Pennsylvania College of Optometry Freed from Inflexible DOS-Based System by Jenzabar EX

CAMBRIDGE, MA—May 23, 2002—Pennsylvania College of Optometry needed to replace its aging administrative system. The college, whose mission is to graduate Doctors of Optometry and offer other educational, research, and patient care programs, wanted a modern system with office integration and Web features. After reviewing several vendors, the search committee chose Jenzabar EX, Jenzabar’s NT-based solution for colleges and universities.

“Of all the companies that we reviewed, Jenzabar showed themselves to have the most modern and professional solution available,” stated Alex Anderson, Information Technology Director. “We were locked into a DOS-based system that wasn’t evolving along with the rest of technology, especially in Web and desktop advancements,” Anderson explained. “It didn’t interface with anything, the report writer was minimal, and overall, flexibility was not there.”

The college’s IT staff wanted to work with a company focused on higher education. “One vendor we reviewed did not specialize in education, and we did not want that,” Anderson said. “We sought a large, professional company that specializes in education.”

Several particulars influenced the college’s purchase of Jenzabar EX. Anderson explained: “We wanted the strength of the SQL database to provide flexibility. We also wanted Web access and integration, to bring our functions to the Web.” As for interface capabilities, the college was also equally interested in Jenzabar EX’s interfaces with InfoMaker for reporting, and PowerFAIDs for financial aid processing.

About Pennsylvania College of Optometry
The Pennsylvania College of Optometry, founded in 1919, is dedicated to graduating Doctors of Optometry and offering other educational, research, and patient care programs responsive to the health-related needs of the public. Today, 600 students are enrolled in the four-year optometric curriculum, Doctor of Audiology, and Master of Science degree programs in Vision Rehabilitation and Education. One of 17 accredited optometric schools in the nation, the Pennsylvania College of Optometry has graduated 90 percent of the practicing optometrists in Pennsylvania and 20 percent of those nationwide. To learn more about the college, visit its website at www.pco.edu.

About Jenzabar, Inc.
By improving the exchange of information through powerful business intelligence applications and services, Jenzabar’s Internet enterprise software, e-learning solutions, and services deliver a competitive edge to higher education institutions. Dedicated to supporting and enhancing the educational community, Jenzabar’s business units serve 1,000 higher education institutions worldwide, including students, professors, and administrators from private liberal arts, medical, law, state, and community colleges.

Institutions employing Jenzabar solutions include The Claremont Colleges, Colby College, Daytona Beach Community College, William Mitchell College of Law, Governors State University, Bluffton College, Florida Southern College, Bay de Noc Community College, Berry College, and Harvard Medical School. Jenzabar also facilitates IT training and certification for corporate clients, including Global 500 corporations.

Jenzabar’s offerings include Web-based enterprise software with student, institutional advancement, human resources, and financial applications; e-learning solutions; and a higher education enterprise information portal (EIP). All are strengthened by partnerships with Accenture, edu.com, EMC, Lexis-Nexis, Microsoft, Oracle, Tutor.com, and Yahoo!. Founded in 1998, Jenzabar is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and currently employs more than 300 people in regional offices across the United States.