Case study · Education
Parents informed, office phones quieter
Schools send letters, emails and texts through different tools, and school offices field calls about all of them. This is how we built a parent app for messages, absence reporting, consent forms, payments and calendars, integrated with the school's management system.
Project overview
A parent app connected to school systems.
- Industry
- Education
- Client
- Confidential
- Solution
- Parent communication app
- Platforms
- iOS + Android
- Timeline
- 12–18 weeks
- Team
- 5 people
- Integration
- School management system
- Payments
- Trips, meals, clubs
- Safeguarding
- Verified parent accounts
Expected business outcomes
What the client set out to achieve
Office workload and response rates are the measures.
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30–50%
Fewer calls to the school office
Absences, forms and questions handled in the app.
Target range after adoption
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Higher
Consent form return rates
Forms signed in the app with reminders.
Compared with paper forms
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Faster
Trip and meal payments
Payments made in the app, reconciled automatically.
Where payments are enabled
Business challenges
Where the client started
Communication tools multiply; parents miss messages.
Messages
Letters, emails and texts from different systems.
Absence
Parents phone the office each morning.
Forms
Paper consent slips lost in bags.
Payments
Cash and cheques for trips.
Office
Staff spend hours on calls and chasing forms.
Proposed solution
What the app covers
Everyday school admin, in one place for parents.
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Messages
School, class and individual messages with read receipts.
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Calendar
Term dates, events and class activities.
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Absence reporting
Parents report absences with reasons.
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Consent forms
Forms signed digitally with reminders.
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Payments
Trips, meals and clubs paid in the app.
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Verified accounts
Parents linked to their children through verified accounts.
Project requirements
What the client asked us for
The request was one app instead of many tools. Integration with the school management system keeps data current without double entry.
Safeguarding shapes account verification and what each parent can see.
What the project had to deliver
- 01One place for parents
- 02Absences without phone calls
- 03Digital consent
- 04Cashless payments
Key challenges & considerations
What made it harder, and what we did
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School management system integration
What we did
Pupils and contacts synced from the school management system.
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Separated families and access rights
What we did
Access was modelled per parent and per child, so separated families were handled correctly.
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Parents without smartphones
What we did
Messages also went by SMS or email to parents without the app.
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Payment reconciliation
What we did
Payments were reconciled to the pupil and the item automatically.
What we watched for
- Verify parent accounts carefully
- Handle complex family access
- Offer alternatives for non-app parents
- Integrate with the school system
Development process
Messages first, then admin
Adoption grows with each useful feature.
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Discovery
Office staff and parents interviewed.
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Integration
School system integration for pupils and parents.
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Messages and calendar
First release.
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Absences and forms
Second release.
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Payments
Payments added and reconciled.
Technology stack
Parent app with school integration
Secure accounts, integrated data.
Mobile
- React Native or Flutter
- Native modules where needed
- Offline storage
Backend
- Node.js or .NET API
- Azure or AWS
- Push notifications
Quality
- Automated UI tests
- Crash reporting
- Staged releases
Delivery
- CI/CD to App Store and Google Play
- Feature flags
Quality assurance & deployment
Tested on real devices, in real conditions
Mobile apps fail in the hands of users, not on a developer's desk. Testing covered real devices, poor networks and interrupted sessions before anything went to the stores.
- Automated tests for the app logic and the API
- Testing on real iOS and Android devices across the agreed versions
- Offline, poor-network and interrupted-session scenarios
- Code review on every change
- Store guideline checks during the build, not before submission
Deployment
- 01Absences and formsSecond release.
- 02PaymentsPayments added and reconciled.
- 03Beta and store releaseA beta group used the app first; store submission followed, with a phased release.
- 04Monitoring and warrantyCrash and performance monitoring from launch, and six months of free bug fixing.
Final deliverables
One app for school life
Parents receive messages, report absences, sign forms and pay in one app, and the school office spends less time on the phone.
Forms come back on time and payments reconcile automatically.
- Messages and calendar
- Absence reporting
- Digital consent
- Cashless payments
Handed over to the client
- 01iOS and Android appsPublished in the client's store accounts
- 02Source codeIn a repository the client can access
- 03Backend and adminDeployed and documented
- 04Release processBuild, signing and store submission
- 05Six-month warrantyFree bug fixing after delivery
Success metrics
How success is measured
| Measure | Outcome | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer calls to the school office | 30–50% | Target range after adoption |
| Consent form return rates | Higher | Compared with paper forms |
| Trip and meal payments | Faster | Where payments are enabled |
Verified reviews
What clients say about our mobile app work
Verified reviews from our clients on the same kind of work, published on Clutch.
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Mobile App Development
Web & Mobile App Development for a Software Company
Their communication skills and industry knowledge have left a strong impression on us.
Alec Wenzowski
President, Button Inc. Jan 2022 – Ongoing
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Mobile App Development
Software & Mobile App Development
They were great people with great work ethic.
Henry Popp
Co-Founder, Codedge LLC Aug 2021 – Jan 2023
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Mobile App Development
Mobile App Development for an IoT Company
The project manager does an excellent job, and the team is always available during the project.
Arjen Schoneveld
Co-Founder, Dexels BV Jun 2021 – Oct 2022
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