We have moved forward from manual payments to online payments for many years. We all know the flaws of a manual payment system like human intervention errors, slow processes, risk of cash handling, and inefficient reporting. This led to the invention of an automated payment which should be fast and reliable as it deals with financial transactions. Online payments became a norm in our day-to-day life with the excessive use of the internet. Then why should the education sector lag in the race? Vidyalaya, a prominent player in the Indian education software industry recognized the need for education industry-specific online fee management software and integrated it into its product as one of the core modules. But do you really know how these transactions are carried out in the backend, who is the hero behind the scene? Like all other online payment processing software, the online payment gateway is a core part of Vidyalaya’s fee management software.

What is a payment gateway?

A payment gateway is like a gatekeeper for a customer’s financial transactions that authorize credit card transactions or direct payment processing. They work as the central cog in the payment processing system, irrespective of whether you are performing financial transactions online or offline. The working of an online payment gateway is also simple. The front end collects and transfers the customer data after valid authorization to the merchant’s bank in real-time. The merchant’s bank itself processes the transactions and reverts the user about the transaction.

There are three types of payment gateway:

• On-site payments
• Payment off-site
• Redirection

Depending upon your specifications, you can integrate the apt type of payment gateway.

What is the online payment gateway’s role in education ERPs?

If you are adopting the modernized approach of automating school processes, then you can’t ignore the fee management process. Almost every school ERP has a dedicated module for the fees management system which streamlines fee processing. Vidyalaya assures you of the integration of a reliable payment gateway so that you carry out all your financial transactions smoothly.

Explore the benefits of having a payment gateway in our school fees management software:

Pay school fees from anywhere

The ability to accomplish financial transactions from the office, home, or anywhere without being present on school premises is the major benefit of an online fee management system. Not only the parents but school administrative staff, and donors can complete the transactions from any location, anytime. Just a reliable internet connection and a smart device are enough with a valid bank account. The way of online fee payment has simplified and offered relief for parents with hectic professional schedules. Thus, all types of fees like school fees, lab fees, hostel fees, and transport fees can be paid using the same platform without getting delayed.

Faster transfer of Payment

Previously, school fees were collected through cash, demand draft, or cheque modes, which make a tedious process.  Human intervention errors, wastage of time, energy, and human resources make the process inefficient. The school fees management software eliminates these flaws and offers a reliable and automated process that can transfer the fees instantly. With this software, there are no risks of bounced cheques, counterfeit currencies, and others. Also, the demand draft and cheque mode take usually 2-3 days for clearance of payment which can give a false picture of fee payment at the moment. Remove all these ambiguities with a dedicated product integrated with a robust online payment gateway.

No risk of handling cash

In the manual way of fee payment, different types of risks like cash stealing, loss, and mishandling can occur. Burst out this unnecessary pressure of handling cash with an online fee management system where all transactions are handled digitally. The cashless feature will help stakeholders to get relief from managing cash receipts also. Indeed, online fee payment is a complete bliss not only for school administration where they get less or zero overhead of fee processing but also for the parents where they can get a rescue from standing in long stranded queues compromising their hectic routines.

Easy storage of all financial transactions

In conventional school administration, all transactions are stored in paper format and heaps of files fill the office. But by using a fee management system, you can actually have a paperless office. As all transactions are stored digitally, you will have a cost-saving and eco-friendly solution. If you are worried about the security of data stored online, forget that also because it is stored in a high-level encryption form that is difficult to decode. Also, the role-based access to every user restricts the open access to data as compared to the traditional system.

Automated receipt generation

In a traditional fee payment system, the office team needs to generate the receipts with a keen check on all details after the fee transaction and needs to send them to parents. While in the digitalized fee payment option, when the transaction is completed, parents can get an automated receipt for financial transactions immediately. Even for failed transactions, communication through mail or message happens so that parents can retry.

Detailed reporting

Admissions are the peak period of every educational institute. The administration panel needs to keep a daily check on how enrolments are going on, collected fees, due fees, and lots of others. In manual mode, office staff needs to go through various paper files, lots of calculations, and proper paperwork for presenting a report. What if all this is done within a few clicks? Life will be heaven! That is exactly what Vidyalaya’s fee management software does. The software enables you to fetch standardized or custom-made reports with utmost accuracy within a less span of time. You can even get a report for every transaction or can view comprehensive reports per day/month/year collection, due fees reports, and class-wise reports on a single dashboard. Data represented in well-organized form can help school administrators to make futuristic decisions easily.

Digitalization of the education system is not only limited to online classrooms, and online exams, online attendance but it also deals with online fee payment. Education institutes took a quite long time to embrace this technique and still some hesitate to adopt it. Vidyalaya assures them by integrating a reliable online payment gateway in the products so that your financial transactions are well-protected. Don’t wait to become outdated, adopt the technological approach that will enhance the learning process along with improved administration.