User experience design is the key factor in the success of any mobile application or Web Application. In GegoSoft, we are working on building an advanced School ERP system. A system that serves better than any existing school management software in the market as of now. Developing a Student Attendance App with good Uxdesign is a primary challenge.
Our primary focus on developing School Management System is the Mobile-First Approach and user experience design. But when we started to work on the user research we found out some great insights, which changed our thought process.
Our user research is based on Madurai city. We researched with schools in Madurai and our key observations are listed below.
- Teachers able to record the attendance with their mobile app
- Parents get the attendance info via Push Notifications or SMS
- Admin Staff and School Principal see the stats of attendance in their app dashboard.
Attendance Tracking
In traditional manual method, the teacher records the student’s present or absence status in the attendance register and also keep the leave letters in the separate file. Even though both availability and reason are stored, the traditional method do not serve well. The data stored in two different places and difficult to retrieve and analyze.
The introduction of software makes the data entry easy and also adds value to the data. The teacher can easily track the absence record of the student and the stated reasons for the same in a single click.
The attendance tracking software, serve the following cases
- It records the presence or absence of the student on that particular date & the session
- In case of the absence, it records the reason for it.
- It seamlessly links with student leave application and approval workflow.
- It updates the absence of student to the parent via Mobile app via Push Notification or by SMS
- It updates the class attendance summary data to school admin people and the principal.
Mobile App for Attendance Taking
Designing a simple mobile app for attendance taking that connects with School Management software via REST API is the quick and handy solution. The Mobile app for student attendance taking helps to record the data. It also uses the data effectively. But the app still needs manual efforts.
By incorporating electronics and communication devices, the attendance system can be made advanced and automated.
RFID Based Attendance System for Schools
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based attendance system is the most commonly used system in Schools, Colleges, and Universities. In this method, a unique id is assigned to the students, and the RFID tag attached to their student ID card. Students only need to place their ID card on the RFID reader (which mounted on a school campus or nearby gate) and their attendance will be taken immediately. The data is stored in the reader and can be consumed by the web application
Biometric Attendance System for Schools
Biometric attendance system uses the Finger Print as the identification source. The person need to press his finger on the bio-metric reader and it checks the identify against the stored data and records the entry. It enters clock-in and clock-our time. It is mostly used for Employee Attendance Tracking and few schools implemented it for student attendance also.
This system works well for higher education students, teachers, and staff. This system is not recommended for kids.
Facial Recognition Attendance System
In recent times, during the Covid 2019 situation, the touch-less or contactless attendance system through facial recognization is the most discussed and desirable solution. The solution uses the camera feed and facial recognition algorithm for attendance. This solution is been popular in Hospitals and high-security premises. In near future, we might see the schools also adopt this solution and innovate on it.
Final Thoughts
To summarize, the best attendance management system for schools is the combination of technology, cost, and user experience. the desire-able solution is the one, which serves the results and helps us to achieve automation.
