Nearly every campus software package includes a student portal, and nearly every institution that has one reports the same thing: students used it for a month, then went back to asking the office.

Why portals get abandoned

Three reasons, in order of frequency.

The data is stale. If the portal is fed by periodic uploads, it will sometimes be wrong, and once a student has been given a wrong figure they verify everything with the office anyway.

It is incomplete. A portal that shows results but not fees sends the student to the office for fees. One more reason to visit the counter is all it takes.

Logging in is harder than asking. If the password was issued on paper in July and the student has lost it, the office is faster. Password reset that requires an email to the administrator is enough to kill adoption on its own.

What it must show to be used

  • Fees — charged, paid, outstanding, receipts, and the ability to pay.
  • Attendance — current percentage, not last month’s.
  • Academics — marks, results, academic history across years.
  • Assignments and learning materials shared by staff.
  • Transport and hostel details where applicable.
  • What is pending from them — documents, forms, upcoming dates.

That list is short because it is the whole list. A portal that covers these six is used; one that covers three is not.

Students and parents want different things

Worth designing for separately. Students want attendance, results, assignments and timetable. Parents want fees, attendance and progress.

A single shared login usually ends up being the parent’s, which means students stop using it entirely. Separate logins for student and parent, both reading the same record, works considerably better — and is only practical when accounts are unlimited, otherwise institutions ration them.

The demo test

Ask the vendor to take a payment at the counter in their demo system, then refresh the parent login in front of you.

If the balance has changed, the portal reads the live record. If it has not, you are being shown a copy, and you will spend the next three years explaining the difference to parents.

How DigiERP handles it

Separate student and parent logins reading the same records the office works in — fee dues and online payment, receipts, attendance, academic history, assignments, learning materials and transport. Student and parent accounts are unlimited under one flat annual contract.

To see the student and parent view on your own data, write to contact@digierp.in or call +91 83498 62321. Related: why the office has become a call centre.