Looking for school administration software.

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Picard

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We're hastily looking for school administration software.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge in this regard?

My school's requirements are quite basic. We want software on which learners profile information is stored, from which class lists and other types of lists are generated (sports lists, birthday lists etc.). It must also have the function of marks capturing and report card printouts. Daily absenteeism should also be recorded in this software for quick search and reference purposes.

It need not have fees and financial functionality. We are running that on a separate system (Pastel).

I have Googled already and something that has caught my interest is a company called www.edupac.co.za.

They offer a choice between a Local server setup or a SaaS (Software as a Service) setup (everything is hosted on their side - access to the program happens online). I like this idea because it takes the responsibility off the school (me basically) for backup and security.

Of course if we lose internet connectivity, we'll be stranded. But is has rarely been a problem in the past and I'm confident that it shouldn't be a great factor in the future.

What are your experiences with SaaS? Will it work for a relatively simple school setup?
 
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Must be honest, a few years ago I worked with edupac at a high school and it was revolting. It looks like they have improved their offering. I don't know of any others.
 
I can also vouch for Edupac. Back in the late 90's I worked for a IT company that supported and installed Edupac. IMO, very good product.
 
One of the schools i do work for uses www.pencilbox.co.za . I don't know too much about it but I think it does everything you are looking for and can interface with Pastel.
 
Our school uses EduAdmin, and I am the tech support behind it. Such a mixed package, does some things wonderfully well, and others it is a real pain in the backside. Quite a few schools that I've seen are now using Staffroom, the developer Umoya seem to be actively courting schools. Only downside with Staffroom is that it is completely cloud based, so if you have sluggish or no internet access, you have no way of using the package.

Others that I know of include Ed-Admin, EduPac and Pencilbox.
 
Does anyone know http://www.microscope.co.za/

Our big brother highschool next door uses this and they are quite happy with it.

There website design is a bit early 90s (meaning poor), but I'm looking for a tried and tested system. So if there website dates from many years ago it proves that they have been in business for a while.
 
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My mom's school uses SIMS http://www.schooladmin.co.za/ - even got an integrated library system. You can download a copy directly from the site, although I cannot seem to find any costs listed on their site. (edit: Costs seems to only be yearly support contract cost)

I love it as I can easily change things for them as it is excel/access based. But of course the idiots at the school does not like it when people peuter with their systems, so I do not bother anymore.
 
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ramar said:
One of the schools i do work for uses www.pencilbox.co.za . I don't know too much about it but I think it does everything you are looking for and can interface with Pastel.
Click to expand...

I worked with pencilbox for some vac work once. Seems like these products are only as effective as the person who drives engagement from staff. The school had an 'older' generation teacher and thus was met with very poor engagement with the software.
 
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