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School administration software allows educational institutions to improve the accuracy of critical processes, securely handle data, and improve overall operational efficiency. Major enterprises have used similar software for years — it’s time for K-12 to benefit from upgrading to leading-edge solutions.
A recent study found that the school management software market is projected to grow from US$10.17 billion in 2021 to US$30.45 billion by 2030. School districts are quickly realizing that adopting school management software isn’t just another tool but a way to redefine how they manage the entire operation.
Often known as school ERP software, adopting specialized solutions developed for schools improves how you manage student data, employee salaries, quarterly budgeting, and district-owned assets. It’s time to modernize education with leading-edge software developed for the specified needs of school districts.
Keep reading to learn more about school administration software and how it can help your educational institution.
School management software is a specialized platform designed for the needs of an educational institution with a focus on improving the management of all the moving pieces of a school district.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software helps businesses and enterprises manage employees, cash flow, and assets. School ERP software is developed to give educational institutions similar benefits but is designed with education needs in mind. You may have similar requirements as other organizations, but using generic management software will leave you lacking essential features.
A school management system is often broken down into individual solutions. Edsembli offers individual solutions to meet specific needs or a comprehensive suite that works together to care for everything an educational institution needs.
Other providers may vary, but Edsembli’s individual solutions are:
We’ll refer to this entire suite as school administration or management software, but it’s essential to understand how the software is broken down into these systems.
1. School Administration Software Eliminates Unnecessary Paperwork
Paperwork has been a necessity for K-12 education in the past, but school administration software digitizes almost every one of these processes. Therefore, depending on your specific needs, you may still need some paperwork. However, most districts will be ready to replace critical processes with HRP, FIN, and SIS solutions.
Tasks traditionally handled with paper, such as attendance and student scores, can be entirely digitized. If your school has already moved these processes to spreadsheets or other isolated software, you can upgrade to the best school management systems for improved storage and cross-departmental collaboration.
Administrators and educators will be able to securely capture, store, and access any data that are necessary for the school’s operations. Additionally, employees won’t have to rely on looking through filing cabinets to find the right report or document, instead quickly locating it within the platform.
2. The Right School Management System Enhances Accuracy and Efficiency
Several processes throughout the operations of an educational organization involve capturing, inputting, or analyzing data. These administrative tasks are necessary for your organization to track student progress and manage employees.
However, these processes are time-consuming and error-prone when handled manually. Even skilled administrators will make mistakes, especially when facing an hours-long data entry task. You don’t need to rely on your educators manually inputting scores into a spreadsheet or still relying on stacks of paperwork.
For example, educators can take attendance through the dashboard instead of taking attendance on a clipboard and inputting it later. Then, any authorized administrator can view attendance immediately after it’s submitted with no additional work from the education. Efficiency goes a step further by allowing school administrators to run automated attendance reports leveraging the cloud-based data.
The above example can be applied to several administrative tasks throughout your organization. Nearly every task you may conduct manually can be upgraded to a cloud-based online school management solution for better accuracy and overall efficiency.
3. Properly Capture, Track, and Manage Data
Compliance requirements have expanded substantially in recent years throughout all industries, and education is no exception. Depending on your region, you may already be trying to meet new regulatory requirements or will be soon. In addition, you’ll need to abide by requirements set by your country, state/province, and city simultaneously.
One of the primary focuses of the new wave of regulations is how schools handle data. Student and employee data must be securely managed throughout its entire lifecycle.
Fortunately, a top school management system allows you to handle data securely at every step. Leading-edge school ERP software provides the highest level of data protection used by enterprises globally.
Cloud-based online school administration systems can centralize and protect all of your data by restricting who has access to specific types of data. For example, access can be limited based on job title, specific roles, or tiered access based on what works best for your organization.
Data must be secured throughout all three states it will experience:
Choosing the best school management software will protect data during each state to meet compliance requirements while protecting sensitive student and employee information.
4. Minimize Record Storage for Former Students
Student data isn’t wiped when a student graduates. Instead, it must be stored for a predetermined period determined by applicable regulations. A former student’s data may be necessary for college applications, post-graduate programs, and finding employment.
Traditionally, storing information about former students took up physical space. For example, file cabinets or stacks of boxes take up space that could otherwise be put to better use.
Top school administration software now allows educational institutions to store this data digitally for as long as necessary. So, unless legally required, you’ll remove physical storage and free up physical space for other uses. In addition, you’ll have a secure and readily accessible student database to store records from former students.
Additionally, similar to the above reason, former student data will be protected with the highest levels of security. Only authorized users will have access, and you won’t need to worry about restricting physical access. You can rest assured that your entire student database is always secure.
5. Improve District-Wide Collaboration and Communication
Communication and collaboration are essential for operational efficiency. The better your employees can find and share information with each other, the more efficiently they can handle vital administrative tasks and other responsibilities.
For example, relying on emails to obtain a suitable spreadsheet absorbs time that could otherwise be spent completing the task. Additionally, this delays the task and takes time away from the recipient, who now has to find and send the requested spreadsheet.
Fortunately, adopting the best school management software for your organization allows centralized storage of essential documents and information. You’ll entirely eliminate requested documents or spreadsheets with email chains.
Additionally, HRP software allows employees to access salary, overtime, and benefits information quickly. As a result, employees won’t need to call HR to retrieve this information, allowing both HR and the employee to save valuable time.
6. The Best School Management Software Improves Gradebook Management
Tracking and managing student grades is an essential administrative task. Yet, creating and managing physical gradebooks is both time-consuming and can often result in errors, even for experienced educators.
School ERP software allows for automated gradebook management that completely eliminates many of the manual processes used in the past. Teachers will likely still need to input grades for non-digital assignments, but the ERP software will handle the rest.
The top school administrative software allows teachers to streamline several important gradebook management tasks, such as:
Automating these processes removes making errors that can reflect directly on the student. Instead, educators can input grades and let the ERP software handle the tracking and calculations.
7. Streamline Requesting and Paying School Fees
Private and public schools must frequently request fees from parents and guardians. Fees are an ongoing part of operating an educational institution, whether it’s a private school’s tuition or a public school’s fees for an upcoming field trip.
In the past, fees were often collected by check or the guardian paying in person. However, that payment method doesn’t accommodate the needs of modern parents who want to make payments with their chosen method and without an unnecessary trip to the school.
FIN solutions, which can be standalone or included with school ERP software, equip schools with a new way to request and receive payment. Parents and guardians can make payment online, receive a receipt, and schools will receive it once processed.
Adopting the best school management software completely avoids checks getting lost with students or requiring parents to visit the school. In addition, once adopted, you’ll have a secure and straightforward way to receive fee payments and provide receipts.
8. Save Time Auditing Attendance with School Management Software
Attendance auditing is an essential administrative task but pouring over spreadsheets or paperwork absorbs hours of an educator’s or administrator’s day. This practice may have been necessary in the past, but now school ERP software can significantly reduce time spent auditing attendance.
SIS platforms modernize and simplify managing attendance for the entire district. The top school management software will allow your teams to review and sort attendance records as necessary quickly. Commonly used features include:
Managing and auditing attendance records help identify absent trends that may affect student success. In addition, using SIS platforms for attendance allows employees to stay on top of any potential issues to take corrective action as soon as possible.
School districts don’t need to rely on outdated, paperwork-heavy processes anymore. Enterprises and businesses have used ERP software for years to improve operational efficiency — and now educational institutions have a specially designed version to enjoy the same benefits.
However, you need to choose the right school management software to benefit from each of the above reasons. Carefully evaluate any potential provider to ensure their software is comprehensive, secure, and will meet your needs.
Edsembli is an industry leader in school management software. We have experience in K-12 education and develop solutions to meet the needs of educational institutions.
Ready to discover how Edsembli’s solution can improve your entire district? Schedule a demo today to learn more.
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