Where should a school's data be stored? A guide for owners

This article is general information, not legal advice. For your school's obligations, speak to a lawyer.

The situation: software that knows every child

A school's office software holds a great deal about its students: names, dates of birth, family contacts, documents, attendance, marks, fees and the notices sent home. Moving that from paper registers into software is useful, and it raises a question owners do not always ask early enough: where will all of it live?

The tension: convenience now, questions later

Many decisions about software are easy to change later: a report layout, a fee template, a role. The location of the data is not one of them. Once real records are loaded, moving them is a project. And when a parent, a trustee or an inspector asks where the school's data is kept and who can see it, "the vendor handles it" is not an answer.

The insight: location, access and records are three separate questions

It helps to split the subject into three questions and ask each one directly:

1. Location. Which country is the server in, today and when real data is loaded?
2. Access. Who at the school can see which records, and who at the vendor can see them? Are permissions checked on the server, or only by hiding buttons on the screen?
3. Records. Is there a record of who changed what, and when?

The decision: questions to ask any vendor

• Where is the server, and does that change before real data is loaded?
• Does each member of staff get their own login, and does each role see only what it needs?
• Are permissions checked again on the server for every action?
• Is one school's data kept apart from another's in the database itself?
• Is there a history of changes with the person and the time?
• Can we get our data out as files?
• Does any part of the product send our data to an AI service, and if so, which part and why?

Ask for the answers in writing, and keep them with the agreement.

The evidence: how Campus One answers today

• Location. Campus One runs today with a made-up demo school on a server in the USA, and holds no real school, student, parent or teacher data. Before any real data is loaded, Campus One moves to a server in India.
• Access. Each member of staff has their own login, and each role sees only what it needs. Every action checks permission again on the server; hiding a button on the screen is never the only guard.
• Separation. Each school's records are kept apart in the database itself, with a rule on every table.
• Records. Admissions steps, register corrections and published report cards are recorded with who made them and when.
• Export. The standard reports can be exported as CSV files.
• AI. The exam paper generator may use AI to help choose questions from the school's own bank and never writes question text; the AI office assistant named in the Complete plan is not built.

This describes how the product is built. It is not a certification or a compliance claim. Campus One is built by AskShiva Private Limited.

What to keep on file at the school

Whatever the answers, keep a short record at the school, next to the agreement:

• the vendor's written answers to the questions above, with the date;
• the name of a person at the vendor who answers data questions;
• the result of a test export: which files came out and whether they opened;
• the date of any change the vendor announces, such as a move of server.

Review it once a year, or whenever the vendor changes something. When a trustee or a parent asks, the school can answer from its own file instead of waiting for the vendor.

The outcome: an answer you can give a parent

With the three questions answered, a school can explain its arrangements in plain words: where the records are, who can see them, and how changes are tracked. That is the conversation parents and trustees expect.

The takeaway

Ask every vendor about location, access and records before any real student data is loaded, and get legal advice on your own duties. The Campus One questions page repeats our answers in short.