Few years back most of the schools were running everything on paper, and nobody really complained about it because the number of students was less. But now the situation is totally different. A normal school today has admission, fee, attendance, homework, exams, transport, library and staff salary to manage, and parents want to know about all of it on their phone. When all this is still done on registers and excel sheets, the office staff is always under pressure.

Now this is the point where school ERP software comes into the picture. In simple words it is one system where all the departments of the school are connected, so the principal, teachers, accountant and parents all can see the details as per their access. Since many school owners are confused that do they really need it or not, below are 5 signs which tells you that your school is ready for it.

1. Teachers Are Doing More Office Work Than Teaching

And this is the most common one. Teachers marks attendance in register, then the same data goes in excel, then report cards are made manually at the end of term. Suppose one teacher is handling 4 or 5 sections, then a big part of his week is going only in entries. With an ERP the attendance and marks are entered once and the reports are ready automatically, so the teacher can give that time back to the students.

2. Fee Records Never Match

Now if we talk about fees, this is where most of the schools face issues. Parents say they have paid, the accounts register shows pending, receipt book is missing and reminder calls are made one by one. A good school ERP software keeps every payment record in one place, sends the fee reminders on its own and parents can pay online also.

3. Office Phone Keeps Ringing Whole Day

When parents are calling again and again to ask about attendance, homework, holiday or exam date, then its clear that the communication is not reaching them properly. Whatsapp groups does the job for some time but messages gets lost very easily. In ERP the parents get their own app or login, where all the updates, circulars and results are available.

4. A Simple Report Takes Two Three Days

Suppose management wants to know how many students of class 9 have fees pending, or which section has the lowest attendance this month. If the staff has to open 5 different files to answer this, then decisions also get delayed. In ERP these reports are available in few clicks, which is a big plus point for owners.

5. Important Data Is Lying Everywhere

Student details are in one excel, salary sheet is with the accountant, library record is in a register and transport list is with the driver. Let me tell you that this is risky, because if a laptop crashes or one staff member leaves the job, that data goes with them. Having everything on one secured system also helps a lot at the time of inspection.

So if 2 or 3 of these signs are matching with your school, then you should start looking for a system. My suggestion is to take demo of at least 3 school ERP software options, check how easy it is for the teachers and ask about the support before you finalise anyone.