All educational institutes are stretching themselves to provide exceptional and top-notch educational experiences to stand out in this competitive era. With the commute facilities and internet, there is no big significance for geographical boundaries. Enrolling in a school that is too far from the residence is also a common thing as parents can communicate with their kids via various communication channels. So, many schools are offering residential accommodation for the students.
Hostel management is an important aspect when the school has an accommodation facility. A separate administration is required as hostel management requires constant supervision and discipline so that student’s safety and security are preserved. Every hostel has its own rules and regulation so there is a need for a tailor-made hostel management system so that institute-specific requirements are fulfilled.
A school ERP system may cover the campus and non-campus activities like admission, fee collection, student attendance, classroom management, and others. The compulsion of residence depends upon the school type, whether it is fully residential or partially. So, the school ERP needs dedicated software that will learn the requirements of hostel processes. This software is capable of handling entire hostel operations with better efficiency.
A hostel management software consists of various modules like student information, room allocation, room rent management, staff module, and others. The advanced cloud-based systems provide better security to the data. Paperless hostel management is possible with the help of the software as all processes are accomplished online or in digital form. Many systems come in the form of mobile apps so that data can be accessed from anywhere, anytime.
If you are using the school ERP system and looking out for a better alternative for hostel management, then here is the list of features that backs up your decision to adopt of hostel management system:
Easy room allocation
Hostel administration staff have the cumbersome task of room allocation. As a hostel can have different room types like twin sharing, three-sharing, it is difficult to remember all the allocation. Manual room registers can have human intervention flaws so the room allocation process becomes tedious. Many times, if room allocation is handled by multiple staff members, then there are chances of clashing of allocations which may create issues. This all can be overcome by adopting software. The dedicated software enables you to create different room types, stores room allocation information at central space and retrieves the real-time required data on a rapid basis such that there is no overlapping of room allocation.
Rent management
In the hostel, students pay room-rent on a monthly or half-yearly, or yearly basis. Calculating room rent every time is a big headache. The hostel system keeps the track of previously paid rent and gives you instant calculation results so that there is no error and no delay. The clerical staff can experience big relief as they can get various rent collection reports on an instant basis.
Visitor management
Every hostel has its own rules for visitors. Constant supervision is required to keep the track of visitors. The recorded information can be helpful in case of any mishap with the student so it is mandatory for every hostel to keep the detailed information of visitors. The weekly, monthly, or yearly visitor’s record generation is bliss for the management. The hostel management software can store a large amount of data without risking the steal or loss of data.
Hostel staff Allocation
The hostel is administered by several staff members and they are not the regular staff of the school. So, school ERP cannot store their data. The hostel staff details like shifts, attendance of the staff, personal information can be easily stored in the staff module of the hostel management system so that there is a structured record of duties allocation.
Mess management
Almost every hostel is catered by the internal mess. The mess is an organization in itself. So, managing the mess activities is like a burden for the hostel staff. The management for grocery, menu, timings of food, and other core activities are handled by the mess management module of the hostel management software efficiently. With the help of the integration of reporting module, the expenses can be easily tracked down.
Parent communication
Living away from the kids is difficult for parents irrespective of the age of the kids. They want to know what their kids are doing, eating, when they are going out of the hostel and when they are returning back. In the manual method of hostel management, parents need to depend upon the staff to communicate with their kids. But the hostel management system gives the reliable way and keeps the parents in the loop. With the help of the system, parents are notified via SMS, email, or mobile app notifications about the important updates from the hostel such as fee reminders, attendance, room allocation, mess fees.
Gate pass
Students need a gate pass to go out of the hostel campus. The importance of gate pass is significant as it is the proof document that indicates the whereabouts of the students for the timing. The gate pass will include the timings of the pass issue and reasons. Storing of this information in a computerized system can increase the accountability of the staff as well as students. The hostel software with a massive data storage capacity can hold the records for a long time and can be retrieved whenever necessary.
Contactless attendance
Marking the attendance with pen and register is an old-school concept that exhibits several flaws like wrong entry, proxy entry, loss of data, and many others. This embedded with third-party software like RFID or Biometric can punch the contactless and tamperproof attendance of the students. This will add an extra layer of security for the student’s data.
Nowadays, technology has transformed the education sector and introduced a new way of education and related processes. The Hostel management system is one of the interrelated systems that school management can adopt to provide homely accommodation to their students with efficient and streamlined management.
