Gladstone Education will be launching Transact, next generation cashless software for schools, at BETT in January 2012.

Gladstone Education’s full service payment software is specifically designed for use by schools and includes an online parent gateway, self service kiosks, a full account balance checker and point of sale systems to manage the day to day administration of school retail operations.

This powerful yet easy to use software reduces the administrative burden and cost of payment and transactional activities, such as meal ordering, where it also increases the speed that food can be served. In addition, pupils will no longer need to carry cash, which will assist schools in reducing bullying by removing stigma associated with free school meals. For parents it ensures the money is spent in school.

Secondary school meals can be paid for with an identity card, which Gladstone Education can supply, or through a biometric solution such as fingerprint recognition. In primary schools Gladstone’s software is unique to the market, combining meal ordering and statutory a.m. and p.m. registration processes. Payment is associated with the child by picture and catering staff use touch screen technology to quickly and easily allocate each meal.

Gladstone Education’s Transact software, for primary, secondary, higher and further education includes:

• Payment – allows parents to view their children’s purchases, balances, top up on line and pay for other school items such as trips and after school clubs
• Meal – enables the pre-ordering of school dinners
• Key – bespoke printed pupil and staff identity key fobs or cards
• Registration – a.m. and p.m. self registration for primary and SEN pupils
• Retail – for additional items such as books and stationery, uniforms and after school clubs
• Report – a comprehensive reporting and analytics tool, containing pre-configured reports as well as an easy to use query builder
• Import – provides a daily scheduled update of staff and students, and integrates transact with the school MIS
• Data - shares identity information across systems such as library and print management solutions

Richard Grazier, General Manager for Gladstone Education said: “At Gladstone Education we specifically design software that addresses the core administrative and payment processes that take place within schools and colleges each day. Our software is easy to use and delivers substantial returns on investment, both in terms of time saved and costs and profit directly associated with areas such as school meals. As we like to say, we’ll do the technology and let teachers do the teaching.”

Transact integrates directly with the school’s Management Information System (MIS), and also transfers information on the Free School Meal (FSM) entitlement, enabling seamless provision at the till. Flexible staff duty meal allowances are also available, as well as the option to configure additional allowances, such as a free meal in special circumstances.

All the administration and reporting functions are carried out via a user console, enabling easy administration of financial functions, management of accounts, product management and new product entry, and the creation and on-going management of daily and weekly menu plans.

The new software will be on show at the Gladstone Education stand (no. S10) at BETT from 11 – 14 January 2012.