Defining app requirements

The first order of business for any school or district in the market for a school mobile app is to have a plan and establish some goals. The goals for your school mobile app should be included in your school communications planning.

Just what is it that you’re trying to achieve with it? By using a planning discipline and taking a strategic approach, your decision to partner with a mobile app provider will be an easier one. Consider these points as you map out why and how you want a mobile app to perform for your school:

Goal setting

Begin with setting goals for your mobile app. You might be starting with no experience or you may already have a mobile app that’s being underutilized for one reason or another. Make your goals manageable and achievable. For example:

• The number of people who download the app in the first month of school;
• The percentage of parents with the app by grade (parents of younger grades tend to be more involved);
• Engagement levels with the app
• Parent and staff satisfaction surveys

Digital channel integration

Secondly, make sure you have a handle on where your mobile app fits into your total communications strategy. You don’t want your mobile app to be some isolated element of your school communications that requires all sorts of independent attention to manage content and administer support. Your current technology infrastructure, for example, may not be able to easily handle the app you're considering. Conduct a full audit of your existing communications content technology so you know the questions to ask your mobile app provider candidates.

Administration buy-in

Part of your planning should include garnering the full support of your school’s leadership. From the superintendent and school board members to the school principals and PTO leaders, it’s critical that they all see the value in a mobile app built around parent preferences and streamlines school-home communication. This front-end buy-in is essential too to help you promote use of the app when you launch it.

A mobile app is a strategic communications tool. When built and implemented according to plan, it can be a positive contributor to parent engagement success.

The school website is such an important part of your school's communications plan, even the most accomplished communications lead should not proceed independently or in a vacuum. Besides spreading the burden for the project leader, teamwork will yield a better website when it comes time to launch. Being the lead on a website project is a big undertaking. Even teams with all-pro quarterbacks need receivers, linemen, and a strong defense to put a winner on the field.

Your first order of business in planning for a great, successful website is to assemble a great team or committee of school personnel who can help shape precisely what your school’s website needs to be. How you put together your team depends on the size of your district, communications staffing levels, school leadership, culture, and other considerations.

How to Prevent Unfriendly Websites

The benefits of a team approach on a website planning project are numerous: Team members can brainstorm ideas in the discovery phase, help meet deadlines and move the project along with workload distribution, generate support with consensus building, and instill a level of investment on the part of these key stakeholders. The sense of community around building a new website can also be very gratifying and rewarding.

Your website team, or variations thereof, can serve as an ongoing advisory group for the annual check-ups your website needs for continued good health.

With a plan in hand and a good idea of the key features you want in your mobile app, the next thing you want to do is create a checklist to make sure you specify exactly what you need and want. Reviewing this list will help insure successful implementation.

Systems integration

• Will it integrate with all existing platforms?
• Full integration with CMS and LMS or merely links to those systems (which can be cumbersome)

Mobile access

• Check the capability to view all content on any mobile device. With operating system updates and new devices routinely being introduced, make sure your mobile app can keep pace with the technology.
  
  

True push notifications 

• Does the app create notifications even when the app is not open? (some don’t)
• Will you be able to deliver breaking news (school closings, lock downs, sports results and other events) in real time?

App promotion

• Don’t let your app just sit there and gather dust. Promote it by creating an integrated landing page (that can be promoted throughout your website and all your communications).
• Include links to the app store.
• Detect mobile visitors and provide a banner to link to the app store. People are accessing your website via mobile, so promote your app through targeted banners.