A practical 2026 checklist for principals, bursars and school owners: what to demand, what to ask vendors, and how to switch without disrupting a term.
Published 29 September 2026 · Delights Web Services
Disclosure: we build and support Smart School, so we are not a neutral party. The checklist below works on any vendor, including us.
| Requirement | What to look for |
|---|---|
| M-Pesa fee collection | Paybill or till integration that confirms each payment, matches it to the student (usually by admission number), updates the balance and sends a receipt. |
| Fee management | Fee structures per class, arrears, waivers and bursaries, statements and exportable reports for the bursar and board. |
| CBC assessment | Learning areas, performance levels and report cards in the format your school uses, with a plan for future curriculum changes. |
| Parent communication | SMS or portal for fee reminders, results and notices, with clear SMS costs. |
| Learner records | Admissions, guardians, attendance and the ability to export data for Ministry of Education reporting such as NEMIS. |
| Data protection | Role-based access, audit trail, secure backups and a written policy that meets the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019. |
| Optional modules | Library, transport, boarding and exams. Pay only for what you will use. |
| Approach | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheets and paper | Very small or new schools. | Manual fee reconciliation, no audit trail, data loss, slow report cards. |
| Cloud subscription | Schools without IT staff. | Recurring fees, internet dependence, where data is stored, how to export it if you leave. |
| Installed on your own server | Schools that want control or have patchy internet. | You are responsible for hardware, backups and security unless the vendor manages them. |
| International school ERP | Large schools with international curricula. | M-Pesa and CBC may need paid customisation. |
At minimum: fee structures and M-Pesa collection with automatic reconciliation, student records, attendance, exams with CBC-aligned reports, parent communication by SMS or portal, and role-based access. Library, transport and boarding modules matter only if you need them.
Yes, when payments come through a paybill or till that confirms each transaction to the system. If parents use the admission number as the account number, each payment can be matched to the right student and a receipt sent immediately. Ask the vendor to demonstrate this with a live test payment.
Yes. Look for learning areas, performance levels and report cards that match the CBC format your school uses, and ask how the vendor updates them when the Ministry of Education changes requirements.
Cloud suits schools without IT staff because backups and updates are handled for you, but it needs reliable internet. Installed software gives more control and works during outages, but the school must manage servers and backups. Ask who owns the backups in either case.
At the start of a term, after fee balances are finalised. Migrate opening balances, run the old and new systems in parallel for a few weeks, and train the bursar and class teachers before parents are onboarded.
Schools handle children's personal data, which the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019 treats with extra care. Choose a system with role-based access, audit trails, secure backups and clear rules on where data is stored and who can see it.
Book a demo of Smart School, including a live M-Pesa test payment and a CBC report card, then compare it against this checklist.
Explore Smart School →Or call / WhatsApp +254 728 851 675 · eric@delights.co.ke