Fee reconciliation
M-PESA → ledger, automatic
Parent enquiries
Self-service for balances
Admissions tracking
Enquiry → enrolled, one view
Spreadsheets retired
Four core ones, gone
The problem
A school was running admissions, fee tracking, attendance, and parent communication across four spreadsheets, two WhatsApp groups, and email. Important updates were getting lost, fee reconciliation was a manual end-of-month exercise, and parents could not see their own balances or term updates.
How we approached it
- 1Mapped the actual end-to-end workflow from admissions enquiry through to fees and parent communication
- 2Designed a role-based system around how staff already worked, not a generic SIS template
- 3Phased delivery, starting with admissions and the fee ledger, then attendance and parent portal
- 4Built in M-PESA reconciliation so fees post to ledgers automatically
What we built
- Role-based portal for admissions, finance, teaching, and administration
- Admissions workflow from enquiry to enrolled, with stage tracking
- Fee ledger with M-PESA STK push, payment confirmation, and per-student statements
- Parent portal showing balances, term updates, and announcements
- Attendance, communication logs, and operational status dashboards for leadership
The outcome
One source of truth for day-to-day work. Admissions, fees, and parent communication run from a single system. Fee reconciliation is no longer a monthly emergency. Parents see what they need and stop calling the office for routine balance questions, freeing staff for the work that actually matters.
The school is a real client; identifying details, screenshots, and student data have been redacted for privacy and child-protection reasons.