Simple billing and scheduling software
June 2, 2013 2:51 AM Subscribe
I have a friend who owns a small language school and is doing all her scheduling on paper calendars and preparing each student's bill individually at the end of the month. Can you recommend a good software option (mac or web-based) that integrates both?
I realize that just Google Calendar and a spreadsheet would be a big improvement, but I'm sure there's a better solution out there. Searching online just turns up way too many options and most of them look much more complicated than what she needs.
It's just herself and a few other teachers, and they mostly give one on one lessons -- say 40 active students at any given time taking 60+ separate lessons per week. The hourly rates vary a little, for example there's a discount for students who take a certain number of lessons per month, group rates for students who come in twos and threes, etc. But that's as complex as it gets.
I realize that just Google Calendar and a spreadsheet would be a big improvement, but I'm sure there's a better solution out there. Searching online just turns up way too many options and most of them look much more complicated than what she needs.
It's just herself and a few other teachers, and they mostly give one on one lessons -- say 40 active students at any given time taking 60+ separate lessons per week. The hourly rates vary a little, for example there's a discount for students who take a certain number of lessons per month, group rates for students who come in twos and threes, etc. But that's as complex as it gets.
There is a lot of overhead in computerizing a system like this. Does she want to computerize her scheduling, or are you just hoping to make a suggestion? I ask because I've tried these kinds of things over the years, and almost always fall back to the manual method because it is simpler.
But what you might try searching for is music lessons or piano lessons. I would bet there are applications dedicated to that niche that would translate directly to your friend's purposes.
posted by gjc at 7:24 AM on June 2, 2013
But what you might try searching for is music lessons or piano lessons. I would bet there are applications dedicated to that niche that would translate directly to your friend's purposes.
posted by gjc at 7:24 AM on June 2, 2013
I use Marketcircle's Billings (not the Pro, since it's just me) and find it to be fantastic: push scheduled work to iCal for an easy to see calendar view of data (which also then syncs with any iDevices one might use), templates for different types of work, different discount rates, invoice generation, paid/unpaid tracking, reports for tax purposes and whatever else you need to report on, etc.
If this will be a multiple-user environment, the Pro version might be useful (though I haven't used it myself) and she might also like Daylite (also by Marketcircle).
posted by Brian Puccio at 8:21 AM on June 2, 2013
If this will be a multiple-user environment, the Pro version might be useful (though I haven't used it myself) and she might also like Daylite (also by Marketcircle).
posted by Brian Puccio at 8:21 AM on June 2, 2013
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posted by chasles at 5:42 AM on June 2, 2013 [1 favorite]