Case study · Education, fee management
“Who hasn’t paid yet?”
Mother Teresa Lions School in Haldia collects tuition, transport, exam and annual fees from every family, every quarter. Payments were written into registers, receipts were handwritten, and reminders meant phoning parents one by one. We built a school ERP that starts with fees, then runs attendance, notices, exams and a branded parent app on the same system.
The fee year
Six fee heads, four quarters, every student.
Each head has its own amount, schedule and rules, and transport depends on the bus route.
- Quarterly₹5,400
Tuition
Set per class
- Quarterly₹2,700
Transport
Set per bus route
- Per term₹600
Exam
Term 1 and Term 2
- Once a year₹3,500
Annual charges
Collected in Q1
- One time₹10,000
Admission
New students only
- After due date₹10 / day
Late fine
Applied automatically
The problem
Four things that took over fee week.
The accounts team collected fees at a counter, recorded them by hand and chased dues over the phone. Parents had no way to see what they owed or prove what they had paid.
Fees in a register
Every payment was written into a fee register by class. Nobody could say what was still due without counting.
Dues known only at month-end
Receipts by hand
Receipts were written in a book at the counter. Parents who paid in a rush often left without one.
Disputes over payments already made
Reminders by phone
Before every due date, staff copied out defaulter lists and phoned parents one by one.
Hours lost every fee week
Transport billed apart
Bus fees were tracked in a separate sheet and often missed from the quarter’s bill.
Transport fees left uncollected
Every quarter, two of us spent a week matching the fee register to the bank statement. And the totals still didn’t agree.
What we did
We followed one quarter’s fees from due date to bank statement.
We sat at the fee counter during fee week, read through the registers and receipt books, and mapped every fee head and bus route. Fee management was built and launched first; the rest of the school followed.
One quarter’s fees
- BeforeFee setupTuition, transport, exam and annual charges kept in a printed chart and a registerWith FaxtorFee setupFee heads and amounts set per class, with transport charges linked to each route
- BeforeCollectionParents queued at the counter with cash or cheques during fee weekWith FaxtorCollectionParents pay by UPI, card or net banking in the app. Cash is recorded at the counter
- BeforeReceiptsWritten by hand in a receipt book, and sometimes not written at allWith FaxtorReceiptsA digital receipt is generated and shared for every payment, online or offline
- BeforeRemindersDefaulter lists copied out by hand, then parents phoned one by oneWith FaxtorRemindersDue reminders go out on WhatsApp, SMS and email on their own
- BeforeMonth-endTwo people matched the register against the bank statement for daysWith FaxtorMonth-endReconciliation reports match every payment to its receipt and settlement
What we built
Every fee in one ledger. Every rupee accounted for.
Fee heads per class, online and offline collection, automatic receipts, reminders, transport billing, reconciliation and a defaulter list that can hold report cards. Parents pay and get receipts in the school’s own app.
- 01Fee structureFee heads, amounts and due dates set per class, with late fines applied after the due date.
- 02Online & offline collectionUPI, card and net banking through a payment gateway, with cash and cheques recorded at the counter.
- 03Automatic receiptsA digital receipt generated and shared for every payment, whichever way it was made.
- 04Due remindersReminders on WhatsApp, SMS and email before each due date, and again when a fee is overdue.
- 05Transport feeBus charges linked to each student’s route and added to the same bill.
- 06Reconciliation reportsPayments, dues and gateway settlements matched in reports that export to Excel.
- 07Report-card blockReport cards held for fee defaulters and released once the fee is paid.
- 08Fee dashboardExpected, collected and outstanding fees by class, with defaulters and today’s collections.
Also in the systemThe rest of the school runs on the same ERP and parent app.
- Student, staff and parent records
- Role-based access
- Attendance with parent alerts
- Notices
- Homework
- Online classes on Google Meet and BigBlueButton
- Gallery
- Marks entry and report cards
- Result analysis
- Branded parent app for Android and iOS
- WhatsApp, SMS and email
Fee management in detail
Four things we built for the accounts team.
Online and offline fee collection
Parents pay from the app or the school’s payment link. Fees paid in cash or by cheque at the counter are recorded in the same ledger, so every student has one balance.
- UPI, debit and credit cards, and net banking
- Cash and cheque entries at the counter, with a receipt on the spot
- Partial payments and late fines handled on the same bill
Payment gateway integration
A payment gateway is integrated with the fee module. Each online payment is matched to the student and fee head, and the receipt is issued the moment it succeeds.
- Payments linked to the right student and quarter automatically
- Gateway settlements matched to receipts every day
- Failed and pending payments flagged for follow-up
Detailed fee reports
The accounts team and the principal see collections, dues and defaulters at any level, from the whole school down to a single student, and export any report to Excel.
- Collection reports by day, month, quarter and payment mode
- Dues and defaulters by class, section and fee head
- Transport fee reports by bus route
- Reconciliation of receipts against bank settlements
Automatic WhatsApp to defaulters
Once a fee passes its due date, parents get a WhatsApp message with the amount due and a link to pay. Reminders repeat on a schedule until the fee is cleared.
- Reminders before the due date and after it, set by the school
- Amount, student and fee head in every message, with a pay link
- SMS and email as backups, and every message logged per student
The project
Fees first. Live in 6 weeks.
Fee management went live first, in time for the quarter’s collection. Records, attendance, notices, homework, exams and the parent app followed on the same platform.
- 8fee features, built first
- 11more school modules
- 2apps, Android and iOS
- 6weeks to go live
The team
- PLProject lead
- UXDesigner
- FS2 full-stack engineers
- MBMobile engineer
- QAQA engineer
Built with
- React
- React Native
- Node.js
- PostgreSQL
- Payment gateway
- WhatsApp Business API
The results
Fees collected on time. Every rupee receipted.
What changed for the accounts team and parents once fees moved onto the system.
- 18 hrsSaved weekly on fee follow-ups
- 32%Faster fee collection
- Every paymentReceipted automatically
- 64%Of fees now paid online
- 1 appFor every parent
- DailyReconciliation report
Fee collection
Online and offline
Before
Cash at the counterReceipts
Automatic
Before
HandwrittenReminders
WhatsApp, SMS, email
Before
Phone callsTransport fee
In the same bill
Before
Billed separatelyDues
Live by class
Before
Counted at month-endDefaulters
Flagged on report cards
Before
Chased by hand
“Fee reminders go out on their own, and parents see attendance on their phones.”
Your school next
More students, more fee heads, more reminders. Let’s put every fee in one ledger.
Book a no-obligation discovery call. Tell us how your school collects fees today, and we’ll show you exactly where the system saves you hours and money.