What can we say about the uses of technology in every field? Apart from making tasks easier for all of us, it has given a new aspect to every domain in which it is used. The education sector is no different. With the use of LMS and ERP systems, principals and teachers are exploring a distant horizon that remained unexplored in the past. These technologies have changed the way education was perceived earlier. In the past, teachers had to take care of all administrative tasks manually. This consumed a lot of their time and effort. However, with ERP systems they can manage day-to-day activities in an organized manner.
School ERPs can easily manage all administrative tasks and functions of a school. The system can take care of activities like attendance, new enrollments, fee collection, exam planning, virtual learning, and more to give a new face to education. Here are the top five reasons that explain why ERP software is important for school, college, or university administration.
Reasons to Use an ERP System
Hassle-free student enrollment procedure
If an educational organization follows the traditional system of taking admission, they have to stick to a series of steps. In the traditional enrollment system, parents and students need to visit the campus of an institute to know about the application status. But this process can be changed to offer comfort to parents and students. By adopting an ERP system, institutes can provide flexibility to parents and students. Parents can fill up the online inquiry form, and the admission team can take follow-ups through those forms. As a result, there is no need to go through paperwork during the admission process. Parents and students can watch their application status through the dashboard. They can log into the dashboard through their login credentials to know the application status. Once the admission is confirmed, students’ profiles can be managed through the ERP system. Admission counselors can add or delete students’ profiles through the system.
Benefits of Admission Management System
The admission management system can show positive effects on the enrollment process of students. Some of the benefits offered by this system include:
- Easy enrollment
As the admission process is automated, schools and other educational organizations can enroll more students. They can retain top performers and improve their academic percentages using the admission management system. Students can apply for admission from the comfort of their homes. Moreover, they can track the application status in real-time using the admission management system.
- Improved productivity
This system also improves the productivity of admission counselors. As they do not need to maintain manual entries, they can focus more on generating quality leads for admission. Moreover, the system also captures quality leads and helps in their conversion.
- Faster admission
As the software automates the lead generation and capture process, admins and school staff can aim for higher enrollment rates. Moreover, the admission process is completed on time because of the improved productivity of the counselors.
- Easy data management
Admins and other staff can easily manage all data. The software collects all information from the first touchpoint to the last. It gathers student and parent information, tracks application status, and gives real-time information to every stakeholder, thus reducing confusion and errors.
Online fee payments and management
One of the crucial functions in any educational organization is the fee collection process. Hundreds of students pay their fees at a time and managing such data becomes cumbersome for staff members. They need to log in to the entries in different registers. Also, they have to send fee payment reminders to parents and students. When switching from one task to another, chances are high that staff members may miss out on a few tasks. However, all these complexities can be managed by adopting an ERP system. The system can be integrated with a payment gateway to make fee payments feasible for parents and students. Moreover, the ERP system also gives an option to pay fees through UPIs and cards. Once the fee collection process is over, admins and other staff can analyze the reports to know the total amount collected.
Benefits of Fee Management System
Apart from the ease of fee collection and submission, the fee management system offers the following benefits.
- Multiple payment options
With the help of payment gateways, students and parents can pay fees using different options. They can choose cards, UPIs, and wallets to transfer the amount on time. The availability of multiple options improves the fee payment and collection experience for parents and accountants.
- Fee categories distinction
Categorizing fees into different parts is a cumbersome process for staff involved in fee collection. Many times, schools and other educational institutions offer discounts and special aids to students. These components have to be taken care of when collecting fees. A fee management system makes the process easier as an accountant can easily set different fee categories to make the process easier.
- Fee reports
Once the amount has been collected, admins may want to know if any student falls into the defaulter category. With the help of fee reports, they can look at the list of defaulters.
Easy attendance management
Managing classroom attendance is tough when teachers have to carry out the process manually. Putting a checkmark on those small boxes of attendance registers might seem difficult. However, teachers can save time and effort by taking support from an attendance management system. Managing attendance is a crucial task as it decides students’ progress. As a result, teachers cannot go wrong with this process. An attendance management system makes attendance generation easy. Teachers can record attendance and share updates with parents in a few steps. Moreover, they can see classroom trends to understand the number of students falling below the minimum required attendance percentage.
Benefits of Attendance Management System
Apart from collecting students’ attendance, the system offers the following benefits.
- Attendance reports
Just recording students’ attendance is not enough. Apart from that, teachers should also be able to know different statistics. An attendance report captures all data points relating to attendance and presents it interactively. Through these reports, teachers can notice the attendance trends in their classes.
- Activity tracker
Poor attendance can hamper students’ academic performance. If students do not attend classes, they may not be able to follow the classroom schedule, and it might affect their overall performance. An attendance management system serves as an activity tracker and keeps a log of students’ progress.
- Time-saving
The attendance management system saves time for teachers and improves their productivity. As they do not need to make manual entries in the attendance register, they can save their time and devote it to bettering their lectures and creating an interactive classroom environment for students.
- Better compliance
The attendance management system ensures better compliance as it reduces the chances of proxies. In traditional classrooms, students get to respond on behalf of their friends. However, the digital recording of attendance reduces the chances of proxies and maintains the actual headcount.
Effective communication with parents and other stakeholders
An ERP system establishes a safe communication network that can be used to send information to parents and other stakeholders in real-time. Regular communication is an integral part of any educational institution; therefore, schools and colleges must invest in an ERP system to pass on information in real-time. The communication system also enables parents to get to know about their child’s academic progress and studies. Moreover, the system also notifies parents about important events and activities.
Benefits of Communication Module
Some of the benefits offered by a communication module are mentioned below.
- Real-time information sharing
Teachers can share information with students, parents, and admins in real-time. This module of the ERP system improves the flow of information and keeps everyone updated about recent happenings.
- Keep parents involved
Parents may not have time to look into the daily school activities of their children. As a result, they may miss out on important dates and events. A communication module keeps parents involved in academic activities and gives them timely information about their child’s activities. Parents and teachers can use this system to send messages to each other.
- Enhances collaboration
Effective communication also improves classroom communication. When teachers and students are in sync, they are more likely to give their maximum effort to the teaching-learning process.
Management information system
The MIS system of an ERP helps the decision makers take conscious and informed steps. It assists school and college administrators and helps them improve their decision-making abilities by giving them access to different performance measurement reports. The management can track numbers and statistics relating to attendance, admission, fees, classroom performance, leave policies, and more.
Benefits of Management Information System
The major benefits of using this system are:
- Improved decision-making abilities
The ERP software provides information on various parameters and helps admins take decisions based on those parameters. Principals and heads of different departments can make better decisions by taking help from different reports. As they can check and analyze different aspects related to students and teachers, admins can come up with different strategies to improve the overall functions and productivity.
- Better performance
Admins can help teachers and students improve their performance through the ERP systems. In the summary dashboard, they can view different metrics to understand where their students and teachers fall. After analyzing the performance, admins can frame policies to support and encourage teachers and students.
An ERP system is a must-have for educational institutions. However, before moving forward, educational institutions must measure their requirements and then select compatible software. Measuring the needs is vital before investing in an ERP system for educational institutions.
Suggested Read: How Can Principals Build Relationships with Parents
Teachmint provides ed-infra to educational institutions. With our state-of-the-art lms portal, teachers can improve the teaching-learning experience. Our tools like institute erp help schools manage their everyday activities hassle-free.
