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In this case study:
They understand the full Microsoft environment we operate in and can support us across systems as needs arise.”
Company Overview
Lakeside supports at-risk youth through a network of trauma-responsive, alternative schools and services, offering therapeutic educational care tailored for students who struggled in traditional school settings. Lakeside also works with organizations and systems of care to provide trauma-informed training and consulting.
As Lakeside expanded its programs and services, technology became increasingly critical to supporting students, staff, and partners while maintaining accountability across districts and stakeholders.
Expanding Programs Created Technology Strain Across Finance and Student Services
As Lakeside grew to serve more students and expanded its services across education, behavioral support, special education, district reporting, and training, its legacy systems began to show cracks.
- Student information, referrals, behavioral incidents, attendance, billing, and special-education data were managed through disconnected spreadsheets, manual workflows, and ad-hoc tools. Tracking participants who completed Lakeside’s training programs was also handled through spreadsheets and was not easily accessible across teams.
- Financial operations, including invoicing, remittance slips, reconciliations, and reporting, lacked scale, traceability, and consistency. As accountability requirements increased, including audits and district reporting, these manual processes made maintaining standards more difficult.
While Lakeside had internal IT staff, the breadth of needs across ERP, automation, security, and integrations required deeper Microsoft expertise. They were also determined to avoid working with multiple vendors, which often leads to fragmented solutions and unclear accountability.
Solution: A Unified Microsoft Partner (ERP, Automation, Security, and Ongoing Support)
Lakeside chose Quisitive as its Microsoft partner, leveraging its full-service capabilities across ERP, automation, data, security, and managed services. Over six years of collaboration, Quisitive became an extension of Lakeside’s internal team and the single partner responsible for its Microsoft ecosystem.
Modernizing Financial Operations with Dynamics 365 Business Central
Quisitive deployed Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to centralize Lakeside’s financial operations and support scalable processes. The team handled licensing, installation, administration, and reporting customizations to align with Lakeside’s needs, including tailored invoice and remittance templates.
Business Central replaced manual tasks with structured workflows and provided clearer financial visibility and reporting. As Lakeside added programs and students, the finance system was able to grow with them rather than limit them.
Since modernizing finance with Business Central and integrating it with Power Apps, Lakeside has been able to:
- Generate invoices and financial reports that reflect contract activity and attendance captured in Power Apps
- Maintain a single, traceable financial system of record
- Improve the quality and transparency of invoicing
“Our financial reporting is now centralized, transparent,
and traceable. We can confidently show how contract
activity, attendance, and invoicing are connected.”
Neil Thompson, Director, Technology Services & Support, Lakeside Programs
Power Platform Apps Replace Manual Work and Siloed Student Data
To support student services and program delivery, Quisitive designed a suite of Power Platform and Dataverse solutions that brought previously fragmented processes into a single automated environment.
These tools included a centralized student Dataverse, referral and counselor assignment tracking, behavioral incident reporting through mobile forms, special education documentation, billing and transportation tracking, and course and program management workflows.
Previously, each program relied on different systems, making it difficult to ensure consistency or visibility across teams. The new applications improved accuracy, reduced administrative effort, and created real-time visibility across student and program activity.
Data captured in Power Apps flows into Business Central to support accurate invoicing, reporting, and audits.
“Before Power Apps, every program tracked data differently.
Now we have one system with consistent data, and the ability
to trace and follow up on entries when needed.”
Neil Thompson, Director, Technology Services & Support, Lakeside Programs
Focused Six-Month Engagement Strengthened Cloud Security and Governance
As Lakeside’s cloud footprint expanded, leadership identified the need to reduce risk, improve oversight, and establish consistent security controls across the organization. Lakeside engaged.
Quisitive’s security team for a focused six-month cloud security engagement designed to strengthen governance and improve visibility.
The engagement focused on:
- Assessing the existing cloud security posture and identifying
risk areas -
Strengthening identity and access controls to better protect user accounts
-
Standardizing cloud security policies across users and systems
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Improving data protection and device security
-
Increasing visibility into security controls and overall risk posture
This work helped move Lakeside from inconsistent security practices to a more standardized and manageable security foundation.
"Quisitive has been a stable partner for us that is always
ready to find creative solutions. Even when they don’t
have the answers, they work to find the person who does
so we can keep operations running smoothly."
Neil Thompson, Director, Technology Services & Support, Lakeside Programs
Outcomes: A Connected, Scalable, and Secure Microsoft Environment
By unifying finance, student services, and security under one Microsoft partner, Lakeside achieved:
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Integrated systems that reduce manual work and duplication
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Better visibility and reporting for leadership and school districts
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Finance operations that scale with growth
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A more secure and governed cloud environment
“Leveraging the full Microsoft technology stack allows us
to remain consistent with how our staff access information.
There are no extra logins or security steps, and everyone
who needs access to data can do so seamlessly.”
Neil Thompson, Director, Technology Services & Support, Lakeside Programs
