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PowerSchool Student Information System vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    PowerSchool SIS

    Score6.3 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    The PowerSchool Student Information System covers administrative needs, such as scheduling, attendance, reporting, data management, faculty management, emergency/medical and health management, registration, and more for K-12 schools and districts. It is easy to use and boasts an industry-leading gradebook, PowerTeacher Pro. Users enjoy a fully web-based SIS that is flexible, configurable, and scalable with real-time updates on any operating system, browser or device.N/A

    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/ASolarWinds Netflow Traffic Analyzer is a network monitoring tool within the broader SolarWinds ecosystem. It includes core traffic monitoring features, as well as customizable traffic reports and alerts.N/A
    Pricing
    PowerSchool SISSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    PowerSchool SISSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    PowerSchool SISSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
    Considered Both Products
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    No answer on this topic
    SolarWinds
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    95%
    Would buy again
    18 Answers
    95%
    Would buy again
    42 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    14 Answers
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    37 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    89%
    Happy with the feature set
    17 Answers
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    42 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    90%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    36 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    92%
    Implementation went as expected
    12 Answers
    88%
    Implementation went as expected
    37 Answers
    Features
    PowerSchool SISSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
    Student and Faculty Administration
    Comparison of Student and Faculty Administration features of PowerSchool Student Information System and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
    Feature
    PowerSchool Student Information System
    8.5
    3 Ratings
    2% above category average
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
    -
    Ratings
    Integrations with 3rd-Party Education Technology9.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Online Registration Management10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    District Communications, such as messaging and alerting8.12 Ratings00 Ratings
    Roster Management9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Platform Customization7.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Teacher Self-Service9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Student Data Security9.43 Ratings00 Ratings
    Community Support7.43 Ratings00 Ratings
    Class Scheduling9.43 Ratings00 Ratings
    State and National-level Reporting7.12 Ratings00 Ratings
    Compliance Support7.62 Ratings00 Ratings
    Teacher and Parent Mobile Application8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    PowerSchool SISSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
    Small Businesses
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    Medium-sized Companies
    Schoolmint Hero
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Darktrace
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Schoolmint Hero
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Darktrace
    Score8.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    PowerSchool SISSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (32 ratings)
    9.0
    (62 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (11 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.5
    (12 ratings)
    8.0
    (49 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    PowerSchool SISSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    PowerSchool Student Information System is a cool software that can be highly recommended to anyone who is living in the educational management space. It is proven that this software can reduce your manual workload massively if you use it right. Plus it is really worth the price you pay. Especially if you are in the administrative field, this software will help you to minimize manual efforts put into student registrations, staffing recruitment, and main resource management processes.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    We use and depend on it for status state of our network gear, switches and routers. It does an excellent job of getting you the details you need to confirm all devices and products are working at the level needed. At times, it does tend to flag network switch ports and/or switches themselves as exceeding their rated capacity when frequently it was a quick blip of high traffic due to downloads, or uploads causing the max'ing of the device. Again, you can adjust the settings but then you adjust it too high and miss real activity. It can become nuisance alerting when you tend to then ignore
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    Pros
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    • PowerSchool houses student or staff information that can be easily accessed by those teachers and administrators who need the information. This allows everyone to go to one place to access information.
    • Parents can view their child's grades at any time with their protected login on a parent portal. This allows teachers to keep parents informed and involved in their child's progress at school. When everyone works together it increases our students' chance for success.
    • PowerSchool offers videos to train new users. When we have new employees, the videos can be accessed at any time the employee needs as opposed to them waiting for someone to help them.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    • The level of customization possible with Network Bandwidth Analyzer is very valuable. Rather than being stuck with a "one-size-fits-all" presentation, an administrator can easily create customized views, reports, and alerts so that users can have a more tailored view of the data provided by Network Bandwidth Analyzer. This has the effect of making the tool more attractive to the end user.
    • The NetFlow Traffic Analyzer piece of Network Bandwidth Analyzer provides the details on bandwidth usage on the network. More than knowing how much bandwidth is being used, one is provided with detailed information on how that bandwidth is being used. This provides invaluable information for capacity planning and even certain forensic tasks faced by the network engineer.
    • The ability to produce network maps provides an easy way to create an attractive and functional NOC/SOC view of the entire network. Both technician and the occasional passerby can quickly determine if there are issues to be addressed. The ability to customize a map with background images and custom icons and stencils can make these maps really pop.
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    Cons
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    • Does not consistently communicate with related software such as Illuminate for Special Education Students.
    • Drop down menus frequently refresh as data is entered which slows down the user's ability to enter information.
    • Icons are sometimes unclear and not easily understandable. Word labels for some items might be more effective.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    • The ability to intuitively and quickly serve up specified information up to a dashboard for general “public” consumption, that cycles through several pages of information.
    • The ability to intuitively set up alerting on bandwidth levels, instead of having to dig through all types of alerts available to find the one needed.
    • Provide a pricing model based on different support levels: if I want only available update installations, don’t make me pay the same amount as those wanting full support.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    We would be starting over at square one if we did not continue our PowerSchool subscription. We do not have a program in a place that would take its place.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    Great features, but it can feel very cumbersome at times
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    SolarWinds
    As far as rating for usability is concerned I would give 10/10 as NTA is very easy to use. All you need to do is install that module and ask network Team to configure the Netflow towards Server IP. [The] rest is pre-configured and reports are pre-built. Moment you receive the flows from Network all you will have is information about traffic.
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    Support Rating
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    Overall, I have not had to use support for PowerSchool Student Information System because our school district gives us training in each area in which we will be utilizing PowerSchool Student Information System. In terms of in-user support, I feel that there is mild to moderate user support that is built into PowerSchool SIS.
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    SolarWinds
    I know we could probably pay for it, but it would be nice if we could get to a tier 2 technician faster. Spending a couple of hours on the phone with the level 1 technician, when we have already tried the troubleshooting they are walking us through, is just a waste of time.
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    Online Training
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    The training offered by SolarWinds is some of the best out there. They have several different videos that go into great detail from initial setup to advanced configurations. In addition to the view at your own pace video, they also have live training for customers that focus on a single product and you can ask questions with the folks who develop the software. I have had good success with their live sessions and getting questions answered.
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    Alternatives Considered
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    I have heard good things for Infinite Campus and Skyward. I would [evaluate] each of them and see what fits your needs. Each has their strengths and weaknesses and so picking the right one for your needs is important. PowerSchool [Student Information System] does have some great features, but lacks some fundamental reports and functions to make it top notch.
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    SolarWinds
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer compared to Wireshark and PRTG Network Monitor beats it by just the simple interface. Though all are manual setup, NTA takes it a step further with graphs and reports that analyze the data for you. In comparing to Extrahop from a bandwidth comparison, Extrahop wins but Extrahop is a lot more than just a bandwidth monitoring and cost.
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    Return on Investment
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    • It has created shortcuts for all staff members, saving us time.
    • In creating shortcuts and combining many different systems into one, it is saving our school money.
    • It has created a safety net for teachers because grades and student information is stored electronically, which means teachers not having to worry about losing or misplacing their grade books.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    • Be prepared to answer lots of questions. When people see the data in NTA they are going to want to know why App A is talking to App B. Be ready to explain!
    • Hand the keys to the NTA kingdom to the network team. They will thank you. Everyone wants to have friends on the network team, right?
    • Be prepared to invest in some significant compute and storage performance to keep up with your NTA monitoring
    • Running the latest firmware for your network gear is (often) required to take advantage of all the flow-monitoring. You upgrade regularly, right??
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    PowerSchool SIS Screenshots

    Screenshot of Student attendanceScreenshot of Standards-based gradingScreenshot of At-risk dashboardScreenshot of Parent view of student schedule