There are many school software in market and yes use of school software helps schools to save time & money both… How ? Answer is in elaborated way.

Education has moved in leaps and bounds, so much that what could easily be recorded on paper a few years ago has today become a mission. Technology has forced us

to look at paperless and easier ways to get the tasks done and the area of education is no different.

Today, schools face a lot of challenges on a daily basis just to operate the daily administration. Processes like declaration of results, data management, fees collection, timetable management, attendance management of both staff and students and other similar functions are done manually. Manual work takes a lot of time, energy and resources.

Such things can now be done easily thanks to school management software. The challenges faced by educational institutions to manage the day to day running of the school are immense and that is why it has become imperative that every school should have a management software to increase efficiency and reduce time and effort.

Listed below are twelve reasons why every school should have a school management system:

1. eCOMMUNICATION

Students can have e-discussions with teachers whilst preparing for their exams and get their problems resolved.

For parents, it is a blessing in disguise for all those who want to be active in their children’s academic progress but cannot simply because they do not have the time. Parent-teacher communication is streamlined and this makes it easier for parents to keep track of their child’s attendance, tests, and discipline reports.

2. ACCESIBLE ANY TIME ANY PLACE

Whether you are a teacher, parent or student, you can work on it from anywhere. Students can access their study material anywhere while teachers can look up lesson plans whilst mobile. No fixed installation or infrastructure is required, apart from a smart phone and a reliable internet connection.

3. MONITORING ATTENDANCES

Once upon a time, attendance was monitored by way of roll call, a chore that took the better part of thirty minutes. With a combination of smart cards or bio-metric devices, attendance is marked automatically and a notification is sent to all parents whose children are absent. This ensures that the parents are aware that their child is absent from school.

4. SCHOOL TRANSPORT TRACKING

Irrespective of whether you are the principal or a parent, GPS enabled school transport vehicles allow you to track the location of it and thus ensuring your child’s safety. It also enables vehicle drivers to get substitution in the event their vehicle breaks down. The school can also inform drivers of road closures or accidents so that the vehicles can be re-routed accordingly.

5. SYSTEM ALERT SCHEDULING

As a transport in charge, you need to ensure that the school vehicles attend their “annual” health check. Many a time these things are forgotten. The school management software enables you to create and alert notifying you in advance when the vehicles are due for inspection. In the same way, parents can receive alerts to notify them when the school fees are due. The Principal can also receive notification when a member of the teaching or admin staff takes unauthorized leave.

6. SHARING OF KNOWLEDGE AND COLLABORATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT STAKE HOLDERS

A common interactive platform, a school management system brings together teachers, parents, principals and students together. This in turns builds a strong school community by involving all the stakeholders in group discussions and engaging activities.

7. CUSTOMISATION AND CONFIGURATION

No two systems operate the same way. In the same way, no two schools function in the same way. The beauty of a school management software is such that it can be customized according to each school’s unique needs This means that you can get the system such that it recognizes your process flow and functions accordingly. It can also be tweaked according to the changing requirements of the school.

Various modules across the system can be customized whereby principals and teachers can choose and configure the modules according to their preference and importance.

8. COMPREHENSIVE GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS

As the head teacher of a school, you probably want to see monthly or annual graphs that depict summaries of leave and absenteeism rates across various departments. A school management software allows you to do this and much more. Multidimensional analyses of students performance, their progression trends can be carried out and students who are poor performers can be weeded out and helped accordingly. The analysis can also be done across non-academic parameters like finance, inventory and payroll.

9. SUPPORT PAPERLESS CAMPUS

Instead of using pen and paper, we are now using apps and smart phones, a much smarter and less cumbersome way of working. Information is now literally at the tips of all using the school management software. Gone are the days when you had reams of paper stuffed away in the filing cabinets.

10. EASY INSTALLATION

When you decide that you are going to make that investment in school management software, then all you need to do is get it configured and installed and you will have a robust system in a matter of hours. Once installed, you set up your personalized configurations unique to your school and lo and behold! You are ready to go.

11. PERSONALISED TEACHING AND LEARNING

Teachers can upload study material anytime, anywhere. They can also check the students’ performance reports, their homework and do a performance analysis.

In the same way students have access to study material at all times, and check their class schedules in advance. The online library catalogue will allow them to reserve or renew book anytime. Students can also interact with teachers and each other to revise and clarify doubts.

12. TRANSPARENCY IN COMMUNICATION

Parents are kept abreast of what is happening in the school via online newsletters and circulars as well as message alerts.

In today’s automated world, schools should not be left behind because they do not want to have access to the latest technology. Technology is advancing and making our lives easier and that is why every school should invest in a school management software for the betterment of education, and for the improvement of relationships between student, school and parents.

Kumaril Patel

Entrepreneur and ERP Software Specialist

A version of this article appears in Quora