In this guide 6 sections
Ask five things before you sign. Who owns the student data? What can parents see and do? Does the system follow your fee rules? Do exam reports match your own format? How do records come out if you leave? Get each answer in writing, then test it on a trial copy.
Who owns the student records?
Start with the contract wording. Student files hold names, addresses, medical notes and guardian contacts. Ask the vendor to state in writing that the school owns every record and that nothing is shared or used for any other purpose.
Then ask where the data sits. A server in another country may matter for your local data protection rules. Ask who at the vendor can open your records, and whether each access is logged.
Short answers are fine. Vague ones are not. Press until you get a plain yes or no.
- Written statement of data ownership
- Hosting location and backup frequency
- Staff at the vendor who can view records
- Access log you can read yourself
What do parents actually see and do?
Parent access is where schools get the most calls. Ask for a demo with a real guardian account. Can a parent with two children in different sections see both under one login? Can a divorced guardian be blocked from one child’s record?
Check the phone experience. Most parents will open the app on a cheap handset with a weak signal. Test the fee page, the attendance view and the circular list on that kind of device, not on the vendor’s laptop.
Ask how announcements reach families. A school that sends a holiday notice, a fee reminder and a bus delay alert needs three message types, each with its own opt-out. Check whether messages go by app push, SMS or email, and who pays for the SMS.
Can the system follow your fee rules?
Every school has quirks. A sibling concession applies to the younger child only. Transport fees run for ten months, tuition for twelve. A late fee is waived for the first week in April. Hand the vendor your real fee schedule and ask them to set it up during the trial.
Watch for rules that can only be applied by editing a receipt after the fact. That habit is how ledgers drift away from reality, and it is hard to undo at audit time.
- Fee heads with their own due dates
- Sibling and staff-child concessions
- Late fee rules with waiver and approver
- Part payments and cheque bounces
- Receipts numbered in one unbroken series
Will exam reports match your format?
Ask to see your own report card reproduced. Term weightage, grade scales, co-scholastic remarks and the principal’s signature block should all appear as your board expects. Marks entry should allow absentee and exempt codes without breaking totals.
Ask how a correction after publishing is handled. A changed mark should leave a trail showing who changed it and when. Teachers should enter marks by subject and section, with the class teacher approving the sheet.
Ask about the timetable too. A substitute teacher entered at eight should show on the class timetable and the staff room display before the first bell, without retyping.
What happens to the records if you leave?
Ask for a sample export before you pay. It should open in Excel with one row per student and clear column headings, and it should include fee history, attendance and marks, not only names. Photographs and uploaded certificates should come out as files.
Agree the exit terms now: how long after termination the data stays available, who pays for the export, and when the vendor deletes its copies. Put the dates in the contract. Diarise the first renewal.
Finally, ask about support. When fee season opens and four hundred parents log in on the same morning, who answers the phone at the vendor, how quickly, and in which language? Get the support hours and the escalation contact in writing, and test them once during the trial.
Vendor question sheet
A single table covering five topics: data ownership, parent access, fee rules, exam reports and exit. Each topic lists its questions down the left. Columns to the right record the vendor’s answer and whether it was shown live or only promised. The last two hold the date of the check and the staff member who verified it.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Should the trial use real student data?
Use a copy with a few dozen real records, with sensitive fields removed if the vendor is not yet under contract. Real names and batches expose problems that sample data hides. Keep a list of what each test record showed, so you can compare vendors fairly.
How many vendors should we compare?
Three is enough. Give all of them the same fee schedule and the same report card, so their answers can be compared line by line. Ask each one to set up your timetable, your fee schedule and one report card in front of you.
Who at school should sit in the demo?
The accounts officer, an exam coordinator, a class teacher and the person who answers parent calls. Each sees problems the principal will miss. Ask them to bring one question each, written down, and compare the answers afterwards.