# Best School Software???



## PrimalSurvival

Just wondering what you all thought was the best school management and collection software was? I have used ASF and Member solutions years ago but don't know now. I have also heard many bad things about Championsway so I am thinking of steering clear of them.


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## shinbushi

The BEST martial art software BAR none is Rainmaker.  I have been using it for about a year and LOVE it.  What is really cool is that you can now test drive it for $1.00 for the next 14 days.... the link to the trial is http://rainmakerfriends.com/ --- If you do sign up.... Please tell them David Dow - Beach Cities Martial Arts referred you.


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## j_s_kelley

Hi, My entire organization uses Martial Management.  Free to use for under 20 students/users.  After that nominal monthly fee usage.  No time limit on trial.  Use and abuse for smaller schools for free.  Link is 
http://www.martialmanagement.com


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## WaterGal

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to bump this up to see if anyone had any new suggestions.  I got a call from Champion's Way today and they took me through a sales pitch video and explanation of the features, and it looks really good, if a little expensive.  Buuuuuut..... I know I've heard some non-specific bad things about them before, and it's a 12-month commitment, so I'm wary.

Are they any good?  Is there someone else better that does the same thing?

We've been using Studio Organizer, and it works okay for the limited things I initially wanted to use it for (track student info, attendance and promotions), but there's a lot of stuff it doesn't do that I think could be done electronically or automatically to be more efficient and effective.

Some of the things I'm looking for are:
- Electronic/online registration for intro classes, events, and belt tests - preferably with a way for them to pay online
- Way to keep track of leads
- Ability to create mass e-mails, preferably with some nice templates  (I use MailChimp now, but having it integrated would be nice)
- Automated e-mail follow-up for people who take intro classes, free women's self-defense class, etc, if they don't sign up right away
- Web forms I can put on our website to generate leads
- the ability to see which students are having their attendance drop off and contact them
- Lots of stats

Right now we use a payment collection company to handle tuition payments.  Changing this (like I'd need to do w/ Champions way) would be inconvenient, but not a deal-breaker.


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## Andrew Green

I'm a month late, but I've been MIA for longer then a month...

Rainmaker I haven't used, but have heard lots of good things about.  Champions Way I used for quite a while, it was decent and improved a lot over that time.  I had no problems with it.  The complaints against them seem to go back to some old problems that have been addressed plus a tendency to over promise.   Which company are you using?


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## WaterGal

Hah, a bit late responding here as well.... I ended up settling on Zen Planner, which seems to do all the stuff I liked about Champions Way, but it costs less and doesn't require a contract.  I'm still setting it up, so I'll let you know how well it works out for us when we're really using it next year.


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## Andrew Green

Good software doesn't cost anything, it makes and saves you money.  You have to be careful when using price as a deciding factor.


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## WaterGal

Andrew Green said:


> Good software doesn't cost anything, it makes and saves you money.  You have to be careful when using price as a deciding factor.



That's true. I'm sure this will at least pay for itself, just because it'll make it easier for people to sign up for testing, events, buy stuff, etc.  My main concern was functionality, but since they both did the stuff I want, of course I'm going to go with the cheaper one.


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## teamextreme

WaterGal - just wondering now that you are a couple months into it, if Zen Planner is working well for you.


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## WaterGal

It's definitely better than what I was using before. The autobilling works great, it's pretty easy to sign people up, set up tests, e-mail people, generate reports, etc.  

Setting it up was a pain in the butt, but that's probably going to be true of any comprehensive software, since you have to import all the students, set up class schedules, belt ranks, etc.

I do have a couple complaints.  Their member site - where your members can log in to pay their bills, sign up for events, update their info, do workout tracking, etc, which is something I really wanted - is hard to use and looks like a site from the 90s.  I mean, it's a lot better than not having that functionality at all, but it could be better.  And sometimes when people sign in for class, it doesn't actually check them in.

But on the whole, I think it's good.


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## lee337

Full disclosure, I am the CTO of MainStack and wrote most of our school software product. I just found this thread and wanted to throw our hat in the ring. MainStack is a simplified alternative to all the existing school management software out there. We take pride in our simplicity and don't do everything on purpose. 

In under 2 minutes you can sign up (30 days free) and have your first membership agreement entered and billing. Your can sign up here: www.mainstack.co and check out some of our videos on our YouTube channel.

I would love to hear some feedback on our product good or bad. If you love it and it works for you great! If you hate it, tell me why. If you need something we don't have, let me know.  

Just to give a sneak peak as to what's coming soon, we are excited about our new MailChimp integration which will allow for automated lead followup, and better student communication. The other thing we are working on is better automated followup on AutoPay failures, past due accounts, expiring contracts, and absent students via email, txt and voice broadcast.

I appreciate everyone's time, and I am really here for feedback more than anything else. Thanks.


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## martiallightnin

I have a friend who uses a data visualization software for keeping track of numbers and subscriptions. I can try an find it out for you. As far as I'm aware, the dashboard software also helps him to keep track of the interest in his website.


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## martiallightnin

Ahh... The name is datapine and it's their online dashboard software he's been using. I've just been speaking to my friend and he says its been very useful to him. He says he's easily able to create customised dashboards to monitor the relevent information in one place. He also says you don't have to be a computer whiz to use it. It think it's helped him in particular, to monitor the amount of money coming in through subcriptions and identify slower times of year etc. It's certainly worth a look anyway.


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## TSDLifer

There's great software out there, but you really need to think about what you really need vs. what you think you need. Rainmaker and Championsway are great if you run a school over 300+ students.  If you fall under that bar, you should check out MainStack. It's got the core things you the average sized school need for 1/2 the price. There is also this site:  MainStack Martial Arts Software Automated Affordable and Fun


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## jayniferson

PrimalSurvival said:


> Just wondering what you all thought was the best school management and collection software was? I have used ASF and Member solutions years ago but don't know now. I have also heard many bad things about Championsway so I am thinking of steering clear of them.


I share a list of top school management software so kindly check it  
Url: Top School Management software | Get Free Consultation


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