“Do one job, and do it right” – that is a basic principle of software development that AlekSIS® follows. Hence, AlekSIS itself focuses on all things related to school organisation and management. It is supposed to be the single source of truth for personal information, learning groups, timetable information, and everything that defines how the school works.
For all fields of endeavour not related to management – like learning platforms, video conferencing, and much more – AlekSIS integrates with other open platforms, as well as popular proprietary solutions.
Manage reference information that define the base of the school, like persons (teachers, students, parents and legal guardians), as well as basic information about the school like its name.
Also, individualise AlekSIS®, with the school’s logo, colours, and a custom app name.
Help all participants know what happens when, for synchronous lessons and events that take place in time slots in a traditional weekly grid. For location, management of rooms is also handled here.
Changes imposed by substitutions, cancellations, one-off events and much more are automatically integrated, and timetable information is available for use by other apps that need it to offer their services, like the class register.
Document the topics of lessons, and personal notes about students, like tardiness, absences, and free-form notes.
The power of digitisation allows full transparency for teachers and students for information concerning themselves, while retaining full privacy. Also, individual needs, like extra marks and types of excuses, can be customised to the needs of the school.
Know who is who in a group of students, even as a substitute teacher that meets the group for the first time. Seating plans can be created for each class in each room, or even for different subjects in the same room.
By using group roles, the task of keeping seating plans up to date can be assigned to students, and seating plans are automatically shared among teachers of the group.
Provide the school community with helpful advice about all things school-related, from technical questions to organisational topics. Administrators can also provide a support question form, and a fully customisable issue form to file trouble tickets in various areas.
Expose PDF documents in a time-based manner, e.g. by providing the current substitution plan under a stable URL for linking on a website or for displaying on digital signage.
Documents can be auto-created from data available in AlekSIS, or uploaded manually to allow users to provide time-based documents created outside AlekSIS, like PDF documents provided by a caterer of the school cantine.
Authenticate users from existing directory servers, like OpenLDAP or Microsoft® Active Directory. While AlekSIS can provide its own user management, for schools that already use an LDAP directory, it can just as well consume user information from there to extend the existing Single Sign-On.
Use existing systems as sign-on source, so that existing accounts can be re-used in AlekSIS®. OAuth and OpenID Connect are widely used standards, allowing AlekSIS® to use other open platforms like Moodle, Nextcloud, or Keycloak, and even proprietary services like Microsoft Teams or Google, for authentication.
Many data management tools provide exports in CSV or other tabular formats. Even if AlekSIS has no integration for all tools specifically, it can handle such files using import templates.
With its wide acceptance as a timetable creation software, Untis can be used to provide timetable and substitution information to AlekSIS. AlekSIS supports all Untis features, by consuming the MySQL database of Untis MultiUser directly.
Matrix is a secure chat and communication platform, based on decentral, open standards. Its sophisticated Element platform can be used to build very flexible communication scenarios. AlekSIS can replicate its organisational data in order to automatically manage Matrix Spaces and chat rooms for the entire school.
The dashboard, where users start using AlekSIS after login, can be customised with external information sources. Calendars with events managed in any groupware, as well as RSS and Atom news feeds from the school website or external news resources, can be added as widgets to keep the school community informed.