Fee follow-up is a process, not a phone call in March

The problem is when, not who

Most institutions start chasing fees once a term is well underway and the shortfall has become obvious. By then the family has had two months of competing demands and the fee has slipped down a list it was near the top of in week one.

A reminder before the due date is a courtesy and gets paid. A reminder eight weeks after is a collection attempt and gets negotiated.

Instalments are commitments, and should be recorded as such

Where fees are paid in instalments, each instalment needs its own due date in the system rather than one annual figure that gets partly paid. Otherwise the institution has no way to distinguish a family paying on an agreed schedule from a family falling behind, because both look like a partial payment.

Concessions and scholarships should reduce the recorded amount due rather than being applied informally at collection, or the receivables figure permanently overstates and nobody trusts it.

One list, reviewed weekly

Every institution that collects well does the same unremarkable thing: someone reviews a list of what is due in the next fortnight, every week, and acts on it.

The software's contribution is producing an accurate list. The collection comes from the review happening, and no system substitutes for that.