Afzal Khan, Treasurer at Windsor High School shares why their School chose Rise School Management.
Our search for an accounting package started nearly 4 years ago. At the time we were using a School Information Management System (SIMS) which catered to our financial and partly academic needs. However it had many limitations.
Then we looked at a package called Wave. Again not really customisable although we liked the transparency and easy access. We also looked at Karri, AccPac and Pastel. But again these were limited to fulfilling a single function, that of finance. At the same time we looked at various communication tools like D6, Class Dojo, etc. without much success.
The more we researched the more we realised that we would probably not find what we were looking for.
And that is, something that was simple, easy-to-use, transparent and mobile.
Something that we could customise and add features to as the school grew. We were literally looking for the Holy Grail.
But then about 2 years ago we heard about Rise and I attended the presentation which was impressive.
I immediately knew it was the package for us. However convincing the SMT and SGB to move away from the traditional SILOs that different depts. operate in was challenging. Eventually after struggling through various trials we finally agreed to give Rise a chance.
With Rise there is a seamless integration between front office (data capturing and communicating) and back office (finance and record keeping). Added to that you now also have classroom management (attendance and incident reporting) and academics (marks and school reports). (*Rise SA is currently developing a marks module*).
They have also added in the ability for parents to be included in the conversation. All of this is easily available in one single package and fully transparent. Parents can access school reports, learner attendance, school fee statement, newsletters, etc. Everything is live and instantaneous, e.g. if a payment is received from a parent via the learner or EFT, a parent receives a receipt immediately via the app once it is captured.
Rise is a cloud system and app that has (in my opinion) revolutionised the way the schools will operate and interact with all stakeholders (internally and externally). I love technology and creating efficiencies and effectiveness in our environments and Rise School Management is the perfect platform.
IT is meant to improve our lives and this app will certainly do that, not only for the school but also stakeholders (especially parents). Schools are becoming more aware of them and seeing the value they offer in the daily operations.