Aeries vs. TitanWBL: SIS or WBL Platform?

The landscape of Career Technical Education (CTE) is shifting rapidly. We are moving from an era where Work-Based Learning (WBL) was a boutique offering for a few seniors to a world where it is a graduation requirement for all. As district administrators and CTE directors face this massive expansion, the spotlight inevitably falls on their digital infrastructure.

The most common question we hear is also the most critical one. “We already have Aeries for our student data. Why do we need another platform?”

It is a valid question. Aeries is a titan in the Student Information System (SIS) market. It is robust, reliable, and essential for managing demographics, attendance, and grades. But when you attempt to use a generalist tool to manage the specialized, dynamic, and high-risk logistics of Work-Based Learning, the cracks begin to show.

This post is an honest, exhaustive review of Aeries versus TitanWBL. We will strip away the marketing fluff and look at the raw workflows. We will examine why relying solely on your SIS might be throttling your program’s growth and how a specialized platform can unlock the true potential of your career pathways.

The Modern Challenge: Why Your SIS Isn’t Enough for Work-Based Learning

To understand the comparison, we first need to define the problem. Student Information Systems like Aeries were architected to manage data that happens inside the school building. They excel at tracking things you control: bell schedules, classroom assignments, and standardized test scores.

Work-Based Learning is fundamentally different because it happens outside the school. It involves external actors (employers) who do not have access to your system. It involves fluid schedules that change weekly. It involves liability risks that do not exist in a classroom.

When you try to force these external, dynamic workflows into the static architecture of Aeries, you create friction. That friction manifests as hours of manual data entry for your coordinators, lost paperwork, and a lack of real-time visibility into student safety.

Let us look at exactly how Aeries handles these tasks compared to a purpose-built solution.

Deep Dive: An Honest Review of Aeries for WBL Management

Aeries offers an “Internships” module within its platform. For a small program with 30 students managed by a single teacher who loves spreadsheets, this native functionality might be sufficient. However, for a district looking to scale, it presents significant operational bottlenecks.

The “Internships” Module: A Digital Filing Cabinet

The primary mechanism for tracking WBL in Aeries is the Internships (ISP) table. While it allows you to store data, the workflow is entirely manual.

To add an internship, a staff member must navigate to the student record and manually input the start date, end date, and link it to an employer. This sounds simple, but it creates a massive administrative burden. The student cannot do this. The employer cannot do this. Only a credentialed staff member with specific permissions can enter this data.

This means your highly paid WBL coordinators are spending 40% of their week doing data entry instead of coaching students. They become bottlenecks. If a student finds a great internship on their own, it does not get recorded until the coordinator has time to type it in.

The Missing Link: Employer Engagement

Perhaps the most critical limitation of using Aeries for WBL is the lack of an external interface. In the Aeries database, an employer is just a static record ID. They are not a user.

This means there is no way for an employer to log in. They cannot update their own contact information. They cannot upload their insurance certificates. They cannot post new job openings. Everything must be emailed to a school staff member, who then manually enters it into Aeries.

This disconnect is fatal for scaling. You cannot grow a network of 500 business partners if you have to manually update their addresses and chase them for PDF evaluations via email. You need a system where partners can manage themselves.

The Compliance Trap: Manual Coding and Risk

Reporting data to the state (like CALPADS in California or PEIMS in Texas) is a high-stakes game. Funding depends on accuracy. Aeries requires staff to manually select the correct state code for every single activity.

Does your staff know the precise difference between a “Student-Led Enterprise” and a “Simulated Workplace” according to the latest state definitions? In Aeries, there are no guardrails. A staff member can accidentally code a guest speaker as an internship. The system will accept it, but your state report will be flagged for an audit later.

Furthermore, Aeries does not automatically track insurance expiration. A coordinator must manually run a report to see which employers have expired liability insurance. In the chaos of a school year, this step is often missed, leaving the district exposed to massive liability if a student is injured at a site with lapsed coverage.

Enter TitanWBL: The Specialized Logistics Engine

If Aeries is your digital filing cabinet, TitanWBL is your global logistics network. We built TitanWBL specifically to handle the “messy” reality of external learning. It is not designed to replace Aeries as your system of record. It is designed to sit on top of it and handle the complex workflows that an SIS simply cannot.

The Three-Portal Ecosystem: Connecting the Dots

TitanWBL operates as a three-sided marketplace. We provide dedicated portals for the three key stakeholders: the District, the Student, and the Employer.

1. The Employer Portal:

This is the game-changer. In TitanWBL, employers are active users. They have their own dashboard where they can post opportunities, sign agreements digitally, and upload their insurance documents. When their insurance is about to expire, the system automatically emails them a reminder. Your staff does not have to lift a finger.

2. The Student Portal:

We empower students to own their journey. They can log in via their mobile device to search for internships, apply for positions, and build a “WBL Resume.” Most importantly, they can log their own hours using GPS-verified check-ins.

3. The Educator Dashboard:

Instead of doing data entry, your staff uses TitanWBL to monitor the program. They get alerts if a student is missing hours or if a placement is “at-risk.” They move from being data clerks to being program managers.

Case Study: How Fresno Unified Scaled to 600,000 Experiences

The difference between these two approaches is not theoretical. It is proven by data. Fresno Unified School District faced the exact challenge many of you are facing now. They had Aeries, but they needed to scale their WBL operations to tens of thousands of students.

Using spreadsheets and manual entry was impossible. By implementing TitanWBL, they were able to automate the logistics.

The results were staggering. Fresno Unified successfully tracked over 600,000 WBL experiences. They engaged more than 2,500 industry partners. Because the system handled the administrative load, their staff could focus on quality and student support. This level of scale is simply unattainable with manual data entry workflows.

Equity in Action: Moving Beyond Compliance

Perkins V legislation demands that we not only provide opportunities but ensure they are equitable. Aeries has the demographic data, but combining it with WBL participation is a retrospective nightmare. Usually, you only find out about equity gaps after the school year is over, when you run your end-of-year reports.

TitanWBL changes this dynamic. Our platform pulls demographic data from Aeries and overlays it with live participation data. This creates real-time equity dashboards.

A CTE Director can log in on a Tuesday in October and see instantly that female students are underrepresented in the Engineering pathway internships. Because they see this data live, they can take action immediately. They can send a targeted recruitment campaign to qualified female students via the platform that same afternoon. This turns equity from a buzzword into an operational reality.

The Strategic Integration: How Aeries and TitanWBL Work Together

This is the most important section of this guide. The choice is not Aeries OR TitanWBL. The smart strategy is Aeries AND TitanWBL.

Aeries must remain your “System of Record.” It is the single source of truth for student enrollment and transcripts. TitanWBL acts as the “System of Engagement” for your CTE and WBL programs.

Clever Sync and API: The Best of Both Worlds

We utilize robust integrations to ensure these two systems talk to each other seamlessly.

Rostering via Clever:

TitanWBL connects to Aeries through Clever (or ClassLink/OneRoster). This means you never have to manually create student accounts. When a new student enrolls in your district and is entered into Aeries, their account is automatically created in TitanWBL within 24 hours. If they leave the district, their access is revoked. It is secure, automatic, and requires zero maintenance from your IT team.

Data Write-Back via API:

We know that eventually, the data needs to get back into Aeries for the transcript. TitanWBL can aggregate the verified hours, employer evaluations, and completion status. We can then provide a clean, validated export or utilize API write-back capabilities to push that summary data back into the Aeries transcript or gradebook.

This gives you the best of both worlds. You get the specialized, user-friendly, automated features of TitanWBL for running the program day-to-day. And you get the clean, compliant data sitting safely in Aeries for your state reporting.

Feature Showdown: A Side-by-Side Comparison

Let us break down the specific feature differences to make this crystal clear.

Feature Category	Aeries SIS (Native WBL)	TitanWBL (Specialized Platform)
Primary Function	Static Record Storage	Dynamic Program Management
Data Entry	Manual by School Staff	Self-Service by Student & Employer
Employer Access	None (Internal Record Only)	Dedicated Employer Portal
Student Access	View Grades/Schedule Only	Search Jobs, Log Hours, Build Resume
Signatures	Paper Forms / PDF Uploads	Integrated Digital Signatures
Hours Tracking	Manual Transcription	GPS-Verified Mobile Check-In
Risk Management	Manual Insurance Checks	Automated Expiration Alerts
State Reporting	Complex Manual Coding	Automated Mapping & Validation
Scalability	Linear (Requires more staff)	Exponential (Automation handles volume)

The Mobile Experience Gap

The mobile experience is another area where the divergence is stark. The Aeries Mobile Portal App is designed for parents and students to check grades and attendance. It is a consumption tool.

TitanWBL offers a mobile-first experience designed for action. Students use it to clock in at their job site. The system captures their GPS location to verify they are actually where they say they are. They can upload photos of their work. They can complete safety quizzes on the bus ride to their internship. This meets the “TikTok Generation” where they are, reducing friction and increasing engagement.

Strategic ROI: The Hidden Cost of “Free”

We often hear districts say, “We will just use the Aeries module because it is free.”

But is it?

Using a manual tool incurs massive hidden costs. Calculate the hourly rate of your WBL coordinators. If they spend 15 hours a week doing data entry that TitanWBL could automate, you are wasting tens of thousands of dollars in salary per year per staff member.

Furthermore, consider the cost of lost funding. If your manual tracking misses just 50 students who should have been counted as “CTE Completers,” your district could lose significant grant revenue.

Finally, consider the cost of liability. What is the financial and reputational cost of a single lawsuit resulting from a student placed at a worksite with expired insurance? The automated risk management features of TitanWBL act as an insurance policy for your district’s reputation.

When you factor in staff efficiency, grant maximization, and risk mitigation, TitanWBL generates a positive Return on Investment (ROI) often within the first year.

Conclusion: Making the Right Choice for Your Students

The mandate is clear. We must prepare our students for the future of work. That requires providing them with authentic, real-world experiences at scale.

You cannot build a 21st-century workforce using 20th-century tools. While Aeries is an excellent Student Information System, it was never designed to manage the complex ecosystem of modern Work-Based Learning.

By pairing Aeries with TitanWBL, you build a “Best-in-Class” stack. You keep your data secure and centralized while giving your team the specialized tools they need to succeed. You empower your community partners to engage easily. You give your students a modern, digital experience that respects their agency.

Don’t let your infrastructure be the ceiling on your students’ potential. It is time to move beyond the spreadsheet and the filing cabinet. It is time to embrace the future of CTE management.

Ready to see how TitanWBL integrates with your Aeries environment?(#) and let us show you the future of Work-Based Learning.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Does TitanWBL replace Aeries?

No. Aeries remains your essential System of Record for enrollment and transcripts. TitanWBL integrates with it to handle the complex logistics of WBL.

How does the data get from Aeries to TitanWBL?

We use industry-standard integrations like Clever, ClassLink, or OneRoster. This automatically syncs student and staff accounts so you never have to enter data twice.

Can we export data from TitanWBL back into Aeries?

Yes. TitanWBL provides comprehensive reports formatted for easy import into Aeries for state reporting and transcript purposes.

Is TitanWBL compliant with student privacy laws?

Absolutely. TitanWBL is fully FERPA compliant and designed with strict security protocols to protect student data while enabling safe sharing with verified employers.

What makes TitanWBL better for employers?

Employers get their own portal to manage their profile, post jobs, and sign documents. This removes the friction of endless email chains and makes them more likely to continue partnering with your district.