Going cashless: a checklist for Egyptian schools

Decide the rules

Settle these with your leadership team first. Everything else on this list follows from them.

1. Who runs the canteen. Your own team, or a vendor under an agreement with the school, recorded on STUTAP. A vendor sees its own sales, and STUTAP pays it.
2. The day cash stops. Pick the date and work back from it. With the till, readers and tags supplied, about two weeks is enough.
3. Whether to take pre-orders. If you do, parents order from the canteen's menu for the coming days, and each canteen sets its cut-off: the evening before, or early on the school day.
4. What happens when a tag is lost. Parents freeze it in the app and the next tap is refused. Decide who at school gives out a replacement, which parents then pair in the app.
5. Whether to start attendance and dismissal now. Both use the same tags, and both are optional. You can switch them on later.

Prepare your data

STUTAP adds your campuses and their divisions (National, American, British) when it sets up your school. You do the rest in the school portal, whose Overview keeps a "Before the first day" list.

• Grades and classes. Each division comes with its curriculum's grades. Check their names and add the classes before you import, so every student lands in the right one.
• The calendar. Add each division's terms for the year and the days the school is closed. Pre-orders already paid for a day you close are refunded in full.
• Breaks. If you take pre-orders, create the breaks and give each grade the one it collects in.
• Your roster. One Excel or CSV file per division, with a row for each student.

Each row needs the grade, the student's name in Arabic and in English, gender, the ID type and number (national ID or passport), and a parent's name and mobile. Class, the school's own student code, the enrolment date and the student's bus are optional. Start from the portal's template, or upload your own export and match its columns.

Nothing is saved until you confirm the import. The portal checks every row first and gives you your file back with the problems marked. Rows with a problem are skipped. Import the fixed file later: students already imported are updated, not duplicated.

The hardware

• At each counter: a till on Odoo POS and a reader. STUTAP supplies them, sets up the till with the canteen's products, and connects it.
• For every student: a tag or wristband, which parents pair in the app by tapping it on their phone.
• At the gate: a STUTAP Station tablet, if you take attendance, supplied and set up by STUTAP.

The counter needs an internet connection. If it drops, the till keeps selling for cash until it is back, and the gate tablet keeps every tap and sends it later.

Your team and their access

Invite each member of staff by email from the Team page. Each person holds one role, for the whole school or one campus, and sees only what it allows.

• Organisation admin: every campus, the team and settlements.
• Campus admin: students, attendance and pickup at their campus.
• Canteen manager: menus, pre-orders and canteen sales.
• Canteen staff: the till and today's bags.
• Gate guard: the gate and today's pickups.

The canteen roles are for a school that runs its own canteen. A vendor invites its own people. Everyone who works the till needs a till PIN, which an organisation admin sets on the same page.

Tell parents

Parents need three things from you: the day cash stops, how to link their account, and how to top up. Tell them through the school's usual channels, and more than once.

1. Send claim codes. From the portal, send a claim code to every parent's mobile on your roster. One code links all the children filed under that number.
2. Parents link their children. They create a STUTAP account with their email, then enter the code to link their children.
3. Tags are paired. Give out the tags. Parents pair each one by tapping it on their phone, or by typing its code, which STUTAP support can give them. Once a family has linked, your office can also pair its tags at the desk with a reader.
4. Parents top up. By bank card into the family wallet, then pocket money for each child, by hand or automatically every school day.

A code expires 30 days after it is first sent. The Students page shows who has not linked yet, so the office can follow up and send a code again.

The first week

• Keep a help desk open. Send codes again, pair tags and answer questions in the first few days.
• Keep cash as a fallback. The till still takes cash, so a student whose parents have not topped up yet is not turned away.
• Watch the day. The Overview shows today's attendance, pre-orders and, if you run the canteen, its sales.
• Publish the menu early. If you take pre-orders, publish each menu week before its first cut-off.

The checklist on one page

• Decide who runs the canteen.
• Pick the day cash stops.
• Decide on pre-orders, attendance and dismissal.
• Check the grades and add the classes in each division.
• Add the terms and the days the school is closed.
• Create the breaks, if you take pre-orders.
• Import your students from Excel or CSV.
• Have STUTAP set up the till, readers and tags.
• Invite your team, one role each.
• Set a till PIN for everyone at the till.
• Send claim codes to parents.
• Tell parents the date, how to link and how to top up.
• Give out the tags.
• Publish the first menu week.
• Open a help desk for the first week.