In today’s schools, software is the foundation of everyday operations. From managing classes and teaching, to budgeting and financial management, it’s important that your chosen systems can support your every need.
However, it’s unlikely that one single provider will offer all the functionality that’s required to keep your individual school on track. Each school is fundamentally different in the way it operates and needs software that can support its specific goals.
EdTech integration empowers schools to build the solution that they need, rather than working with an off-the-shelf system that has limitations. When searching for new school software, it’s important to consider the goals that your school is working towards and how a potential supplier can adapt to meet them.
- Software freedom
- Efficiency and automation
- Improve productivity and collaboration
- Prioritise data security
- Cost-effective software
- iSAMS flexible and integrated solutions
Software freedom
Your MIS (Management Information System) should be your one source of the truth. When considering a software overhaul, this is likely to be the first place to start. You can then work with this provider to build on top of the system to suit your needs.
A flexible MIS provider will have the functionality that enables you to adapt their system accordingly, and work with your preferred third-party providers where necessary. Ultimately, working with an integrated supplier empowers you with complete software freedom.
Whether you already work with some systems that you would like to keep or are looking to do a complete systems overhaul, integration enables you to build a bespoke solution. Remove the system limitations at your school by working with an API-friendly supplier as your first port of call. The right provider might even already have a list of existing partners, making that transition much smoother.
Efficiency and automation
Building a bespoke system benefits not just your leadership and administrators, but the entire school. By providing solutions that meet the goals of a wide range of departments, you can ensure that you’re all working together for the improvement of the school and the students’ learning experience.
Software that can work together reduces the need for duplication of work and ensures that all databases are up to date and accessible to your staff. No matter which department is working with your systems, it’s likely that they will all need access to similar information over time. By providing a central database and integrating with tailored solutions, tasks become less time consuming, and your teams can work more efficiently.
Similarly, depending on your choice of providers, some integrated systems offer automation functionality within their solutions. Depending on your needs and processes, seamless data transfer and confidence in the automation of common tasks takes the weight off staff shoulders and enables them to focus on other parts of their role.
Improve productivity and collaboration
By improving efficiency, your teams can be more productive. Reduce the time consumption of working with outdated software and the need to repeat tasks by implementing a flexible system. Integration enables you to work with systems that suit the needs of your individual departments. The better their software suits them, the more productive they can be.
All integrated systems work out of one database and make use of the same data points. This not only helps school staff to manage their workloads but can also encourage collaboration between teams. With systems that work together, teams are supported and can unite to ensure that data remains up to date and performs for other departments.
For example, an integrated financial management system would enable your admin, admissions, and finance teams to manage student accounts and bill parents efficiently and accurately.
Prioritise data security
Protecting sensitive data is a priority for all schools. Considering the amount of data that you manage on a daily basis, this isn’t always easy. Data security should be at the forefront of every software decision that you make.
When working with multiple disparate systems, this can be particularly challenging. The transfer of data across software presents a significant risk, and this becomes more time consuming for your IT teams – or any staff that work with your data stores.
Integrated systems enable you to share the power of your MIS database with your additional solutions as your one source of data clarity. This not only ensures that your data remains as up to date as possible, but removes the need to transfer data manually. Ultimately, seamless data transfer and systems that work together are more secure.
Consider working with suppliers that offer effective data integration and build a solution that prioritises the protection of your school data, with a single sign-on that simplifies data access for users.
At iSAMS, our REST API provides extra security for your sensitive school data stores. These abstract the database, as opposed to direct database access – where your data is shared directly with partner systems, requiring more manual security management. REST APIs are flexible enough to empower your integration goals, while ensuring that you can always prioritise your data protection requirements.
Cost-effective software
Put simply, working with one provider and taking advantage of their relationship with partner suppliers can be more cost-effective than having accounts with multiple individual providers.
This will depend on your systems and your chosen provider. However, managing multiple accounts with individual providers can be time consuming for your finance and admin teams. Your main provider may already have existing relationships with third parties that you’d like to implement, so it’s key to take advantage of these.
Discuss your individual needs with your provider and work with them to find the best options for your school. Chances are, this will be better for your budgets than navigating multiple accounts and negotiating prices individually with your suppliers.
iSAMS flexible and integrated solutions
The iSAMS MIS was built with the needs of Independent and International schools in mind. While the modular solution is comprehensive, with a variety of in-built solutions that enable you to build the system that you need, we also know that we cannot provide every single piece of software a school might require.
Each school is fundamentally different. That’s why we offer total flexibility. ISAMS schools can work with our range of existing third-party partners via our integrations Marketplace. We might already offer a working integration with the suppliers that you need. Alternatively, the iSAMS API enables you to build the integration that you need, allowing your school to bring all dispersed systems into one controlled database.
Interested in learning more about the flexibility of our industry-leading MIS? You can watch a full demo and get in touch with the team below: