Building Efficiency in the Epping, NH School District

Tyler Podcast Episode 140, Transcript

The Tyler Tech Podcast explores a wide range of complex, timely, and important issues facing communities and the public sector. Expect approachable tech talk mixed with insights from subject matter experts and a bit of fun. Each episode highlights the people, places, and technology making a difference. Give the podcast a listen today and subscribe.

Show Notes:

In this episode of the Tyler Tech Podcast, Christine Vayda, business administrator for the Epping School District in Epping, New Hampshire, shares how a focus on efficiency has helped the district modernize operations across finance, HR, payroll, and onboarding.

Drawing on experience from multiple school districts, Christine discusses the challenges of manual, paper-based processes and why they are no longer sustainable for today’s business offices. She walks through how Epping has used connected systems and automation to reduce data entry, improve accuracy and transparency, and streamline everyday workflows — even with a small team wearing many hats.

The conversation highlights practical examples of modernization in action, including automated approval workflows, centralized budget tracking and reporting, and self-service tools that give employees real-time access to pay information, contracts, and leave requests. Christine also emphasizes the importance of training and communication in driving adoption, and how helping staff understand the purpose behind change builds trust and long-term buy-in.

This episode offers a grounded, real-world perspective on how school districts of any size can rethink long-standing processes, reduce administrative burden, and create more efficient operations that better support staff, leadership, and the community.

This episode also spotlights Tyler Connect 2026, where innovation and collaboration take center stage. Taking place April 7-10 at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas. Connect brings together public sector professionals from across the country to explore new solutions, share ideas, and strengthen communities. It’s a week dedicated to learning, connection, and imagining what’s possible for the future of government technology. Explore registration details and early bird pricing in the show notes to start planning your Connect 2026 experience.

• Learn More and Register Now: Tyler Connect 2026 in Las Vegas
• Read: Let’s Empower, Collaborate, and Imagine at Connect 2026!

And learn more about the topics discussed in this episode with these resources:

• Download: Modern Governments Live in the Cloud
• Watch: Paperless Processes Connect District’s Data
• Read: TEA Winner: District Modernizes HR Processes
• Read: 3 Ways Automation Transforms School AP Processes
• Read: How Paperless HR Processes Build Trust in Data Accuracy
• Read: 6 Tips for Managing School Finances in a Shifting Economy

Listen to other episodes of the podcast.

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Transcript:

Christine Vayda: The biggest thing that I saw is just recognizing the fact that the manual processes just weren’t sustainable. So, I think my biggest goal was making sure we had accuracy, transparency, and efficiency.

Josh Henderson: From Tyler Technologies, this is the Tyler Tech Podcast, where we explore the trends, technologies, and people shaping the public sector. I’m your host, Josh Henderson. Thanks so much for joining us. Today’s episode touches on what it really means to build more efficient operations. And joining us is Christine Vayda, business administrator for the Epping School District in Epping, New Hampshire.

Christine oversees a wide range of operations and brings experience from multiple districts using Tyler Solutions. She shares how a focus on efficiency has reshaped HR, finance, and onboarding, and everyday workflows, and why meaningful improvement starts with rethinking how work gets done. Christine brings a really thoughtful, real-world perspective, so let’s dive right in.

Christine, it’s so great to have you on the podcast. Thanks so much for being here.

Christine Vayda: It’s great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Josh Henderson: Of course. Now to start things off, can you tell us a little bit about your role and what business operations look like in a district like Epping?

Christine Vayda: Absolutely. So, I am the business administrator here in Epping. I oversee all the district’s non-instructional operations. So I oversee payroll, finance, HR, facilities, transportation, food service, budgets, compliance, kind of everything in a small district our size, which is, you know, many days it means wearing lots of hats to make sure the systems all work together and that teachers can teach and students can learn while we keep things running smoothly. I’ve worked in multiple districts before where the towns are very spread out. So, but here in Epping, we’re just one local one, but having smooth transactions and communication to the business office is very crucial.

Josh Henderson: It sounds like you kind of like you said, you have a lot of you wear a lot of hats. You have your hands in kind of a lot of different aspects of the day-to-day operations there in Epping. What would you say are some of the biggest operational challenges you were facing before the district started to begin, you know, fully leveraging Tyler Solutions?

Christine Vayda: Well, when I started here in Epping, I had been using Tyler Technologies’ products for seven years, like I said before, in a multidistrict. So, when I came here, they had just adopted the Tyler Tech program.

So, basically, I noticed right away that there was just a lot of manual work going on and lots of paper being shuffled from one spot to another. The systems that they had in place didn’t really talk to each other. They had a different third-party timekeeping program that would communicate with Tyler Tech, but some it just wasn’t as smooth. So, a lot of papers would be shuffled from one school district, you know, one school office down to another one that would eventually make its way down here to the SAU which, you know, obviously delays that process quite a bit from leave requests to time off, whatever it might be. And for that kind of, for this small team, that kind of inefficiency really adds up and pulls away from time that we could be doing other things. So that was probably the biggest thing I saw right away was just lots of time spent on data entry and delays and errors that were occurring.

Josh Henderson: I wanted to dive into that a little bit deeper. You know, we talked a lot about this idea of modernizing systems.

And, essentially, you know, what that means is kind of moving in the technology moving into the technology space, to your point, kind of eliminating paper. Those types of things are what we kind of refer to, when we refer to modernization. But what would you say and you’ve, you know, you’ve had a lot of experience in in different districts, not just Epping. But what would you say kind of are the prompts for this idea of modernizing systems? Like, what goals are in mind when it comes to modernizing that you’ve kind of seen throughout your career?

Christine Vayda: I think the biggest thing that I saw is just recognizing the fact that the manual processes just weren’t sustainable. So, I think my biggest goal was making sure we had accuracy, transparency, and efficiency, even down to the reporting that was being done. I know I live in Excel. I love Excel.

It’s one of my go-to products. But know, oftentimes even Excel, the reports just don’t come out as right. They’re not as consistent all the time. So even having the reporting for our budgets being done through Tyler Tech, you know, makes it very transparent to the public if they get used to our reports, they know how they’re set up.

We can explain them year to year in the same way and they become familiar with it. So having that type of transparency to our public and board was very sustainable that we needed to do not only for the business administrators, but, you know, across the district making sure that the principals had reports that they knew where their accounts were, what everything was looking like in producing those monthly reports. And we just wanted to make sure we had systems that better supported our decision-making and allowed us to be a little more proactive instead of reactive to things.

Josh Henderson: We love to hear that on our end, you know, efficiencies, sustainability, you know, just eliminating some of those manual processes. That’s kind of the goal on our end. So, hearing it, you know, from the source, from the client is always really great for us. So, I wanted to touch, though, a little bit more on the idea of efficiency. Obviously, it’s a big theme for school districts kind of historically, but right now, I think especially so.

What are some of the ways you’re working to operate more efficiently day to day within the district and with such a small team?

Christine Vayda: I think we just really focus on automation whenever we can, you know, whether it’s streamlining our approvals. One of the things that I love in this product is the workflows. You know, when you have some administrative assistants and then you have principals, and then all of a sudden, sudden it has to come down to the SAU to have certain approvals, having those workflows in place that those people can still be involved in the process and that, you know, you have that level structure approvals of automation is you can’t put a dollar amount on that, you know, of how important that really is.

And just making sure all the information is accessible to everybody in the same time that, you know, whether I’m, like I said before, I worked in a multiple district where there were six different towns, you know, so the central office is in one town, but they could go into the system and see something that I had done being twenty five miles away, you know, but still see that in real time. So just having those small efficiencies could have a huge impact when you’re working with, you know, staff capacities and business offices, whether you’re central and located in your town or if you’re off in different worlds per se.

So, I think just even when I got here, we did the open enrollment through the Tyler Tech employee portal. And even that is just great, know, employees can go in there and they can change their direct deposits. They can do everything in real time and those are coming straight to the SAU, but at their time and leisure when they’re able to do it.

Josh Henderson: Kind of giving people sort of a chance to do things on their own time while, you know, while creating those efficiencies, you know, simultaneously. That’s really great to hear.

Have you seen you know, Epping’s a small district, obviously, but and having worked in a few different districts, have you seen kind of the buy in change from district to district? Like, what sort of buy in is there in a place like Epping, a school district like Epping, New Hampshire, where it’s small, where the staff is small, where, you know, change might be a little bit more of a challenge potentially? Are there differences there? What have you seen with that?

Christine Vayda: I really don’t think the buy-in changes whether you’re a district that’s, you know, six districts combined into one or if you’re a single district like Epping. I think the buy in comes from the training.

It’s important for people to know why we’re doing it and how it impacts them more so than the process itself. So, if I’m, you know, when I came here and I said, oh, we’re going to have this employee portal, it’s going to be great. You guys are going to love it. And they’re like, no. Like, I’m not that’s my personal information. You can’t see my personal information. And it’s like, well, you realize we have that anyway.

You’re just now part of that process. So, you know, really showing them the product, doing a lot of training, sending out lots of flyers, getting them ready is just the biggest buy in piece. And I’d I just I think it’s anywhere you live. You know?

You have people that are very new and very young that come into the world of education, and those people are a little quicker to jump on board and be like, oh, great. I can do this on my phone. I can just do this, you know, wherever I am. Where you have your older people that have been in the field for a long time that are like, whoa, wait, what are you guys doing?

This is my personal information. I don’t want it out there. So, I think the buy-in, it just comes in education. And the more you can provide that to people, think people do eventually say, oh, this is what she was talking about, and this is okay, and I can trust it.

And then you’re good to go.

Josh Henderson: I feel like we do hear that a lot. Where you might not get that full buy in initially, and then once somebody gets, like, hands-on experience with that particular solution, they’re like, oh, wow. This is actually super helpful, and it, you know you know, creates efficiencies in my day to day, takes some of that work off of my plate, etcetera, etcetera. So that’s great to hear.

Stay tuned. We’ll be right back with more of the Tyler Tech Podcast.

Big news. Tyler Connect 2026 is heading to Las Vegas.

Jade Champion: Join us April 7-10 at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas for an unforgettable week of learning, collaboration, and connection.

Josh Henderson: Connect unites public sector professionals to explore new Tyler solutions and to spark ideas that strengthen and empower communities.

Jade Champion: And now’s your chance to save $250 with early bird pricing.

Josh Henderson: Don’t wait to lock in your spot at this year’s premier public sector conference.

Jade Champion: Visit tylertech.com/connect to register today or click the link in our show notes.

Josh Henderson: We’ll see you at Tyler Connect 2026 where we empower, collaborate, and imagine what’s possible for the public sector in Vegas.

Jade Champion: Now let’s get back to the Tyler Tech Podcast.

Josh Henderson: You had the benefit of using Tyler Solutions before moving into your role at Epping.

You also mentioned, you know, wearing a lot of hats in this role. I’m curious personally how you’ve seen the benefits in, you know, either whether it’s streaming finance and administrative workflows or whatnot? Like, how have you seen those benefits in the in the solutions that Tyler’s provided you over the years?

Christine Vayda: I think the biggest benefits from just tracking the budgets, those benefits to me have been great. I’ve seen the program progress in ways that we can track that budget. You can see what your budget lines are. You can do all your budgetary items right there in the system, work one budget to the next year, and those types of efficiencies are great. As far as like our day-to-day activities, we have assistants that work up in the schools that are able to go in there. They can create their purchase orders. Once they create their purchase orders, I go through the workflow to get those approved.

And then, you know, now our administrators don’t even have to come down to the SAU anymore. They can be up at their buildings and process those invoices right at their desk. And then they can upload, scan their invoices, and keep that all right in the system. And so, it reduces a lot of time with paper tracking, trying to find that invoice that, you know, when the auditors show up and you’re running around and you’re like, I know we have that invoice.

It was somewhere. Where did it go? You know? Now you can just go right into the system, pull that up, and print it out for the auditors.

Those efficiencies are just amazing to have right at your fingertips.

Josh Henderson: And we touched on it a little bit. We touched on it in a previous call you and I had, but HR and onboarding have obviously come up in those conversations.

I’m curious from your perspective what a more efficient HR and business process actually changes for staff and administrators? Like, what does that look like in a school district? What can you what can you tell our listeners?

Christine Vayda: I think in HR, there’s an area where automation obviously always makes a significant difference from onboarding the paperwork to tracking employee information.

So, we were one of the early adopters with the application process. That’s something new that’s to Tyler Technologies. And so that’s been great. We used to use other platforms that people would apply, or they come in with their paper packets, know, and then you’d to make sure they had other documents.

Now people can go on, they apply online, they’re required to upload. So, if you’re a teacher, it tells you have to upload your certifications or whatever and doesn’t allow you to go beyond that step without doing that. So that makes sure that everything that you’re needing during that onboarding process is there. And so then, your principal can go in, they can review those application process packets without having to call down the SAU and say, hey, this person applied, can you send me up the information?

They’re able to go right in in live time to be able to see that as well. So, it just helps definitely onboarding goes much smoother. We spend less time chasing paperwork.

And then we also implemented the employee portal, like I said, in my first few months of coming here. So now employees can log in. They can get their pay stubs. They can get their W-2s.

Being tax time, that’s pretty important. Like, everyone’s always like, hey, when’s the W-2 coming out. We can say it’s in your portal.

Go on out there. And they can print them whenever they need to do that. Their contracts during contract season are in their portals so they can go in and accept those contracts.

All their leave requests are in there. So, if they’re requesting time off, they can go in. They can request that. So, it just allows for so much to happen on the HR side. And whether you’re a big district or a small district, that’s huge to have that automation for you.

And also, the fact that the employees can go in there and update their personal information without even having to contact the SAU office. You know, I remember my first few years in education of getting those phone calls and being like, can I update my direct deposit? And you have to go through all that or and now they can just go right on their portal and do that. And then just recently, I think within the month, Tyler Tech came out with one for employment verification.

So that is new to us within the last couple of weeks that now companies can actually do that employment verification for us. And we don’t even have to do it anymore. It’s all being done in the background. So, it just continues to grow to help HR. I think HR is hugely affected with efficiencies than what you see in your districts.

Josh Henderson: It sounds like a huge time saver for everyone involved. That’s really great.

Now as we start to wrap up the conversation, I just I would like to get since you have so much great experience within different districts and with our Tyler solutions, I’m curious if you have any advice that you would give to other school business officials who feel maybe stretched thin, maybe not getting that sort of buy in that that is necessary when they’re considering this idea of modernization or creating additional efficiencies within their within their network.

Christine Vayda: I would say just start with the biggest pain points. Don’t be afraid to rethink your long-term standing processes. Modernization, you know, isn’t just about the new technology.

It’s about using the technology to support people, making things more manageable and meaningful. You know, don’t be afraid to try something new. Change, you know, is scary and it’s usually met with fear of trying something new, but just make sure you get the information out to your employees. Be ready to meet them and help them to understand the changes themselves but understand the why behind the change.

But don’t be afraid to try it, you know, just because I think one of my worst sentences I always hear is, well, that’s the way it’s always been done. And, yeah, it probably always hasn’t been done, but it doesn’t mean that there’s not a better way we could do those things. So, I would just say, try it.

See if it works for your district. See how you can make it work. Meet with consultants to make sure that, you know, you implement it correctly and do it, because it makes a big difference once you implement it.

Josh Henderson: It’s great to have, you know, spokespeople like yourself who are in it. They understand it. They understand, you know, what can be gained from these types of things, from this idea of modernization.

We really appreciate the way that you’re able to kind of kind of implement these things with our solutions. So really appreciate it. Now lastly, just looking ahead, where do you hope to gain even more efficiency at Epping?

And, you know, how do you see Tyler continuing to support that as a partner with Epping?

Christine Vayda: I think we’re just going to continue to work on the integration and the automation parts of it. I have been one of Tyler Tech’s integrators for the last four or five years, I believe.

And I loved doing that. I love checking out the products before they went live to see what works in them, what works better for a district, you know, versus with Tyler Tech, it’s always been great that they don’t just create these products themselves and push them out not knowing what the end user is going to face. So, I love being part of that, that I can say, hey. As an end user, this doesn’t work. It doesn’t make sense for us. So, I want to continue to be part of that.

I attend Tyler Connects so we can make sure we’re getting the most up to date stuff and understanding how to use these platforms and then partnering, you know, with Tyler to make sure the education is out there to other districts. And I’ve enjoyed being a strong partner with Tyler, and I look forward to seeing how the technology continues to evolve as districts face new challenges.

Josh Henderson: Well, we are excited to continue working together, Christine. Really appreciate you taking the time today. Looking forward to having you back on the show again at some point in the future. And, yeah, thank you so much for being here.

Christine Vayda: Alright. Well, thank you, Josh, for having me. It’s been great.

Josh Henderson: As we heard today, building more efficient operations is about far more than adopting new technology. For the Epping School District, it’s meant rethinking long-term processes, reducing manual work, and creating connected systems that support better decision making across HR, finance, and everyday operations.

Christine shared how automation, integrated workflows, and improved access to data have helped streamline approvals, strengthen onboarding, improve transparency, and free up time for teams to focus on higher value work. It’s a powerful example of how a thoughtful approach to efficiency can make a real impact no matter the size of the organization.

If you’d like to learn more about the solutions discussed in today’s episode, check out the show notes for additional resources. We’d also love to hear your feedback. Fill out the listener survey linked in the notes or reach out anytime at podcast@tylertech.com.

And be sure to subscribe, rate, and review the show so you never miss an episode. For Tyler Technologies, I’m Josh Henderson. Thanks for listening to the Tyler Tech Podcast.