AcademicGrid / Field guide

School ERP buyer’s checklist

Take this checklist into your next product demo. Use it to confirm what your teams can do, how your data will move, who gets access, and what the complete rollout will cost. Ask vendors to show the workflows that matter to your institution.

Core modules

Admissions, fees, attendance, exams, communication, and reporting are covered.

The modules you need in phase one are available and demonstrated.

Modules share data instead of behaving like separate products.

Access and security

Role-based permissions control who can see, edit, approve, and publish.

Parents and students see only their own data.

Audit logging and tenant isolation are in place.

Data and migration

A clear migration path for students, fees, and the history you need.

Honest scoping of what migrates versus what is rebuilt.

You keep ownership of your data and can export it.

Communication and family access

Circulars, email, and SMS reach families through the channels they use.

A working parent portal and a clear student sign-in experience.

Reporting

Operational and academic reporting for leadership in one place.

Exportable summaries for boards and audits.

Integrations

Payment gateways and messaging providers relevant to your region.

A sensible path for the integrations you actually depend on.

Rollout and support

A guided rollout with discovery, configuration, pilot, and launch.

Defined support hours and onboarding, in writing.

A realistic go-live timeline for your scope.

Commercials

Itemised costs for licences, implementation, migration, integrations, and support.

An agreed scope, renewal terms, and responsibilities before signing.

Evidence for the product, security, and service claims that matter to your decision.

For more background, read what a school ERP is, compare it with a student information system, or see how pricing is scoped.

Frequently asked questions

What should I look for in a school ERP?

Prioritise the modules you need live now, strong role-based access, a realistic migration path, the integrations you depend on, transparent pricing, and a guided rollout with defined support. Fit for your operating reality matters more than raw feature counts.

What questions should I ask a school ERP vendor?

Which modules are available for my institution type? How does migration work and what moves? How is access controlled? What does rollout and support look like? How is pricing structured? And can the claims be verified?

How do I compare school ERP vendors fairly?

Score each vendor against your own checklist of must-haves rather than their feature lists. Weight the things that change your operations — access control, migration, support, and honest pricing — over raw feature counts.

Should school ERP pricing be public?

Public pricing can help you shortlist, while a scoped quote can clarify implementation and service costs. In either case, ask for the total cost, included capabilities, usage limits, renewal terms, and any additional charges.

Want to run this checklist against AcademicGrid?

We will walk through each item honestly for your institution and scope.

Request a demo

Back to all resources