Student information system

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A student information system (SIS) is a software application for educational establishments to manage student data. Student information systems provide capabilities for entering student test and other assessment scores through an electronic grade book, building student schedules, tracking student attendance, and managing many other student-related data needs in a school, college or university. Also known as student information management system (SIMS, SIM), student records system (SRS), student management system (SMS) or school management system (SMS) .

These systems vary in size, scope and capability, from packages that are implemented in relatively small organizations to cover student records alone, to enterprise-wide solutions that aim to cover most aspects of running large multi-campus organizations with significant local responsibility. Many systems can be scaled to different levels of activity, and can be configured by their home institutions to meet local needs.

Until recently, the common functions of a student records system are to support the maintenance of personal and study information relating to:

• Handling inquiries from prospective students;
• Handling the admissions process;
• Enrolling new students and storing teaching option choices;
• Automatically creating class & teacher schedules
• Handling records of examinations, assessments, marks and grades and academic progression;
• Maintaining records of absences and attendance;
• Recording communications with students
• Maintaining discipline records
• Providing statistical reports
• Maintenance boarding house details
• Communicating student details to parents through a parent portal

In larger enterprise solutions that have student data at their core, further functions include financial aid management and more may be customized by the developer. Where national or government systems exist for student finance or statistical return purposes, student records system often provide functionality that caters for this, by way of modules or core elements that handle the production of required files, or deal with the formatted transfer of information. examples are the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) process in the United States, the United Kingdom's Student Loans Company processes (SSAR, SSAC and ATFEE file processing), the UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) in the United Kingdom, or the HESA and HESES student statistical returns in the United Kingdom.

In the past, universities and large school districts in particular have created their own bespoke student record systems. One such example is the ROSI system at University of Toronto. With growing complexity in the business of educational establishments, most organizations now choose to buy customizable software, and increasing numbers are buying software as a service. Most student information systems in use today are server-based, with the application residing on a central computer server, and being accessed by client applications at various places within and even outside the school. But student information systems have been moving to the web since the late 1990s and that trend is accelerating as institutions replace older systems.

In recent years, several forces have been driving an evolution of student information systems and, as a result, leading many institutions to replace theirs. Those forces are:

• Demand for 24x7 web-based access to information by students, instructors, and (in primary and secondary education, or K-12) parents
• Increasing demands in the amount and frequency of data reporting for accountability and other purposes (so-called "vertical reporting" up to state, provincial, and national agencies)
• Importance of integrating student information systems with other tools, especially relating to instruction (IMS systems like SchoolNet and SchoolCity in the US), courses (CMS systems like Blackboard, Angel, Sakai, Moodle), and learning (LMS systems and on-line course ware like APEX).

Most student information systems and school administration software that have been around for a while have an outdated code base and have intermixed presentation, business logic, and data access layers to such an extent that modifying them to keep up with these demands has proven expensive or impossible. As a result, some systems with widespread use, like SASI for K-12 in the United States, will no longer be supported. Institutions using such legacy systems will be forced to switch at some point, and will likely choose from a new generation of student information systems built on a modern code base; with online accessibility; with modern databases; with relatively clean separation between presentation, business logic, and data access layers; with solid data architectures, and with a well-defined set of business processes so that their integration with other applications can be better understood and executed.

Modern use also implies that smaller K-12 schools can benefit from the reducing cost of technology; this has made it possible for even these organizations to implement such school software that not only encompass the management of student information but also provide the means for parents or guardians to connect with the teaching staff through parent portals^[1]

For a list of Student Information Systems, see: School Computing Wiki.