Why Schools Need a School Management Software?

Vinod Kakumanu
Aug. 31, 2019, 5:08 p.m.

The network of schools is expanding and indeed it should. The quality of education is directly linked to the efficiency of the school management hence it must not be hard to understand that the students, parents and teachers are also the stakeholders in the process of school management.

The idea of entrepreneurial resource planning or ERP is increasingly finding resonance in the arena of education and educational institutions are adopting the fundamentals of ERP to better posit themselves to bring seamlessness to the processes that are integral to creating an educational ecosystem that is efficient, flexible, evolving and result-oriented.

Starting a school in India faces a formidable entry barrier and it requires commitment and clarity of vision to establish it. Once it is established it has to be sustained and for that the school management must be highly efficient. Admissions and revenue have to be well managed to ensure sustainability besides academics, human resource and growth. All this requires steady and objective system that employs technology and, to some degree, automation, conventional methods do not suffice anymore. School management software developed by veterans of the industry can be of immense help in ERP of schools.

The adoption of ERP by the school management brings with it definitive list of benefits

Enhanced and Effective Communication

Traditionally, it takes an extraordinary and sometimes implausible involvement of management to establish an uninterrupted communication channel between teachers, students, and parents. This leads to a communication gap which becomes a norm over time. There are only a handful of schools which have not suffered the detrimental effects of communication gap, retardation and dissatisfaction that results directly or indirectly from the lack of communication between all the stakeholders.

It is hard to contest the fact that an effective communication between students, teachers and parents is bound to contribute to the academic performance. The essential feedback and information flow will definitely boost performances at all levels and increase the levels of engagement.

A well devised school management system removes all hurdles in the way of effective and seamless communication through the precision that technology affords it.

All target groups are connected using the school management system. The modalities include mobile or web apps which use Chats/SMS for instantaneous communication. A lot of time is saved and telephone calls are made redundant thus one of the key motivations to avoid communication is eliminated.

These form a compelling reason forwarded for the adoption of an effective school management system which is informed by the insights in technology as well as experience.

Effective Resource and Resource-Inventory Management

There are lot of large and small resources that are mobilized on a day to day basis in an operational school. The list includes assets such as hostels, libraries, transport services etc. systems and functions like academics and human resources. Well-oiled management machinery must be in place to effectively manage all of these with best results. The entire can be made relatively effortless with the intelligence that a good school management system affords the school management.

With distinct modules for inventory management, school management software standardizes the management of assets and functions and saves a lot of effort and time. It increases the trainability and efficiency of the management personnel responsible for the management and upkeep

Registering and maintain Student and Staff Attendance

The daily student attendance recording process is a task simplification of which is overdue. On- paper maintenance of attendance record is burdening for those involved and consumes valuable time, not to speak of the possibility of inaccuracies that creep in given the volume and monotony involved. The use of the traditionally acquired attendance data is even more complicated. To sort students based on the attendance record, retrieving individual attendance details are just a couple of examples which frequently pose problems.

With the usage of a school management system all the derivatives of attendance records become more accessible and usable. It is so because it makes the process of recording attendance largely paperless.

Fees and Accounting

Accounting for revenue that mainly includes the fees collection is a task that requires uncompromised regularity and tremendous precision. The entire process is taxing for all involved. Computing the fee for all students, tracking and communicating with defaulters, managing concessions and discounts etc. make it a daunting task. It is not hard to fathom how liberating an experience it would be when a school management system makes it feasible to pay money online and account for it handy. An accountant can easily and effectively manage and compute the payment with the built-in accounting module of the school management software.

Management of voluminous student data

The school management deals with a considerable volume of student data the management of which is layered and delegated. The bulk of the data and the circuitous management makes it complicated and it makes it confusing to use it to draw inferences. As a result, the quality of education and remedy of student issues is compromised. The school management system transforms the data from being burdening to empowering.

School management system can make the data collection, management and interpretation effortless and create a substantial knowledge base to harness.

Managing Admissions

The admissions in a school happen in bulk and in phases as well. However, there is a season for admissions in which the management has to be on toes. Hundreds of students joining a school in a definite time- frame, the resulting paper work and the procedures makes it tremendously demanding. To manage the admission and enrolment process without hassles, school management system provides paperless data management modules designed to minimize the effort and duplication. The data entered into the software can be edited and retrieved in a click.

Security

Safety and security can also be enhanced with the use of the school management system. Installations that provide overall security is complete with the adoption of an effective school management system. The disconnect between the students and parents and teachers that results from the physical distance can be overcome by the use of intelligent software. Centralized and decentralized tracking the students in commute and within the premises is possible with the use of the school management system.

It is time that we empower the school management with technology and the tenets of enterprise resource and planning by adopting school management system. However, it is important for a system to be composed of software that is user-friendly and secure at the same time.