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Eau Claire District Develops FOSS Supply-Ordering System
on the Web
By Linda Stelter and Susan Savolainen
Eau Claire Area School District
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
How can 125 FOSS consumable supply items in classroom quantities
for 15 elementary schools be stocked, inventoried, organized,
ordered by teachers, and delivered efficiently? This is the
planning question that we tried to answer when designing a
support system that would become an important key to the district's
FOSS success story.
We added a 10 X 90-foot area to the district
instructional media center (IMC) to house FOSS supplies and
lined the walls with sturdy metal shelving. The support staff
arranged the supplies alphabetically in covered, plastic storage
bins large enough to store a year's supply of each item. Each
bin was labeled with the item, grade and module, and reorder
number. (Slides of the inventory and storage procedure may
be viewed at http://www.ecasd.k12.wi.us/departments/media/foss/foss.ppt.)
Teachers can easily order consumable supplies
using forms on the district Web site. For each module, there
is a form on which teachers enter their name, school, and
grade and the quantity of each item needed. (Web forms can
be viewed at http://www.ecasd.k12.wi.us/departments/media/foss/index.html.)
Immediately after clicking the "submit"
button, the teacher receives a confirmation of the order,
which is then e-mailed to three members of the Media Services
support staff. The first person tracks inventory with an Excel
spreadsheet. The second person pulls the order from the IMC
for delivery. Our district provides daily delivery to all
schools, so teachers can expect their deliveries within two
days. The third person provides backup to the first two.
We operate on a Windows NT network and used Microsoft FrontPage
2000 software for developing our Web pages. In order for the
Web forms to function properly, a skilled Web master performed
some setup on the server. Running Microsoft FrontPage 2000
by Jim Buyens (ISBN 157231947X) was helpful in developing
our Web forms.
The project required teamwork by many individuals to build
the support structure necessary for a successful implementation
of FOSS in our district. "FOSS" has taken on a new
meaning for us: Fabulously Organized Support Staff!
Mary Siebenshuh, left, and
Betty Anger, right, are Media Services support staff for the
Eau Claire Area School District. Mary designs and maintains
the web forms, using Microsoft Front Page, and keeps the perpetual
inventory on Microsoft Excel. Betty receives the web form
orders. pulls, packages and sends FOSS supplies to the teachers.
They collaborated to determine the most efficient way to arrange
the shelving and FOSS supplies in the District IMC.
For more information about the Eau Claire
Web-ordering system, contact Linda or Susan at:
Eau Claire Area School District
500 Main St.
Eau Claire, WI 54701
Linda Stelter, District Media Coordinator
e-mail: lstelter@ecasd.k12.wi.us
(715) 833-3451
Susan Savolainen,
Gifted Education/6-8 Curriculum Coordinator
e-mail: ssavolainen@ecasd.k12.wi.us
(715) 833-3456
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