Typically, when a school is considering acquiring school management software, many technical and organizational issues are ignored. Most school personnel are usually not competent enough to understand what they are considering - the relationship between that the system is supposed to be able to do and what is needed (now and in the future). This guide was prepared to assist school administrators in deciding how to go about acquiring any school management system. A list of questions that schools should ask has been prepared. (1) If the system is web-based, how will schools, teachers and other users without Internet access be facilitated? (Answer:)______________________________________ (2) Is there a facility where, for example, teacher’s work can be done offline, using flash drives? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (3) If all schools are going to use a shared database, what are the safeguards that are in place in regards to the privacy of personal data? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (4) For a web-based system, what will happen when the school doesn’t have Internet access for extended periods? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) Will the system be able to manage student’s parents/guardian and address details? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) As each school has its own peculiarities, can the student master record that comes with the system be extended to suite this school? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (3) Does the system maintain student clubs and responsibilities? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (4) Can documents like student birth certificates be scanned into the system? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (5) Can pictures and authorized signatures be assigned to each student? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (6) Can the system generate student Ids within set criteria? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) How are students non-academic activities like absence, sanctions and punctually managed? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) Can such non-academic activities be interrogated by date and reason? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) How are students promoted, demoted, repeated and graduated? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) Can students be promoted based on class streams and/or academic performance? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (3) Can graduated students be re-admitted? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (4) Is there an automatic and/or manual means for student promotion? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (5) Does the system keeps a track of student’s promotion history? _______________________________________ (6) Can the system query data or generate reports retroactively (like past class lists)? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) What is the composition of a grade? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) Does the system permit a grade to be a letter and/or a credit? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (3) Can the system manage multiple grade schemes (in other words, can a “B+” mean two different things for two different subjects or sets of students)? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (4) Does the system allow for annual maintenance of grade schemes (in other words, can a “C-“ for this year be set to something different for a “C-“ for last year)? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (5) Can a grade be set in such a way that it is not factored into the child’s assessment? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (6) Is there any audit (or self correcting) mechanism for incorrect grades? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (7) Can the system distinguish an academic grade from a non-academic grade? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) Can the school get a student assessment report that is customized? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) Can the system generate different reports for different sets of students? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (3) Can the computations of subject averages and final marks be customized? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (4) If a subject (or some subjects) is (or are) to be excluded from a student’s assessment on the report, can this be facilitated? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (5) Can an exam be excluded (or included) in a child’s assessment? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (6) Does the system facilitate the printing of codes instead of comments? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (7) Can the report be configured to allow the form teacher, grade supervisor and the principal to make a comment? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (8) Can student’s overall and subject performance be ranked within a class and/or level on the report? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (9) How easy is it for a minor or major modification to be done to the report? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (10) Can the report print clubs and responsibilities? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) Is there an automatic letter generation facility? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) Can letters be typed and student data be merged into them automatically before printing? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) Can the system manage student fee payments? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) Can the system accept composite payments (that is, a single payment for several fees)? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (3) Can fees be configured for each student or sets of students? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (4) Does the system have reports that show students who have paid their fees in full or who have over-paid or under-paid their fees? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) How are subjects maintained and managed? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) Can the system list students who are missing grades for subjects that they should be doing? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) How is the data for teachers maintained? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) Are teachers’ positions and qualifications updateable? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (3) Can the system measure that performance of teachers within the context of students’ academic performance? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (4) Is it possible to assess whether teachers have any outstanding work? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (5) Does the system keep a tack of teachers’ absence and punctuality? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (6) If needed, can a teacher be given the right to modify the grades of another? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (7) Can a teacher create his/her student list (students that he/she teaches)? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) How does the system maintain books and book assignments to students? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) How are copies of a book defined/created? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (3) Can the assignment history of book be obtained? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (4) Can a list of all outstanding, due and assigned books be generated? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (5) Can students be automatically fined for returning books late? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) Can the computations of the academic performance spread sheet (or broadsheet) be customized? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) Can queries based on virtually any set of criteria be done to list academic and other types of data (Answer:)_______________________________________ (3) Can the system get a summary of the school’s academic performance based on class, level, subject, teacher, etc? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) Is there a facility where data, based on any set of criteria, can be exported (probably to another system)? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) Is there online help? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) How parameterized is the system? Are system variables configurable? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) Can shift schools use the system? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (3) How is an examination defined? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) How are system users maintained? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) Can users’ rights be restricted to certain functions on this system? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (3) Can users’ rights be restricted within certain functions on this system (in other words, for any option, can they be denied certain rights)? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (4) Is there a super-user? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (1) Do parents have the option to view student details over the Internet? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (2) Can a parent see if his/her child has any books or fees outstanding? (Answer:)_______________________________________ (3) Can parents use the Internet to confirm whether a child has homework to do? (Answer:)_______________________________________ ***