Start with the job, not the feature list
Almost every school that changes system does it because of one or two jobs that hurt every term: usually collecting fees and producing report cards. Write those down before you watch a single demo. A long list of modules is only worth paying for if someone at your school will actually use them.
The questions below are the ones that decide whether a system is still in use after the first month. Ask every provider the same nine, write the answers side by side, and the choice usually makes itself. We have answered each one for edunile, including where we are not the right fit.
1. Does it bill the way Nigerian schools bill?
Schools here bill by term, per class, with levies, exam fees and optional extras on top of tuition, and often with brothers and sisters in the same school. Software designed around semesters or a monthly subscription makes you bend your fee structure to fit it. Ask the provider to set up one real term of your fees during the demo.
edunile is built around terms: you set up a term’s fees once, send them to a class or the whole school, and a parent with more than one child sees their children’s bills together.
2. Where does the money land, and who holds it?
When a parent pays online, does the money settle into the school’s own bank account, or into the provider’s account to be paid out later? It matters for cash flow and for trust. Ask it directly, and ask to see a settlement.
With edunile, online payments go through Paystack straight into the school’s registered bank account. We record the payment and issue the receipt; we do not hold the school’s money.
3. Can parents pay without installing anything?
A parent app only works if parents install it and remember a password, and most will not. Ask how a parent actually receives a bill and pays it. The fewer steps, the sooner the school is paid.
edunile sends each bill on WhatsApp and by email with a payment link. Parents open the chat they already use and pay; there is no app to download.
4. Does it cope with cash, transfers and POS?
Online payment will not replace the bursar’s window overnight. If cash and transfers live outside the system, your figures are wrong from day one. Check that office payments can be recorded against the student and produce the same receipt.
In edunile, cash, bank transfer and POS payments go on the same ledger as online ones, so every balance is right however the parent paid.
5. How are report cards produced?
If teachers still type totals into Word at the end of term, the system has not solved report cards. Ask whether report cards are generated from the scores teachers enter during the term, and whether they come out as PDFs you can send to parents.
edunile generates PDF report cards from the grades teachers have already entered. Report cards are included from the Growth plan up; the pricing page lists what each plan includes.
6. How hard is it to get your data in, and out?
Switching usually means importing hundreds of students from Excel. Ask what happens when a row is wrong: a good importer tells you which row and why, so you fix it once. Then ask the question most schools forget: can you export your students and fees back to a spreadsheet if you ever leave?
edunile imports students from Excel with row-by-row errors, and you can export your students and fee records from Settings.
7. Who can see what?
A school management system holds children’s records and the school’s money. Ask how staff access is controlled, whether changes are logged, and how the provider handles personal data under the Nigeria Data Protection Act.
In edunile each staff role sees only what it needs (a bursar works in fees, a teacher in their own classes) and changes are recorded in an audit log.
8. What does it actually cost?
Ask for the full price in naira: the plan, any setup fee, and any charge on each payment. A price you can only get on a sales call is hard to compare. Ask too whether you can try it with your real classes before you pay.
edunile publishes its plans on the pricing page, and every plan starts with a 30-day pilot.
9. What does it not do?
Every system is strong somewhere and missing something, so ask each provider directly. For edunile: we focus on fees, student records, report cards, attendance and parent communication. We do not run computer-based tests or an e-learning portal, and we reach parents on WhatsApp rather than through a separate parent app. If CBT is essential to your school, check for it specifically.