A school ERP (enterprise resource planning software) is one system that runs a school's daily work: admissions, student records, fees and accounts, attendance, exams and report cards, timetables, transport and communication with parents. Because it holds years of student and money records, changing it later is painful. The questions below help you compare vendors on what actually matters before you sign. They apply to any product, including ours.
Data and ownership
1. Who owns our data, and can we export all of it?
Your school should own its data outright. Ask for a full export (students, parents, staff, fee history, marks) in a standard format such as Excel or CSV, at any time and without a fee. If the answer is vague, assume leaving will be hard.
2. How do you move our existing records in?
Most schools arrive with spreadsheets or an older system. Ask whether the vendor imports students and fee balances for you, how classes and sections are matched, and how mistakes are found before go-live. A good import shows you every row it could not match instead of guessing.
3. How is our data kept separate from other schools?
Many school ERPs are cloud software shared by many schools. Ask how one school is prevented from seeing another school's records, and whether this is tested.
Fees and accounts
4. Can the fee structure match how we actually charge?
Check for separate fee heads (tuition, transport, activities), term-wise or monthly dues, instalments, sibling or staff concessions, and part payments. Ask the vendor to set up one of your real classes during the demo.
5. Does every receipt reach the accounts automatically?
A receipt and the cash book must always agree. Ask what happens to the accounts when a receipt is cancelled, and whether cancelling needs a reason and leaves an audit trail.
6. Which online payment methods do parents get, and who pays the charges?
In India parents expect UPI, cards and net banking through a payment gateway. Ask which gateways are supported, whether the vendor adds its own fee on top of the gateway's charges, and how failed or duplicate payments are handled.
Parents, teachers and apps
7. What does the parent app actually show?
Ask to see it on a phone: attendance, homework, notices, fee dues and receipts, results and, if you run buses, the bus. Parents judge the whole school by this app.
8. Can teachers do their daily work from a phone?
Attendance, homework and marks entry should take minutes on a phone, not a trip to the staff-room computer.
9. How do messages reach parents, and what does each one cost?
App notifications are usually free; SMS and WhatsApp messages usually cost per message. Ask for the price per message and whether you can choose the channel per message type.
Academics
10. Does it support our board's report card format?
CBSE, ICSE and state boards differ, and many schools are now adding the NEP 2020 Holistic Progress Card. Ask to print a real report card for one of your classes.
Privacy, security and support
11. How will you help us meet the DPDP Act?
India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 applies to schools, and children's data has stricter rules. Ask about role-based access, audit logs, parental consent records and how a parent's data request is handled. Our DPDP guide for schools explains the basics.
12. Who can see what inside the school?
The accountant should not see medical notes; a class teacher should see only their classes. Ask whether roles and permissions can be adjusted per school.
13. How are backups done, and have you ever restored one?
Ask how often data is backed up, where the copies are kept, and whether a restore has been tested. A backup that has never been restored is a hope, not a plan.
14. What support do we get in the first term?
Ask who trains your office staff and teachers, how quickly support answers during fee season and admissions, and in which languages.
Price
15. What is the full yearly cost?
Ask for the total for your student count, including set-up, the mobile apps, SMS or WhatsApp credits, payment gateway charges and yearly increases. A low per-student price can hide costs elsewhere.
A simple way to compare
| Area | What a good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| Data | "Export everything, any time, free." |
| Fees | "Every receipt posts to the accounts; cancelling needs a reason and is logged." |
| Apps | "Here it is on a phone, with your school's data." |
| Privacy | "Roles, audit logs and consent records are built in." |
| Price | "Here is the full yearly total for your school." |
Where Eduzon fits
Eduzon is a school ERP with a web panel and mobile apps for parents, teachers and bus drivers. It includes fee heads, concessions, instalments and part payments, counter receipts that post to built-in accounting, role-based permissions, NEP Holistic Progress Cards and per-school backups. Ask us these 15 questions too, and expect a straight answer to each.
Frequently asked questions
What is a school ERP?
A school ERP is one software system that runs a school's administration: admissions, student records, fees and accounts, attendance, exams and report cards, timetables, transport and parent communication, usually with mobile apps for parents and teachers.
What should a school check first when choosing an ERP?
Start with data ownership and export, whether the fee structure matches how the school really charges, and whether every receipt reaches the accounts. These are the hardest things to fix after go-live.
How long does it take to move to a new school ERP?
It depends on how clean the existing records are. Plan the switch before the start of a term or the academic year, import students and fee balances first, and run both systems side by side for the first fee cycle.
