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Orah

Orah

Overview

What is Orah?

Boardingware, headquartered in Auckland, offers their student management system for boarding schools, built around managing the needs particular to boarding schools, such as student care and student tracking.

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Learn from top reviewers

Boardingware: Great for Boarding Schools

Rating: 9 out of 10
January 18, 2020
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
It is across the whole organization. It helps significantly with attendance, checking students in and out, knowing where students live, and any allergies/medications they may ...
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Verified user
Employee
Orah3 years of experience

Boardingware - safety for the school and the boys.

Rating: 9 out of 10
December 20, 2018
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
We use Boardingware to manage the roll call, contacts, sign outs and pastoral care of 130 Boarders at SACS High School in Cape Town. The information is all stored in the cloud...
Continue reading
Barry van Selm
Professional - Other
Deputy Headmaster - Marketing/Head of Boarding
SACS High School
Orah2 years of experience

Boardingware review

Rating: 10 out of 10
November 15, 2018
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
We use Boardingware to track students' whereabouts. This is not just for school trips, but medical leave, vacations and any other reason a student may leave campus. We also us...
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Herman (Hans) Hermanson
Director - Other
Residence Life Coordinator
Blue Ridge School
Orah3 years of experience

Boardingware brings peace of mind!

Rating: 8 out of 10
November 15, 2018
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
We are using Boardingware for the Residential Life Program. We use Boardingware to track where all students are when they leave campus, to take roll, to write personal, medica...
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Antxon Iturbe
Director - Other
Director of Residential Life
St. Anne's Belfield School
Orah2 years of experience

Best product on the market as of this review!

Rating: 10 out of 10
November 13, 2018
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
Boardingware is currently only being used internally within the Residential Life department to address the travel scheduling and accountability for our students. It helps ease...
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Andrew Wright
Administrator - Other
Director of Residential Life
Foxcroft Academy
Orah3 years of experience
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Pricing

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Orah

Orah

N/A
Unavailable

What is Orah?

Boardingware, headquartered in Auckland, offers their student management system for boarding schools, built around managing the needs particular to boarding schools, such as student care and student tracking.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Alternatives Pricing

iGradePlus

iGradePlus

Free
What is iGradePlus?

iGradePlus is a web-based gradebook and school management system offering a wide array of features for individual teachers, schools and districts. Features include student, class, and grade management, attendance and behavior tracking, custom report generation, and extensive student and parent…

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Product Details

What is Orah?

Orah is a student engagement platform for schools and organisations that insist on providing student's with the best care, support and opportunities to succeed.

Orah’s student engagement platform helps capture data from student interactions, centralise that data into unified profiles, uncover actionable insights and streamline workflows to give students the care and support they need to succeed.

The suite includes:
Unify - To get more out of data and better serve students
Capture and centralise student interactions, uncover actionable insights and streamline workflows to better serve students’ needs.

Supervise - To simplify attendance and track student involvement
Keeping track of where students are shouldn't be difficult, no matter how necessary it is. Supervise provides solutions for attendance, sign-in and permission workflows.

Coordinate - To organise activities and events with speed and precision
Coordinate organises student activities and events so you can focus on creating the best experiences for your students.

Nurture - To prioritise student well-being and help students succeed
It's hard to know what's happening inside a developing mind. Nurture offers tools to monitor and analyse student well-being, to ensure they get the support they need.

Safeguard - To minimise risk and increase student safety
Safeguard helps mitigate risk and uphold safeguarding responsibilities with effective emergency response and risk planning

Orah Competitors

Orah Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Boardingware, headquartered in Auckland, offers their student management system for boarding schools, built around managing the needs particular to boarding schools, such as student care and student tracking.

Reach Student Life Management, SchoolSuite, and Compass Education are common alternatives for Orah.

The most common users of Orah are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews From Top Reviewers

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Boardingware is a versatile software that meets the diverse needs of schools and boarding houses. Users have found it invaluable for tracking students' locations and movements, especially in a hybrid learning model where students may be on or off-campus. The software simplifies the process of conducting daily symptom checks and collecting information, eliminating the need for shared Google sheets and email blasts. It also consolidates all records in one place, making communication about staff much easier through the Pastoral Notes feature.

In addition to streamlining daily operations, Boardingware helps with managing student leave and submitting plans in advance. Multiple teachers can check in a group together, and supervisors can easily see the status of check-ins. The software replaces manual methods like paper and pencil for tracking student locations, making it more efficient and accessible for both staff and students. It has been particularly helpful for roll and bed checks in schools with a large number of students.

Boardingware offers convenience for parents too, as it facilitates uniform and standardized information entry for parent and student-initiated checkouts. From weekend activities to off-campus trips, the software integrates seamlessly, enabling attendance tracking and last-minute adjustments. Users also find it valuable for monitoring student leave patterns and potential absences, helping them identify trends effectively.

Furthermore, Boardingware assists schools in their duty of care towards students by enhancing safety measures. It simplifies the management of medical care, emergency roll calls, and administering medical attention when necessary. By reducing paper usage and ensuring accurate records, Boardingware improves efficiency while providing accountability and security.

The software extends its benefits beyond school administration to parents who gain peace of mind knowing where their children are at any given time. With improved communication channels between home, school, and students, Boardingware enhances safeguarding measures while streamlining processes such as overnight stays, headcount checks, and permission management.

Overall, Boardingware proves to be an essential tool for schools seeking effective student management, safety, accountability, and time-saving solutions. Its wide range of use cases demonstrates its versatility in meeting the specific needs of boarding houses and schools alike.

Versatility in tracking student locations and conducting COVID symptom checks: Many users have praised Boardingware for its versatility in tracking the locations of both day students and boarders. It has been highly effective in conducting regular COVID symptom checks, ensuring the safety of all students.

User-friendly visual interface with easy-to-use filters: The visual interface of Boardingware has received high praise from users for being user-friendly and easy to navigate. The ability to see all students at a glance, coupled with the use of intuitive filters, has made it extremely convenient for administrators to manage student data.

Real-time response feature during emergencies: Users love the real-time response feature in Boardingware, which allows everyone to quickly indicate their safety during emergencies. This feature has provided peace of mind to both students and parents, knowing that help can be easily requested and coordinated when needed.

Confusing User Interface: Many users have found the user interface of Boardingware to be confusing and time-consuming to familiarize with, making tasks difficult and causing frustration.

Issues with Data Saving and Access: Users frequently encounter difficulties accessing shared roll calls and experience issues with information not being saved due to internet access or connection problems. This can lead to data loss and a lack of reliability in the software.

Limited Customization Options: Some users have expressed a desire for the ability to apply filters to live rolls for specific groups or houses. The current lack of customization options in Boardingware limits its adaptability to different school settings and requirements.

Users have recommended several strategies for maximizing the use of Boardingware. Firstly, they advise utilizing the account manager for technical support and any questions that may arise. Secondly, taking advantage of the support sessions available at startup is highly recommended. Lastly, users suggest planning a few weeks of training before implementing the software to ensure a smooth transition. By following these recommendations, users believe that Boardingware can effectively manage all aspects of student life in boarding schools.

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(1-5 of 5)

Best product on the market as of this review!

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
November 13, 2018
AW
Andrew Wright
Director of Residential Life
Foxcroft Academy (Education Management, 51-200 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Orah
3 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Boardingware is currently only being used internally within the Residential Life department to address the travel scheduling and accountability for our students. It helps ease the minds of our parents, as well as lighten the load of our dorm staff while teaching responsibility to our students as they grow into young adults..
Pros
  • Boardingware does an exceptional job of listening to its constituents, both administrators and parents alike, and adding or adjusting things accordingly to meet the needs of those that use their product.
  • Boardingware does an incredible job of having a simplified student and parent user experience with apps specific to those users. The full program is incredibly powerful, and can be confusing for those not trained in its use, so to have these separate and specified apps do a wonderful job of creating a positive experience for the end users.
  • Boardingware is great at being a reliable application with features that allow for consistency and accountability on all ends. It is quickly becoming our primary platform for all record keeping in the residential life program.
Cons
  • Boardingware does depend on quite a bit of buy-in from the student end to be used to its fullest, and as with any product aimed about both adults and teenagers, that can take multiple academic years to cultivate regular use.
  • Boardingware is a "power user" program on the staff end, which means it is an incredibly powerful tool that has a lot of options. This depth can also make some of the menus or information a little bit difficult to find or understand. The need for training is a strong one, and retraining is often necessary even for veteran users.
Likelihood to Recommend
This is hands down the best application on the market in terms of making sure parents and staff understand where students are at any given time during the day. It also has done a great job of expanding into buy-in areas for students such as having event sign-ups inside the application. Having parent accounts also does a great job of keeping lines of communication open between the parents, school, and students.
Return on Investment
  • The price is of course always a factor, but when considering the ease of mind for parents and staff, as well as a consistent understanding of where students are, the return is exceptional for this investment.

Boardingware - safety for the school and the boys.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
December 20, 2018
Bv
Barry van Selm
Deputy Headmaster - Marketing/Head of Boarding
SACS High School (Education Management, 51-200 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Orah
2 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Boardingware to manage the roll call, contacts, sign outs and pastoral care of 130 Boarders at SACS High School in Cape Town. The information is all stored in the cloud and so it is secure. It allows us to manage the whereabouts of the boarders and makes duty masters accountable, even years after the have left the organization. This software not only ticked all the boxes for us, but also gave parents piece of mind too. The consultants were outstanding and their after sales help and support has been faultless, especially Kathleen who lives on the other side of the world, but has been incredible to deal with when we need her. One might possibly thing this software may be expensive, but when you break it down per student and what it offers, we certainly will continue to use it. It is easy to load students information through an Excel spreadsheet or through existing school management software. They offer training through Skype or Telephonically. I certainly can recommend this software to boarding schools.
Pros
  • Captures roll calls.
  • At a glance, one can see if students are on campus.
  • Ease of use.
Cons
  • I would like to see all parents having to capture weekend arrangements, whether they are going out or staying in.
  • An automatic reminder SMS sent to parents who have not made arrangements by a certain time.
Likelihood to Recommend
When a boarder is missing from roll call, you can see where he had signed out and when was due back. One can see contact details and make contact with the student or parent.
Return on Investment
  • We are able to manage the weekend and weekly sign outs of boarders. We are also able to store this information ion the cloud in case it is ever needed in the future.
  • Parents are able to manage their sons where abouts and also have the knowledge that they know where their boys are on the weekends
  • Housemasters are protected if they follow procedures in case of a boarder missing a roll call and has not signed out.

Boardingware review

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
November 15, 2018
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Boardingware to track students' whereabouts. This is not just for school trips, but medical leave, vacations and any other reason a student may leave campus. We also use it to designate which students have medical issues that need to be put on a watch list to include anything from allergies to diabetes. In the near future we'll be using this program to also track school/class attendance. Currently Boardingware is used by all faculty and staff campus wide.
Pros
  • User-friendly interface. One doesn't need to really even use the tutorials if they don't want to.
  • Customer service - I've never gone more than 24 hrs without an issue being resolved. Usually it's much less than that.
  • Constant improvements and expansion. The program keeps growing without the need to change what we're doing. There are improvements that are helpful, but we're not forced to use them if they are not actually useful or needed. This is a great asset.
Cons
  • The only thing I've thought of is that more space for a larger photo on the student's profile would be helpful. Other than this they need to just keep doing what they are doing.
Likelihood to Recommend
Well suited for involving parents in the leave process of their child.
Accountability of students from any location
Accountability of students from any device

Not sure what it would be less suited for as it fits our needs perfectly.
Return on Investment
  • We were tracking student leave by hand or by an in-house program. Both of these became inefficient and/or unusable. Having Boardingware has expedited the process. It's hard to give numbers, but we're several days ahead of where we used to be in terms of tracking students' leave for Thanksgiving break.
  • Parent involvement was always an issue, but with Boardingware parents must approve a leave before we (the school) does. This makes parents take responsibility for their child which happens less than it should.
  • Having access to flagged students with health issues makes it much easier to plan field trips. We can easily know who should have what meds or epi pens based on their Boardingware profile. Safety awareness and prevention has gone up due to this feature.
Other Software Used

Boardingware brings peace of mind!

Rating: 8 out of 10
Incentivized
November 15, 2018
AI
Antxon Iturbe
Director of Residential Life
St. Anne's Belfield School (Education Management, 51-200 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Orah
2 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We are using Boardingware for the Residential Life Program. We use Boardingware to track where all students are when they leave campus, to take roll, to write personal, medical, disciplinary notes and any other information that should be known by every faculty member and medical professionals.
Pros
  • Allows for all important information to be kept in one place.
  • Their app allows every faculty member to access information from anywhere.
  • They have been responsive to our feedback.
Cons
  • Their updates sometimes lead to loss of functionality.
Likelihood to Recommend
Any residential life program in the world would benefit from implementing Boardingware. It has substituted all sorts of different Google docs, spreadsheets, clipboards, etc.
Return on Investment
  • It is hard to put a number on it because the reason behind implementing Boardingware was for safety and convenience. I do think it does help the school and the program to be less liable.
Other Software Used

Boardingware: Great for Boarding Schools

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
January 18, 2020
Verified User
Employee in Other
Education Management Company, 201-500 employees
Vetted Review
Verified User
Orah
3 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
It is across the whole organization. It helps significantly with attendance, checking students in and out, knowing where students live, and any allergies/medications they may have. This is vital in a boarding school community as you are liable for someone else's child. It is imperative that you always have their information in the palm of your hand.
Pros
  • Keeping all information organized in one place.
  • Having my entire student database at the touch of a screen.
Cons
  • It often freezes or stalls. In an emergency it could potentially be an issue.
  • I wish that I could put class schedules in.
Likelihood to Recommend
Boardingware is well suited for many situations. Some of the moments when I like having the entire school database in the palm of my hand are during fire drills or lockdown drills. Further, when checking students on and off-campus, it is very nice to have. Additionally, at night when I am making sure all students are accounted for. However, it is less suited for situations within the classroom, such as where students are.
Return on Investment
  • I sometimes feel it is not worth the price.
  • I believe it needs to cater more towards helping teachers within the classroom.
Alternatives Considered
Senior Systems did not work as well and the functionality from the administrative side is not as user-friendly. I often felt like it was down and not working properly, or that I could not find where certain documents are. I believe that for a boarding school community Boardingware was much more user-friendly, and did not take as many steps in order to get the job done quickly.
Support Rating
10
I gave this rating because Boardingware support is unbelievable. They are quick to reply and have a chat feature that they not only are there for most of the day but you can leave a note if they are not available and they get back to you very quickly. I thoroughly enjoyed any conversations I had with support from Boardingware.
Other Software Used
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