Catie Leary

Low-code platforms are on the rise across all industries. Read on to discover the benefits of low-code platforms for businesses.

In this article…

• What does low-code mean?
• Why is everyone shifting to low-code?
• Benefits of low-code development
• Difference between low-code and no code
• What can you build with low-code?
• Low-code business process automation solutions with BP Logix

What does low-code mean?

Low-code is a software development approach that uses little to no coding to create new applications, mobile apps, and software. Low-code approaches use graphical user interfaces with drag-and-drop capabilities rather than complex coding programs and languages.

This method is gaining much momentum, and Gartner has projected that the global low-code development platform market is forecasted to grow to a total of $13.8 billion.

Why is everyone shifting to low-code application development?

Low-code doesn’t necessarily mean limited; in fact, its capabilities are varied and far and wide. 

Usually, businesses tend to use custom coding and off-the-shelf SaaS as alternatives to low-code applications. Custom code is the code that isn’t part of the licensed software. Instead, it’s often programmed by implementation partners, supported end-users, and third-party developers to customize the application based on the specific needs of the organization. This implementation of custom code applications is time-consuming and cost-oriented. Developers may need to have sound knowledge of programming languages like Java, Python, or PHP to build custom applications. 

Off-the-shelf SaaS comes with a standard set of features to meet the requirements of a broad range of customers. It may not be customized and adapted to the changing business needs of the organization. 

Benefits of low-code development

Fast time to value

Businesses tend to choose low-code platforms because of the fast time to value (TTV). Time to value (TTV) refers to the time a product or service takes to offer desired benefits to the customer. The development lifecycle of low-code applications is as low as a couple of weeks to three months. 

This case study shows how a low-code BPM application was built and deployed within 45 days. Low-code development has also been a tremendous help in other large-scale universities and higher education institutions. 

Wide variety of industry applications

Various industries including, but not limited to manufacturing, education, healthcare/pharmaceuticals, advertising, financial, and more are implementing low-code applications to streamline their operations. Regardless if you operate in a highly complex and regulatory industry, a low-code application can solve your worries related to increasing costs of application development, long timelines of implementation, and maintaining an in-house development team.

Easy integrations

Low-code platforms facilitate the integration of existing applications and systems. They help IT departments create application programming interfaces (APIs) that play a crucial role in developing sophisticated and next-generation mobile applications based on the needs of the business.

Today, most of the reliable low-code platforms are facilitating integrations of database applications, document imaging software, email servers, SharePoint, social BPM, and web services/REST.

Unparalleled security 

Security is the biggest concern for every organization that implements enterprise-grade applications. Low-code development platforms offer unparalleled security through global access controls and user-based permissions.

Since low-code applications are hosted on enterprise secure DMZ or secure private cloud infrastructures, they can easily pass cybersecurity clearances. Most low-code applications have third-party certifications like SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3 that guarantee cloud security, availability, and confidentiality controls.

Improved customer/user experience

97% of development professionals believe that the low-code platforms enhance the end-user experience through features such as quick updates, visual development, flexible designs, and mobile-friendly interfaces. For example, low-code BPM software can help educational institutions to improve the experience of students through mobile-accessible enrollment forms and real-time visibility about the status of their applications. 

Likewise, retail companies can implement low-code workflow automation software that improves the consumer experience through better interaction, real-time updates, optimized assortments, and personalized promotions.

Increased transparency across teams

Today, most organizations operate with a functional organizational structure that groups employees as departments based on the specialized set of tasks they do. For instance, a manufacturing company comprises several teams or departments including, but not limited to procurement, production, accounting, human resources, and delivery. The lack of transparency and visibility across these teams can result in conflicts and increase production lead times. 

The implementation of a low-code application like Business Process Management (BPM) can address this issue by creating workflows that all authorized people across teams can track. For instance, the BPM enables the production team members to have visibility on raw materials or the inventory levels that help schedule the production activities in a better and more simplified manner.

Simple deployments

A recently conducted research indicated that low-code digital automation applications can shave off 50-90% development and deployment time when compared to traditional applications. 

Since low-code frameworks are built on the principles such as speed, efficiency, and democratization of technology, they can be deployed quickly on the third-party cloud infrastructure or on-premises of businesses. These features all come together to help businesses with their scalability.

Difference between low-code and no code

The functionality of low-code and no code, while similar, is not the same. There are several differences between low-code and no code in terms of business users, the complexity of the end product, the amount of customization required, and the cost.

What can you build with low-code? 

• Optimization apps: Optimization apps are the applications built to enhance the performance of a specific device or an operating system.
• Customer engagement apps: These are omnichannel communication applications that facilitate interaction and engagement between the organization and its customers. These apps help marketing teams to maintain customer relationships and increase customer retention rates.
• Business processes: These are automation applications that streamline complex business processes to improve organizational efficiency. Business Process Management (BPM) is one of the finest examples of business processes apps.
• Data models and business logic: Data model apps are the platforms that help you build logical data models and database structures. Business logic apps create automated workflows that integrate business apps, information, and services of an organization. Business logic apps can help you develop a scalable integration solution.
• AI-based solutions and processes: Low-code development can also be used to create AI-enabled chatbots, visual information processing tools, data analytics applications, and machine learning tools. These solutions and processes help businesses reduce human errors and optimize internal operations.

Low-code business process automation solutions with BP Logix

Low-code tools are playing a significant role in digital transformation. Low-code helps businesses quickly develop and deploy enterprise-grade applications that streamline internal operations and optimize productivity. The low-code development process is more effective than custom-coding and off-the-shelf SaaS. 

Low-code is widely-used to develop customer engagement apps, optimization apps, business process automation apps, case management, and AI-based solutions. Faster time to value, increased customer experience, unparalleled security, and quick deployments are a few of the most cited benefits of low-code app development. 

Discover how the Process Director, a low-code Business Process Management software from BP Logix can help you automate workflows and optimize productivity.

As employers with 100 or more employees join healthcare facilities and K-12 schools in efforts to comply with the federal COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirements, professional employer organizations (PEOs) are facing some interesting questions about their role in this situation.

Let’s examine the some of the hurdles that co-employers must overcome in light of recent government mandates and executive orders. 

1. The burden of responsibility

PEOs provide comprehensive HR services to small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) through a legal arrangement known as co-employment. Under a co-employment partnership, the PEO take on the management of HR functions (payroll, employee benefits, taxes, etc) and assume a share of employer liability and responsibility for employment risks. By outsourcing most (or all) of their HR activities, business owners can reduce costs and focus their efforts on growing their business, revenue, and customer base.

What this means is that the company's employees are also legally employees of the PEO, which begs the question:

If PEOs legally share the role of employer with their clients, are they on the hook for ensuring their clients’ employees comply with vaccination and testing mandates?

At the moment, it’s unclear what level of responsibility PEOs should expect to bear when it comes to vaccination mandates, which brings us to the second challenge:

2. Becoming an expert in vaccination compliance

PEOs do more than simply handle payroll and send out annual W2s. They also regularly serve an advisory role to their clients for matters involving compliance and labor regulations.

Do PEOs have a plan for helping their customers navigate vaccine mandates and implement processes that reduce employee anxieties? They ought to. Companies involved in a co-employer partnership will be looking to their PEO for guidance and resources on how best to handle his uncharted territory. After all, it's a pretty complex task to confirm the vaccination status of a company's workforce and set up weekly testing for employees who are not fully vaccinated. 

PEOs will not only need to have a firm handle on federal and state mandate requirements – they must also be ready to provide their clients with a solution for tracking employee vaccinations and tests. If PEOs don’t have one at the ready, they should at the very least be able to direct their clients to a solution so that no one has to resort to the dreaded task of tracking vaccinations via spreadsheet.

3. Retaining clients and winning new business

It’s no secret that the pandemic drastically changed the nature of work and commerce. Businesses must adapt, and PEOs are no exception. As vaccination mandate deadlines close in, PEOs must make sure they are investing in digital tools and infrastructure that keep existing customers ahead of the compliance curve while also enticing potential new business to sign on the dotted line.

Tools for tracking vaccinations and tests are a prime example. If PEOs can't provide the necessary support and guidance to customers as they navigate vaccination mandates and other COVID-related policies, that could be a major dealbreaker for both current and potential customers.

Some larger players in the PEO industry know this and have already taken steps to adapt to rapidly shifting market needs by rolling out some simple vaccine tracking solutions for their clients or partnering with companies like BP Logix to provide a solution.

4. Identifying the best vaccine tracking solution for PEOs

Before we dive into what makes an ideal vaccine tracker for PEOs, let's first take a step back and talk about vaccine applications broadly.

Numerous applications for proving vaccination and testing status have rolled out over the past year, but there is no “one size fits all” solution. Why? Well, the end user goals of one vaccine status app may be completely different than the end user goals of another vaccine status app.

For example, while vaccine passports are incredibly useful for providing proof of vaccination on an individual basis (such as getting through the airport to catch flight to Hawaii), they don’t serve quite the same function as a vaccination tracking application for private employers, which boils down to trying to ensure compliance of mandates and manage large quantities of data collected from hundreds or even thousands of employees. 

With those goals in mind, a vaccination tracking app designed specifically for employers should offer the following features and benefits: 

• It should be accessible and mobile-friendly. 
• It should have workflow trigger for handling exemption requests and testing for unvaccinated people. 
• It should be simple to pull vaccination and testing data to prove compliance to regulatory bodies. 
• It should be flexible to scale with your organization as policies shift or expand.
• It should be ready for rapid deployment in order to meet mandate deadlines. 

5. Rolling out a vaccine tracking solution to client companies

When it comes to choosing a vaccine tracking solution, PEOs have an even more complicated task than independent employers. Not only must they find a solution that offers all of the features listed above, but they must also be able to roll it out to multiple co-employer clients at a reasonable cost.

BP Logix’s Vaccine Tracker app accomplishes this additional challenge with its multi-tenant model.

How? It all comes back to how co-employer partnerships work. In order to carry out their responsibilities within the arrangement, PEOs require their customers to provide them with access to employee information and core HR systems. BP Logix's multi-tenant model is able to leverage this technical arrangement for the Vaccine Tracker app to provide PEOs with lower pricing at scale, as well as the following benefits:

• Partitions between client companies and their data
• Customizable app configuration per client company
• Personalized in-app branding

Ready to learn more about our vaccine tracking solution for PEOs?

Schedule your customized demo of BP Logix's Vaccine Tracker app today.

As more private employers take the necessary steps to comply with state and federal mandates for tracking COVID-19 vaccinations and testing, many of them are seeking out solutions to make the effort as easy as possible.

Spreadsheets are often the first option to come to mind. After all, they are a “free” option and it’s fairly simple to set them up, even if you only have basic Excel experience. Unfortunately, that's where the advantages end.

Let’s take some time to break down exactly why it’s not a great idea to use spreadsheets for tracking vaccinations.

The limitations of spreadsheets

While spreadsheets are not the worst option for smaller employers that are only trying to monitor vaccination and testing for a handful of workers, they fall short for larger employers with 100 or more workers. Under the new OSHA rule, these larger employers are legally required to track vaccination status and testing for unvaccinated employees. This means that they must collect data from hundreds or even thousands of people and maintain records to ensure compliance.

Spreadsheets simply aren’t equipped to tackle that level of complexity or scale. A better option is to roll out a dedicated application that is specifically designed to collect vaccination and testing data, such as the Vaccine Tracker App. Let's dig a bit further into the disadvantages of spreadsheets.

1. Spreadsheets are tedious – for employers and employees alike

Manually collecting data from hundreds or thousands of people and then ensuring that data is entered correctly into a spreadsheet is a nightmare. It’s especially tedious when you consider the unvaccinated testing component of recent mandates, which requires employees to submit new data on a weekly basis and employers to keep records of that data. That's a lot for managers and HR teams to keep up with while also maintaining their regular job responsibilities. It's not too fun on the employee's end either.

Compared to spreadsheets, an application like the Vaccine Tracker provides a more accessible and mobile-friendly user experience for employers and employees alike. By making the tracking process as easy as possible, you can reduce barriers to access and maximize compliance. Applications also help employers reduce the time they spend agonizing over spreadsheet cells through the power of workflow automation and stronger verification features that circumvent the vaccination tracking “honor system."

2. Lack of exception handling

The lack of exception handling is, by far, one of the biggest limitations of using spreadsheets. As mentioned earlier, in addition to tracking vaccination statuses, employers must also have workflows in place for handling exceptions involving unvaccinated people, such as:

• Enforcing weekly COVID-19 testing and documenting results for compliance purposes.
• Collecting attestation for medical or religious exemption requests.
• Escalating contact tracing in the event of positive test results.

If these workflows aren’t automated, employers must devote significant administrative resources to sending out follow-up emails and weekly testing reminders, receiving proof of test results via email or text, manually updating employee data on a weekly basis, and keeping an eye out for instances of non-compliance that must be escalated. Depending on the size of the workforce, that can add up to several hours of work for administrative staff per week.

Exception handling is where vaccination tracking application shines. An application like our Vaccine Tracker handles exceptions with ease. If an employee indicates they are unvaccinated, the system triggers automated workflows and reminder notifications that help keep employees accountable to testing requirements.

3. Reporting and proving compliance is a headache

When tracking vaccinations, collecting the data is only one piece of the pie. Being able to make sense of that data through reports is just as important – especially for workplaces that must submit weekly or monthly reporting to regulators to ensure they are following through with mandates.

For example, when managing weekly testing for unvaccinated personnel, it’s helpful to have reports that tell you who has been tested and not tested that week, as well as see that data broken down by department or worksite. This allows employers to identify problem areas quickly and stay in compliance.

Unfortunately, this is yet another area where spreadsheets stumble. Using spreadsheet data to create reports and dashboards for these purposes can take hours, while a dedicated application takes only minutes.

4. Poor collaborative and integrative capabilities

Many organizations need vaccination data to make decisions, whether it’s deciding if facilities need to close temporarily due to an outbreak or determining if incentives should be offered for vaccinations. These kinds of decisions may require collaboration across different departments or worksites. In some cases, organizations may wish to share public-facing reports of their vaccination and testing data on a dedicated website for all to see.

This level of collaboration and transparency is difficult to achieve with a simple spreadsheet, which is limited in its capability to integrate with other data sources or applications.

For example, K-12 schools may need the ability to integrate with district data. Unfortunately, a spreadsheet isn’t powerful enough to enable pushes and pulls from HR information systems or applications like ClassLink single sign-on.

5. Poor security and data privacy best practices

While the way employers store employee vaccination data is not covered under HIPAA, it’s still important for organizations to treat their employee’s private data with care and respect.

Unfortunately, improper data sharing is not uncommon with spreadsheets. An application designed to help you track vaccinations and testing, on the other hand, will be provide a secure environment (e.g. SOC2 and HECVAT certified) and have the ability to add or remove decision makers and create rules-based permissions.

6. Prone to errors and instability

On top of poor data security, spreadsheets are more prone to human error. It’s easy to input incorrect data, alter or delete data, mess up conditional formatting, or even lose files completely – often without even realizing it. Plus, there’s no independent backups to rely on should disaster strike.

7. Dismal scalability

As vaccination and testing mandates evolve, the way you approach tracking this data must be able to keep up.

Spreadsheets are ill-equipped for adapting to changing requirements, and there are limits to the amount of data you can collect. The flexibility to scale and add new features is why it pays to choose a future-proofed solution at the beginning.

Discover the Vaccine Tracker app.

Discover how easy we make it for employees to confirm COVID-19 vaccination status or test results. Get in touch with the BP Logix team today to schedule a customized demo.

Tracking vaccination status in the workplace helps companies ensure compliance with government mandates, but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee employee confidence.

That’s because the vast majority of vaccination tracking efforts are based on the honor system, which, as the Wall Street Journal explains, is “one in which health information is often given voluntarily, and employees have few ways to be sure their co-workers are following the rules.”

When faced with poor transparency and lax enforcement around vaccination policies, some employees are choosing to join the “Great Resignation” rather than endure the anxiety of returning to in-person worksites under unknown health risk factors. That's why it's becoming more critical than ever for employers to upgrade from the honor system to a more robust and accountable COVID-19 vaccination tracking process.

Let's walk through the vaccination tracking challenges faced by employers before and after the FDA's approval of the first COVID-19 vaccine, and then discuss where to start with building a truly strong workplace vaccination policy.

Vaccine hesitation in uncharted territory

Back when the vaccines were only available under emergency use authorization, it was not a big surprise that employers weren't exactly rushing to impose vaccination and testing mandates.

Even though a August 2021 survey by Mercer revealed that 65% of workers want their employer to mandate vaccinations, few businesses were eager to risk a potential lawsuit or deal with the headache of hiring new workers should unvaccinated employees choose to quit due to medical reasons or political or religious beliefs.

There’s also the matter of the costs required to implement a vaccination and testing program with actual teeth. While it’s quick, easy, and virtually free to establish a “you only have to wear a mask if you’re unvaccinated” policy based on the honor system, it takes significantly more resources to require employees to provide documentation confirming vaccination status or weekly test results. Since there were no governmental vaccination mandates up until recently due to the vaccines’ emergency use authorization status, there wasn’t much to compel employers to expend the necessary resources.

FDA vaccine approval flips the switch

Once the FDA approved the first COVID-19 vaccine, the floodgates opened to vaccination mandates across the United States. At the state level, many governors ordered vaccination and testing for K-12 school employees, and at the federal level, President Biden instituted a new OSHA rule that requires vaccinations or weekly testing for workers at private companies with 100+ employees. Businesses that do not comply could face OSHA fines of up to $14,000 per violation.

What this means is that worries over employee lawsuits have now been replaced by worries over fines and penalties for non-compliance. In addition, companies must grapple with the possibility of not only losing unvaccinated employees – but vaccinated employees, as well.

Backed by the clout of FDA authorization and governmental mandates, many vaccinated employees at in-person worksites are now expecting more from their employer when it comes to fostering a safe working environment. Instead of the honor system, these employees want to see employers offering stronger measures, such as:

• Disclosure of the number of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated workers at worksites
• Assurance that employees and visitors forgoing masks have been confirmed as vaccinated
• Clear processes for enforcing weekly testing of unvaccinated workers
• Contact tracing infrastructure to handle positive cases

How to build strong, accountable COVID-19 workplace policies and procedures

Workplace COVID-19 policies and procedures should ideally accomplish three key goals:

• Prevent the spread of disease in the workplace
• Comply with mandates to avoid fines and penalties
• Reduce employee anxiety about workplace safety

Of course, even with vaccination mandates on the rise and vaccinated employees feeling more confident in demanding safer pandemic workplace policies, that doesn’t change the resource cost of implementing a robust vaccination and testing program.

When you’re dealing with hundreds or thousands of employees, manually checking paper CDC record cards and enforcing weekly testing of unvaccinated employees is simply not a feasible option. Combine these challenges with tight deadlines for complying with governmental mandates, it quickly becomes clear that automating these procedures as much as possible will be critical.

That’s exactly what BP Logix is helping employers do with the Vaccine Tracker App.

This secure, mobile-friendly application enables employees to easily upload proof of their vaccination status or test results, while providing administrators with a reporting dashboard to manage enforcement and access proof of compliance should OSHA come a-knocking.

Ready to strengthen employee confidence in workplace COVID-19 policies?

Get in touch with BP Logix today for a customized demo of the Vaccine Tracker app.

President Biden announced a sweeping federal vaccination plan last week that is making major waves in the private sector. Let’s walk through the details of this new plan and discuss the best way for employers to implement and enforce these new requirements with a vaccination tracking solution.

A summary of Biden’s vaccination plan

As part of Biden's plan, private employers with 100+ employees must ensure everyone in their workforce is either fully vaccinated or require unvaccinated employees to undergo weekly COVID-19 tests. Businesses that do not comply with the requirements may face fines up to $14,000 per violation from OSHA.

In addition to the vaccination mandate for private employers, Biden also expanded the scope of requirements for federal employees and health care workers. Vaccination is now required for all executive branch federal employees, all federal contractors, and all workers at hospitals and other healthcare facilities where Medicare and Medicaid patients are treated. There is no test-out option.

All in all, Biden estimates that his new plan will affect about two-thirds of all workers in the U.S.

The new federal requirements come just a couple weeks after several states announced similar vaccination and testing mandates for K-12 schools, many of which are slated to go into effect mid-October.

How private employers can implement and enforce vaccination mandates

With hefty fines and penalties on the line, employers are now on the hook for developing clear policies and procedures that comply with the mandates, as well as keeping records for compliance purposes.

According to the New York Times, the new OSHA rules would “require employers to keep records of which workers are vaccinated and which have recently been tested, [and] the agency could ask inspectors following up on unrelated concerns to check records for compliance with the vaccination rule.”

What's the best way for employers to implement and enforce these mandates to ensure optimal compliance – especially when they’re responsible for tracking hundreds or even thousands of employee vaccination records? Certainly not a spreadsheet. Employers need to be looking for an application that can automate the entire process for them.

Where to start? Here are seven critical questions to ask when researching applications for tracking employee vaccinations and testing.

1. How quickly must you roll out your tracking plan?

With looming compliance deadlines and the threat of fines, it’s important for organizations to find a solution that can be implemented quickly. A custom solution built from scratch by an in-house IT team or your company’s outsourced development vendor is unlikely to be ready in a span of just a few weeks. It’s more efficient to find an existing application, like the BP Logix Vaccine Tracker app, which can be deployed rapidly while remaining flexible enough to customize to a company’s unique needs.

2. Is your solution accessible and easy for employees to use?

When you’re trying to collect the vaccination statuses of hundreds or thousands of employees, the most effective solution is the one that is the easiest for everyone to use. Accessibility is key. A vaccination tracking app must be mobile-friendly so employees can use it whether they are on a smart phone, tablet, or desktop. Likewise, workflows must be logical and easy for users to navigate through.

3. How will you handle unvaccinated employees?

While vaccination rates continue to climb, there are still many people who are not vaccinated. Depending on your workplace’s policies, you will likely need to have automated workflows set up for handling exceptions, whether it’s gathering materials for medical or religious vaccine exemption requests or setting up a workflow that allows employees to share recent test results.

4. How will weekly testing for unvaccinated employees be enforced?

For many companies, employees that decline full vaccination will need to be tested for COVID-19 every single week. For compliance purposes, employers will need to cover all of their bases by making sure this data is collected every week. Manually collecting this information just isn’t feasible, but an automated system can keep everyone accountable by sending employees regular testing reminders, alerting managers to non-compliance, and triggering additional workflows in the event of a positive test results.

5. How will you sync data with existing HR systems?

Any good vaccination tracking solution should be able to easily integrate with an organization’s existing data sources, whether it’s a human resources information system, an enterprise resource planning system, or a student information system.

6. What is your plan for proving compliance?

Because OSHA is requiring employers keep records of employee vaccination and testing, one of the most important components to look for in a vaccine tracking app is a management dashboard that allows you to easily pull reports for your organization’s vaccination rates and testing history.

7. Will you be able to adapt to changing requirements?

The final thing to consider when researching solutions for tracking vaccination status is flexibility and scalability. If there is one thing we’ve all learned during this pandemic, it’s that things move fast. The application you choose must be able to evolve along with changing policies and current events. Not only does this help your organization respond quickly to new developments, but it can also help you avoid technical debt in the future.

Our solution? The Vaccine Tracker app

The Vaccine Tracker app is a flexible, mobile-friendly solution that enables employees to securely share proof of their vaccination status with their employer. For employees that are not fully vaccinated, the app can automatically handle exceptions by triggering workflows for weekly diagnostic testing, medical/religious exemption requests, and other escalation tasks.

Built using BP Logix’s powerful low-code platform called Process Director, the Vaccine Tracker app is endlessly customizable and easily scaled. In fact, while the app was originally designed for use at K-12 and higher educational institutions, the Vaccine Tracker app can be customized to suit the specific needs of any number of workplaces, including manufacturing plants, government facilities, retail establishments, private offices, and more.

Ready to automate vaccination tracking at your workplace?

Get in touch with BP Logix to learn more about our Vaccine Tracker app.

Here's our checklist of everything a K-12 school administrator must consider when researching automation solutions for tracking employee vaccination status. 

With students and teachers resuming in-person learning amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, many K-12 school leaders are scrambling to identify the most effective solutions for complying with new vaccination and testing policies mandated at the state, local, or institution levels.

Like most things impacted by the pandemic, this is uncharted territory for everyone. However, one thing is clear: If you’re trying to quickly and securely track the vaccination statuses or weekly test results of hundreds or even thousands of people, a rudimentary spreadsheet just won’t do. Schools must be able to collect data efficiently, sync with existing IT systems, report data for compliance purposes, and be prepared to adapt quickly to ever-changing policy requirements.

So, how do school leaders pick the best solution for the job? How can they achieve compliance with budgetary constraints, limited IT resources, and aggressive timelines?

At BP Logix, we’ve spent the last year working closely with higher education institutions and K-12 schools on developing a vaccination tracking app customized for their unique needs. Through this experience, we've put together a checklist of everything school leaders need to keep an eye out for when evaluating applications for tracking COVID-19 vaccination status, test results, and contact tracing.

To ensure your district is prepared for these evolving requirements, look for solutions with the following capabilities. 

Key capabilities

• Ability for users to upload vaccine cards proving vaccination status
• Integration with district data (push/pull from HR, Student Information Systems, ClassLink)
• Flexibility to scale and adapt to changing requirements as mandates evolve
• Exception handling for unvaccinated individuals, including workflows for diagnostic testing and religious/medical exemptions with attestation
• Contact tracing workflow triggers for COVID-19 positive test results
• Automated alerts and notifications for reminders and non-compliance

User experience and accessibility

• Intuitive and mobile-friendly user experience
• Single Sign On enabled (SAML integration)
• Accessible for users with disabilities (VPAT)
• Institutional branding

Compliance

• Secure environment (HECVAT, SOC2)
• Data privacy

Implementation

• Speedy deployment to meet mandate timelines
• Cost effective
• Ability to easily customize to your unique needs

Management

• Reporting dashboards
• Visibility/ Escalations handling
• Administration (add/remove decision makers, rules based permissions, etc.)

Get the Vaccine Tracker app today.

Make it easy for employees to confirm COVID-19 vaccination status or test results. Get in touch with the BP Logix team today to learn more or schedule a customized demo.

With “back to school” season in full swing and the recent FDA approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Aug. 23, several states around the country have announced vaccination mandates for K-12 school systems. 

“We think this is the right thing to do and we think this is a sustainable way to keeping our schools open and to address the number one anxiety that parents like myself have for young children,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said earlier this month while announcing California’s new K-12 vaccine and testing mandate.

The vaccination mandates for schools are a bold step aimed at reducing the spread of the highly contagious delta variant, but logistical questions remain – how will the vaccine tracking process actually work?  

In this article, we break down current statewide vaccination and testing mandates for K-12 schools and explain how BP Logix’s new Vaccine Tracker app can help school officials implement and ensure compliance of these new mandates. 

COVID-19 vaccine requirements for K-12 schools by state 

Information last updated August 27, 2021. 

• California: All workers at public and private K-12 schools must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 15 or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. 
• Connecticut: All workers in public and private preschools, K-12 schools, and childcare facilities must receive at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 27 or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. 
• Illinois: Teachers and staff at public preschool and K-12 schools as well as personnel and students at public colleges and universities must provide proof of vaccination by Sept. 5 or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.
• New Jersey: Workers at public and private preschool programs and K-12 schools in New Jersey must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18 or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. 
• New Mexico: All workers at public and private schools must be fully vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing effective Aug. 23. 
• Oregon: All teachers, educators, support staff, and volunteers at K-12 schools in Oregon must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18. 
• Washington: All employees and contractors at public and private K-12 schools, higher education institutions, and childcare/early learning providers serving children from multiple households must be fully vaccinated or obtain a religious or medical exemption by Oct. 18. There is no test-out option. 

The challenge for schools? Vaccine tracking logistics 

Faced with these new requirements, school administrators are now tasked with finding and implementing a solution for verifying the vaccination status of employees in time to meet their state’s deadlines. 

Manually checking paper CDC record cards is not a feasible option when you’re dealing with thousands of people, which is why finding a way to automate this process is critical. 

Thankfully, K-12 schools seeking a solution can look to their higher education counterparts, who are already one step ahead in their search for a solution. In April, California’s massive UC and Cal State university systems announced plans to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all students, faculty, and staff upon official FDA approval of the vaccines. At the time, the three COVID-19 vaccines were only available under emergency use authorization, but that didn’t stopped universities from thinking pro-actively about technical solutions for eventually verifying vaccination status. 

Tracking vaccinations with an app 

In response to requests from our higher education customers, the team at BP Logix developed the Vaccine Tracker app to allow school administrators to simplify and automate the vaccination status tracking process for their employees and students. 

With our app, school employees can easily and securely provide proof of their vaccination status, while administrators can manage enforcement and comply with mandates. 

There are several reasons why educational institutions are turning to BP Logix’s Vaccine Tracker app. 

1. Rapid deployment

Faced with looming compliance deadlines, schools subject to statewide mandates must move quickly to establish and roll out a process for verifying COVID-19 vaccination status for their teachers and staff. The Vaccine Verification app can be customized and deployed in as a little as a few weeks. 

2. Mobile-friendly and accessible

The trick to successfully verifying the vaccination records of thousands of people? Make it as easy and accessible as humanly possible. Vaccine Verification is a web-based app that streamlines the verification process for employees with a simple, intuitive form. It can be used on any device – from desktops to tablets and phones. 

3. Simple system integration

One of the best parts about Vaccine Verification is that it easily integrates with your existing campus data sources, whether it’s a student information system (SIS), a human resources information system (HRIS), or an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. By linking up the app with your key systems of record, you can effortlessly authenticate users and streamline their user experience. 

4. Compliance verification and exception handling

Vaccine Verification can do more than just verify vaccination information from immunized individuals. It can also handle exceptions for users that indicate they have not been vaccinated. You can pose additional questions or collect additional information required for your school to remain compliant with mandates. 

5. Management reporting dashboards

The administrator view of the app offers a robust, customizable dashboard with a bird’s eye view of your school’s vaccination data, as well as actionable reporting, data drilldowns, and always-on audit tracking. 

6. Customizable, flexible, scalable

The reality of living in a pandemic means that things change very quickly. While the COVID-19 vaccines are not yet authorized for children under 12 years old, that could change in a matter of months. Will schools have a plan ready should the K-12 vaccination mandate be extended include all children? That’s just one example of why it’s critical to choose solutions that can keep up with your changing needs and help you avoid technical debt. 

Built using a powerful low-code platform called Process Director, the Vaccine Verification app is endlessly customizable and easily scaled. In fact, while the app was originally designed for use at educational institutions, the Vaccine Verification app can be customized to suit the specific needs of any number of workplaces. 

Want to take our Vaccine Tracker for a spin?
Sign up for a 14-day demo. 

Automate vaccine tracking and other critical campus processes 

As a process automation partner to many higher education institutions across the country, BP Logix is well-versed in helping schools build solutions that automate their most complex or unique processes. In fact, our vaccine tracking app is just one component of a larger suite of apps geared to educational institutions. 

Ready to transform and scale your school with BP Logix?