Admission CRM software that knows which enquiry nobody has called back
The problem with an admission season is not that schools lose enquiries. It is that nobody can tell which ones they are losing while the season is still running. The enquiry register says 400 names; it does not say that 60 of them have been sitting with a counsellor for nine days without a call, and by the time that is obvious the family has enrolled somewhere else.
SkoolBook's admission CRM is built to answer that question mid-season rather than in a post-mortem. Every enquiry has an owner and a clock. Every stage it moves through is recorded as it happens, not reconstructed later. Documents, entrance tests, interviews and merit lists each have a defined state, and the system is careful to report what it actually knows — a document that arrived but nobody has checked is counted separately from one that has been verified.
What you get
A pipeline that records its own history
Stage changes are written as they happen, with who moved the lead and when. Time-in-stage is measured from that history rather than estimated, so "where does the season actually stall" has an answer taken from the record.
A response clock on every enquiry
Each lead carries a named counsellor and the hours agreed for a first response, fixed at the moment it is assigned. A later change to the policy does not quietly re-judge how last month's leads were handled.
Received and verified are two different columns
A checklist counts completeness as verified-against-required. A birth certificate that has arrived but nobody has looked at sits in a verification queue, and a document no checklist asked for is reported rather than silently dropped.
Entrance tests, slots and interviews
Define a test, publish its slots, let candidates book, record results. Interviews are recorded against the application with an explicit outcome, so an assessment view shows what was decided and by whom.
A published merit list freezes
Once a list is published, families have been told their position, so it can no longer be edited. Offers are made from it and seats are enforced against it — and the seats remaining are counted at the moment you ask, because an offer can lapse on its own.
Follow-ups are a queue somebody works
A nurture step becomes due and appears in a counsellor's day. Nothing is sent automatically today, and the product says so rather than implying it — a delivery is recorded when a person has actually made the contact, so the follow-up count is a count of conversations that happened.
How it works
- 1
Capture the enquiry
Leads arrive against a defined source and campaign, so the funnel can later be read by where the enquiry came from rather than by guesswork.
- 2
Assign it, and start the clock
A counsellor takes ownership and the agreed response window is fixed to that lead. Overdue work sorts to the top of their day.
- 3
Work the gate
Documents are collected and verified separately, the entrance test is booked and marked, the interview outcome is recorded.
- 4
Publish and offer
A merit list is drafted, published — at which point it freezes — and offers go out against real seat availability.
Frequently asked
Does SkoolBook send WhatsApp or SMS follow-ups automatically?
No, and it is worth being direct about that. Follow-up steps fall due and appear as work in a counsellor's queue; a person makes the contact and it is recorded as done. The messaging integration point exists so a provider can be connected later, but nothing is being sent behind your back today. A system that reported messages as delivered while sending none would be worse than one that asks a person to make the call.
How is this different from an online admission form?
An admission form captures an application. This manages the months either side of it — the enquiry before, the counsellor chasing it, the documents, the entrance test, the merit list and the seat. Both ship, and they share the same student record, so an accepted candidate does not get re-typed.
Can a merit list be changed after it is published?
No. Publication is the point at which families have been told where they stand, so the list is frozen from then on. A list still in draft can be edited freely; the distinction is deliberate and enforced by the database rather than by convention.
Does it report conversion rates per counsellor?
Yes, with one deliberate restraint: a percentage is withheld until a counsellor has enough decided leads for the figure to mean anything. A conversion rate calculated from two leads is noise, and publishing it invites a school to act on it.