SCHOOL MANAGEMENT · PROCUREMENT AND GOVERNANCE
Questions to Ask a School ERP Vendor Before You Buy
A structured vendor-question guide covering demonstrated workflows, product boundaries, data, delivery, support, pricing and exit planning.
Conceptual product view · no customer records or performance figures
THE SHORT ANSWER
Ask a school ERP vendor to demonstrate your priority workflows, explain what is included or manual, show roles and reports, document data and implementation responsibilities, and clarify commercial and exit terms. Ask for evidence rather than accepting feature labels. Record unanswered questions and name who will verify each response.
01 / PRODUCT FIT
Ask the vendor to demonstrate the school’s real workflow from start to finish.
Choose a scenario that matters: a new admission, fee collection, attendance correction or a report leadership regularly needs. Ask the provider to show the roles, records, exceptions and final outcome, not only the screens used in a polished standard path.
For every step, ask whether it is currently released, configured, manual, dependent on another service or unavailable. Request the applicable scope in writing so the school can distinguish a demonstrated capability from a roadmap statement.
02 / USERS & CONTROLS
Clarify roles, approvals, corrections and activity history.
Ask which roles can view, add, change and export each category of information. Find out how permissions are assigned, how access changes when staff move roles and how a correction is reviewed.
Request a demonstration of relevant history and ask what the system does not record. Avoid claims that a log is complete or immutable unless the provider supplies evidence for that property.
03 / REPORTS & DATA
Ask how information is defined, updated, exported and retained.
For a priority report, ask what counts, which dates and filters apply, when data refreshes and how missing values appear. Test whether the report supports the school’s actual question and can be checked against source records.
Clarify data ownership, available exports, retention and the process for obtaining information at subscription end. Ask which formats and history are available rather than assuming that every screen can be reproduced outside the system.
04 / IMPLEMENTATION
Put provider and school responsibilities on the same plan.
Ask what data preparation, configuration, migration, training and testing are included, who performs each task and what the school must provide. Clarify how legacy records and unresolved data-quality issues are handled.
Request milestones, acceptance criteria, named contacts and dependencies. If the school has branches, ask how subscriptions remain separate and what owner-level oversight does and does not include.
05 / SECURITY & SUPPORT
Get specific about access incidents, service issues and escalation.
Ask where to report a suspected security or privacy issue, who responds and how the school receives updates. Request current documentation for security, backup, recovery and availability commitments relevant to the service.
Clarify support hours, channel, response expectations and which tasks are billable. Do not infer certifications, service-level commitments or around-the-clock assistance from general marketing language.
06 / COMMERCIAL & DECISION
Review the complete commitment before authorising purchase.
Confirm subscription duration, billing frequency, applicable tax, renewal and cancellation, included users or scope where relevant, and separately charged work. Ask how changes in institution size or products affect the agreement.
End with an open-question register. The school should proceed only when a responsible person can explain the fit, risks, delivery scope and commercial terms—not because a demonstration created urgency.
A FIELD GUIDE FOR YOUR TEAM
Questions for a school ERP evaluation
Use these prompts in discovery, a product demonstration and commercial review. Ask the provider to show or document material answers.
| Lens | Question to ask | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| PRODUCT FIT | Ask the vendor to demonstrate the school’s real workflow from start to finish. | A workflow demonstration with status and evidence for each step. |
| USERS & CONTROLS | Clarify roles, approvals, corrections and activity history. | A permission matrix and a verified correction/history example. |
| REPORTS & DATA | Ask how information is defined, updated, exported and retained. | A tested report plus written data access and exit answers. |
| IMPLEMENTATION | Put provider and school responsibilities on the same plan. | A jointly owned implementation plan with assumptions and exclusions. |
| SECURITY & SUPPORT | Get specific about access incidents, service issues and escalation. | Current written controls and a support/escalation contact path. |
| COMMERCIAL & DECISION | Review the complete commitment before authorising purchase. | A like-for-like commercial review and closed vendor-question log. |
CODEPEX IN CONTEXT
Useful guidance begins with clear scope.
For CodePex School ERP, the repository-controlled public capability registry is the source for published capability declarations. Product configuration, implementation and commercial specifics should be confirmed directly. Do not treat this general vendor checklist as a claim that any specific feature is released.
Product-specific statements are based on the current owner-controlled capability declaration. Ask CodePex to confirm any institution-specific configuration or unlisted requirement.