Tips for Choosing the Right Attendance Management System for Your College

"80 to 90 per cent attendance is compulsory" is a statement that students may often find while browsing through college websites or brochures. The significance of regular attendance in higher educational institutes is noteworthy as it reflects equally on one’s academic performance.

But the length that institutes require to go through to maintain a proper attendance system is extremely time-consuming. For instance, colleges and universities that still depend on the tedious traditional paper and pen method reduce productivity as it takes up a considerable amount of teachers’ and other team member's time.

But the good news is that they no longer need to rely on manual approaches; instead, they can use advanced tools like an attendance management system. However, the availability of various vendors providing multiple systems makes it difficult to choose the right one.

Therefore, the following features and tips will help you choose the right attendance management system.

Varied Ways of Recording Attendance

What has been the only way of recording attendance in colleges and universities? Paper-based registers have been the most helpful material used by teachers to document students' attendance.

However, maintaining those registers is time-consuming; teachers need to cautiously mark present and absent and tally the respective days. On the other hand, an attendance management system provides an automated mechanism.

Hence, they no longer need to spend a considerable amount of time manually registering the number of absent or present students. Rather they can record attendance in both online and offline formats.

So, make sure to look for a tool that does not hamper the attendance-taking process when the internet connection is a bit slow. Besides, the software should provide various ways of recording classroom attendance.

For example, the software must have integrated features allowing teachers to record attendance according to the class. In fact, they must be able to select class and division, according to which the system will show particular student's names.

Detailed Attendance Report

How many days in a month did he miss college? Who is frequently absent from the class? As per the previously followed manual attendance management system, teachers had to go through days of record to find the answers.

As a result, it took time and effort; however, the automated system is very efficient and provides necessary information with just a click of a mouse. In fact, it provides a detailed report of individual recorded attendance of students.

Besides, the reports provide insights indicating the number of students meeting the attendance criteria and those who failed to do so. It shows the attendance trend in the classroom, and the software categorises the report according to class, subject, and division.

Furthermore, NEP 2020 highlights the importance of tracking student attendance as it directly co-relates students’ interest in academics. Therefore, the policy clearly states that institutes must prepare appropriate strategies to identify at-risk students.

And one of the best plans of action is to use applications and solutions that automatically track student attendance and performance.

Clocking In and Out

Is the attendance management system only to record student attendance in a classroom? No, an advanced system allows the institute to use it for its team members as well.

In fact, advanced attendance software lets schools and colleges keep track of their employees' activities. Therefore, the tool records when teachers, admin, and staff log in and registers break periods.

In addition, the tool also records the time when the team members log out or clock out using their personalised phone numbers or magnetic card readers. Moreover, card readers are extremely useful as it is a quick and easy way to record check-ins and check-outs.

On top of that, it reduces the chances and risks of proxy or fraudulent clock-ins.

Biometric System

Proxy attendance during regular classes or examinations is a common occurrence and issue that institutes have encountered many times. And a lack of effective measures has often furthered the problem even more.

Fortunately, biometric attendance systems, which institutes can integrate with the attendance management system, are an excellent solution. In fact, biometric technology is revolutionary for identity management, class attendance, e-evaluations, learning analytics, and security.

Furthermore, it prevents proxy attendance, allowing teachers to authenticate the registered students’ presence in the classroom or exam hall. Therefore, it curtails common malpractices during exams, including using fake IDs and impersonation.

Also, it indirectly promotes students’ sincerity and discipline, as they know that they need to be present and cannot use any false attendance marking tricks.

Payroll Integration

Be it a college, university, or any other organisation, timely delivery of salary is essential to maintain a civil professional relationship with all team members. But processing the salaries and other expenses and keeping accurate records is an elaborate task.

But institutes can streamline the process by linking the attendance management system with the payroll. First, however, they need to find an appropriate tool with specific features that allow the integration.

Consequently, the system will calculate the individual payments according to the set criteria and process them to respective staff and faculty.

Advanced Analytics

The tool efficiently tracks the attendance trend in the classroom and provides data showing the attendance pattern of the institute team members. Therefore, it becomes easy for them to figure out the faculty and staff who put in the extra hours.

Moreover, it highlights the time of those diverging from the scheduled hours, allowing institutes to pose questions and take necessary actions.

In fact, it is a useful way to ensure that institutes can maintain productivity and identify any issues.

Mobile and Cloud Support

An advanced and convenient feature of the attendance management system is the cloud-based system, allowing users to gain access from anywhere.

Consequently, it allows schools and colleges to facilitate browser integration, which will enable institute team members to open the system without installing the app.

Therefore, it will be beneficial for staff and faculty who are unable to come to the institute premises physically yet they can log in and complete their work remotely.

Hence, it facilitates accurate attendance capture and productivity from remote locations.