Missouri District Elevates Efficiency and Improves Staff Satisfaction with New ERP

Case Studies > Missouri District Elevates Efficiency and Improves Staff Satisfaction with New ERP

Fulton Public Schools moves from outdated, disconnected systems to an integrated, user-friendly future with Skyward Qmlativ

For years, Fulton Public Schools struggled with outdated and disjointed financial and HR systems that drained time and resources. With separate programs for financials, time tracking, and onboarding, staff faced constant manual work and time-consuming data re-entry.

“I could write a novel of the issues we had with our legacy software programs,” said Jennifer Milligan, chief financial officer at Fulton. “We wasted so much time trying to make everything align.”

That all changed when Fulton discovered Skyward's Qmlativ ERP system.

"I have greatly appreciated how thorough and efficient the consulting and training process is with Skyward."

Three systems, zero harmony

Before Skyward, Fulton’s outdated software severely limited functionality in their business office.

“Our financial software had not been updated in over 19 years and was limited by the number of administrative users we could assign,” Milligan explained. “We were using three different software programs for financials, time clock, and staff onboarding.”

Between these three programs, none of them integrated, and each required a lengthy import or export process that still needed a large quantity of manual entries. Additionally, each fiscal year was kept separate and required closing out all users to update prior year’s information.

“As a result, we wasted so much time re-entering information to align all three programs and keep them up to date,” said Milligan. “We still had paper timesheets for many afterschool activities, as we paid a per user fee for our time clock software, which made adding teachers to the program cost prohibitive.”

Frustrations at an all-time high, Milligan and Fulton set out to find a provider that would help them revolutionize their business office.

"With Qmlativ, I’ve reconciled [accounts] them in about 30 minutes because it is seriously that easy in Skyward."

Love at first demo

On their journey to a new ERP, Fulton went into the process knowing that they wanted a fully integrated software that was cloud based. It needed to be easy to use for staff, and bring the district into the current century. Cue: Skyward Qmlativ.

“We had a demo and it was love at first sight — cliché but true,” explained Milligan. “After the demo, when our technology team agreed with my impression of Qmlativ, it was a short turn around to gain board approval and move forward.”

Start to finish, Milligan took the charge of implementing Qmlativ at Fulton. From the consulting sessions, setup, training, and beyond, she had a lot on her shoulders.

“Skyward has been my project, and my dream,” said Milligan. “I have greatly appreciated how thorough and efficient the consulting and training process is with Skyward. Each step was methodical and planned, and going live was a very smooth transition for us.”

Along with the support from Skyward, Milligan also helped reduce the learning curve by attending a user group conference in a neighboring state. This helped her learn more about the different areas of the software.

“My Skyward consultant and trainers were all absolutely fantastic,” expressed Milligan. “They didn’t take my training wheels off until I was ready!”

Fulton’s implementation was a gradual process, first going live with accounts payable and payroll, then rolling in time tracking and applicant tracking. Shortly after getting started, Fulton saw their efforts come to life.

"Watch the demo, and dream of what your district could be!"

A win for everyone

With Qmlativ, Fulton’s pain points with their previous software and how it handled financials, time clock, and staff onboarding are gone. Processes that used to take days to do have dwindled to minutes.

“It used to take me a full day to reconcile all our accounts, because I had to click off each check, deposit, journal entry, etc. individually,” expressed Milligan. “With Qmlativ, I’ve reconciled them in about 30 minutes because it is seriously that easy in Skyward.”

A top goal for the district is to improve staff retention, and Qmlativ has now allowed Fulton to pay hourly staff more frequently.

“We have tried for several years to establish a method of paying our hourly staff more frequently than once a month but were unable to achieve this without being able to increase staff in the central office,” explained Milligan. “By eliminating the duplicate and triplicate processing required from our old systems, and having a product that is fully integrated, we are moving to every other Friday pay dates for hourly staff as of August 1, 2025, without increasing central office staff. This is a huge win for our staff.”

Overall, Qmlativ has removed all the hurdles Fulton experienced with their legacy software, and provides the ability to improve the district’s financial process from start to finish

“Being fully integrated also means that we can move towards paperless processing for deposits and accounts payable, providing greater efficiency in our buildings as well,” said Milligan. “The software and mobile app are user friendly and easy to learn, which is a huge benefit for our staff that are technologically challenged. It’s truly an all-in-one for our staff!”

Onward and upward

Looking ahead, Fulton has big plans for how Qmlativ can further improve their business office processes.

“A year from now, I would like to have teachers enter purchase orders and requests directly, instead of going through a paper process with a building secretary,” said Milligan. “I would also like to eliminate paper purchase orders and expense reimbursements being routed through district mail."

For other districts looking to implement Qmlativ, Milligan suggests:

"Watch the demo, and dream of what your district could be!”