How Mobile is Transforming the Way We Do Business

July 21, 2017August 9, 2017

Using desktop computers might have been the way to go just a few short years ago, but mobile has recently usurped it as the leading way for people to consume media. In fact, in 2016, more users accessed the Internet via a mobile device as opposed to a desktop for the very first time. So, with such statistics in mind, it should come as no surprise that mobile technology is also having a large impact on how we do business. If you currently operate a company but make limited use of such technology at present, read on for why you should also be embracing mobile and benefiting from it as a result.

It allows growth for those with limited resources. When it comes to scaling (and even starting) a business, mobile technology has made this far easier and more accessible to the masses. This is partly down to cloud-based tools. Thanks to such resources, you no longer need to purchase or maintain expensive technology to grow your online presence for example. Plus, if you experience a dreaded slow patch for your business, using cloud allows you to scale back seamlessly if needed. On the flipside, it also delivers the opportunity to ramp up your needs within an instant when necessary.

Also, don’t disregard mobile payments as the main way for businesses to grow at a rapid rate. The likes of PayPal and Slack supply both convenience and ease of use.

It provides flexibility

Now, while previous topics have already touched upon the flexibility provided by mobile, this section will focus on how it can make things so much more comfortable for your employees. Think about it: if they have access to all of their files, are always on-hand to communicate when needed, and their output won’t be affected, why should an employee be mandated to stay cooped up in an office all the time? After all, research has reported that 91% of employees feel more productive when working remotely as opposed to being in-house. So thanks to mobile technology, you can make your employees happier and also more productive at the same time.

It combines all small items into one package

Although this can often be overlooked, mobiles also utilise many small features that we often take for granted in the business world. For example, with a smartphone you no longer need a physical calendar to check what is on for today’s agenda – you just simply have to input all that info onto your device. Calendars are not the only thing becoming obsolete in the office either. A calculator app means you can throw away your standard calculator and abacus, while the Rolodex’s demise also leads to it being an item of trash.

It removes the need for paperwork

In the large majority of cases, paperwork can become a thing of the past for businesses that utilise mobile technology. Just take a second to think about it: if you’re sending documents virtually over the cloud, is there any need to print those out and produce a physical form of them to employees?

The answer, by and large, is a big fat ‘no’.
That’s right; you can leave those spreadsheets and notes in their digital form. Even documents that require official authentication – such as an agreement or contract – don’t need to receive the printing treatment. That’s because you can use a mobile-based eSignature to sign off on those documents.

While not needing to use your pen to sign things anymore is a benefit, a paperless world for your business also carries plenty of other advantages. Not only is it much better for the environment, but it will also save time and money to an extent – although more on that point with the following topic.

It saves both money and time

If the aforementioned points haven’t signalled it enough for you, going mobile helps with both your budget and time. Plus considering time is money, this means positive things for your business in terms of its bank balance. It is also important to note that going mobile allows you to focus on your core business activities. Forget about spending extensive resources on side aspects such as calculating your finances and updating your tech with the latest firmware. Now you can place a greater emphasis on what you do best, and also push towards expanding and growing your company at a faster pace as a result.

It supplies new ways to market

By that, we primarily mean using your own app to promote your goods and services. At least initially, you might be thinking how this is counterintuitive to the last topic of discussion. After all, surely the creation of an app would invoke the need for a sizeable chunk of cash and time? Well, to answer that question, yes it does (for the most part). Yet, that is only looking at the short-term picture. If you craft an app that is well-designed and filled with relevant content for your intended audience, it could result in some serious traction for your business.

That’s because you shouldn’t underestimate how much various apps are used in daily life on the standard. On mobile devices, for example, their usage far outweighs that of people looking to use a web browser. You have an app, you stay better connected with the audience you already possess, and you open yourself up to a potentially larger audience – especially if the app begins ranking high on those app store charts.

Also, make a note of producing a website that is optimised for mobile. Web browsers might not be used that much on mobile on the whole, but you want to ensure you’re best prepared for people that do visit your site via their smartphones/tablets. Landing on your usual website – i.e. the one that is set-up for desktops – might discourage visitors from pursuing with their initial enquiries. Stay professional, create a mobile-optimized website, and feature a slick interface that is easy to navigate.

Student Management Software Improves Student Life

July 17, 2017August 9, 2017

Smoother student experiences made possible with student management software

India’s ballooning population affects the student in multiple ways, but one of the most obvious consequences can be the strain it causes on our educational institutions. The increasing demand for quality education across the board and higher levels of discernment amongst parents seeking the best education for their children have resulted in a rise in the standard of education. This means that the pressure is on from all sides. Educational institutions are expected to deliver more and deliver quickly. It is a necessity with more and more Indians competing on a global scale.

It is easy to get overwhelmed in this pressurised environment. What’s more, it’s easy to lose sight of what really matters – the student – when trying to plug holes in the dam. It is vital to remember that students are not here to just be managed but must enriched. Student management software like Fedena help alleviates this strain on the system. And they are not just useful for administrative functions.

Here are four ways student management software help manage the student experience in an efficient and productive fashion:

Accessibility

Any student will tell you about their middle of the night worry about losing their notes or course material before an exam. Cumbersome file folders and reams of paper are eliminated with student management software which allows students to manage their course material and notes easily and effectively. Having a single source of truth that is accessible anytime and anywhere by the student is one less bit of tension they have to take in their already stressful lives.

Communicability

Teachers will be very familiar with the phenomena of after class queries from droves of students and having to hold revision or doubt clearing sessions before key exams. Access to this treasure trove of knowledge cannot be replaced by the best textbooks, notes or by alternative sources of advice. Student management software allows pupils to easily communicate with their teachers whether it is to clarify a point missed during class or alley last minute exam fears. In this age of 24/7 communication, schools must not fall behind.

Focus

The classic use of student management software has been to better manage administrative tasks for educational institutions. These are the periodic responsibilities of any school that help keep it functioning smoothly. Nowadays, it is what schools seem to spend the most on for the least degree of efficiency. This is not an issue limited to student-administration ties, but also present in administration interactions with parents. Student management software allows parents to easily communicate with their child’s teacher and institution, whether it is to discuss their son’s latest exam scores or to easily and quickly pay school fees from wherever they are. Being able to better manage administrative work allows institutions and teachers alike to focus on what is truly important – their students. Student management softwares alleviate, if not eliminate, a lot of issues that are currently slowing the system down.

Comprehensiveness

The impartment of knowledge is not a one-way street. Research has repeatedly shown that the student experience is enriched by the practical experience, personalisation, and class discussion. These are all, however, are difficult to implement. These are time-consuming and expensive exercises that are the first to fall to the wayside when teachers are attempting to just ensure that their students meet their syllabus requirements before yet another exam. Student management software makes life a little easier for teachers, however. Having a single window option where they can customise course materials to each student and student groups that encourage peer discussion ensures that these valuable experiences are not lost.

Education Technology is Building the Next Generation of Artists

July 14, 2017

Creativity is only enhanced by education technology

Even in 2017, creative pursuits like music and the fine arts are shrouded in myth and mystery. From painters who have famously odd relationships with their muses to writers who can’t work without a rotting apple in their desk, art is seen as largely esoteric. To the uninformed, their professions have remained stuck in time – all a musician needs is his instrument and an audience, and all a painter needs are some paper and something to scribble on it with.

But as any professional musician or artist will tell you, technology is inescapable in their fields. This does not mean the old techniques are obsolete – one has to crawl before they can run. Understanding sheet music and having a sound aesthetic sensibility is still vital to producing good art, and these can only be learned through rigorous study and practice. However, students who wish to pursue more creative careers must embrace the technology it runs on. The easels and cellos in art studios and music rooms across schools are increasingly being enhanced by the addition of educational technology that – by accident or design – is helping build the next generation of artists.

Here’s a look at a few examples of education technology that our artists in making are hopefully all familiar with:

Smart Boards
Art education is not just about learning how to draw well. Understanding the history of art, aesthetics, and learning about techniques used by the Masters is a big contributor to the development of a budding artist. This is an easy entry point for art education technology. Smart boards, for instance, make it easier for art educators to find references for artists to study, point out brushstrokes for students to emulate, and teach art history in an interactive and stimulating fashion.

Drawing Tablets
Digital art increasingly becomes standard operating procedure in the art world. Most artists – even those who are selling their original pieces at galleries – have to produce digital versions of their creations. Whether it is to draw, colour, edit or enhance, tablets are an indispensable tool in the arsenal of any young artist. Luckily for the broke art student, cheap versions of the supercharged tablet of their dreams are now within their grasp. A starter tablet is a great education technology product for anyone – from those pursuing serious artistic ambitions to the casual doodler drawing silly webcomics for the internet.

Music Notation Software
Artistic expression is not restricted to the fine arts. The popularity of electronic music is a great example of how technology has revolutionised music, but that does not mean that it is only for the Tiestos of the world. Musical education technology has been helping budding DJs and classical composers alike for a while now. A great example is the use of musical notation software for musicians who need to practice listening to and notating compositions in order to train their ears. Finale and Sibelius are popular products that are used by professionals and students alike.

Art Editing Software
Art begets art. A final product can be modified, enhanced, and recreated using art editing software to create something brand new. Whether it is a meme that is on the verge of going viral or a captivatingly dynamic version of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, art editing software is now a permanent fixture in the toolbox of any artist and a piece of education technology necessary for art classes world over. Whether it is freeware like Gimp or old stalwarts like Photoshop, knowing the basics of art editing are now an expected skill anyone working in a creative field is expected to have.

Why Fedena is the best choice for your institution?

July 10, 2017

“The time-consuming and laborious process keeps you behind the competition”.

In this ever-progressing time, online technology is becoming a part of every industry to make things easier, more accurate and smoother. Similarly, the education industry is surrounded by various technologies and one such technology which has influenced the education sector is school management software.

In days before these software’s, students would wait in long queues for their fee submission and would consequently miss their classes. But, now with these new technologies, these practices have become obsolete. Taking this similarity further, we can have a look into the new revolutionised smart classrooms, which have not only made the educational system more accurate and objective but also brought fun back to learning.

To effectively manage the influence/contributions of stakeholders, systems like Fedena make sense. With Fedena you are empowered with 100+ modules to not only effectively manage the institutional hierarchy but also its operations. It has various features like managing inventory, pre-admissions, finance, human resource activities etc.

Listed below are some key reasons why Fedena would be a boon to your institutional management:

User-Friendly Interface:
Fedena gives you an extremely smooth experience by providing various user-friendly modules which are easy to plug in. It’s GUI (Graphical User Interface) has been designed while keeping in mind the variety of users like students and their parents, which makes the navigation effortless. So, all you’d ever need to know while operating Fedena is a basic hands-on on any computer.

Affordable Pricing:
With a low-price tag, Fedena is the cheapest ERP solution in the entire education industry. With the cheapest plan being a mere Rs 36000, it is a highly affordable solution for any educational institution.

Fee Management:
Manually managing and tracking fee for all students is an arduous and time-consuming process. Performing all these activities without a smart tool makes it not only tedious but also inefficient. Fedena’s robust engine helps students and parents pay the fee online without the hassle of long exhausting queues.

Individual accounts for parents and students:
Having a unique account per individual serves a user experience customised for their needs. Using these personalised dashboards, a student can view their attendance sheet, exam results, placements updates, new feeds, time table notifications and much more. On the other hand, parents get the ability to access their child’s grades, attendance, results, homework reports and much more to get a bird’s eye view about their ward’s performance in the institute.

Personalised account for teachers:
Children are our future, and therefore their education and growth is of paramount importance. Therefore, it is necessary to bring out the best in them by pushing them to their creative limit. With Fedena, the teachers can let loose their imaginative side by letting the software manage the tedious bits like managing assignment submissions, taking attendance etc. They can also keep the pupils more engaged by posting feeds and collecting feedback to better improve the whole learning experience.

Customised Graphical Reports:
After going through months of operations, sometimes we need to look back to move forward. Fedena provides features using which you can create reports to analyse the crests and troughs in the hectic educational journey. Using Fedena, you can generate various reports (likes student performance, attendance, employee leave, employee productivity, employee payslip, assignments, placements and much more) online, keeping the carbon footprint to a minimum making this an environment-friendly product.

Attendance/Leave management:
As we have mentioned already, maintaining attendance is a hassle which interferes with the creative experience of learning. So, by using our attendance module you can not only manage the attendance without much inconvenience, but it is also more accurate (especially without having to deal with small grids to mark attendance which is highly erroneous). All you really have to do is mark the absentees, and you are already done.

Exam Management:
You can even create your own online tests, and generate reports out of them, which makes it a whole learning tool along with just a monitoring and managing tool. This also supports various grading formats and examination schedules, to easily manage the test environments.

But, this isn’t all, Fedena has many more features which help in mitigating the work efforts and aid towards increasing your productivity for managed growth. So, go ahead and become a part of the family by embracing the power of Fedena.

Types of fees collection in Fedena

July 7, 2017

“Go paperless”

Without the funds, an institution cannot run which makes it that much important to keep focused resources while collecting fees and funds. In traditional environments, a separate set of people with matching skills are put in every crucial place, handling fee was no different. Staff specialising in finance was hired to handle these jobs increasing not only the cost to the institution but also created more management problems. With the margin of error being negligible, the tasks become that much daunting, creating panic on both creditor’s and payees’ end.

To eliminate this problem, Fedena brings in a solution which is not only easily learnt but also quite basic. Reducing the possibility of error with a flawless robust platform, Fedena also reduces the carbon footprint while keeping the trail of the transactions.

Here are some tips before you start working on the platform:

Only administrators and privileged employees can manage the fee.
To start with any collection of fees, first, there is a need to create a structure composing of a fee category under which different fee types/particulars, can be grouped.
Then create the particulars (students are required to pay after admission). [ Note: Only to be edited before scheduling a fee collection].
Create fee collection under the scheduled fee collection dates. For example, to accumulate fees for students till 12^th standard, fee can be collected quarterly, while for graduation students it may be per-semester.

Various ways in which fee collection can be assembled in Fedena:

Student Wise:

Submission of the fee by searching individual students. It is the most used collection method used by our clients. Few steps to be followed while executing student wise fees collection:

Search the student according to their admission number and batch.
Then select the fee collection
Finally, select the payment mode and give the reference number.

Batch wise:

Fees collection on batch filter.

Steps to follow while assembling the batch-wise fee collection:

First, select the batch and fee collection.
Post that, select the payment mode and fill the reference number to pay the fees.

Particular wise:

Gather the fee according to the particulars.

Steps to follow while creating the particular-wise fee collection:

Search a student by name or admission number.
Then, set the fee collection.
Lastly, select the payment mode and submit the reference number to pay the fees.

To know more about Fedena school management software, Try our free demo.

Fedena meets the communication system at its high!

June 30, 2017

“It is not about the technology; it’s about sharing knowledge and information, communicating efficiently, building learning communities and creating a culture of professionalism in schools. These are the key responsibilities of all educational leaders”. – Marion Ginapolis.

The effective communication system for an educational institution is to strengthen the relationship between parents, students, teachers and the management. School ERPs with an inbuilt internal messaging system are widely used in schools. They represent an effective, fast, secure, no cost, and smarter yet a very underutilized communication tool for teachers, students, and parents. Internal messaging has an incredibly high open and response rate, they have sparked a revolution across academic institutions. Whether we’re talking about deadline reminders, text blasts, or emergency alerts; ERP inbuilt messaging systems represent the quickest and the most effective way of getting information across to a large group of audience.

Owing to the overwhelming usage of internal messaging system which is rigorously used as a fast and effective way for communicating within an institution in Fedena, we have introduced a completely revamped version of Internal messaging and notification system which we think the fans of Fedena will thoroughly enjoy.

With the new update, messages will get a more personal touch and target. The UI of the page has been made efficient which is par competent with any new age instant messaging system. Broadcast message feature allows the users to be more interactive with parents and employees in an easy way. The admin control over sending and receiving messages are roles as a Firewall!

Cool benefits of internal messaging in Fedena

Share latest updates on Educational events and holidays as a notification.
Sharing of knowledge, views and information with the parents and staff.
Swift and easy interaction with teachers and school management.
Ability to connect and stay in touch with parents and other stakeholders effectively, efficiently and effortlessly.
Huge sums of money are wasted on photocopying, phone bills and paper. By implementing internal messaging solutions, schools can reduce expenses and man-hours.
The educational market is extremely competitive and active. Schools who wish to engage and retain students consistently work to provide better visibility and improved learning systems.

How the updated messaging service to Streamline Internal academic Communications of an institution.

Notify Students of deadlines & Exam dates

Broadcast message can be used to inform students about projects, deadlines on assignments, enrollment, graduation, returning books, exam dates, and other important events.

Send Emergency & School Closing Alerts

With the help of Internal messaging service, schools can instantly notify students and parents of emergencies, accidents or suspicious characters, or send school closing alerts.

Send Parents Meeting Reminders

You can instantly send reminders for Parents meetings, academic meetings or events using Fedena broadcasting messaging features. This will eliminate the need for notice/info boards.

Freedom of writing

Send Awareness articles about any topic with freedom from character limits.

Student empowerment

Two-way texting(Reply enabled) services can be used to great effect to empower students and offer much-needed support.

Relaxed

Improved internal messaging system makes internal communication incredibly easy. Up to date.With the help of two-way text messaging, schools can keep staff members up to date with relevant news at all times.

At the top

In built Internal messaging systems are quickly becoming the number one choice for schools due to their incredible open rate, low costs, reliability, deliverbility.

Move forward and grow only with Fedena!

Deimos : Fedena 3.5.5

June 23, 2017June 22, 2017

Fedena 3.5.5 codenamed Deimos is a small but important update before the mobile app release. The major change is a new messaging system within Fedena to enable quick and fast communications from the institution to teachers, learners and their guardians. This release we are dedicating to a famous educator from Germany – Friedrich Fröbel

Friedrich was born in Thuringia in 1782. He started his career as an educator in Frankfurt. After taking up many roles like live-in teacher for the children of nobles to teacher in boarding schools, he published his major literary work in 1826 called Die Menschenerziehung (The Education of Man) and founded many educational institutes in Germany and Switzerland. He coined the word ‘Kindergarten’ for the play and activity institute founded in 1837. He was the first to realize the importance of activity based learning for children. Friedrich developed play materials for children known as ‘Froebel Gifts’ which were a set of toys like softballs, building blocks etc to be given at each stage of learning.

Frobel gifts image wikipedia — Image taken from wikipedia

Though the concept of kindergarten was not well accepted in his home state in the early days, his students took the concept to the United States where it got adopted. The kindergarten we know today has its origins in the work of this man.

What is New in Deimos?

All New Internal Messaging System

The new messaging system comes with an improved interface and ease of use. It is designed to be a complete communication system for the institution. Designed to work with the new upcoming Fedena mobile app, institutions can use the messaging module to send out targeted information to parents and students about school events, fee dues, teachers about upcoming PTA meetings etc. All communications sent automatically from Fedena is now part of the new module – Notifications.

Institutions can use broadcast message feature in messaging to send out messages in bulk to many users at once.

The message settings feature allows institutions to control who can send messages and who can send to whom. If the institution policy does not allow students to send direct messages to other students, this option can be turned off.

Note: The old messages created and sent for each user before the release will be archived and available for export in the profile of that user.

Notifications System

All internal notifications from Fedena like scheduling of exams, leave approvals etc will now come under the new notifications module. This allows users to keep notifications from getting mixed up with important messages. Both the new messages and notifications modules show the unread count is shown in the menu bar.

S3 Integration

S3 is a web service provided by Amazon that provides a simple, secure and scalable storage facility for files. The integration will ensure all your files in Fedena like Photos, student documents, attachments, certificates etc. are stored on Amazon’s servers across the world as per the S3 file system. This ensures that your files are always available within minimum time anywhere in the world.

What is Updated in Deimos?

Events Creation Module

And a lot more enhancements, catch the full release notes here.

Sampoorna school management system blog image

Project Sampoorna – The School Management System Every Indian Student Deserves

June 16, 2017

Proven results in scale and effectiveness for our nation

In 2011, the Government of Kerala took on the ambitious challenge of better serving its students by more efficiently managing their school record details. The end-goal was to make previously tiresome processes more hassle-free for all administrators, from the Headmaster at the very top of the institution management to the classroom level teachers interacting directly with students.

From this vision was born Project Sampoorna, a school management system that would track the details of every student in order to enable institutions to better empower them. Sampoorna was built on Fedena’s open source database and server software and was launched under the aegis of the IT@School Project in Kerala, whose aim was to leverage technology to bring about school level transformations. The numbers involved in this project only speak to its ambitiousness – over 300, 000 teachers benefited in Kerala had the opportunity to use this system to better track and manage their students’ schooling. 70 lakh student records in 15, 000 schools across the State were tracked using the Sampoorna system.

But why was this project so important to begin with? While the processes of yore might have seemed cumbersome, they certainly were not entirely dysfunctional. Things had been carrying on without too many major mishaps. Was this yet another effort to fix something that was not entirely broken?

Let’s start with a deeper than surface level look at a phenomenon most people are familiar with – the skyrocketing of school fees. This is not only a subject of popular debate at dinner table conversations, or an electoral promise made by anyone running for office, but a a primary factor in people’s individual economic decision making. The refrain from a disgruntled parent about how much he/she is spending on school for his child whose marks are not quite up to par is practically a trope now. Educational loans are one of the most utilised types of funding banks offer. Every parent aspires for their child to join a brand name school, get into a brand name college, and secure a brand name job. So it makes sense why school fees are rising and will continue to do so. There are a multitude of factors that influence this trajectory. In addition to the usual suspects – such as rising cost of living, the demand for more specialised competencies from our teachers, and the increased competitiveness students are facing with each passing day – there is a hidden cost that is not often factored into increased school fees.

School administration fees are often overlooked when considering why school fees are so high nowadays. In addition to property costs, schools are dealing with a greater number of administrative processes, from issuance of certificates to catering to the real-time information demands of increasingly involved parents. The sheer scale of these processes is hard to keep pace with, especially without the help of technological support. Anything that helps mitigate this cost is a win for everyone – from institutions who seem to be perennially struggling with budgetary budgetary concerns to parents who are making heartbreaking compromises for their child’s educational future.

This is where ambitious initiatives like Project Sampoorna come in. The robust engineering upon which the platform is built and its comprehensive technical capabilities allow schools to focus on their primary goals of educating India’s future thinkers.

What started off as a 100 day pilot programme in 2011 was found to be so effective, leaders in the Government of Kerala have now mandated the compulsory use of the Sampoorna school management software across the entire State going forward in 2017.

Educational technology initiatives are rarely this successful, especially when one factors in the massive requirement in terms of scale. Especially of note here is that this has been accomplished not by a private entity with billions of dollars of investment, but by the Government of Kerala, ensuring its democratic implementation. This is not an elitist program accessible to only a few financially blessed institutions and their equally privileged wards. Students from all walks of life in Kerala have benefited from this project and will continue to do so.

A second point of commendation is that Project Sampoorna has led to stellar financial outcomes – data shows that over $10 million dollars a year has been saved every thanks to the cost-cutting in labour and resources that the platform has allowed. Every dollar earned through this type of frugality at scale is a dollar that can be put towards resources that directly improve student learning and thus, student outcomes.

So what are the administrative functions that the State of Kerala has saved on in the last few years?

The processes the system can manage are comprehensive. Administrators can use the Sampoorna school management system to streamline previously burdensome processes like preparation of Transfer Certificates, copying of Admission Register, generation of a variety of student reports, generation of lists for numerous scholarships, preparation of SSLC examination database, preparation of student progress report, student class promotion lists and even entry forms for sporting and cultural events. Students and parents can keep a better track of their progress in school through the easily generated reports for parents, teachers and non-teaching staff who support student activity The system has become a necessary facet of everyday school functioning – teachers utilise the time table management feature that has been integrated into the software.

And what can we look forward to from Sampoorna in 2017 and beyond?

Now that some existing processes have been tested in the system, the possibilities are endless. The potential of the system must be utilised at its fullest in order to ensure complete effectiveness. Whether it is ensuring its existing features to better track government spending at individual schools, or expanding the scope of the system to track more than student details, the sky’s the limit.

In a country like India, where various out of school factors like number of siblings, gender of the student, parent’s income, parent’s education, distance to school, nutrition(body mass index) etc. play a critical role than the quality of schools and teachers, Sampoorna has the capability to track student data that directly affects our ability to understand issues that truly affect educational outcomes for students. This data collection is the first step to implementing highly effective and personalised students. Sampoorna is also ready to manage the implementation of these students. For instance, tracking the implementation of a government scheme like the Mid-day Meal program utilises features that already exist in Sampoorna and have a proven track record of success.

Research shows us that education is one of the key factors in social mobility – a marker of success, especially in a country as diverse as India. For most people, education is their one route to improving their social conditions, especially for those struggling with abject poverty. Detractors might argue that spending on educational technology when students go hungry is a frivolous and foolhardy act. This is an outmoded way of thinking. Education technology helps effect real change that can transform people’s lives. It is not just a student that benefits, but their entire family, and consequently their communities. Investing in educational technology initiatives like the Government of Kerala has can make or break this country’s future.

Sampoorna’s robust technical capabilities and cost effectiveness at scale make it a highly reliable educational partner, especially for Governments that already have the reach that private entities struggle to match. Its success is not just limited to the State of Kerala, and visionary leaders from across the country must recognise that there is no reason to not expand it to the rest of India. This future ready platform is what students from across our country deserve.

Fedena Support Desk: The CBSE Assessment update

May 26, 2017

“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.” – H. G. Wells

Right from the day CBSE announced its plans of the Uniform System of Assessment, we have been receiving a flood of tickets and emails from all our clients on similar lines. This made the R&D Team dive straight into immediate action on how Fedena can strive to be at par with the needs for an examination module of 18,688 CBSE Schools. The research of the various facets of the new pattern was aimed to identify and fixate upon the best possible roadmap to incorporate the latest changes in the least possible time. And being in the EdTech Industry for the last 8 years we have definitely understood that timing holds the key to Customer Success for sure.

In the quest to cater to the needs of the Schools on the concern, we have made some significant developments. So We present here 5 points for a sneak peek of the improved examination module.

Exam Plan: We have an Inclusion of a top layer above Exam management which would not only let the user plan the Exams on the School’s timeline for the whole academic year but would also let user fix upon the Terms for different classes. So, while the Classes VI-VIII have two terms, class IX will have only one term to be created.

Exam Term: All the terms or exam groups will be available for further subdivisions as Periodical Exams, Note Book Submission, Subject Enrichment Activities and Final Exams. The user gets to add the Exam type, Maximum Marks, and Activities for each one of the terms.

Co-scholastic Areas and Discipline: Even the Co-scholastic Areas and the Discipline section can be created with the similar architecture, thereby eliminating any complexity in the creation and updating Exam scores.

Grading Scales: Most Important of all the above, the 5 point and the 3 point grading scale for co-scholastic areas and the discipline has been worked out for the relevant classes, where the user has to choose from a set of pre-created grading scales.

The Instructions section and the important signatures have already been a part of the application, which would need small tweakings to stay up to date with the latest formats.

In a nutshell, we have been working like a war front to get these feature up and running for you. Subscribe to our Blog for more updates from the Fedena Support desk.

Ganymede : Fedena 3.5.4

May 22, 2017

Fedena 3.5.4 – Ganymede is out and we hope you are as excited as we are. This release brings a fresh, new applicant registration module with a whole bag full of new features and enhancements while removing some not so used features as well (it was a tough decision). Version 3.5.4 also has 2 important features you have asked for: Particulars and discount reporting of fee collected in finance reports and Leave groups for different leave types.

Over the past few releases we have been naming our releases after the satellites of different planets and dedicating it to a famous (often forgotten) teacher who made an impact in their field as an educator, researcher, and a leader. We are excited to dedicate this release to Madhava of Sangamagrama, a mathematician and an astronomer from the state of Kerala, who lived around (c. 1340 – c. 1425) . As with many other Indian mathematicians, he is now increasingly attributed to many theories which made their way to Europe much later. His greatest contribution is towards the formation of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. This school gave many important mathematical concepts particularly in the infinite series and calculus in its quest to solve astronomy problems.

Most notable among them are the various Madhava Series (originally attributed to many western researchers and now known together with Madhava) which are a collection of infinite series expressions. You can read more about Madhava and the Kerala School in this 1977 paper by another famous contemporary mathematician from India – C T Rajagopal. The work of these educators and researchers form the foundation of many of the advances we have seen in science and technology and will continue to be for the years to come.

What’s new in Ganymede?

1. Application Registration Module

2. Leave Groups

What’s updated in Ganymede?

1. Application Registration Module

2. Employees as complainer & complained against

3. Improved Fee reporting

4. “/” in admission number

There have also been a number of issues fixed in this release, you can find them in the Fedena 3.5.4 Release notes.

The All New Application Registration Module

The new applicant registration comes with many new features like customizable form fields, custom status to handle different stages of the application process and also options like instructions to fill the form, labeled file attachments to help users. We are also deprecating 3 features which were not used as much over these years.

They are

1. The PIN based applicant registration system

2. Subject based registration and

3. Approval process

All your existing PIN based applications will become normal applications and the amount from the subject based registration will become the registration amount. For the approval process you can now make use of a much better system, the custom status and mark different stages of the application. We hope these changes will increase the functionality and the application of the module. As always we would like your inputs on how we can make it better.

For a detailed understanding of the new Applicant Registration Module you can check it out in our previous post or get in touch with us. You can find the release notes here.

What’s coming up?
Our team is already working on a host of new features that will enhance your experience with Fedena. A mobile application for admins, students and parents is getting rigged in our workshop. The features you have requested will soon be live in Fedena, the number one school management system.

Ganymede : Fedena 3.5.4 Release Notes

May 19, 2017May 19, 2017

What’s new in Fedena

Here is the list of new features included with this release of Fedena 3.5.4

Feature

Description

User Role

Module

Applicant Registration

Customize forms, configure custom applicant status, add instructions to fill up the form and also capture organizational level details with the new applicant registration module. In addition to the features it now has a fresh and easy to use interface which makes the process of handling new applications easier than ever before.

Note: PIN Group, subject based registration amount and approval system has been deprecated. In place of approval system, custom status allows moving applicant to different stages of approval.

Administrator, Privileged Employee, Unregistered User (Applicant)

Applicant Registration

Leave Groups

Create leave groups to group different leave types and assign employees who share similar leave types.

Administrator, Privileged Employee

Human Resources

What’s enhanced in Fedena

Here is the list of enhanced features included with this release of Fedena 3.5.4

Feature	Description	User Role	Module
Employees as complainer and complainee	Now employees can be added as complainer or complainee in discipline module	Administrator, Privileged Employee	Discipline
Improved fee reporting	Fee reports in finance now comes with particular wise amount collected and discount given. Fees collected is split among different particulars in case of partial payment to give the correct report.	Administrator, Privileged Employee	Finance
/ in admission number	Admission number now supports the / symbol	Administrator, Privileged Employee	Student

Issues Fixed

Here is the list of issues fixed in this release of Fedena 3.5.4

Attendance

Unable to mark attendance for elective subject after deleting attendance and trying again.

Custom Import

Spaces before and after data are truncated during upload of data.

Employee

Employee additional details not showing in PDF report.

Exam

Issue of inactive batches not shown in batchwise exam report.

Human Resources

Loss of Pay amount not showing when editing a rejected payslip.

Online Exam

Validation added to options in objective type online exam.

Student

Removed default date for guardian admission form.
Date of Birth for guardians set as blank instead of default date.

Settings

Added support for new TLDs in list of allowed email ids.

Timetable

Timetable summary not showing when employee removed from created timetable.

Transport

Fixed issue with transport fee defaulters who made partial payments.

Giving Enquiries a seat at the Applicant Registration table

May 8, 2017

With Fedena, we are relentlessly focused on two things: our product and our customers. Keeping this bond is what keeps our business alive and successful.

Thankfully, in the recent months, we have arrived at a solution for the need of Enquiries for a school as well as the much needed update the Applicant Registration module needed. We are calling it the showstopper update of 2017.

So we don’t get a Enquiries module? If that’s your first reaction, bear with us. It might sound far fetched but the updates we will be rolling out in the next couple of weeks will completely change how the applicant registration module looks and works like presently. But we approached this with strong assertions any institution might agree with.

Priorities : Ease of use and application is our top priority for Fedena and always will be.
Feedback Loops : Great products are solutions built by the product team as well as the customer feedback.
Perspective : Engineers, designers, product managers and customers must be on the same page about the problem.

If you agree with the above, read on to see how we approached the problem.

Journey to the embedded module – Improved Applicant Registration

Customer support turns you into a generalist. You are asked loads of questions and pulled in various different directions. By the end of the whole cycle, you are sincerely confused if you are representing customers in the next product meeting or the product. But over time you are able to sift through and become a product expert. You start studying the usage of different modules, the applications of the product and it’s various modules in real time scenarios of customers, allowing you to come up with updates and changes the product/module needs to better help the users.

Recognizing the need for an enquiry module in institutions and the need to update the applicant registration module, we decided that it would be best to update the existing applicant registration module with the following updates :

Customizable Form: Apart from the bare minimum fields to admit a student, all other fields can be disabled or enabled as per requirement.
Notifications: Better notifications will be given to applicants on submitting the form, being accepted to the course or being rejected.
Internal Form Management: Fields and Custom status will be provided so that office level data can be managed. They can be configured for each course as per need and will not be visible to the applicants.
Preview and Submit: To prevent accidental submit with incorrect entries, a preview option is provided with each form.
Other changes: Select number of guardians required, improved document submission option and Instructions for applicants are some of the other planned changes.

Championing the customer

Now these updates will help institutions in completely customizing their applicant registrations processes using Fedena and at the same time provide the much needed enquiry module applications. This was done with careful consideration from our customer feedback, feature requests and bug reports.

The new update rolls out in a couple of weeks and we will have a new guide ready with our support team as well as our sales team for all your queries and understanding. We are still experimenting and working on a lot of new things for Fedena, stay tuned for further updates on your most trusted school management software.