OpenSIS
Developer(s) | OS4Ed |
---|---|
Stable release | 5.2 / 2013.05.27 |
Development status | Active |
Written in | PHP |
Operating system | Cross-platform |
Available in | Multilingual |
Type | Student Information System |
License | GNU GPL v2 |
Website | opensis.com |
openSIS is one of several free and open source student information system available to K-12 and higher education institutions. The solution has been in development for several years and appears to have much of the functionality that long time commercial versions have today. The solution is a web-based application and has polished looks, a great deal of required functionality, and appears to be easy to use based on the online demo website. openSIS is developed and maintained by Open Solutions for Education.
openSIS is written in PHP and uses MySQL to store information. The community edition is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, is free software, and can be downloaded from the Sourceforge website. The application appears to be stable, has continuing activity in the community forums and offers alternative paid versions at the openSIS website. Also offered is a cloud or SaaS version and low cost hosted trials are available allowing users to test drive their own instance at a very low cost.
In January 2010, openSIS was featured in an article in District Administration magazine alongside other notable long time companies such as Pearson and Century Consultants.[1] openSIS is also up for voting at the Bitnami website to become a supported application stack. A search on Google returns results from many independent sources where openSIS is being discussed, a good sign for a community product that demonstrates interest and usage. openSIS is listed as one of the top 55 Open Source Apps Transforming Education for administration.[2] Another sign of maturity and popularity is for-profit companies beginning to offer paid services for support and customization beyond the parent company.
Product features
According to the company's website, the solutions features these base features:
- Student passport photograph
- Contact Inform
- Gradebook
- Reports/Report Designer
- Report Cards
- Transcripts
- Health Records
- Attendance
- Parent Portal
- User Customizable Preferences
- Security
- Light weight IEP
These are listed as additional modules available in their paid edition or cloud version that is hosted:
- Discipline
- Email Messaging
- Food Service
- Student Billing
- Library Management
- On-line Applicant Processing/Admissions
- State Reporting (important for US based schools and districts)
- Moodle Integration
See also
- OpenEMIS, alternative open source
- Fedena, alternative open source
- SchoolTool, alternative open source
- SIMS.net, commercial SIS, used mostly in the UK
- SchoolCheckout
- Archivist Online
Notes
- ↑ Kurt Eisele-Dyrli (January 2010). "Managing Student Data —Student Information Systems". District Administration. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
- ↑ Cynthia Harvey (July 27, 2009). "55 Open Source Apps Transforming Education". Datamation. Retrieved 2013-06-27.
External links
- community development and anonymous download
- Official openSIS site
- Killer Startups
- Bitnami Application Stack Voting
- openSIS and Moodle