How a Charter School Centralized Its Renewals

The situation

The school offers English language, GED, digital skills and citizenship courses, plus career training in fields such as nursing, culinary arts and construction, across two campuses. We use a general description in place of the school's name.

The school wanted efficient business processes so more of its effort went to students. Its CFO decided the finance team needed a better, more organized way to track licenses, permits, certificates and other items that have to be renewed periodically. After narrowing the choice to two products, the team picked RenewalTracker.

What went wrong

Renewals were managed in a decentralized way, using several different tools. No single place showed what was due, and keeping up depended on the person responsible remembering to check each one.

How they solved it

One list, with a daily email

Building permits for both campuses, merchant licenses and state licensing items all moved into RenewalTracker. "RenewalTracker sends me automated daily emails informing me which items need my attention," the executive assistant to the school's CFO said. "These notifications allow me to be more proactive and reminds me about all our upcoming renewals."

Paying instructors on time

As the team got to know the software, they found it fit processes beyond the original plan. "We needed a better way to pay teachers when they teach after school programs," the executive assistant said. "With RenewalTracker, this process is initiated before the teacher even finishes the session, which helps ensure that they're compensated for their extra work in a timely manner." RenewalTracker's team helped set it up.

Paying vendors on time

Invoice processing followed. "All of our vendors need to be paid on time and RenewalTracker enables me to make this happen," the executive assistant said. "Things are running much more smoothly now that we're using the application, which has allowed us to centralize our processes. It's simple to use and easy to teach to others."

The result

The school brought renewals and recurring payments into one place and kept finding more uses. "We keep finding new ways to apply it to different functions across the school," the executive assistant said.

How to apply this at your school

• Start with what can shut you down. Building permits, occupancy and fire inspections, and the licenses your programs depend on come first.
• Record each campus separately. Each building has its own permits and inspections, with its own dates.
• Get a summary email on the days you choose. One email listing what needs attention beats checking several tools.
• Treat recurring payments like renewals. Instructor pay for each session and recurring vendor invoices have due dates; tracking them the same way keeps them on time.
• Make it easy to hand over. Choose a process simple enough that someone else can pick it up when the person in charge is out.

For a starting checklist, see how to build a license and permit inventory. Requirements vary by state and city; confirm them with your licensing and building authorities.

Doing this in RenewalTracker

RenewalTracker tracks permits, licenses, certifications, contracts and payments in one place, organized by campus or department, with automated email reminders to the people responsible. See RenewalTracker for education.