can ensure that this is done appropriately.Whether you engage us to prepare the entire RFP, or just review one that you have prepared, we can make sure the product you end up with fits your requirements. Although we do maintain affiliations with certain software vendors, these represent only a small number of possible choices for the right vendor for you and guarantee impartiality when working on your behalf.

Training

We can prepare and give training to your institution on a custom basis. We typically give training according to your needs and don't carry a catalog of regularly scheduled classes. Training sessions can be in-house and cover a multitude of subjects but are more likely to be in conjunction with other services we are providing. These training sessions would likely include end-user training, application operation, performance tuning and best practices and processes. In addition to in-house delivery, it is also possible to supply training remotely in the form of a webinar which tends to be more dynamic in its structure and move cost effective. We would be happy to discuss any training needs you may have.