Why schools switch to ADAM
Schools that move to ADAM tell us they left their previous system for two reasons. Support was poor or expensive. The system did not understand South African schools. ADAM answers both.
Reason one: support
Schools tell us that support from their previous provider was poor or expensive. ADAM's support works differently because ADAM's team is small. A small team means few steps between your school and the person who can fix the problem.
A small team, so your request reaches a developer
This is the path a request takes:
- Your school emails or phones ADAM.
- We triage the request as it arrives.
- A bug report goes straight to the developer who can fix it.
- The developer fixes it.
There is no call centre between your school and the people who write ADAM.
| 08:12 | Request received: a report shows the wrong term mark |
| 08:15 | Triaged as a report template fault |
| 08:19 | Passed to the developer who wrote the template |
| 10:41 | Fixed Reports released on time |
Hours, not days
A bug report does not pass through layers of staff before it reaches a developer. Issues are typically fixed within a few hours, not days.
We know what a report deadline means
ADAM was started by a teacher who had to produce his school's reports, and it is built by people who work in schools. We know the pressure of releasing reports on time. When your reports are due, we work with you, as far as we can, to make sure they go out on time.
Support is in the licence fee
The annual licence fee includes support hours for end-user queries. It also includes every update and every fix.
What schools say about support
“What we value most, is the ability to be able to interact directly with the ADAM developers.”
Bruce MacLachlan, ADAM Administrator, Hilton College
“Whenever I have any roadblock, assistance is just an email or phone call away.”
Jaco van der Merwe, Deputy Principal, Academics, Christchurch Preparatory School & College
“The ADAM team are extremely responsive in both daily support and when we require larger changes.”
Lara Minietti, ADAM Administrator, Highbury Preparatory School
“Support is readily available and helpful.”
Shirley Pitchers, Business Manager, Waterfall Schools
Reason two: built for South African schools
Schools also tell us that their previous system did not understand the South African context. ADAM was built for South African schools from the start. It works with the National Senior Certificate, the SA-SAMS export and the percentages that South African schools report.
Promotion decisions from the National Senior Certificate criteria
ADAM works out promotion decisions from the National Senior Certificate criteria. The promotion schedule shows each pupil's marks and aggregate beside the outcome.
ADAM also calculates Admission Point Scores. It comes with calculations for a general National Senior Certificate score and for several universities, including the University of Pretoria, Wits, Stellenbosch and UCT.
| Pupil | Home Lang. | Maths | Aggregate | NSC outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thandiwe M. | 78% | 84% | 81.2% | Bachelor's pass |
| Pieter v. d. B. | 61% | 52% | 58.9% | Diploma pass |
| Aisha K. | 72% | 38% | 55.4% | Maths below 40% |
| Sizwe N. | 54% | 43% | 47.6% | Higher Certificate pass |
| Liam O. | 88% | 91% | 86.7% | Bachelor's pass |
Percentages first
The South African system reports attainment as percentages, not as levels or outcomes. ADAM puts percentages first.
Teachers enter marks. ADAM applies each task's weighting and works out the term mark and the class average. Reports, results analysis and promotion schedules all use the same percentages.
| Pupil | Test 25% | Project 25% | Exam 50% | Term mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naledi D. | 72% | 80% | 68% | 72.0% |
| Johan P. | 55% | 64% | 49% | 54.3% |
| Priya N. | 91% | 86% | 88% | 88.3% |
| Sipho K. | 43% | 58% | 37% | 43.8% |
| Class average | 65.3% | 72.0% | 60.5% | 64.6% |
The SA-SAMS export and LURITS
Every South African school must submit its data to the LURITS system of the Department of Basic Education. ADAM builds the SA-SAMS database for you to submit to your district office.
Before it builds the database, ADAM checks your data. It checks the school's EMIS number, that admin numbers are unique, and that each ID number matches the date of birth and gender. It lists anything that needs correcting, so you can fix it in ADAM before you submit.
When LURITS feedback arrives, upload it to ADAM to record each pupil's LURITS number.
| Check | Result |
|---|---|
| School info and EMIS number | Passed |
| Admin numbers | Passed |
| Pupil ID numbers | 1 to correct ID number does not match date of birth |
| Pupil birth and entry dates | Passed |
| Staff ID numbers | Passed |
Started by a South African teacher
ADAM was started by Philip Norton, an Information Technology teacher, to produce his school's reports. It has been in South African schools since 2006. The people who build ADAM work in South African schools today. Read the full story.
Your data is stored in South Africa, and POPIA tools are built in
ADAM stores school data in data centres in South Africa.
ADAM includes tools that help your school comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). With ADAM you can:
- remove old data from your database;
- limit which staff can see which information, including fields you mark as sensitive;
- respond to requests for information.
Priced in rand
ADAM is priced in rand. The price depends on the number of pupils at your school and the number of phases your school offers. How the price is built up
What every school gets
Every feature included
ADAM is not modular. Every school gets every feature, and new features reach every school at no extra cost.
Academics first
ADAM was built around marks and reporting. Academics are its core, not an addition to a finance system.
Your data is yours
You can export your data at any time. ADAM exports to CSV files, most reports download as Excel, and you can copy and paste lists into a spreadsheet.
New work every month
ADAM changes every month. The monthly newsletter lists what was added. Read the news