Category: Fedena

To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.” – Don Alden Adams

As you would have experienced in the recent past months, we have been rolling out frequent releases. In our constant approach to let our users reap the maximum benefits of our school management software. One of such releases was rolled out on December 13, 2017, which was codenamed as Io: Fedena 3.6.1

Just like any other release, we focussed on the pain points of our users. In our quest to do so, we have often found that a minor tweaking in the regular flow of a process, could make a colossal impact on the operational efficiency of the school. And thus increasing the productivity of users to a substantial extent.

Below we have listed out  features of our latest product release :

Fee Receipt Mode

The Fee receipt mode allows the user to select how receipt numbers can be generated while recording the fee payments. There are two basic ways of operation

Single Receipt Number: The Single receipt mode helps the user to generate a single receipt number for all the collections while a payment is carried out using Pay All fees.

Multiple Receipt Number: The Multiple receipt mode which allows the institution to generate one receipt number for each collection in the transaction even the fees are collected at once using Pay All Fees.

Transport assignment UI change

The Transport Module is the one of the exciting modules that has been used wisely by our users. We have introduced the new transport assignment page where the students or employees can be assigned in a single page as shown in the screenshot. The vehicles can be assigned passengers from this page with ease because of the improved user friendliness of the page. Hence making the route assignments for students and employees even faster.

News UI change

The News Plugin is used to make announcements for all the users within the institution. We have introduced the new news homepage that has indeed improved readability of news shared. It now shows the news items in a neat table from the home page of the module.

We have several other exited features that has been introduced in Fedena 3.6.1. Please refer to the complete list here. In case you are new to Fedena yet, please click on the banner below.

School management software for simplifying the registration process and proliferating the student’s enrolments.

One of the most stressful periods of the year for an educational institute is when the students enroll for a new academic year. In fact, this processes is not even easier for the students and their parents. Many times the process of enrollment feels like that there is no end to it. After all, there are so many forms that have to be filled, so much of verification and authorization that needs to be done. This not only emerges the hassling situation for administrators but also parents and students.

In this festive season, if you want to simplify your institution registration process, then gift your administrator school management software, which will not only amplify the productivity of admin but also provides a hassle-free experience to students and parents and make this time taking process more manageable.

Let’s see in detail why school management system is considered as the best solution to simplifying the registration process:

Syncing enrolment with technology

Normally, the process of enrollment necessitates plenty of hours and an equal amount of hard work to be put in by people, working at the institutions. One must also take into account the costs that so many hours and so much hard work are going to entail.

After the families provide information to institute regarding their child, the administrators need to take certain steps to make sure that the data has been stored and that too in a secure manner. As this registration process comprised of multiple steps. This is why the educational institutions need to learn the ways to use software and integrate it with their own functions.

In the end, this helps them save a significant amount of money and time, and reduces a lot of stress associated with this particular process enrollment.

Saving time and money – becoming more accurate and doing things easily

At the very least, when an educational institution automates its admission and enrollment system it can help in saving plenty of money and time as well. When such an entity sets up platforms for admission and enrollment on the internet as well as the various mobile devices it can easily save a lot of money that was being spent for purposes such as paper, mailing, and printing, and use it for investments that are perhaps even more crucial to its overall existence.

In fact, such expenditure can have even better results as far as outcomes for students are concerned. Apart from these, when an educational institution automates these processes it gains a lot by way of accuracy as far as enrollment data is concerned. With such correct information at their disposal, the staff of these entities no longer faces any issues with regards to interpreting registration documents that have key information related to students.

On top of this, when a school management system works well it is possible for an educational institute to check for students that are either transferring or returning and were earlier registered in that particular school district. This is why, when it is time for re-enrollment the system already has that data ready. This includes data such as grades, schools or colleges, and contact information to be used in case of emergencies. Thankfully enough, the online registration systems have become a lot easier to use nowadays. It is easier for parents to now complete and then submits the school forms.

They can also upload various important documents. The best thing of all this is that they can do it as and when is convenient for them – they can also upload this data on their mobile phones as well, or for that matter any other mobile or immobile device that they wish to use. Since the educational institute already has such data in a digital format it is easier for the staff members to conduct analyses a lot more easily than how they did earlier. They are also able to get insights into this data. This means that it becomes easier for them to plan and then make decisions.

More data accuracy

The total budget for a school is basically defined by the volume of students it is able to enroll in a successful manner. There is always a definite budget earmarked for these purposes in various educational institutions. This also means that when an educational entity loses such data it can have an adverse impact on jobs as well as the money being used for such purposes. This is one major reason why it is so important to have this data in a correct form.

The second major reason, in this case, is that data of students happen to be private and as such, it needs extra by way of security protection. Schools have a legal, as well as moral, responsibility to make sure that such data stays that way. They need to prove that all students are being treated in an equal manner – it does not really matter what information they may have or may not have with respect to that student. The same thing is also applicable to the data related to their parents. When such data is stored properly it is possible for all the entities related to an educational institution to get access to this information within a short span of time and without much problem whatsoever.

When an educational institution introduces school management software the margin of error mitigates in these cases to a significant extent. Apart from the fact that such software provides data more accurate, it helps with streamlining of operations and thus brings down the expenses as well. When such an institution has issues with data it can have major effects on a school. There are plenty of people who are dependent on the data in the information systems of these educational entities.

This is why when such data is directly integrated with technology it proves to be a lot more accurate than entering data time and again.

Data taken during registration and re-enrollment processes

As far as such information is concerned there is plenty of important and essential data to contend with. Normally the information needed at these stages tends to differ with respect to the schools. It can include information related to the guardians, media release forms, contact information in case of emergencies, and technology policies to name a few.

Educational institutions may also have to monitor important health-related information of their students. This could include data such as results of physical examinations as well as compliance with schedules of vaccination and the like. For that matter, such an entity may also have data related to dental and optical checkups of students. In fact, such an entity may also have to collect data after the registration period is over. Examples of such data would include release forms and results of athletic programs. They need to be authorized as well. Special attention also needs to be provided to students who face challenges in learning due to some reason or the other.

This is why in such situations if the information with an educational institution goes missing or is outdated it could pose such serious problems for one and all. There could be security risks in such cases and the threat of legal exposure cannot be ruled out altogether as such. Thus, as you can see, there is plenty of data that has to be handled by the educational entities and other stakeholders connected to the entire educational process as such. This also means that there is a greater chance that such data could get lost.

This is where using such systems can prove to be so effective as they are capable of making the entire system a lot simpler than what would have been possible otherwise. No longer would parents need to look for documents that an educational entity may have lost. They will also be able to upload all the important documents in an instant and update records and data as and when they wish to. All these mean that the data stays up to date at all times. In the end, it can only be beneficial for one and all.

This festive season, step into the future and invest in a school management system for your school so that you can enter 2018 armed with the best opportunities for your school.

School management, when done right, is something that can help administrators, teachers, and students have a successful and enjoyable day, week, month, semester at school. Having the right school management software is what enables this all to happen. How can it have a positive impact on your students?

Student Information

There is a lot of information about students that need to be collated. Attendance records, health information, homework grades, any discipline issues, any kind of achievement in or out of school, and, of course, whether there are any issues with their home life that could have an impact on their school work. Having all of this information in one, easy to manage, easy to access program means that, when anyone needs to find out more information on a particular student to help them in some way, everything they need to know is in one place. This can save time which is often limited during school hours. It can also limit frustrations.

Parental Access

If your school management system allows parents to log in and find out what their child is doing, how they are getting on, whether there is anything they should know about, what their grades are, and even what their homework is for that night, it will help those parents to engage better with their kids. Staying connected with a child’s academic progress can be difficult, particularly if the parents are at work, so this system is a great way to give them that information. They can then help their children, ask relevant questions, and be engaged, which will boost the child’s confidence, knowing that their parents are interested and proud of them.

Online Payments

School management software can make paying for trips, lunches, or anything else that is required much easier. It is possible to set up secure online payments, allowing students – or their parents – to pay directly, rather than having to bring cash into school and ensuring that it gets to the right place before the deadline. This can help the finances of the school hugely. By using companies like Ticket Sales for a field trip, for example, it makes organization and payments a lot easier, ensuring that the administrators and teachers know who has paid – and who hasn’t. It might even be possible to set up automatic billing on a credit card with the parents’ permission, meaning that the student’s account will always be paid up to date.

Teacher Information

Just as teachers need to know about their students in order to teach them effectively, it can be useful for students to know about their teachers too. With a good school management software system, all the information they might need will be online, easily accessed. It might include information about the teacher’s activities within the school so that students know who to contact should they need details about a specific class or club. It will have the teacher’s class schedule updated too, so if a student needs a specific teacher, they will be able to find them.

School Management Software onboarding is an avenue to teach cyber-security

With the rapid growth in educational technology, this sector becomes increasingly vulnerable to data and security breaches. This includes school management software. From scam e-mails sent to entire classes from their “teacher” to the leaking of sensitive student information to malicious elements, school management software is not immune to cyber attacks.

This is why, when making the choice to purchase educational software, institutions must ensure that security and safety is a legitimate concern for manufacturers. Fedena, for example, promises top-grade security and privacy features for all information being stored or communicated through the school management software.

But the buck doesn’t stop here. While your school management software can contain a multitude of preventative features or even data-protection safety nets in case of attack, most breaches occur due to human error. Teaching school management software users how to safely use this tool is as important as teaching students dangers of the offline world around him. Teaching students online safety must go hand in hand with teaching them things like road safety or making them aware of stranger danger.

The easiest time to accomplish this is when onboarding users onto the school management software. A class, a tutorial (online or offline), or even a mandatory instructional video will save students and institutions heartache and money alike. While the number of security measures that can be taught are vast, here are a few lessons to start your student off in the right direction in his online journey:

Lesson One: Private information must remain private

In an increasingly connected world, barriers seem to collapse without a ripple in the ecosystem. While this results in greater collaboration, which is an important life skill all students must master, it also means that they often do not realise when boundaries are crossed. Teaching students how to differentiate between sharing of benign and more sensitive information is a key piece of knowledge to securing their online safety. A good analogy is to think of whether you would share the information in question with a friendly stranger you just met on the bus – perhaps talking about current events is alright, but sharing your home address or mother’s maiden name isn’t.

Lesson Two: Being diligent about security updates

It is not just enough having a password for the more sensitive portions of your information. Installing accredited security software, changing your password regularly (google how to create a strong password – the more random the sequence of letters, numbers, and characters, the better), using different passwords across platforms, and ensuring that you don’t share your passwords or write them down ever all go towards ensuring your information is protected. This is step one. Step two, is about ensuring that you stay secure – from updating software regularly to also changing your password on a regular basis to turning on extra security features like two factor authentication. These slightly arduous steps will help keep you secure. And finally, it should go without saying, but just in case – your password cannot be your name, your bestie’s or just “password”.

Lesson Three: If in Doubt, Find Out

Learning how to look things up is a skill that is not just necessary for the future academicians in the student body. With grown adults regularly forwarding Whatsapp hoaxes as real information and the virality of fake news, being able to distinguish between a phishing scam and the facts is a necessary life skill all humans need to acquire. To this end, encourage your students to develop a healthy suspicion for unusual activity during their online journeys. Whether this is an unsolicited e-mail from a dethroned prince offering untold riches or a seemingly benign security alert that seems to be asking for a lot of information, encouraging students to take a minute to google and check whether they are about to fall for a malicious information grab will save them trouble later.

This is the day and age of increasing use of technology and as such one of the biggest examples, in this case, is the present day school management software used by most schools. One of the biggest advantages of such software is that these systems are cloud-based. This means that you can get access to this database from just about any place, time, and device of your choice. All that you need here is a device that is connected to the internet.

Setting it up

Yet another major benefit of the school management system that you get to see these days is that it is rather easy to set them up. All you need to do is follow a simple set of instructions and you are ready to go. It also helps that these software products are intuitive to a significant extent and the interfaces are really convenient when it comes to the point of view of usage. The makers of these products also provide you support that you need as an institution to keep the thing going.  

Technical support

They have teams of technical experts who help you run your school management system without any problem whatsoever. They are able to provide you online assistance as well as onsite. One of the biggest benefits of such software is that you get attendance reports in an instant. With the help of such software parents instantly get to know everything regarding the monthly and daily attendance of their wards. They can get the information in a few minutes through mobile apps or SMS (short message service). With this service, parents are also able to track the whereabouts of the vehicles that are taking their children to the school.

Tracking transport

With the help of the present day school management software, no longer do parents need to wait for a long time and know if their children have reached the school or not. Quite often they may have to pick up their children at bus stops as well and as such have to wait a long time for that especially in cases where they do not know the present location of the bus. However, with the kind of software we are talking about over here all that the parents need to do is give a missed call and they would get to know just exactly where the bus is at. This will surely help them utilize their time a lot better.

Homework notifications

A major benefit of the ERP software these days is that parents can receive constant notifications regarding the homework being given in their children’s school. This is a major benefit when one comes to think of it since it allows them to stay updated on a consistent basis and thus they are able to monitor how well their little ones are performing from an academic viewpoint. These homework updates are provided on a daily basis.

Performance updates

With the help of the software for schools parents also get regular updates about how well their children are performing in the school. This includes all the tests as well as the examinations being conducted by the school. Much in the same way they are also apprised of all the important announcements being made at the school. This information could be provided to them by way of text messages, emails, or any other mode that they themselves settle for. Such information normally includes all the circulars as well as notices issued by the school from time to time. In fact, students can also be benefited by these facilities.

Access to a database

The biggest benefit for software for school management for a student is that she or he can get access to a huge amount of data at any place and time of its choosing. This includes the likes of study materials, assignments, projects, and other kinds of educational content. When one comes to think of it this is a major benefit, to say the least. It also helps that such software is available in the form of an app. The apps are smart, convenient from the point of view of usage, and intuitive as well.

Parents are also benefited with the help of such software since they are able to get in touch with the school without any problem whatsoever.

Benefits for school administrators

A major benefit of the online school management system for the school administrators is that they can perform a wide range of functions with its help. This includes activities such as online registration, creating accounts, creating setups that are permission and role-based, and tracking vehicles based on their GPS (global positioning system) location. These facilities are provided on an add-on basis. These products also make it easy for schools to carry out CCE (continuous and comprehensive evolution).

CCE features

These products with specific CCE features as such that makes implementing them a lot easier. This happens because of the options, in this case, are really flexible. There are student analysis reports to be had and they tend to be chart based on nature. So, now the question that needs to be asked is whether schools and parents are considering using such software for the betterment of the entire educational process that is supposed to improve the chances of their children doing well in life. There is no denying that these days being a parent can be quite a tough experience, to say the very least.

How tough is it to be a parent?

In any case, the economic situation is such that parents get very little time to devote to the educational careers of their children let alone devote time to their studies. They just do not have the time to make sure that they can check and find out if their kids have everything that they may need in order to complete their school day in a successful manner. It is almost impossible for them to see if their kids have the right information related to homework or not.

Troubles galore

The same also applies to other educational work such as assignments and projects to name a few. All in all, there is absolutely no denying that being a parent in this day and age is challenging to put it absolutely mildly. This is where the school management systems can come in and play such important roles. They are able to provide students and their parents the kind of information that they need for the entire experience to be a seamless one. The system creates every scope for them to make the most of the educational process and make it a successful one for their kids.

Plenty of information

As has been said already, these enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems built specifically for educational entities such as schools are able to furnish all the stakeholders of a school – the students, the parents, the administrators, the staff, and just about any and everyone else – the kind of information that they need for the entire experience to be an absolutely smooth one. They get information on the attendance records and the kind of homework that has been set for the students.

A one-stop shop

In a way, these software products can be called the one-stop shops, the ultimate solutions to the problems that are being faced by a school. They are a convenient and single window for just about anyone in a school to get access to a mountain of information. For parents, the importance of this information lies in the role that it can play with respect to the progress of their children. They also get to know more about their well being at school thanks to such data. With facilities and features such as bus location tracking, extra activities and exams, performance updates, and school announcements and administration they have virtually got all the bases covered.

Managing schools as such

Not many might know but with proper school management systems and software in place, it becomes a lot easier for schools to manage their websites and other important aspects of their work. The teams that make and handle such software understand the very basic fact that the staff working in a school is always busy and may not necessarily have time to spare, which can be dedicated to learning how to run new software. This is why the experts and technical staff assist such people with feeding relevant information to the system and using it properly in general.

Increase efficiency in schools with your school management software

At some point a human looked up from their social media feed, in the middle of their workday, and thought, “Hey, wouldn’t it be great if I could have some kind of tool that would motivate me to actually do the things I need to do today?” And thus task management applications were born.

There are a variety of task management applications fulfilling different functions. From apps that help keep you focused by restricting access to social media to ones that will help you keep tracking hitting milestones in a large, collaborative project – there’s something for everyone.

There’s even task management systems that help you bundle incoming messages so that you can clear your inbox without getting sucked into an endless email cycle. What all of these boil down to is systems that allow you to manage your work more efficiently.

So how does your school management software come into play? Good ones, like Fedena, are capable of doing more than just maintain student records or send out emails. The right school management system will also improve work efficiency.

How does it do this?

Through innovative use of all of its nifty little features. Below are some creative ways to use some of the features.

Fedena offers to its users:

On-The-Go Accessibility

We live in a 24/7 world. We are available across cell phones, email, snail mail, telephone, in person and over video conferencing. We coordinate with teams across the globe. We get the job done. So why should your school management system be any different? Fedena is web-based, multi-platform, and provides 24/7 customer service support. This school management system works when you work – so it is built for you. What does this mean? It
means that if you are a night owl who works more efficiently at 3 a.m. rather than 8 a.m.,

Fedena is still accessible to you. Grade school reports in the peace and quiet of your own home, process payroll during your commute, respond quickly to student queries through the in-built messenger or quickly set up a video call to explain a more visual concept. The possibilities of any-time accessibility are endless.

Cross-School Capabilities

A big portion of efficient task management is efficient delegation and division of work. In large multi-school institutions, sharing of resources is not just a smart thing to do, but necessary, especially for a perennially under-financed industry like education. For instance, imagine allocating all responsibility for payroll to one school’s administration – central management would increase efficiency and reduce processing time. But this would not mean that they aren’t accessible – Fedena ensures that schools work seamlessly with each other in this school management system. Expand this to helping students at one school access classes offered at another, or consultations with educational staff across schools for parents and the possibilities are endless.

API and Plugin Friendly

This might feel like a cheat, but hear us out. Fedena has a philosophical commitment to open source for a reason. We want our school management system to be accessible to everyone. But this goes both ways – we also feel like Fedena is a perfect building block or foundation to creating a school management system that contains everything you need, by being easy to use
with third party plugins or APIs that might be filling in a gap we have not yet covered. APIs also ensure that this collaboration remains secure. Built with the latest technology with security and privacy kept in mind, Fedena protects data protected and ensures sensitive information remains secure while removing boundaries.

School Management Software is making mere watchmen obsolete

Remember the days of yore with your friendly watchman at the one school gate that you knew by name and seemed to have a radar for mischief anywhere on campus? Throw in a formidable principal, an eagle-eyed librarian, and a physical education teacher who looked like he could uproot trees one-handed and that pretty much constituted a crack security team for any school.

With the influx of newer technologies, students born without a fear gene, and an increasingly chaotic world, however, and this team just isn’t enough. Expectations have also changed – parents now expect to be able to track every moment of their child’s routine from anywhere in the world.

How is a modern school to cope?

Beat technology with technology. Your school management software was not just built to share coursework and update gradebooks. It has tools and features that are helpful in times of crisis – big and small. Your school management software is useful for everyone, from the principal to gain easy access to student information to know how to address disciplinary issues to the security guard at the school gate so he knows he is releasing a student into the safe custody of an approved guardian. Being safe is all about being prepared. Arm yourself with information and processes that kick in automatically – before disasters occur.

Ultimately, it is up to how a school uses their school management software. Security might not seem like a priority for an educational institution, but considering the vulnerable charges they have to manage, it is a responsibility that cannot be shirked.

How would this work in real time?

Check out the three scenarios that could occur in any school below:

Seamlessly Managing Student Half Days

Sanctioned or caused by a funny tummy, a change in the usual school routine is often the most vulnerable moment when malicious elements can cause the most damage. You no longer have to rely on your trusting child’s familiarity with his regular bus conductor. School management software like Fedena helps you track your children until they are home safe and sound. Parents and teachers are able to access this feature on the go, ensuring that no matter where they are, their little ones are where they should be.

Student Information At Your Fingertips

With classroom sizes growing at a rapid rate and schools expanding to multiple branches to serve as many communities as they can, it is no surprise that administrators may be hard-pressed to remember every student they encounter. But to effectively address disciplinary issues, one must understand the student. These are children, not the enemy combatant, and spotting a pattern of repeat offences might indicate an issue that is easily resolved without punishing the child. School management software helps maintain comprehensive records that can be accessed by various stakeholders at varying levels of security. This ensures a complete picture while also maintaining appropriate levels of privacy.

Preventative Data Security

Security isn’t just about maintaining a log of school entry and exit or tracking children as they go about their day. A big part of it also respecting data privacy and security for sensitive information that is useful in a crisis or in cases of a security breach. Security, as a culture, must start with this. School management software must be robust about this to be considered trustworthy by their users. Vulnerable information like student information, private communications between stakeholders like parents and teachers, or even gradebook or report card information must be protected. This information is an insight into the student mind and can provide valuable clues in times of trouble.

Every time a new online school management software is deployed in an institution, the school management holds up an immediate meeting with the school admins and the major end users to start using the application to its full potential. It is often believed that the application will be able to provide software solutions to all the issues faced in the past. Schools do look up to their ERP with high expectations. At this juncture, there is a lot of data that has to go inside the ERP and convert this into meaningful analytics just like a data whisperer.

Team Fedena understands this perception of the end users towards their student management software and believes in catering all such possible use cases. So, in our blog post today, we will be covering 4 interesting attributes that would help you to get even better control over your application

Payslip Settings

Every school has its own format of providing payslips to the employees. Some schools would just need the payroll categories in the payslips, while others might need the employee details like date of joining grade etc. So, we have improved the payslip format by introducing a setting that lets the user choose from the variety of options available in the payslip settings page.

Feature Access Settings

It is important for the schools to control the information that goes public to the end users. Fedena has this feature access setting that lets you configure the modules that the guardians can have access to.

Message Permissions

It is automatically assumed that the ERP system must allow the users to interact among themselves because of obvious reasons. However, it is needed for the school admins to allow or revoke these permissions as and when needed. So, we have a special page to manage the same.

Enable auto-logout

The last but not the least of the tips enable auto-logout in the general settings helps the user to automatically log out from the application in case of inactivity.