Compare workflows, not brochure checkboxes

Start from the two or three workflows that currently cost your team the most manual reconciliation, usually fee collection, attendance, or report cards. Shortlist on how well each platform handles those end to end, including who does each step, rather than on total feature count. Three platforms evaluated against real scenarios produces a better decision than eight evaluated against a checklist.

Before the first collection cycle, reconcile one paid, partially paid, and overdue student account so the family receipt and finance view agree. Keep any tax, gateway, refund, or accounting boundary as an explicit deployment decision.

Ask what happens to historical data that does not match the new structure, how permissions are configured for staff who hold two roles, what the platform does when a published result is corrected, and what support looks like during your first fee cycle. These answers separate platforms far more reliably than module lists.

Record the responsible administrator and verify the control in the target deployment before production data is loaded. Keep the evidence with the school’s procurement or access-review record.

No. These pages set out the questions and trade-offs for a category of decision, and state where Schoolyi is a poor fit as well as where it fits well. If your requirement is outside what Schoolyi does today, the honest answer saves both sides an implementation failure.

Treat that boundary as an explicit procurement or deployment decision. Document the responsible owner and any supporting process before rollout.

Plan six to twelve weeks for a school of moderate size: two weeks scoping current workflows, three to four weeks of scenario-based demos with a shortlist, two weeks on data readiness and references, and the remainder on commercial and security review. Compressing below that usually moves the cost into the implementation phase rather than removing it.

Record the responsible administrator and verify the control in the target deployment before production data is loaded. Keep the evidence with the school’s procurement or access-review record.

Price per student is useful for budgeting and misleading for comparison, because it excludes migration effort, training days, integration work, and the staff time absorbed by workarounds. Compare total first-year cost including your own team hours, then compare recurring cost separately.

Validate credentials, permissions, and failure handling in a non-production environment before connecting live school records. Assign an owner for monitoring the handoff after launch.