Use this guide when you need to add, review, or clean up family records. It explains how TuitionFlow keeps parents, students, billing contacts, tutor links, and learning details together.

Check whether the family, parent, or student already exists. Duplicate people records can create confusion in scheduling, billing, messages, and portals. If you are migrating from a spreadsheet, decide who will check duplicates before invitations go out.

A family groups together the adults and learners who belong together operationally. Parents or guardians can be linked to one or more students. Students can have subjects, year groups, learning needs, assigned tutors, sessions, reports, and billing activity. The family view helps admins understand that whole relationship in one place.

When creating a new customer relationship, start with the family or parent details, then add the students. Capture the billing contact, communication preferences, and any notes your team needs before the first session. Use real names and consistent email addresses, not shorthand labels, because these details can appear in portal access, messages, and invoice workflows.

Student records should include information that helps tutors and coordinators support the learner: year group, subjects, goals, relevant needs, access requirements, and useful notes. Keep sensitive information concise and appropriate. Safeguarding concerns and high-risk welfare notes should be handled in the dedicated safeguarding workflow.

Before inviting anyone to the portal, confirm each parent is linked to the right student or students. This controls what parents can see in the portal, including schedules, reports, invoices, packages, payment methods, statements, and messages.

Tutor assignments help with scheduling, reporting, messaging, and context. Assign the right tutor to the right student when lessons are agreed. If a tutor changes, update the assignment so future work reflects the current relationship.

Use statuses to keep records clear. Inactive families or students should not be treated the same as active learners. If you find duplicates, merge or clean them before adding more sessions or invoices. Cleaning duplicates early prevents scattered attendance, split invoice history, and confusing portal access.

If a parent cannot see a student, check the parent-student link. If a student does not appear in scheduling, check their status and assigned tutor. If billing history appears split, search for duplicate parent or family records before issuing more invoices.

A clean family record should show who pays, who learns, who teaches, what support is needed, and which portal users should have access.