SMS
Sign inStart free

User guide

User guide

Step-by-step guidance for every feature of SMS — Student Management System. Start at the top, or jump to the section you need.

1. Create your account & first steps

One account holds your own classes. Sign up, confirm your email, sign in, and the dashboard walks you through the setup.

  1. Open the homepage and fill in the Start Free form: name, WhatsApp/mobile, email, password, plus your subjects, city, and student count if you like.
  2. Check your email and confirm your account. Then sign in.
  3. On first sign-in your account is created automatically on the Free plan — 20 students, 1 session, 2 classes.
  4. Follow the Getting started checklist on the Dashboard: session, program, class with a section, subjects, then students.
  5. Pick your landing page in Settings if you would rather open on Students or Attendance instead of the Dashboard.

2. Academic sessions & programs

A session is a school year, like 2025–26. Everything — classes, attendance, tests — lives inside a session.

  1. Open Academic Sessions from the sidebar.
  2. Create a session with a name and start and end dates.
  3. Set it as the current session so it becomes your default view. You can only have one current session at a time.
  4. Add a program (for example, Matric or FSc) — programs group your classes.
  5. Older sessions can be archived. Archived sessions are read-only: you can still read and export them, but nothing changes in them.

3. Classes & sections

A class is a year group, like Class 10. A section is a division of that class, like A or B.

  1. Open Classes from the sidebar.
  2. Add a class: name, session, and program.
  3. Add sections in the same form — type them separated by commas, for example A, B.
  4. Open a class to see its sections, its students, and the subjects taught in it.
  5. Archive a class when it is no longer taught. Archived classes disappear from day-to-day lists but keep their history.

4. Subjects & class subjects

A subject is a course, like English or Science. A class subject links one subject to one class-section in one session — that is the unit you actually teach, mark attendance for, and test.

  1. Open Subjects from the sidebar.
  2. Add a subject with its name and code.
  3. Link it to a class-section to create a class subject. For example: English for Class 10-A in Session 2025–26 is one class subject.
  4. Each class subject gets its own attendance register, its own tests, and its own results.
  5. From a class subject row you can jump straight to its Attendance or its Tests.

5. Students

Every student gets one permanent record and one permanent code, like SMS-2026-0001, that never changes.

  1. Open Students from the sidebar, then New student.
  2. Step 1 — Basic: full name, gender, date of birth, and the permanent code (SMS assigns one if you leave it blank).
  3. Step 2 — Contact: guardian name, phone, and address.
  4. Step 3 — Enrollment: pick the class and section, and a roll number.
  5. Save. The student appears in the list and in every register for that class.
  6. To add many students at once, use Import / Export: download the template, fill it in, upload, and fix only the rows the error report flags. Students already in are skipped on re-upload, so you never get duplicates.
  7. Open a student to see their detail: overview, attendance timeline, test results, history, and documents.

6. Attendance

Attendance is kept period by period. Each class subject, each period, each day gets its own register.

  1. Open Attendance from the sidebar and pick the class subject, date, and period.
  2. The register lists every enrolled student. Mark each one: Present, Late, Absent, or Excused.
  3. Use Mark all present or Mark all absent to fill the whole class, then change only the exceptions.
  4. On a keyboard, move with the arrow keys and press 1 = Present, 2 = Absent, 3 = Late, 4 = Excused. On a phone, tap each row.
  5. A blank row means Not marked yet — it is not an absence and not a zero. Mark at least one student before saving.
  6. To fix a saved register, open it and correct it. Every correction asks for a reason, which is kept with the record.
  7. Excused means an approved reason. Excused periods are left out of the percentage — they never count as absences.

7. Tests & marks

Mark on paper, enter once. Totals, percentages, grades, and positions follow by themselves.

  1. Open Tests from the sidebar and create the assessment: class subject, name, date, total marks, and passing marks.
  2. Add topics if the paper has sections. Topics are optional.
  3. Open the marks grid. It lists every enrolled student in one table.
  4. Type each student's marks. Move with the arrow keys and Enter to go fast.
  5. A blank cell means not marked yet and shows as Pending. An explicit 0 means scored zero and shows as Fail. Mark Absent or Exempt where they apply.
  6. Publish the assessment when it is part of the record. Finalize it when every student is Graded, Absent, or Exempt — finalizing locks the marks.
  7. To fix a mark after finalizing, correct it in the same grid. The correction is recorded.

8. Results & result cards

Results turn marks into sheets and cards: averages, pass rates, ranking, and one page per student.

  1. Open Results from the sidebar to see the sheets for each assessment.
  2. Each sheet shows the average, the highest and lowest marks, the pass rate, and the ranking.
  3. Equal marks share a position, and the next position is skipped — two students tied at 2nd are followed by 4th, not 3rd.
  4. Absent students are listed separately — not as zero, not as fail. Exempt students are left out of averages and ranking.
  5. Open a student and look at their Test Results tab to see their own results over time, including improvement against their previous result.
  6. Export a result card as a PDF: one page per student, ready to print or send.

9. Reports

Reports turn your records into pages you can print, send, or download. Every report prints what it included, what it left out, and how the numbers were worked out.

  1. Open Reports from the sidebar. The Standard reports tab holds the 9 standard reports.
  2. Pick a report — for example, Individual student, Attendance register, or Merit list — and choose the session, class, or student.
  3. Export as PDF, spreadsheet, or a plain file. The Free plan exports PDF only.
  4. Open the Visual reports tab for the 6 visual reports: attendance by subject, at-risk students, marks distribution, assessment comparison, student progress, and subject-wise performance. Each has its own chart, table, and export.
  5. Use the filters at the top of each report. Only the filters that apply to that report are shown.

10. Analytics

Analytics shows the patterns across your records: who attends, who struggles, and how attendance and marks move together.

  1. Open Analytics from the sidebar. There are four views: Attendance, Examination, Student, and Relationship.
  2. The Attendance view shows attendance over time, distribution, and the low-attendance table.
  3. The Examination view shows averages, pass rates, and marks distribution across assessments.
  4. The Student view follows one student: their attendance trend and their marks over time.
  5. The Relationship view compares attendance with marks. It only shows a correlation when there are at least 5 students — fewer than that shows 'insufficient data' with the count printed.
  6. The low-attendance table lists students below your risk thresholds, with their percentage and longest run of consecutive absences.
  7. On the Free plan, only the Attendance and Examination views are open. Student and Relationship need Pro or Max.
  8. Every view prints what it included and what it left out, in plain words, at the bottom.

11. Rollover

Rollover starts a new session without rebuilding everything. It copies the structure and archives the old session.

  1. Open Academic Sessions from the sidebar and open the rollover wizard. Rollover needs Pro or Max.
  2. Pick the session to copy from.
  3. Enter the new session name and dates.
  4. Review the preview: which classes, sections, and subjects will be created.
  5. Run the rollover. The new session is created with your classes and subjects in place.
  6. Add students to the new session and set it as the current session.
  7. The old session becomes archived: read-only, still openable, nothing deleted.
  8. Students, attendance, tests, and marks do not carry over — they stay with the session they belong to.

12. Team

On paid plans you can invite other teachers into your account. Each member sees the same classes and records.

  1. Open Settings from the sidebar and go to the Team section.
  2. Invite by email. The invitee accepts by signing in — their account links automatically.
  3. Seats depend on your plan: Free is owner only, Pro is owner + 2, Max is owner + 3.
  4. Remove a member to free their seat. Removing never deletes any records.
  5. Only the tenant owner can invite and remove members.

13. Settings

Settings holds everything that shapes how SMS works for you: grading, risk levels, defaults, your plan, and your data.

  1. Open Settings from the sidebar. The sections are tabs: Plan & usage, Team, Risk thresholds, Academic defaults, Grading, Dashboard, and more.
  2. Plan & usage shows what you have used against your plan limits, with cards and progress bars.
  3. Grading: set the cut-offs for grade letters (A+, A, B, C, D, F) and turn letters on or off. Changing a cut-off changes letters everywhere; marks never change.
  4. Risk thresholds: set the attendance percentage and consecutive-absence level that put a student on the at-risk list.
  5. Academic defaults: the default weight for new assessments, and how many entries each list page shows.
  6. Dashboard: pick your landing page (Dashboard, Students, or Attendance) and turn renewal reminders and low-attendance cards on or off.
  7. Attendance rules are fixed and printed in plain words: Present and Late count as attended; Excused is left out of the percentage.
  8. How calculations work explains every rule in plain words — what counts, what is left out, and how averages are worked out.
  9. Export your data any time from Settings: your students, classes, attendance, and marks as files you can keep.

14. Billing & plans

Three plans: Free (PKR 0), Pro (PKR 500/month), Max (PKR 2,000/month). You pay by bank transfer, monthly or annual.

  1. Open Billing from the sidebar (linked from Settings and your Dashboard plan card).
  2. Pick Pro or Max, and monthly or annual.
  3. Bank transfer: send the exact amount to the account shown (bank transfer or mobile wallet), then upload the payment screenshot as proof.
  4. Your request waits for review. Your plan does not change until the payment is approved.
  5. On approval you get a numbered receipt and your new period starts. A renewal of the same plan while it is still active starts at the end of your current period, so no days are lost.
  6. If your plan ends, you get 7 days of full access (grace), then read-only: you can still read and export everything, but you cannot change anything. Nothing is ever deleted for non-payment.
  7. Refunds: a full refund is available within 7 days of your first payment. After that, a started month is not refunded.

15. Getting help

Stuck? Start here, then reach out.

  1. Re-read the section above for the feature you are using.
  2. Check the Blog for practical guides on attendance, marks, result cards, and more.
  3. Send a message with the WhatsApp button or email in the footer — the owner reads every one.
  4. For billing questions, open Billing and check your payment requests and receipts first.

Ready to try SMS?

Start free — no card needed. Your first class is minutes away.

Start Free →← Back to home