Check out this cool thing. It’s the first of what I hope will be a handful of apps to make life a little easier for our CASE staff. I created it using Microsoft PowerApps, which is a “low code / no code” platform for creating company apps for smartphones, tablets, and the Web. What you see here is the IST Buddy, designed for the Instructional Support Team to be able to easily log work time every day both for billing purposes and to keep the CASE Administration informed of how they can be better supported in their work.

Here are some cool features:

  • It ties in to CASE’s existing database used for Itinerant Services, so there is already a giant linked index of districts, schools, and students.
  • Staff only need to input one piece of info (a student, school, or district) and the underlying database automatically fills in missing data based on that selection.
  • After each user logs in (using their regular CASE email and password), the app identifies them and shows them only their records and nobody else’s.
  • It shows both a list view and a table (“spreadsheet”) view.
  • The list view can be filtered / searched by any information in the record (part of a student’s name, district, type of work, etc).
  • If a student doesn’t already exist in the database, it’s easy for the user to add one.
  • Users can add, delete, or edit any log entry easily.
  • The app can be pinned to any smartphone’s home screen for easy access.
  • Updates and improvements to the app are automatically downloaded.