What the fee and attendance modules change in a school day
In a school ERP, the fee module keeps one account for every student: what is charged, what is given as concession, what has been paid and what is still due. The attendance module records who was present each day, for students and for staff. They are the two modules a school uses most, because fees are collected all month and attendance is marked every morning.
This article is for the accountant, the staff at the fee counter and class teachers. It explains how each part of the two modules works and what your day looks like once they are in use. If you are still comparing products, start with our guide on how to choose school ERP software.
Setting up fee heads the way your school actually charges
A fee head is one named charge: tuition fee, admission fee, annual charge, examination fee, computer fee, transport fee and so on. Each head has an amount, the classes it applies to and how often it is charged. Getting these right at setup decides whether every receipt afterwards is right.
| Fee head | How often | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Admission fee | Once, at admission | New students only |
| Tuition fee | Monthly or quarterly | All students, with the amount differing by class |
| Annual charge | Once a year | All students |
| Examination fee | Per term | All students, or only certain classes |
| Transport fee | Monthly | Only students on a route, with the amount sometimes depending on distance |
Write your own fee chart in this form before setup. Most later errors come from heads that were agreed verbally, such as a computer fee charged only from Class 3 upward, or a transport amount that changed for one route but not the others.
Concessions and late fines without arguments at the counter
Concessions reduce what a student owes. Common types in Indian schools are sibling concessions, staff ward concessions, merit or need-based reductions and special cases approved by management. In the ERP, each concession is attached to the student and the fee head, so the reduced amount appears every time that student's fee is collected. Nobody has to remember it.
Late fines work the other way. You set the rule once, for example a fixed amount after the due date or an amount for each month of delay, and the fine is added when a fee is collected late.
Who may grant or waive
Decide which one or two people can grant a concession or waive a fine, and give only their logins that permission. Ask for a reason to be recorded each time. At the end of the term, a report of concessions and waivers shows management exactly how much fee was given up and on whose approval. For many schools this is the first time that figure is visible.
A fee counter morning, before and after the module
Picture the first week of the month at a school fee counter, with parents queuing before assembly. With a manual system the clerk finds the student's page in the register, works out which months are pending, adds the fine, writes a receipt by hand, copies the entry into the register and puts the cash in a drawer. In the evening someone totals the receipts, and if the total does not match the cash, the hunt for the mistake begins.
With a fee module the clerk searches by name or admission number. The screen shows the pending months, the concession already applied and any fine due. The clerk takes the payment and prints the receipt. The student's ledger, the fee register and the day's collection report all update from that one entry.
Closing the day
At closing time the accountant prints the day's collection report and counts cash against it; cheques and online transfers are matched with the bank later. Check in your demo how a cancelled receipt is handled. A good system shows it as cancelled, with the user and time, rather than deleting it, so the receipt series stays complete for audit.
Due lists and reminders
A due list shows, class by class, which students have pending fees and how much. The accountant no longer goes page by page through registers. The list can be printed for class teachers or used to send reminders by SMS or WhatsApp where that optional integration is set up. Keep reminders polite and private: a message to the parent, never a list of names in a group. Our article on SMS use cases for schools and hospitals has sample wording structures.
Online fee payment: optional, and what to check first
Online payment lets parents pay through a payment gateway instead of visiting the counter. In MATROP's school ERP it is an optional integration rather than a default feature, and it is worth thinking through before you switch it on.
- Gateway account: the school needs its own account with a payment gateway, in the name of the school or trust, with the gateway's documents and charges.
- Matching: each online payment must update the right student's ledger, so the parent is not asked to pay again at the counter.
- Failed payments: decide what the office does when a parent says money was debited but no receipt arrived.
- Settlement: money reaches the bank on the gateway's schedule, so the accountant needs a report to match settlements with receipts.
Our guide to evaluating a payment gateway lists the questions to ask a gateway provider.
Student attendance: the class teacher's first ten minutes
In a register-based school, the class teacher marks a paper register and, at month end, someone counts presents and absences for every student by hand. With the attendance module the teacher marks the class on a computer or phone through their own login. Depending on how the school sets it up, attendance can be daily or period-wise. The office sees the whole school's attendance by mid-morning without collecting registers, and monthly attendance and leave reports are produced by the system.
Absence alerts to parents
Where the optional SMS or WhatsApp integration is enabled, parents of absent students can be told the same day. This matters for safety: a parent who believes the child is in school learns quickly that the child is not. Agree a cut-off time for marking attendance, so late arrivals are marked before any alert is sent, and agree what the class teacher does if a parent replies.
Spotting long or repeated absences
The monthly report shows patterns a register hides: a student absent every Monday, or a child missing for a week with no message from home. Ask class teachers to look at these once a month and contact the family.
Staff attendance and its link to salary
The same module records staff attendance. For the office, the main benefit comes at month end, when attendance and leave decide salary. MATROP's school ERP includes staff attendance with payroll support, and an optional HR and payroll module can process salaries and salary slips from that attendance. If your school uses a biometric device, ask whether its records can be brought into the ERP so staff are not marked twice. Our page on biometric attendance software explains device-based attendance.
If salaries are processed by an outside accountant, the staff attendance and leave report can simply be handed over each month. There is no need to switch on payroll on day one.
Monthly reports the principal should read
These two modules produce more reports than anyone will read. Three or four, read every month, are enough.
| Report | Who reads it | What to do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee collection and dues | Principal and management | Compare collection with what was expected and decide follow-up for long-pending accounts |
| Concessions and fine waivers | Management | Check that each one was approved and that the total is what the school intends to give |
| Class-wise student attendance | Principal and class teachers | Follow up students with repeated or long absences |
| Staff attendance and leave | Principal and accountant | Confirm leave before salaries are processed |
How MATROP's school ERP handles fees and attendance
In MATROP's school management ERP, the fees and accounting module covers fee heads, concessions and fines, receipt printing, due lists, reminders and monthly fee and due reports, with online payment integration available as an option. The attendance module covers student daily attendance and staff attendance with payroll support, with SMS and WhatsApp alerts as an option. Separate logins per role mean the accountant, the class teacher and the principal each see only what their role allows.
If you run a coaching centre, with batches and instalments rather than classes and fee heads, our coaching and computer centre software may suit you better. And if your fee collection is small and handled comfortably by one person with a receipt book, you may not need a fee module yet. The case for one grows with the number of students, fee heads and concessions.
Questions people ask
Who should be allowed to waive a late fine?
Give the permission to one or two senior people, usually the principal and the accountant, and require a reason each time. The waiver report then shows every waiver and who approved it.
Do absence alerts need a separate SMS or WhatsApp account?
Yes. Alerts go through an SMS or WhatsApp Business provider, which has its own registration and usage charges. MATROP also provides bulk SMS services that can be connected to the school ERP.
Can the fee module replace our accounting software?
It handles fee collection, dues and fee reports. Many schools still keep their full books, such as expenses, salaries and bank entries, with their accountant, so ask how fee reports can be exported for them.
Should attendance be marked by the class teacher or by the office?
By the class teacher, through their own login, because they see the students. The office should view and report, so that every attendance record has a clear owner.
