A principal asks a simple thing: how many students are absent today, and which of them are in Class 8? The answer exists in the system. Getting it means opening attendance, picking a date, choosing a class and reading a list. An accountant has the same problem with fees. Who owes the most in Class 5? What did each cashier take at the counter today?
An assistant that reads your live data can answer in one line. This post explains what that should look like, where it needs limits, and how it works in Skoo.
Questions that suit an assistant
These are examples of the kind of question people ask. The assistant should answer them from your own data, not from a general guess.
- How much fee did we collect this month, and who are the defaulters?
- Who is absent today, and who is the substitute?
- Which subjects in Class 9 still have no marks entered?
- How many weeks of the syllabus have we covered in Class 6?
- When does our Skoo plan end?
Rule 1: it must follow the person's role
The most important rule is that the assistant never shows more than the person is allowed to see. A teacher should get answers about their own sections. An accountant should see fees. A parent should see only their own children, and a result only after the school has published it.
If the assistant has a back door around permissions, it becomes the easiest way to leak student data. Ask any vendor how it checks this for every question.
Rule 2: it can prepare work, but you press Confirm
Some jobs are tedious, such as making challans for a whole class or messaging the parents of today's absent students. An assistant can get these ready. But a school should never have an assistant change records or send messages on its own.
In Skoo, Skoo Buddy can prepare a challan for one class, all classes or one student, for one month or several. It can prepare a message to all parents, some classes, the parents of absent students or defaulters. It can also get a result ready to publish and set up classes and fees for a new school. It shows you what it is about to do, and the job runs only when you press Confirm.
Rule 3: it should explain, not only answer
New staff often do not know where a setting lives. Ask Skoo Buddy how to do a job and it gives the menu and tab names. If you are on a student's profile and ask what their fee is, it knows which student you mean.
It can also tell you why a parent did not receive a message. It checks the parent's consent and your school's message rules, and tells you the reason the message was skipped.
What it does not do
- It does not change or save anything by itself.
- It does not issue certificates and it does not mark attendance.
- It does not take fee payments.
- It can make mistakes with numbers, so check an important figure on the report itself.
Parents and students
Parents and students can use it too, with a limit of 15 questions a day. A school that does not want this can switch it off in Settings, under Notifications.
On your phone
Skoo Buddy is also in the Skoo mobile app for principals, owners, teachers, accountants and parents. You need the latest version of the app.
What to ask before you trust any assistant
- Does it answer from my own data or from general knowledge?
- Does it check the person's role for every question?
- Can it change anything without my confirmation?
- Is there a record of what was asked and answered?
- Can I switch it off?
See what Skoo Buddy covers on the Skoo Buddy page, or read how Skoo handles access and data.