Chancery Releases Chancery SMS 3.0.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 2003

Chancery Software Ltd., the leading provider of K-12 student information management systems, today announced a new release of its innovative web-based Student Management Solution, Chancery SMS(TM) 3.0.

Chancery SMS is a student information management solution for school districts who want centralized, web-based, real-time management of their student data. Built on state-of-the-art web services technology, Chancery SMS offers unprecedented device independence, scalability, and extensibility. This solution is uniquely aligned to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by the No Child Left Behind Act and its reporting requirements.

Chancery SMS gives schools and districts innovative real-time communication tools such as Active Alerts, which send instant notifications to teachers based on custom-defined criteria. Chancery SMS not only provides the industry's greatest depth and breadth of functionality for districts, it also meets the industry's highest standards for data security.

"Chancery provides the market's most powerful, innovative solutions," said Chancery CEO Paul Kellenberger. "With Chancery SMS 3.0 we're once again proving that Chancery is committed to meeting the needs of school districts seeking web-based, centralized access to their student data by offering ground-breaking innovations and unmatched functionality."

The educators at Klein Independent School District in Klein, Texas who have been working with and beta testing the latest version of Chancery SMS have been impressed by its integrated, customizable features. "Chancery SMS 3.0 has made our jobs easier and made us more confident when making data-driven decisions," said Vicki James, Klein's Director of Student Information Services. "The centralized system has really increased the accuracy of our data, and the state-of-the-art features like PDA support, Active Alerts, and Chancery's K12Planet(R) school-to-home integration set a new standard in student information management."

Key Benefits of Chancery SMS

Chancery SMS represents the leading edge of student information technology. This web-based, centralized solution provides information in real time, improving district-wide communications and keeping schools and districts continually up to date and informed. Teachers, school administrators, and district personnel can manage and report on different sets of data from the same centralized database. This eliminates data entry redundancy, which helps to reduce errors and improve data accuracy, saving the district time and money. Chancery SMS improves user comfort and efficiency with convenient role-based functionality and gives users the ability to customize lists, reports, and home pages with functions and details they use most often, delivering greater convenience and ease of use.

Chancery SMS is designed to give users the utmost in flexibility and freedom by providing platform and device independence. PDA Support and Active Alerts allow users more choice and accessibility by enabling them to access the information they need, any time, anywhere, and on virtually any device. This scalable, extensible solution offers educators the best of technological innovation, tailored to the needs of today's schools and districts.

Key Enhancements in Version 3.0

-- Customized Role-Based Home Pages - Individual users can now customize their role-based home pages by adding custom panels, such as Active Alerts and custom reports, for increased speed and convenience.

-- Active Alerts - Active Alerts is a real-time event delivery system with the ability to intelligently and proactively trigger events and distribute alerts to relevant personnel. This decision-based system prioritizes alerts and determines which alerts pertain to specific users. With Chancery SMS 3.0, teachers are now able to subscribe to a Future Attendance Change alert, which delivers notification of known future unexcused absences, excused absences, and tardies to the teacher's Chancery SMS home page and/or PocketPC-based PDA. Active Alerts keep educators informed about important information when and where they need it.

-- PDA Support - Chancery SMS 3.0 users can search and view student demographic data and receive Active Alerts on their PocketPC-based PDAs, increasing their freedom and mobility.

-- K12Planet(R) Integration - Chancery SMS 3.0 integrates with Chancery's school-to-home web portal, K12Planet, through which schools can communicate grades, attendance, homework, scheduling, teacher messages, and other important information to students and parents. This effective communication method gives parents the information they need to support their children's education, and it requires no additional data entry from the school, making it an easy and cost-effective tool.

-- Student Search & Saved Lists - Chancery SMS 3.0 offers school- or district-wide advanced search capabilities with customizable search result tables that can be printed directly from the browser interface. Users can also create, save, and edit an unlimited number of student lists and search results for easy reference. These lists save time on frequently performed searches and help educators stay organized.

-- Mass Assign - Chancery SMS 3.0 enables users to make collective changes to multiple student records at the click of a mouse. This saves time by eliminating the need to update individual records in situations where, for example, student grade levels change at the beginning of a new school year.

-- Elementary Resource Services Scheduling - Classes that require individual student pull-outs, such as ESL, speech therapy, and physical therapy, can now be easily accommodated. Users can define resource services, set up resource classes, assign one or more teachers to a resource class, define rooms and meeting times, and view and print class schedules. These features give educators the flexibility and customizability they need to effectively schedule their resources.

-- Report Customization - Users can customize a variety of pre-defined reports included with Chancery SMS or use common data elements to create custom reports in Crystal Reports Professional. Custom reports can be imported into Chancery SMS through a simple home page link, saving time and increasing flexibility.

-- Integrated Support - Chancery SMS 3.0 offers context-sensitive help features and integrated access to Chancery's support website, giving users easy instant access to the searchable Chancery KnowledgeBase and other services for more convenient support.

The release of Chancery SMS 3.0 comes just four months after the release of version 2.0 in October 2002. This rapid release schedule is achieved by leveraging Chancery's development platform, which allows the company to bring accelerated enhancements to Chancery SMS customers.

Chancery SMS 3.0 is available immediately. Contact the Chancery sales department at 800/999-9931 for additional information.

About Chancery Software Ltd. (www.chancery.com)

Chancery Software Ltd. is the leading provider of student information management solutions and support for K-12 schools and districts. Chancery solutions offer accurate real-time information on more than thirteen million students to one million educators every day. Built to address the challenges faced by today's districts, Chancery SMS is uniquely aligned to meet the reporting requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. With more than 15 years of industry firsts and 18,000 installations customized to meet the needs and budgets of diverse schools and districts throughout North America, Chancery is the educational community's most trusted and proven partner.