Frequently Asked
Questions
Everything you need to know about Tiptons Analytics — pricing, setup, M-Pesa integration, data migration, security, and support. If you cannot find your answer here, our team is one message away.
Setup &
Onboarding
Everything you need to know about getting your school live on the platform — from first contact to fully operational.
Most schools are fully operational within 48 hours of signing up. Our onboarding team handles the entire setup process — system configuration, importing your existing student and fee records, and staff training. You do not need any technical knowledge or IT support.
For larger school groups with multiple branches, setup typically takes three to five working days depending on the volume of historical data being migrated. Your dedicated onboarding specialist will give you a precise timeline during the initial call after you sign up.
No installation is required. Tiptons Analytics is entirely cloud-based and accessible from any device — desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone — through a standard web browser. There is nothing to download or install for the admin portal.
The parent and student mobile app is available on Google Play Store and requires no technical configuration from your side. Parents download it, log in with the credentials provided by the school, and they are ready to go.
Yes, data migration is included free of charge on every plan. Our team will import your existing student records, historical fee payments, class structures, and any other data you currently hold — whether it is in Excel spreadsheets, a previous school management system, or even paper registers that have been digitised.
We will work with you to ensure nothing is lost in the transition and that the imported data is correctly organised within the platform before your school goes live.
Staff training is included in every plan at no additional cost. Our onboarding team conducts live training sessions with your administrators, finance staff, and teachers — either on-site or via video call, depending on your preference and location.
The platform is designed to be intuitive, so most staff members are comfortable using it independently within a single training session. We also provide written guides and video tutorials that staff can refer back to at any time.
We offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans rather than a traditional free trial. This means you get full access to the complete platform, with your own school's data properly set up, from day one — which gives you a far more accurate picture of how the system will work for your school than a demo environment would.
If you are not completely satisfied within the first 30 days for any reason, you receive a full refund with no questions asked. You can also book a free live demo before committing to see the platform in action with one of our specialists.
M-Pesa &
Fee Collection
How payments work, which providers are supported, and how reconciliation happens automatically.
Tiptons Analytics connects directly to the M-Pesa Daraja API, which means that when a parent makes a payment to your school's M-Pesa till or paybill number, the transaction is received, matched to the correct student and fee category, and reconciled automatically — typically within three seconds of the payment being made.
A digital receipt is generated and sent to the parent immediately via SMS and email. The student's fee balance in the system updates in real time, and the payment appears on your finance dashboard without any manual entry required from your staff.
In addition to M-Pesa, the platform supports Airtel Money, all major Kenyan bank transfers including KCB, Equity Bank, Co-operative Bank, Family Bank, and NCBA, as well as Visa, MasterCard, and American Express card payments.
All payment methods are reconciled automatically in the same way as M-Pesa — matched to the correct student, receipted, and reflected on your dashboards instantly. The system is fully compliant with Central Bank of Kenya requirements for school fee collection.
Yes. Automated SMS fee reminders are sent to parents based on a schedule you configure during setup. The default schedule sends reminders three days before the fee deadline, on the deadline date, and three days after for any outstanding balances — but you can adjust the timing and messaging to suit your school's communication style.
Schools using automated reminders consistently report significant improvements in on-time fee collection. The average improvement across our client schools is 21 percentage points in the first term after enabling the feature.
The system fully supports partial payments and instalment plans. When a parent makes a partial payment, it is applied to the student's balance, a receipt is generated for the amount paid, and the outstanding balance is updated accordingly. Automated reminders for the remaining balance continue to be sent according to your configured schedule.
You can also set up formal instalment plans for specific students, defining the expected payment amount and dates for each instalment. The finance dashboard tracks adherence to these plans and flags any missed instalments for your finance officer's attention.
Plans &
Billing
What each plan includes, how billing works, and what happens if your school grows beyond your current plan.
The Starter plan at Ksh 4,500 per month supports up to 200 students and includes student and staff management, attendance tracking, grade book and report cards, the parent portal, basic SMS, and email support.
The Professional plan at Ksh 8,000 per month supports up to 500 students and adds full fee management and billing, library management, exam and timetable management, the analytics dashboard, bulk SMS, the mobile app, and priority support.
The Enterprise plan at Ksh 13,500 per month supports unlimited students and adds multi-campus management, HR and payroll, custom branding, API access, a dedicated account manager, and 24/7 phone support. All plans include free setup, training, and data migration.
No. There are no setup fees, no data migration fees, no training fees, and no hidden charges. The monthly subscription price is the only cost. What you see on the pricing page is exactly what you pay.
SMS charges are the only variable cost outside the subscription — bulk SMS is billed at standard Kenyan carrier rates and invoiced separately at the end of each month based on usage. Your account dashboard gives you a real-time view of SMS usage so there are never any surprises.
Yes, you can upgrade your plan at any time and the change takes effect immediately. If your school grows beyond the student limit on your current plan, you will be prompted to upgrade and the transition is seamless — no data is lost and there is no interruption to service.
Downgrades take effect at the start of the following billing month. If you downgrade, your data is retained in full; only access to the features exclusive to the higher plan is removed.
There are no long-term contracts. All plans are billed monthly and you can cancel at any time. If you cancel, your subscription continues until the end of the current billing period and you will not be charged again after that.
We also offer an annual billing option that provides two months free compared to monthly billing — many schools prefer this as it aligns with the academic year. Annual plans are still cancellable, with a prorated refund for any unused months remaining.
Data &
Privacy
How your school's data is protected, who can access it, and what happens to it if you choose to leave.
All data is encrypted in transit using 256-bit SSL and encrypted at rest on our servers. Automated backups are taken every four hours and stored in geographically separate locations, ensuring your data can be restored quickly in any scenario.
Access to your school's data is controlled by a role-based permission system — administrators see everything, teachers see only what is relevant to their classes and students, and parents see only their own child's information. Every action taken within the system is recorded in a full audit trail.
Your school owns all data you enter into Tiptons Analytics. We do not sell, share, or use your school's data for any purpose other than operating the platform for you. Your student records, fee data, and academic information are yours entirely.
You can export a complete copy of all your data at any time from the admin dashboard in standard formats — Excel, CSV, and PDF. If you cancel your subscription, we will provide a full data export before your access closes and delete your data from our servers within 30 days of account closure.
Yes. Tiptons Analytics is fully compliant with Kenya's Data Protection Act 2019 and operates in accordance with the guidelines of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. All data belonging to Kenyan schools is stored on servers within Kenya or in compliant regional data centres.
The platform is also compliant with Central Bank of Kenya requirements for digital fee collection, meaning all M-Pesa and card payment processing meets the regulatory standards required for school financial operations in Kenya.
We guarantee 99.9% uptime under our Service Level Agreement, which translates to less than nine hours of downtime per year. Our infrastructure is hosted on enterprise-grade cloud servers with automatic failover and redundancy built in at every layer.
Scheduled maintenance windows — which are rare and brief — are always communicated at least 48 hours in advance and are scheduled during overnight hours on weekends to minimise any impact on your school's operations. Live system status is available at all times on our status page.
Help When
You Need It
How to get help, what support is included in each plan, and how quickly you can expect a response.
The Starter plan includes email support with responses within one business day. The Professional plan includes priority email support with responses within four hours during business hours, plus access to live chat. The Enterprise plan includes 24/7 phone support and a dedicated account manager who knows your school and its setup personally.
All plans also have access to our self-service help centre, which includes written guides, video tutorials, and a searchable knowledge base covering every feature of the platform.
The admin portal requires an internet connection as it is cloud-based. However, the mobile app for teachers includes an offline attendance mode — teachers can mark attendance without connectivity and the records sync automatically when the connection is restored.
For schools in areas with unreliable connectivity, we recommend using the mobile app for day-to-day attendance and grade entry, as these are the most time-sensitive functions. Fee collection via M-Pesa also works independently of your internet connection since the payment is processed directly through the mobile network.
On-site support visits are available for all schools in Nairobi and the surrounding counties at no additional charge during the initial onboarding period. For schools in other counties, on-site visits can be arranged and are provided at a nominal travel cost.
Enterprise plan clients with a dedicated account manager receive a scheduled quarterly on-site check-in as part of their plan, in addition to on-demand visits when needed.
Three Ways to
Get Your Answer
If the answer you are looking for is not above, our team is available through any of the channels below.
The fastest way to get all your questions answered is a live session with one of our specialists. You will see the platform in action, ask anything you need to, and receive a personalised recommendation for your school — all in under 30 minutes, at no cost and with no obligation. Use the booking form at tiptons.co.ke/demo to schedule your session.
Reach us by email at support@tiptons.co.ke or by phone at +254 700 000 000. Our team is available Monday to Friday from 8 AM to 6 PM, and on Saturdays from 9 AM to 1 PM. Enterprise plan clients have access to 24/7 phone support.
Our self-service help centre contains detailed written guides and step-by-step video tutorials covering every feature of the platform. It is searchable and organised by module, so you can find specific answers quickly. New articles are added every week based on the most common questions received from schools across the network.
Ready to Transform
Your School?
Free setup, free training, free data migration — and a 30-day money-back guarantee. No long-term contracts. Join 500+ schools already on the platform.