Choosing tutoring centre software

Most centre software looks alike in a demo. The differences show up in your first term: when records move, when a family gets an email you did not send, or when a tutor cannot find the roll.

This guide lists the questions worth asking any product before you choose. Ask each one, and ask to see the answer on screen.

Your records

• Who owns the records you put in?
• Can you get a copy of them if you leave?
• Who sees which records: owners, managers, tutors, families?
• Is there a record of who changed what?

The move

• Which records come across, and who moves them?
• Can you import your student list yourself?
• Can you run this term from your old system while the records move?

Families

• Does a trial enquiry become the student record, or does someone type it in again?
• What does the software email families without your say-so?
• Does each of those emails start on or off?
• Can you see whether an email arrived?

Money

• Can you see a term’s invoices before any are made?
• Do invoices stay drafts until your team sends them?
• Does it handle GST the way you charge it?
• Does tutor pay come from the classes that ran, or from what someone typed?
• Who approves a large pay run?

Tutors and mistakes

• Can a tutor mark the roll on their own phone, with nothing to install?
• Can you see a change to the timetable before it applies?
• Which big changes can you undo?

Common mistakes

• Choosing from the demo. A demo shows the easy path. Ask how a class that changes mid-term, a cover tutor and a withdrawal are handled.
• Asking only the owner’s questions. Show the roll to a tutor, and invoices to whoever runs fees, before you decide.
• Leaving the exit question for later. Ask how you leave before you join.
• Switching mid-term. A term break is the easiest point to change.

How Atrium answers these

Your records: your centre owns them, and you can ask for a copy before you leave.

The move: import your student list yourself, or our migration service brings the rest across, while this term runs on your old system.

Trials: a trial request becomes the student record, so nobody types the family in again.

Families: emails sent by automations start switched off, and each send shows whether it was delivered, bounced or failed.

Invoices: preview a term’s invoices, which stay drafts until your team sends them, and Atrium handles GST.

Tutor pay: timesheets build from the classes that ran, and a big pay run needs a second approver.

Rolls: tutors mark the roll on a phone, in the browser, with nothing to install.

Timetable: a term’s sessions show in a preview before they are made, and the latest rollover can be reversed.

Who sees what: each person opens only the centres you give them, and a log shows who changed what.

See how switching to Atrium works