In a previous article, we looked at the impact of technology on education in recent years. It has also created great value for students and teachers because their lives are much less stressful. Fortunately, supervisors are not excluded because they also benefit from the benefits of technology.

 

And that’s a good thing for leaders who are smart enough to use technology not only to meet the expectations of students and parents, but also to avoid competition.

 

While it may not be high on your to-do list as a school administrator, the benefits of a good school governance system are considerable. A system that allows seamless data sharing, streamlines processes, and minimizes duplication is sure to save a lot of time and staff. And it certainly makes school “leadership” much earlier and better.

 

It’s hard to decide;

As with almost any technology, there is a lot of choice in school management solutions. For some with little or no software experience, it can be very confusing to decide what best suits their needs.

 

That’s why we decided to create this guide. What to consider when deciding which school management system provider to work with?

 

Features of an excellent school management system;

Centralized Database; This may seem like a simple thing not to mention, but we have seen many solutions where data is scattered everywhere and is not ideal. When you have to switch between systems, panels, and windows to find all the information you need for a particular customer or goal, it’s a sign that your life is getting harder than it should be.

 

You are looking for a solution with complete student or staff information on one key profile page. Membership, attendance, rewards, separation, incarceration, medical history, behavior, extracurricular activities, etc. You want to be able to navigate easily and get information about yourself from a single source of truth.

 

Flexibility to adapt to change; We have seen administrators try to adapt their processes to the way school management software works. Which is very undesirable. The software should not tell you how to manage your recordings. It should tell the software how and where your recordings are stored.

 

Always choose a system that is dynamic and able to adapt to the inevitable changes in processes, methods, techniques, standards, and requirements.

 

Integration with other tools; A very important feature of a good school management system is its transparency and compatibility with other tools. Excellent system, finance and billing, training tools, medical services, etc. It should integrate well with other state-of-the-art tools that serve other narrow needs such as;

 

Accessibility; This is another important factor to consider. Most solutions offer you a standalone or web-based system or both. Depending on your needs and existing infrastructure, there are trade-offs no matter which package you choose.

 

Online versions are essential when requesting access anytime, anywhere. This is the best solution when there is no limit to the number of people who can access the system.

 

Scalability; Ideally, if you want to use school management software, you probably used it when you didn’t have as many enrollments. Maybe you have hundreds of thousands of students and staff. Therefore, you need to enter, compile, and process multiple data sets

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However, we expect these numbers to naturally double and triple as the school grows. Suddenly the numbers are multiplied by ten.

 

If the supplier has not designed and built the system with scalability in mind, the system will fail. And in the worst case, the requirements may exceed your usage.

 

A workable solution should be a scalable solution. This eliminates the risk of having to switch providers simply because your solution is not scalable.

 

Ease of Use; Ease of use for all software is a rule of thumb, especially if it is not intended for people who are supposed to be proficient in technology. The school management system should be easy to use, even for those less familiar with technology. One way to detect or identify a poorly designed solution is its complexity for users

 

Consider useful features; We’ve seen that many school management software includes a lot of features that a school would never need. It is not optimal. Anything you include or exclude from a technology solution always comes at a price.

 

Not the most versatile software you need, no. Instead, find a solution that fixes 100% of your problems and do it right. Therefore, a solution with 80-100% of the useful functions is always better than a solution that requires only 20% of their capabilities.