How to Create School Management Software

Today, there are a lot of talks about how digital tools can help to enhance the efficiency of the educational process and the quality of the learning experience. However, educational software (SMS) is only one category of solutions that can be built for this domain. Solutions designed for managing the working process of educational establishments are also among the highly promising and demanded products.

In this blog post, we are going to talk about the peculiarities of school management systems, their use cases, and key steps of the development process. That’s why if you are trying to find out how to create school management software, this article is for you.

What is school management system software?

Let’s start with the most basic definition. This term is traditionally used to describe digital solutions intended to streamline the management and administration of processes at educational institutions. As a rule, such solutions are quite sophisticated systems as they are designed to cover numerous school functions and activities at the same time.

The scope of school management system can include:

• student record keeping;
• staff management;
• faculty data management;
• attendance tracking;
• performance reporting;
• organization of school events, etc.

A school administration system can effectively connect the entire school ecosystem via a centralized platform.

The school management system software market is gradually expanding. In 2023, its size was valued at $21.2 billion. In 2024, it is expected to achieve the level of $25 billion. If the current forecasts are correct and the market continues growing at the projected CAGR of 17.2%, in 2032, its size will be around $89 billion.

General digitalization, the growing role of e-learning, as well as a strong focus on the quality of education, are among the key market drivers today.

How school management systems work

A traditional school administration system has two key parts: a back-end database and a front-end interface.

• Back-end database. Here, all the data (including data related to finances, students, staff, etc) is stored. The system relies on this database to generate reports and perform various tasks.
• Front-end interface. As a rule, it is a web-based interface that users can access from any computer connected to the internet. The interaction with the system is organized namely via this interface: users can log in, open their accounts, and get access to the necessary information.

Such systems may have different modules, the exact set of which depends on the needs of each educational institution. Here are some examples of such modules.

• Student data module. This module is intended for storing and managing student data. It may include contact information, emergency contacts, medical data, grades, etc.
• Staff data module. It helps to keep and manage staff data. Teacher profiles store qualifications, schedules, and performance reviews.
• Finance module. It helps educational institutions track their budget, and generate financial reports. Moreover, it can automate fee collection, invoicing, and receipt generation.
• Academic management and curriculum module. This module helps to manage the school curriculum. It facilitates the creation of courses, lesson plans, and educational resources.
• Attendance module. It is used to monitor student attendance. It can also generate reports and send notifications to parents related to their child’s absence.

Benefits of using a school administration system

The popularity of solutions of this type is growing, as well as the demand for school management software development services. This is mainly explained by the new opportunities and advantages that educational institutions can leverage with such systems. Let’s have a closer look at the most important of them.

• Efficiency. This software is designed to automate administrative tasks, which allows educators and administrators to allocate extra time for other activities.
• Data accuracy. Thanks to keeping records in a digital format, it is possible to minimize manual entry errors and ensure data consistency.
• Better communication. These systems can offer a reliable platform for communication between teachers, parents, and students and act as a bridge between them.
• Cost efficiency. The application of a school administrative system ensures the digitalization of various processes. This helps to reduce paper use and administrative costs.
• Facilitated and better-informed decision-making process. Such software offers data-driven insights to school management. As a result, administrative and executive staff have a better vision of the ongoing situation and can make more appropriate decisions.
• Transparency. With a centralized platform of this kind, parents and students have access to relevant information. This greatly fosters overall transparency at educational institutions.

School management system software: Key features

The functionality of this software will depend on the exact use case for school management system and the modules that your platform should have. Below we are going to mention some of the most popular features of such systems. However, the functionality should precisely address the needs of potential users. That’s why in your case, your system may have other features. If you have any difficulties in choosing the exact functionality for your solution, you may need a consultation with experts. And at Anadea, we will be always ready to help you.

The range of features of your school administration software may include:

1. Student information system. An absolute majority of such school management solutions have a relevant module. This feature can be described as a centralized student data hub. It may contain all the information about students, their health state, academic results, etc. that can be required in the learning process. It is very important to introduce sufficient protection of such data. Very often, such systems have role-based access. This guaranteed that info can be viewed only by those people who really need it and not just by all users of the software.
2. Admission management. The admission process can be rather complicated at different establishments. This feature ensures online registration for students and allows administrators to monitor applications, enrollment, and billing information in real-time. The data is collected and then automatically processed. This helps to avoid a lot of errors caused by a human factor, as well as simplify the collection and storage of student data.
3. Grading and assessment tools. When a system has relevant tools, teachers can input and manage grades, that will be automatically calculated into cumulative scores and final results. Also, it is possible to add such a feature as automated generation of report cards. They can be customized to include grades, teacher comments, and attendance records. Thanks to such functionality, it becomes easier to detect student pain points and opportunities for improvement.
4. Timetables and scheduling. You can allow users to leverage the opportunities provided by both automated or manual creation of class and exam schedules. This will ensure optimal use of resources such as classrooms and teachers. With this feature, you can easily prevent scheduling overlaps. Moreover, it lets users check timetables from any device that has access to the school management app. With the filtering options, users can view the timetable for each specific class, teacher, or student.
5. Communication tools. You can enrich your software with built-in messaging systems, emails, and SMS features. All this can greatly facilitate communication between parents, students, teachers, and administrators. You can also set up automatic notifications and alerts for important events, including parent-teacher meetings, fee dues, or school announcements.
6. Fee and financial tools. Your solution can contain tools for managing the school’s budget, tracking expenses, and generating financial reports. Managing and collecting student fees can be also carried out via this system. Your software can be enriched with functionality for creating invoices and receipts. Administrators can set notifications for students and their parents on the necessity to conduct payments. It is also possible to integrate your system with accounting software for managing finances, including income, expenses, and financial statements.

How to create school management software: Main steps

The process of software creation involves a series of steps that require the participation of experts with different skills. Based on our experience, we’ve prepared a brief description of each of these stages with an indication of the most important tasks.

• Ideation. You should start by understanding the specific needs of the users who will interact with your software. In the case of a school management system, this step may include talking to administrators, teachers, parents, and students to gather their requirements. You need to analyze existing solutions of this type to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. Based on the received insights, you need to define what features your system will have and what exact tasks it should solve.
• Planning. Together with your development team, you should determine the project timeline, resources, budget, and milestones. It is also important to choose a tech stack and decide on the project management approach.
• System design and development. This step is devoted to such important tasks as database design, architecture design, UI/UX design, etc. It also covers frontend and backend development tasks, as well as integrations with third-party services.
• Testing. In modern software development practice, a lot of types of tests are conducted throughout the development process. However, when everything is ready, it is crucial to make sure that all components and modules interact with each other as they are supposed to.
• Deployment. When all bugs are fixed, it’s time to launch your solution. Before that, it is crucial to make sure that the hosting environment is correctly set.
• Maintenance and updates. It is required to keep track of the system’s performance and identify any issues in real time. We also always recommend our clients regularly gather feedback from users to detect usability problems and feature requests.

Challenges in school management software development

The creation of any software is associated with a row of possible pitfalls. The development of a school administration system also comes with its own set of challenges due to the complexity of educational systems, the need for customization, and user diversity. Let’s have a look at the ways to address the most popular difficulties.

Challenge 1. Complex and diverse requirements

Schools often have varied needs depending on their size, location, educational system, and specific approaches. That’s why for the companies behind such solutions, it can be rather difficult to balance general features with the ability to customize platforms for individual institutions.

One of the most efficient solutions is to introduce a modular architecture. This will allow schools to enable or disable features according to their needs. This type of architecture also makes it easier to add new features without disrupting existing functionality.

Challenge 2. Integration with existing systems

Today, many schools use various systems for different functions, for example, financial software, learning content management tools, etc. Their integration with new software can be rather complex.

There are several options to simplify this task. A strong API layer, as well as the use of existing educational interoperability standards, will help to ensure seamless data exchange between systems.

Challenge 3. Scalability

Given the fact that educational institutions can grow over time, your system must be able to scale without compromising performance.

This can be achieved thanks to the implementation of cloud infrastructure. The reliance on cloud-based services like AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure, will allow you to automatically adjust resources based on demand.

You can also consider using a microservices architecture. In this case, different components of the software are developed and deployed independently. As a result, it becomes easier to scale specific parts of the system as needed.

Challenge 4. Privacy and data security

Schools need to handle sensitive information, such as personal data of students, financial records, and academic performance. Ensuring data security and compliance with regulations like GDPR or any other region-specific laws is crucial.

You need to implement strong security measures, like encryption protocols for data both at rest and in transit. This will protect sensitive information from unauthorized access. Role-based access control will ensure that users can only access data relevant to their role and will minimize the risk of data breaches. At the same time, regular security audits and vulnerability assessments will help to identify and fix potential weaknesses in the system.

School management software development: Cost breakdown

The cost of developing school management software can differ depending on many factors. The range of these factors includes the scope of the project, the complexity of features, the technology stack, the development team’s composition, etc. Moreover, it’s very important to take into account the location where your development team is based.

If you start googling, you will see that the cost of such projects can vary from $25,000-$30,000 to $250,000+. That’s why before planning your own project, it is important to get preliminary estimates to understand at least an approximate size of the budget that you should possess. At Anadea, you can get a quote for free.

What services are traditionally included in custom software development?

• Requirements analysis and planning;
• UI/UX Design;
• Backend and frontend development;
• Database design and development;
• Integration with third-party services;
• Testing and QA;
• Deployment;
• Ongoing maintenance and updates.

The more complex solution you want to build, the higher investment will be required.

Is it possible to optimize development costs? There are several cost-saving strategies that may work in your case.

• MVP development. We strongly recommend you begin with the creation of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This solution will include only the essential features. As a result, you will be able to launch your system faster and start gathering feedback while controlling initial costs.
• Open-source tools. While choosing a technology stack, you can consider the use of open-source options. These technologies will allow you to reduce licensing costs and speed up development.
• Outsourcing. Very often cooperation with a professional outsourcing agency will turn out to be a much more feasible option than hiring in-house developers.
• Agile development. We recommend you rely on agile methodologies to break the project into smaller, manageable pieces. This will help in controlling costs and delivering value incrementally.

Trends in school management software development

When you are planning to launch your own school management system project, you should stay aware of the latest market trends. By taking them into account, you can be sure that your solution will meet the expectations of your target audience and that interaction with it will be convenient for users.

• Mobile accessibility. The majority of traditional systems can be accessed from computers. Nevertheless, the modern lifestyle sets new rules. It’s highly recommended to make your software accessible from mobile devices. It will make it possible for users to get the necessary information even on the go.
• Cloud-based systems. Today a lot of school management systems are cloud-based. They can ensure easy access from anywhere, scalability, reduced on-site infrastructure cost, as well as automatic updates and better data security. Moreover, cloud-based products support real-time collaboration and information sharing between teachers, students, and parents.
• AI-powered features. Artificial intelligence is a very promising technology to be used in various software solutions for the learning space and not only. Thanks to the integration of AI tools in school management systems, it is possible to automate a lot of time-consuming tasks. For example, AI features can automatically generate reports and create schedules for teachers based on their availability.
• Enhanced security measures. Today, we can observe an increased demand for high protection of personal data. When it comes to the confidentiality and data integrity of school management system software, developers can introduce such measures as advanced encryption, multi-factor authentication, and regular security updates.
• Integration with learning management systems (LMS). The integration of both school management and learning management functionalities makes interaction with them much more efficient and smooth. Integration facilitates the syncing of data such as grades, attendance, and student progress between the SMS and LMS. Moreover, it allows to manage a lot of tasks in one place. If you want to get more information about learning management software, you can follow this link.
• Gamification. To enhance student engagement, some SMS platforms are incorporating gamification elements. For example, they offer badges for some particular achievements, leaderboards, and rewards systems. This trend is particularly popular in primary and middle schools where it can motivate students to reach their goals.
• Blockchain integration. Some systems of this kind are powered by blockchain technology. It is used for record-keeping and storing academic credentials, transcripts, and diplomas. Blockchain ensures that records are secure, transparent, and easily verifiable.
• Support of hybrid learning models. Modern systems can be adjusted to the needs of hybrid learning environments. It means that students can switch between in-person and remote learning seamlessly. The features that support such functionality include virtual classrooms, digital resource distribution, and online attendance tracking.

Conclusion

The adoption of school management system software is gradually growing. This explains why the launch of a school management system project can be a good idea these days. Such solutions significantly facilitate a lot of tasks for administrative staff and teachers and enhance the learning experience for students.

If you are looking for experienced software developers, Anadea can be just the right choice for you. Our team has rich expertise in building solutions for the learning industry and deeply understands the needs of educational institutions. Just share your idea with us and we will find the best way to transform it into an efficient solution.