Counselling Management Software for Schools.
An innovative software-based student data and case note management system that aims to replace manual processes with a scalable, customizable, and user-friendly experience.
A solution to work smarter, not harder.
The goal of FocusCS is to provide an all-in-one software solution for Australian school counsellors.
Developed by an IT Director with extensive experience working within schools, FocusCS was borne in response to the growing need for a software solution which provides a comprehensive student data and case note management system whilst also taking into account the compliance, reporting, and security requirements of a working school environment.
The key purposes for FocusCS were developed in collaboration with school counsellors, and are ultimately driven by the needs they identified: effectively streamlining their everyday tasks, elevating the level of support they can provide to students, and the ability to securely access the software anywhere, at any time.
Aligned with Agile Methodology, the software is in a constant cycle of planning, execution and evaluation to ensure responsive collaboration and ongoing improvement for users is maintained.
Features Overview.
Notes. The convenience of having all case notes stored under the relevant student record and accessible at any time. View an individual students’ past and upcoming appointments and case note history in one central location. Create custom student data collection fields specific to your school, and upload external files in any format to an individual student record. Export case notes in a single click to respond to subpoenas, and transfer students between counsellors. Create backdated case notes entries for a student history, and upload supporting documents. Create custom case note templates for counselling sessions and risk assessments. Search and filter student history using keywords and types of interactions, and categorise your interaction type for each entry.
Schedules. Manage student appointments from within the FocusCS calendar interface, with the option to align each appointment with your own school timetable or a timeframe of your own choice. Set calendar reminders, and block out periods for the performance of non-student related workload tasks and events. View your calendar interface in a monthly, weekly or daily format, with event types automatically colour coded for your ease of reference. Opt in to send automated appointment notifications to students via email, and access student profiles directly from event entries.
Reports. Our reporting interface displays a graphical summary of number of students seen by each counsellor, the severity level of active students and the number of active students by year level. Filters allow you to drill down the results to filter by a set time period, year level, student house or student gender. Use a single click export function to produce unlimited formalized reports to meet your reporting requirements - export de-identified Student Activity reports suitable for Leadership teams, export detailed Counselling Activity reports for internal wellbeing team reviews and meetings, and export student appointment summaries to support the formalized NCCD process.
Forms. Create customizable forms to assist with the administration of student support requests and communications. Create a personalized template cache of Consent forms, Referral forms and Assessments to collect student data, and distribute your forms electronically to relevant parties for completion. Associate submitted forms to the relevant student record as they are received to the ‘Actions’ centre in real-time. Integrate form links to your existing staff, student and parent portals to enable access to support requests and consents at any time.
Integrations. Manually manage students, or opt in to integrate with your existing SIS. To import and update relevant student data via a read only, one-way sync to FocusCS from your SIS, we either directly integrate to TASS via API or indirectly integrate via an API provided by secure third party Wonde for platforms such as Edumate, Engage, ICON, SIMON and Synergetic. Onboarding information for your school, including house information, school periods and term information is gathered upfront for initial setup inhouse to ensure back-end field parameters align with your school specifics.
Security. Data is protected by cutting-edge technology, with storage that is regularly updated to ensure it complies with the highest Australian data security standards. FocusCS is entirely cloud-based, with security at its core. In order to quickly patch security flaws we continuously scan the application for vulnerabilities and undertake regularly scheduled penetration testing. In addition to our local login option, Azure SSO and Onelogin options simplify the user login process. Internal policies and procedures are reviewed on a quarterly basis and are published on our ‘Links’ website tab.
Updates. Live software ensures that all users always have access to the most recent software updates, security upgrades and new features as they are rolled out. Aligned with the Agile Methodology, the software is in a constant cycle of planning, execution and evaluation. We strongly believe in collaboration - we actively explore all feedback we receive from our users with the intention to implement each suggestion into our software for the benefit of our wider school community of users. Regular emails to our users advise of the rollout of any new features and functions, and are inclusive of a step-by-step guide and a link to our Software User Manual.
Support. We place strong emphasis on the level of support received by our users. Our users are provided with access to our online ‘Support’ portal and connection with our online Software User Manual. Our support portal is monitored by several of our staff to ensure a streamlined support process is achieved, and we offer a personalised approach in lieu of chat bots or generic response AI. Our team endeavours to respond to, and close out, support requests within 24 to 48 hours. The majority of support requests are closed out same-day, with users being regularly updated via email of progress for more complex support requests.
Pricing Structure.
We value the importance of supporting students' wellbeing for enhancing learning and social and emotional development, and believe all school environments should have equal access to targeted resources, such as FocusCS, regardless of total student count or number of users.
Our simple fee model speaks to that narrative by capturing all functions and features under the one straightforward price, and includes; access to the FocusCS platform, secure Cloud hosting, SIS integration, notifications of new features, ongoing training and support, and the unlimited capacity to create custom digital forms and case note templates, and download exportable reports.
Please contact us for pricing details.
Focus CJM Pty Ltd ABN 52 673 738 219 trading as FocusCS
1800 700 001 | admin@focuscs.com.au
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