14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has introduced a collection of subscription-based Cloud solutions for government and education tailored to the U.S. market. Public Sector On-Demand Solutions are a set of vertical applications delivered based on a hosted model as opposite to on-premise deployments, in concordance with the Redmond company's new Software plus Services strategy. Based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the Public Sector On-Demand Solutions are designed to fall in line with the concept of Government 2.0 and come with the promise of streamlined communications capabilities among governmental agencies, as well as between the government and citizens.
“Public sector customers are working to deliver the next generation of capabilities to dramatically lower costs, increase productivity, streamline operations and reduce custom development time,” revealed Curt Kolcun, vice president, U.S. Public Sector at Microsoft. “The Public Sector On-Demand cloud-based solutions we are launching with our partners represent the first of many such hosted applications. This is a big step forward for Microsoft in providing choice and flexibility for how these solutions are delivered.”
Microsoft worked with four partners in order to create the six on-demand applications aimed at government and educational organizations: Eskel Porter Consulting, Mitchell Humphrey, Information Strategies and Metaphor Software. The Redmond company is offering a Public Records Tracker, FastTrackGov Citizen Service Solutions, Agenda Builder, Constituent Issue Manager, Inspection Manager and Backpack 2008 Student Information System (SIS).
“Backpack SIS - this interface allows administrators, staff and teachers to manage all aspects of the district down to individual classes and students. With Backpack SIS, teachers and staff can easily manage attendance, grade book information, courses, students, master scheduling, state reporting and assessments. By automating tasks that otherwise consume time or cause frustration, stress is reduced while freeing more time up for teachers to teach,” Microsoft added.