– Abhiraj, Cofounder and CEO, SchoolPad The concept of school management software or a school ERP was there for years. However, what has changed for the better is its deployment from offline to online. School management software started as offline software. These were installed on computers/ laptops and used by only a handful of people in the daily routine of school operation. A data entry operator would use it for maintaining daily records, or a front desk staff member would use it for routine work, or it would help manage students’ records. Someone from the accounts team would take its help for maintaining fee entries and generating reports. Marks entries would be done by a data entry operator/computer teacher to create report cards and print them out. That was more or less it. The offline school management software was a big hit as it helped schools manage their internal management tasks more efficiently and accurately. However, with the passage of time, the school management software has matured from offline, on-premise software to online school management software. Teachers, students, parents and other staff members across different departments have access to the software, and they could use it to manage their work from anywhere and at any given time. The combination of communication- collaboration-features and powerful-internal- management-features made it a perfect platform for schools to keep up with the times. Its capability to connect all stakeholders and keep them involved and informed made it a superpower for the schools. This matured and seasoned school management software is what we see and use today in our schools. Though the school management softwares have gained traction with the schools but unfortunately, many schools that invest in this superpower are not able to use it well or do not use it at all. They keep it as a regular ‘software’ to add to the portfolio of technology tools used by the school. Right implementation Involved in the school management software space for the past decade ten years, I’ve always been curious to find the reasons behind why schools are unable to implement such powerful pieces of technology. After building SchoolPad’s online school management software in 2013 and working on the pilot version with a handful of schools, the first thing we did to address this problem was to set up a team of expert coaches who worked closely with schools to help them implement SchoolPad. They didn’t just extend their support but nurtured them into advanced users. And that nurturing is what we figured out was the real answer to this problem. Implementation of school management software across different departments of a school is a journey but starting the journey right is one of the most essential activities required by schools to get the implementation going in the right direction. Triggers for adopting school management software This is one of the most fundamental steps that set up the stage for successful implementation of your school management software. You might require school management software for everything…
