11 Innovative Features Offered By The Best School Administration Software
Schools nowadays are looking for advanced ERP software solutions for ensuring effective administration and creating a successful learning environment. A lot of vendors are now offering school administration software with advanced features.
But, are all these features useful and innovative? Let’s look at the top 10 innovative features offered by the best school administration software and evaluate.
1. Cloud Technology
Most school software are cloud enabled thanks to its numerous benefits, some of which are listed below.
Easy Access — Cloud technology helps teachers to upload and access data such as PowerPoint slides, lesson plans, notes, evaluation results and any teaching materials in digital form. This enables them to access from anywhere, anytime given that they have a solid internet connection. Implementing cloud — based software in schools indicates that not much of money and time is spent on IT and more focus is on improving academic standards.
Scalability — Unlike a dedicated or shared server, cloud technology offers much better scalability. Depending on demand, the storage can be increased or decreased.
Enhanced Security — Schools need to keep several confidential files secure and intact. Storing data on a local server is susceptible to getting deleted, and makes it extremely difficult to recover. While on the cloud, there would be mandatory backup and the chances of accidental erasure is less. Any type of data that you store in the cloud also needs authentication (i.e., you need user id and password to access) for access and other actions. So, chances of security breaches are less.
Shareability — Suppose teachers are working together on an instructional assignment. Wouldn’t it be helpful if they can share files related to the assignment from a common database? With cloud technology, they would be able to share all files or data stored in the cloud among all teachers of choice. There is no need to store project data in CD\DVDs, all you need is to send a link to the file(s) destination
2. Cloud Analytics and Data Dashboards
Implementing cloud-enabled data dashboards will help to promote virtual work environment in schools. Data dashboards can be used to show publicly all the important data in real time. As every department in the school has access to this data, it will be easier for them to work collaboratively.
3. Student Behaviour Tracking
School administration software can store all the various data generated from everyday activities and incidents in schools. The collected data can be used wisely for behaviour monitoring. It will help teachers identify the top performing students and students who require motivation. Penalty tracking would also be present as a feature of student behaviour tracking.
4. Communication Features
Quality school software offer features to alert students, parents and teachers on emergencies and key events. SMS and push notification are features common to most software. But the latest software integrates Skype, Whatsapp, facebook messenger, etc for an even more inclusive notification system. Online social forums are yet another means to help students, teachers and parents collaborate.
5. Admission Management
Admission processes are really hectic for both school authorities and staff. They need to spend hours to do paperwork and the process involves managing bundles of files. With advanced school administration software all the admission data can be saved smartly and instant data access is possible for the users of this school management software.
It will become easier for administrators to define course, define batchwise fee structure, define fee schedules, set scholarship criteria, print admission cards and to perform other admission related tasks. Besides these, student admission management systems can also provide student personal and historical data to authorized personnel when required.
6. Mastery Trackers (Skills Trackers)
Mastery Tracker is one of the new features offered by many school software vendors. Such trackers are effective in introducing mastery based learning in classrooms. There will be many dashboards in Mastery Tracker for instant access of student data. Teachers can easily understand the skill levels including weak areas of every student using this data. This will help them to enable students to learn at their own pace.
7. Online Payment Gateway Integration
Only few school software offer secured online transactions. Online payment gateway integration helps schools and parents in different ways. Online fee collection can reduce manual errors at the fee counter. School managers can easily create appropriate fee structures as per class or student level and parents can make payments at any time via internet banking or other means irrespective of their location. The integration takes place with library, store and canteen management as well.
8. Single-Sign-On (SSO)
Single Sign-On (SSO) is a session and user authentication service that permits an end user to provide one set of login credentials to access multiple applications. The service authenticates the end user for all the applications the user has been given rights to and eliminates further prompts when the user switches applications during the same session.
Some of the advantages of SSO are:
• Quicker access to applications and systems
• Better user experience owing to automatic login to applications
• Application access can be examined
• Login and password changes will be recorded
• Revocation of all application access for a user at a single click
9. Attendance Management
Advanced software should have modules to manage day to day attendance of students easily and systematically. It should be integrated to send automated SMS and email alerts to parents when students take unnecessary leaves or bunk class.
Both teachers and administrators can access the attendance data of students. Administrators can verify and change attendance marks if it is needed.
Benefits
• Automated tracking of attendance- It reduces lots of manual effort.
• Paperless management- Saves you from marking attendance in roll books, which is time-consuming
• Reasons for leave can be marked easily
• Automatic SMS/email alerts to parents
10. Examination Management
Examination module helps teachers and school authorities to manage all types of tests and exams in an academic year effectively. Students can take online tests to assess themselves. Exam management system also helps schools to publish results faster without any delay. Results can be informed via SMS and email alerts.
Key benefits
• Easy to create different types of tests/exams based on marks or grades
• Statistical and Graphical view of exam reports is possible
• Different types of evaluations such as GPA, CCE and CWA can be done
• Group exams can be created if needed
• On demand report generation
11. Library Management
Effective and flexible library management is the convenience offered by this module. This module includes basic features such as Search, Find, Issue and Return books. Library data can be used to analyze the reading habits among students. It will also help ensure the condition of books and its availability.
These features are definitely top drawer, and most of them are continuously evolving. They have made schools more effective at maintaining high teaching standards. Enabling them for your school will definitely bring in positive results.
So, do you think differently? Share your opinion with us in the comment section.
