nFocus Software, the leading provider of performance management and outcome measurement software to the public sector, has been selected by United Way of Forsyth County and the Community Education Collaborative in Winston-Salem, N.C., to deploy a community data system that will help evaluate and support student progress and other initiatives.

The Collaborative was founded in 2008 by Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, United Way of Forsyth County, the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, Graduate. It Pays., and various community leaders to coordinate and strengthen strategies on academic achievement and high school graduation rates. It now includes a broader constituency, including representatives from the faith-based community and grass-roots organizations.

The dropout rate was nearly 71 percent when the group was created. The graduation rate has since improved to nearly 80 percent and the goal is to reach 90 percent by 2018.

“This requires us to strengthen our efforts to reach that 2018 goal and increasing our data management capacity is a key element,” said Eric A. Aft, Chief Operating Officer, United Way of Forsyth County. “We need a partner that will help assure greater effectiveness for our community initiatives and funders need data to evaluate how best to achieve the greatest return on our investment. nFocus will help us to ensure we are reaching our students in the best way possible and helping them build a path for success.”

nFocus will implement TraxSolutions, a system that ensures data is shared and analyzed on an ongoing basis by various community partners to support decision making and deliver positive outcomes. A program manager, hired by the Collaborative’s partner, Forsyth Futures, will manage the new system, which will initially gather data from 14 sites. Forsyth Futures’ expertise in data management and analysis, along with its focus on coordinating projects with shared goals, is a vital asset to the project.

Ananda Roberts, President of nFocus Software, said, “Winston-Salem is entrusting us with their mission to reverse adverse trends and identify service gaps. Only through such a collective vision and measuring outcomes will the community achieve its goals.”

TraxSolutions is scheduled to begin to go live with local partners this fall.

About nFocus Software

nFocus Software is the leading provider of performance management, training, and outcome measurement software to the public sector. For more than 17 years, the company’s youth and education solutions tracked and measured outcomes for more than 3.8 million children in all 50 states and Canada including nonprofit organizations, Fortune 500 companies, and city, state, and federal government.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nfocus-software-deploys-solutions-to-raise-communitys-graduation-rates-2011-08-30

nFocus Software, the leading provider of performance management and outcome measurement software to the public sector, announced today the opening of a new office in Chicago. This marks the seventh location for the solutions firm.

Located at 444 N. Michigan Ave., the Chicago office will offer training support for more than 4,500 clients. The office will work with clients to help them reach their performance and outcome goals to address pressing youth and education needs.

For instance, in Northwest Indiana, a collaborative effort between community groups and school districts partners with nFocus to provide TraxSolutions, an early-warning system providing “real time” data on students and helps identify potential dropouts and recommends the most effective interventions.

“With the opening of our Chicago office we have created a central hub of training for our clients across the country,” said Ananda Roberts, president of nFocus Software. “This expansion demonstrates our commitment to our customers and the communities they serve.”

In addition to Chicago, nFocus Software also has offices in Phoenix, Austin, Texas, Orlando, Fla., Leavenworth, Kan., Louisville, Ky., and Fort Sill, Okla.

Source:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nfocus-software-expands-training-capabilities-with-new-chicago-office-119254629.html

Common Impact, a consulting company that connects global companies with high-potential local nonprofits, commissioned Fidelity Investments to conduct an evaluation of data tracking and outcome measurement software. The study found that nFocus Software’s TraxSolutions ranked highest when compared to industry competitors.

The purpose of the evaluation was to help the City of Boston research the viability of creating and implementing a system that would integrate the data sources from multiple Boston organizations, including Boston Public Schools (BPS), Boston Public Libraries (BPL) and Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF). This collaboration and exchange is being pursued as the solution that organizations need to achieve their goals as outlined by the Community Learning Initiative (CLI), a multi-department alliance that aims to help Boston’s youth reach their full potential.

“The findings of the Fidelity Team showcase our demonstrated record of success,” said Ananda Roberts, President of nFocus Software. “This report exemplifies the excellent customer service and product quality that we strive to deliver to each one of our clients.”

The Fidelity Team conducted a Build vs. Buy analysis showing that buying a third-party product would be a significantly preferable option than attempting to create a homegrown system; they noted that homegrown systems are at least twice as expensive while taking twice as long to implement.

Using a Product Evaluation and Recommendation (PER), nFocus Software and two other industry leaders were appraised based on product demonstrations, and their communications and research gathered throughout the evaluation process.

The Fidelity Team found nFocus Software’s TraxSolutions to be the obvious leader, recommending TraxSolutions as the most well-suited product for the City of Boston, pointing to its demonstrated record of success, product maturity and excellent customer support. The study concluded that “nFocus displayed the best ability to integrate and gather data from outside data sources” and “TraxSolutions would be the most apt solution to meet the needs of the project stakeholders as well as the City of Boston as a whole.”

Source:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fidelity-investments-study-ranks-nfocus-softwares-traxsolutions-best-in-industry-105339773.html