Which SMS providers does VISCO support?

Africa's Talking and Twilio adapters ship in the box, plus a mock provider for local development. Adding more providers (Safaricom, Vonage, Infobip) takes ~120 LOC behind the SmsProvider interface.

How is opt-out handled?

Guardians can opt out per channel and per topic. Opt-out is enforced before the message ever leaves the system, and a hidden audit row records the suppression.

Can large campaigns be sent without approval?

Campaigns ≥ 200 recipients automatically enter an approval queue. The drafter cannot self-approve, enforcing separation of duties.

Are SMS templates available in Amharic?

Yes. Every template ships with English and Amharic bodies, and renders the recipient's preferred language by default.

What is the best school management system for Ethiopia?

VISCO is a multi-tenant SaaS school management system built specifically for Ethiopian schools, with first-class ETB finance, Amharic, integrated adapters for Chapa, Telebirr, SantimPay, ArifPay and Stripe, MoE-aligned calendar, Ethiopian Calendar (E.C.) support, and parent SMS in the languages parents actually answer in (EN, አማ, AR, OM, SO, TI, FR, AA).

How does VISCO handle data for multiple schools?

Every record carries a tenant_id (school) and where relevant a branch_id (campus). Database-level row guards plus application-layer middleware ensure no cross-tenant leakage. Each school owns its data and can export or anonymise it on demand.

Which payment gateways are supported for Ethiopian school fees?

VISCO ships provider-agnostic adapters for Chapa, Telebirr, SantimPay, ArifPay, and Stripe, plus journals for cash and bank transfer. Configure one or several from /admin/payments-providers; webhooks are signature-verified per provider, idempotent, and produce ledger-friendly receipts in ETB or USD.

Can parents pay school fees with Chapa, Telebirr, SantimPay, or ArifPay?

Yes. Each invoice can route to whichever provider you have configured. Chapa, Telebirr, SantimPay, and ArifPay are integrated as hosted-checkout adapters; the parent portal generates a one-tap link and the receipt is reconciled automatically when the webhook arrives.

Can our staff add new dropdown options without engineering?

Yes. Any select field can be marked extensible. Staff press the inline "+" to add an option (e.g., a new guardian relationship type or a local sub-city). The new value enters a pending-approval queue and is auto-translated for Amharic if missing.

Does the AI assistant ever touch our production database?

No raw SQL. The assistant uses an allowlisted set of read-only analytics tools tied to your tenant. Bulk-impact actions always require explicit human approval; every query is logged.

What languages does VISCO support?

VISCO ships first-party support for English and Amharic (with Noto Sans Ethiopic typography). Arabic, Afaan Oromo, Somali, Tigrigna, French, and Afar are available through a Google Translate language bridge in the app shell. Arabic renders right-to-left automatically. Form labels and dropdown options can be authored in both English and Amharic side-by-side.

Does VISCO work for multi-branch / multi-campus school groups?

Yes. Branches are a first-class concept — students, attendance, exams, fees, and reports can all be scoped per campus, and a school group can manage multiple branches from a single tenant workspace with branch-level roles.

How does VISCO handle weak connectivity in some campuses?

Teacher attendance can be entered offline and synced when connectivity returns. Submissions carry a clientId for idempotent replay, and bulk operations queue retries via BullMQ.

Communications

A school SMS system that scales from one campus to a national group

VISCO ships a provider-agnostic SMS engine. Plug Africa's Talking, Twilio, or your local provider. Add WhatsApp and Telegram on the Premium tier. Templates, segmentation, opt-out, idempotency, approval gates, and delivery receipts are all built in.

Provider-agnostic interface: Africa's Talking, Twilio, Safaricom
Mock provider for local dev — never costs real credit
EN + Amharic templates with variable interpolation
Segment by grade, section, fee status, attendance percentage
Approval gate for campaigns > 200 recipients (separation of duties)
Per-channel opt-in / opt-out + delivery receipts

One engine, many providers

Switch SMS_PROVIDER env var and your tenant uses the new gateway. Adapters are <120 LOC each — easy to extend.

Bulk approval workflow

Campaigns over 200 recipients require a second approver. Audit log captures both the drafter and approver.

Idempotency & opt-out

Idempotency keys prevent double-send on retries; per-recipient opt-out is enforced before queueing.

Delivery analytics

Counts of sent, delivered, failed, and opted-out per campaign — provider receipts mapped 1:1 to notification rows.

Transactional SMS

Triggered SMS for absence, invoice due, results published, and exam reminders — templated and audited.

WhatsApp & Telegram (Premium)

Same composer, same templates — provider abstraction means staff don't learn new tooling.

Frequently asked

Answers from real Ethiopian schools

Which SMS providers does VISCO support?: Africa's Talking and Twilio adapters ship in the box, plus a mock provider for local development. Adding more providers (Safaricom, Vonage, Infobip) takes ~120 LOC behind the SmsProvider interface.
How is opt-out handled?: Guardians can opt out per channel and per topic. Opt-out is enforced before the message ever leaves the system, and a hidden audit row records the suppression.
Can large campaigns be sent without approval?: Campaigns ≥ 200 recipients automatically enter an approval queue. The drafter cannot self-approve, enforcing separation of duties.
Are SMS templates available in Amharic?: Yes. Every template ships with English and Amharic bodies, and renders the recipient's preferred language by default.

Keep exploring

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