School fee collection is often a manual, error-prone process that drains time from administrators and accountants alike. From tracking payments to issuing receipts and chasing defaulters, the average finance office spends dozens of hours each month handling avoidable workload.
Fortunately, with modern ERP platforms like Ether, schools can digitize and automate the most repetitive tasks. In this post, we’ll explore five powerful automations that can free up over 100 hours per term for your school’s administrative staff.
Automated Invoice Generation & Dispatch Instead of preparing invoices manually in Excel or Word, Ether allows schools to set up predefined fee plans and automatically issue invoices for each student on a scheduled date. Invoices can be emailed or sent via the parent app — no printing or couriering required.
Benefit: Saves hours in bulk printing and data entry. Parents receive error-free, timely invoices directly on their phones.
Smart Payment Reminders via SMS, Email & App Notifications One of the biggest time-drains in fee collection is following up with parents who missed their deadlines. Ether’s EasyPay module sends automated reminders before and after due dates through multiple channels, based on parent preferences.
Benefit: Drastically reduces the need for phone calls or manual texts. Staff can focus on exceptions, not the entire list.
Real-Time Payment Reconciliation Ether integrates directly with payment gateways, which means fee collections are reconciled in real-time. No need to manually match bank statements with fee ledgers—each payment is auto-mapped to the right student and fee head.
Benefit: Eliminates accounting mismatches and saves hours of ledger balancing at month-end.
eNACH Auto-Debit Mandates (Virtual PDCs) eNACH allows schools to offer parents an auto-debit facility. Once the parent signs a digital mandate, fees are automatically debited on the due date, just like a post-dated cheque—but entirely online.
Benefit: Drastically improves on-time collections and eliminates the need to remind parents each term. Staff no longer has to pursue habitual defaulters.
Instant Digital Receipts with Audit Trail Once a fee is paid, the system instantly generates a receipt—custom-branded and downloadable by both school and parent. These receipts are stored in a searchable dashboard, complete with timestamps and transaction IDs.
Benefit: No more printing, stamping, or hunting through files during audits. Saves hours during year-end account finalization.
Conclusion: Small Changes, Massive Time Savings Each of these five automations not only saves time but also improves accuracy, transparency, and parent satisfaction. When combined, they easily save over 100 staff hours per term—time that can be better spent improving operations, compliance, and growth.
With Ether, fee automation is built to scale with your school. Start with any one of these workflows—or better yet, implement all five for full impact.
