Fees & Payments

DRAIS finance is built for one outcome: at any moment you can say what a learner owes and show exactly how that figure was arrived at. Everything below serves that.

Balances are calculated, never typed

No balance in DRAIS is a stored number that someone can edit. Every balance is computed from the charges and payments behind it, every time it is displayed. That is slower than keeping a running total — and it is the reason the figures still add up a year later.

Setting up fees

1
Create fee items
Go to Finance → Fee Structure. A fee item is one line — Tuition, Lunch, Transport, Boarding, Examination.
2
Set the amount per class and term
Different classes usually pay different amounts. Set them per class, per term.
3
Add eligibility rules where a fee is not universal
Transport applies only to learners who use it; boarding only to boarders. Rules can key off boarding status, gender, class range, programme or stream.
4
Run the billing
DRAIS applies the structure to the learners it matches and creates their charges for the term.

[ Screenshot: Fee structure by class and term ]

Replace with actual screenshot

Rules beat spreadsheets

A rule such as "boarders in S1–S4" is evaluated against each learner's actual record. When a day learner becomes a boarder, the next billing run charges them correctly with no list to maintain.

Per-learner amounts

Where a learner has an individually agreed amount — a bursary, a sibling discount, a negotiated rate — import or set it directly. Re-importing replaces the previous figure for that learner and item rather than adding a second charge.

Recording a payment

From Finance → Payments → Record Payment: find the learner, enter the amount, choose where the money went, and save. DRAIS produces a receipt with a unique number.

Amount	What was actually received. Part payments are normal and fully supported.
Money location	Where the cash went — bursar's cash box, headteacher, a named bank account, mobile money, School Pay, SurePay. This is what makes the money traceable rather than merely recorded.
Paid by	Who handed it over. Often not the registered guardian.
Reference	Bank slip or mobile money transaction number, where there is one.

Receipts

Every payment produces a printable receipt carrying a QR code. Scanning it opens a verification page confirming the receipt is genuine and matches what DRAIS recorded — so a forged or altered receipt does not survive a check at the office.

Money locations

A money location is anywhere cash actually sits. DRAIS tracks each one separately and derives its balance from opening balance, payments in, transfers in and out, and expenses paid from it.

Recording transfers between locations — cash banked at the end of the day, for instance — keeps each location's figure real. Skipping transfers is the most common reason a location balance stops matching the physical cash.

Importing payments

Schools receiving payments through a bank or a mobile money aggregator can import them in bulk fromFinance → Import. Supported sources include School Pay, SurePay, bank statements, mobile money and plain spreadsheets.

Import happens in two stages, and nothing is posted until you confirm.

1
Upload and map the columns
Tell DRAIS which column holds the admission number, the amount, the date and the reference.
2
Review the preview
DRAIS matches each row to a learner, flags duplicates against payments already recorded andduplicates within the file itself, and summarises what will happen.
3
Resolve what needs attention
Rows matched by name rather than admission number always require your confirmation.
4
Commit
Only the rows you approved are posted — through the same path as a payment typed at the desk, so they get the same receipt, ledger entry and audit record.

Name matches are never automatic

DRAIS will not post a payment to a learner matched only by name. Two learners share a name far more often than schools expect, and a payment credited to the wrong child is discovered at the worst possible moment.

Balances and defaulters

From Finance → Balances you can see:

a single learner's statement — charges, payments, running balance;
outstanding balances by class or stream;
defaulters above a threshold you set;
total expected, total collected and total outstanding for the term.

Balances can be shown to guardians in the parent portal. This is on by default and can be switched off — see The Parent Portal.

Fee reminders

SMS reminders can be sent to guardians with outstanding balances, filtered by class and by amount, with the balance inserted into the message. See SMS & Notifications.

Budgets, expenses and pocket money

Budgets	Plan spend by term, department, project or activity. Spent is derived from the expenses linked to the budget, with remaining, percentage used and a threshold warning before you overspend.
Expenses	Recorded against a money location, so the location balance reflects them.
Pocket money	A custodial account per learner for boarding schools. Deposits and withdrawals are logged and the balance derived. Withdrawals cannot overdraw the account.

Correcting a mistake

A payment entered wrongly is reversed with a correcting entry rather than deleted, and both entries remain visible. The balance ends up right and the history explains itself.

Note

This is deliberate. A finance record that can be silently edited proves nothing. One that shows the mistake and the correction is worth having during an audit.