After persistent challenges with Synergy SIS, a successful transition to Alma streamlines compliance, empowers school and district operators, and supports continued statewide growth.
Alma, a modern student information system (SIS), has been implemented by a Colorado education services team that supports a growing network of schools serving more than 13,000 students. This team completed a competitive evaluation that included Synergy, PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, and Alma … and selected Alma to improve state reporting accuracy, strengthen data security, and better support a decentralized operating model.
The organization’s coordinator of information services said the move was driven by recurring reporting and support limitations with Synergy. “Synergy just wasn’t meeting our needs, especially around state reporting,” the coordinator said. “We were having to download and correct spreadsheets manually just to meet Colorado Department of Education requirements. Sometimes there wasn’t even a place to re-upload the corrected data.”
Support constraints with the previous system also slowed everyday work. “We’d be on hold for two hours and transferred multiple times, re-explaining our issue every step of the way,” the coordinator said. “It never felt like a cohesive relationship.”
The implementation team emphasized the efficiency gains realized with Alma: “With our previous SIS, everything was manual. Every update meant re-importing full records. Alma’s ‘import to update’ feature alone is saving us many hours per day, especially during peak reporting periods.”
Because the team supports many independently operated schools statewide, granular data permissions were essential. Alma’s role-based and field-level access controls stood out during selection and now support day-to-day operations post go-live. According to the implementation team, “The level of control Alma provides is exactly what we need. Local operators can do their own work without accessing data they shouldn’t.”
“A single HR report previously required more than 56 hours because staff had to open individual folders and manually compare each spreadsheet. That entire workflow now happens directly in Alma, and all the time has been fully reclaimed.”
Many operators were new to SIS tools, and Alma’s easy-to-learn structure helped them become independent quickly. Staff now run reports, manage data, and navigate Alma without relying on central help for routine tasks.
Visual clarity and ease of use also accelerated adoption. Users responded positively to Alma’s approachable design and drag-and-drop simplicity, which reduced the need for database or coding knowledge.
The team also plans exploring Alma Start, the platform’s online enrollment and registration module, to reduce manual entry and eliminate one-off form conversions and spreadsheet workarounds.
This SIS team has already seen measurable time savings. “A single HR report previously required more than 56 hours because staff had to open individual folders and manually compare each spreadsheet,” the coordinator said. “That entire workflow now happens directly in Alma, and the time has been fully reclaimed.”
“This transition lets our staff focus on the mission,” the coordinator added. “From attendance to transcripts, everything is more efficient now. That gives us more time to support our students and our schools.”
This transition story is just one of many Alma successes across Colorado and among higher-enrollment, multi-site organizations.
