User Guide — how the system & controls work

A complete walkthrough of AlmaPlay: what each role can do, the main controls on every panel, and how the core features fit together. Use the button to save this as a PDF.

1. What is AlmaPlay?

AlmaPlay is an all-in-one preschool app that connects parents, teachers and the school office in one place. Teachers and admins enter the day's information (attendance, photos, milestones, fees, notices, bus location…) and parents see it live on their phone. It works on any phone or computer browser, and as an installable app (Android APK / iPhone & Android PWA).

2. Getting started

Register a preschool

• Register from the website — enter the school & owner details, accept the Terms & Conditions (recorded with date, IP and version), and you get a free trial.
• The platform team verifies the registration, then the school goes Active.

Sign in

• Everyone signs in at /login with their Login ID + password. The login screen offers a panel for each role (Parent, Staff/Teacher, Admin/Owner, Accounts/Fees, Bus Driver).
• From any panel you can Open another login in a new tab to use a second role at once.

3. The roles at a glance

4. Parent panel — controls

• Dashboard — the day at a glance: attendance %, today's schedule, latest photos, mood, quick stats.
• Live Activity Feed — check-ins, meals, naps, learning moments in real time.
• Timeline / Gallery — class photos & videos; like and comment.
• Attendance — a monthly calendar (present / absent / holiday / late).
• Milestones & Progress — development against the school's curriculum, with progress charts.
• Daily Report — meals, mood, naps and notes home.
• Homework — assigned work with attachments (images, video, PDF, docs) and YouTube/web links.
• Fees — see installments and pay directly via UPI/bank, then submit the reference for a receipt.
• Notices & Calendar — announcements and school/class events (with attachments & links).
• Bus — live map, address and ETA when the bus is on a trip.
• Messages — secure chat with the teacher.
• Resource Bundle, Learning Videos, Manners, Study Resources, Games — the curriculum library for the child's grade.

5. Teacher panel — controls

• Attendance & Check-in — one-tap attendance for the class.
• Students — roster across all the teacher's classes; open a child for milestones, activity and reports.
• Milestone Pack / Tracker — assess each student (emerging → mastered); the active pack's categories & pointers appear here.
• Developmental Progress — set progress percentages per area.
• Daily Report — fill the day's report parents read.
• Report Card Setup & Report Card Entry — choose a report-card template (Demo / Academic / Montessori / Playgroup), then fill each term's marks & remarks; parents download the PDF.
• Homework — assign to all grades, a grade, or one student; attach multiple files (image, video, PDF, doc) and multiple YouTube/web links.
• Timeline & Gallery — post updates, photos and videos to the class feed.
• Set Events Calendar — add class events (with a custom "new type", attachments and times) parents see on their calendar.
• Notices — post announcements with multiple attachments and links, pin important ones.
• Messages — chat with parents; start new conversations.
• Learning Videos, Manners, Study Resources, Games, Resource Bundle — manage the grade's content; teachers can offer a video to AlmaPlay to share platform-wide.

6. Staff, Accounts & Driver panels

• Staff — entrance kiosk (QR/PIN check-in/out with e-signature; logs IP & GPS), notices, inventory/store, transport, messaging.
• Accounts / Fees — build fee structures (start blank, from a sample, or copy an existing one), issue installments, verify UPI/offline payments into receipts, export CSV/PDF.
• Bus Driver — "Start trip" shares the phone's GPS live to parents; "End trip" stops it.

7. Admin / Owner panel — controls

• Create A/cs & Set Role — add a login (unique Login ID + password) for any role.
• Account Roles, Staff Management, Create Grades — structure the school; connect a teacher to multiple classes.
• Create / Link Students to A/cs — add children and link their parents.
• Milestone Pack to Teachers & Parents — pick one or more curriculum packs (or build a custom one) for the school.
• Progress Setup & Report Card Setup — configure progress areas and the report-card template.
• Fee Structure, Income & Expenses, Payment Verifications, Fee Reset Requests — full fee & finance management.
• Inventory, Notices, Birthdays, Set Events Calendar — day-to-day operations.
• Compliance (for reference) — store registrations, licences & inspection history.
• NEP 2020 Readiness (for reference) — a printable NCF-FS alignment guide.
• Subscribe AlmaPlay & WhatsApp / Email Bulk — manage the subscription and bulk-outreach add-on (paid via Razorpay; GST invoices emailed automatically).
• Chains — owners of multiple branches get a consolidated dashboard across all branches.

8. Core features — how they work

9. The mobile app & notifications

• Install from the website's Get the app page — Android app (APK) or add-to-home-screen (PWA) on iPhone & Android.
• Once installed and notifications are turned on, parents get instant push alerts with sound for new photos, reports, fee reminders, bus updates and messages (Android via FCM; iPhone via web push on iOS 16.4+).

10. Uploads & size limits

11. Privacy, data & terms

• Each school's data is isolated and role-based; sensitive credentials are encrypted.
• The preschool owns its data and can export it; AlmaPlay processes it only to provide the service and never sells it.
• Terms & Conditions acceptance is recorded at registration (who, when, version, IP & device) and is available as a printable certificate.