Zoho Admission ERP MVP Architect

# Zoho Solution Architect & Developer — Education ERP / Admission MVP ## About Prayaas Education Prayaas Education is a coaching institute in Pune, India. We are in the process of building a structured digital platform using the Zoho ecosystem to manage our student lifecycle and business operations. Our immediate objective is **not to implement a complete ERP at once**. We want to start with a well-designed foundation and build the most critical process first: > **Enquiry → Admission → Student Creation → Course/Batch Allocation → Fee/Payment → Receipt → Student Confirmation** We are looking for an experienced **Zoho Solution Architect + Developer** who can help us design the right architecture and then implement the first working version. --- # Phase 1 — Business Discovery & Zoho Architecture The first part of the engagement will focus on understanding our existing admission process and designing the solution before significant development begins. ### You will be expected to: - Understand our current enquiry and admission workflow - Map the complete admission journey - Identify required users, roles and permissions - Define the required data entities and relationships - Recommend which Zoho applications should be used - Define what should be handled using configuration vs custom development - Identify where Zoho Creator is required - Design CRM Creator Books/invoicing/payment architecture - Identify required integrations - Define automation and notification requirements - Identify opportunities for future scalability - Prepare a clear implementation roadmap for subsequent phases ### Expected architecture areas You should be comfortable evaluating and designing around: - Zoho CRM - Zoho Creator - Zoho Books - Zoho Analytics - Zoho Forms - Zoho Flow / APIs - WhatsApp integration - Payment gateway integration - Deluge - REST APIs - Webhooks We do **not** expect every component to necessarily be used. We expect you to recommend the right architecture based on our requirements. ### Deliverables for Phase 1 1. Current-state process map 2. Proposed future-state admission process 3. Zoho application architecture 4. Data model / entity relationship design 5. User roles and permissions design 6. Automation/workflow design 7. Integration requirements 8. Recommended implementation approach 9. Phase-wise roadmap 10. Development effort estimate for subsequent phases --- # Phase 2 — Implement Admission MVP Once the architecture is agreed, you will implement the first production-ready MVP. ### Target workflow **Enquiry** ↓ **Interested / Follow-up** ↓ **Admission Confirmed** ↓ **Student Record Created** ↓ **Course / Program Selected** ↓ **Batch Assigned** ↓ **Fee Structure Applied** ↓ **Payment / Invoice** ↓ **Payment Confirmation** ↓ **Receipt Generated** ↓ **WhatsApp / Email Confirmation** ↓ **Student Onboarding** The objective is to eliminate unnecessary duplicate data entry and make the admission process simple for both the student and Prayaas staff. --- # Important Business Context Unlike many educational institutions, our admission process does **not** involve an entrance examination or interview. A student who is willing to join the program can be admitted. Therefore, the system should focus on: - Lead/enquiry capture - Counselling/follow-up - Admission confirmation - Student registration - Program/course selection - Batch allocation - Fee management - Payment tracking - Receipt generation - Communication - Student onboarding We want the admission process to be **simple, fast and reliable**. --- # Expected MVP Capabilities The first version should ideally allow Prayaas staff to: ### 1. Capture enquiry Capture information such as: - Student name - Parent/contact details - Contact number - Email - Course/program interested in - Lead source - Counsellor - Remarks - Follow-up status ### 2. Convert enquiry to admission Once the student decides to join: - Convert/confirm admission - Create student record - Assign program - Assign batch - Capture admission date - Capture fee structure - Apply applicable discount if required ### 3. Handle payment Depending on the final architecture: - Generate invoice/payment request - Record payment - Support different payment modes - Support instalments where applicable - Maintain payment history - Handle outstanding amount ### 4. Generate receipt After successful payment: - Automatically generate a proper payment receipt - Store the receipt against the student - Make it accessible to authorised staff - Send receipt to the student/parent by email and/or WhatsApp ### 5. Student communication Trigger appropriate confirmation messages such as: > Admission confirmed > Payment received > Receipt available > Batch assigned > Welcome/onboarding information --- # Technical Requirements ## Must Have Strong hands-on experience with: - Zoho CRM - Zoho Creator - Deluge - Zoho Books - Zoho APIs - REST API integration - Webhooks - Workflow automation - Data modelling - Role/permission design ## Strongly Preferred Experience with: - Zoho WhatsApp integration - WhatsApp Business API - Payment gateway integration - Zoho Analytics - Zoho Flow - Education/coaching institute ERP - Student management systems - CRM-to-finance workflows --- # What We Are NOT Looking For Please do not apply if your experience is primarily limited to: - Basic Zoho CRM configuration - Creating simple CRM fields - Basic email workflows - Data entry - Generic website development We need someone who can **think through the business process and design the solution**, not simply execute a list of configuration instructions. --- # How We Will Work We want this to become a long-term engagement if the first phase goes well. The initial engagement will therefore be structured as: ### Contract 1 **Discovery + Solution Architecture** ### Contract 2 **Admission MVP Implementation** Successful completion can lead to additional phases covering: - Batch management - Attendance - Student lifecycle - Faculty management - Timeta