Home Modules Communications Portal
COM-400

Communications Portal

Keep parents, guardians, and staff informed through the channels they actually use — SMS, WhatsApp, and email. COM-400 automates routine notifications and provides a professional bulk messaging platform for the entire school community.

Offline Queuing SMS & WhatsApp Bulk Messaging Delivery Reports Fee Reminders

Three Channels, One Platform

Zimbabwean schools reach parents through multiple channels depending on location and preference. COM-400 unifies all three into a single send queue with unified delivery reporting.

SMS

Reaches any mobile number — including basic feature phones — with no internet required on the parent's side. Delivered via Zimbabwe's major networks: Econet, NetOne, and Telecel. Ideal for critical alerts like absenteeism and fee reminders.

WhatsApp

Rich messages with images, PDFs, and formatted text. Share report cards, school newsletters, event flyers, and announcements directly to parents' WhatsApp. Delivered through the official WhatsApp Business API for bulk compliance.

Email

Formal communications — acceptance letters, term-end reports, board circulars — delivered as professional HTML emails with the school's branding. Ideal for reaching company email addresses of working parents.

Automated Notification Triggers

Set it once — COM-400 sends the right message at the right time without staff needing to remember to act.

Fee Reminder Automation

Schedule fee reminders at term start, mid-term, and end-of-term. Set escalating urgency — a polite reminder in Week 1, a firmer notice in Week 4, and a final notice before reports are withheld. All configurable by the Bursar.

Absenteeism Alerts

When a learner is marked absent during morning roll call, COM-400 automatically sends an SMS to their primary guardian within minutes. Parents can reply to acknowledge. Three consecutive absences trigger a second escalated alert to the Deputy Head.

Report Card Distribution

At the end of each term, PDF report cards are distributed directly to parents via WhatsApp or email — eliminating the risk of learners losing physical reports before parents see them.

School News Circulars

Draft a school news circular in the built-in editor and send to the entire school, a specific grade, or a specific class. Attach images and PDFs. The system logs the send date and message content for record-keeping.

Bulk Messaging Capabilities

Whether addressing the whole school or just one class, COM-400 puts the right people on the recipient list instantly.

Recipient Targeting

  • Whole-school broadcast (all parent contacts)
  • By grade (e.g., all Form 3 parents)
  • By class stream (e.g., 4A parents only)
  • By fee status (all debtors, all fee-paid)
  • By boarding/day-school status
  • Staff-only internal communications
  • Custom recipient lists (manual selection)

Message Capabilities

  • Plain text SMS (up to 160 characters per credit)
  • Long SMS auto-split across multiple segments
  • WhatsApp rich text with bold and bullet lists
  • WhatsApp attachments: PDF, JPG, PNG up to 16 MB
  • Email with HTML template and school branding
  • Schedule messages for future delivery
  • Merge fields: Dear [Parent Name], [Student Name] is…

Offline Message Queuing

Internet connectivity in many Zimbabwean schools is intermittent. COM-400 is designed to work even when the connection drops.

1

Message Composed Offline

Staff compose and schedule messages from the school's local server. All message drafting, recipient selection, and template editing happens without internet.

2

Queue Stored Locally

Unsent messages are stored in an outbox queue on the local server. The queue shows message status: Pending, Sending, Delivered, Failed — updated in real time once connectivity resumes.

3

Auto-Send When Connected

The moment internet connectivity is detected — whether from a data bundle, fibre link, or VSAT — the queue automatically processes and sends all pending messages without staff intervention.

4

Delivery Confirmation

Delivery receipts from the SMS gateway and WhatsApp Business API update each message record. Staff can see which numbers received the message and which failed, with the option to retry failed deliveries.

Built-In Message Templates Library

COM-400 ships with a library of professionally written templates for the most common school communications — ready to use or customise.

Fees & Finance Templates

  • Term opening fee notice
  • First fee reminder (polite)
  • Final fee notice (firm)
  • Receipt confirmation SMS
  • Partial payment acknowledgement

Academic Templates

  • Absenteeism notification
  • Report card ready notification
  • Parent-teacher meeting invite
  • Exam timetable announcement
  • Results release notification

General School Templates

  • Term opening date reminder
  • School closure notice
  • Sports day / prize-giving invite
  • ZIMSEC/Cambridge examination reminder
  • Emergency school closure alert

Explore Other Modules

Ready to Deploy Communications Portal?

Contact our Harare team for a live demonstration of this module.