Chess academy workflow software
Connected chess academy workflows
One student record follows an enquiry through trial, batch, attendance, fees and reports. Staff stay responsible at every handoff.
- Students
- Batches
- Fees
- AI copilot
- Parent updates
- Reports
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One record per student
ChessCore is one record per student that enquiries, batches, attendance, fees and reports all write to. This page follows one invented academy, Knight's Gate Chess Academy, through one week. It uses several of its students, not one record, and marks where staff stay responsible. The names are made up. This is an example, not a customer.
If you are weighing products against each other, the purchase-fit comparison is on chess academy management software.
One record, every module
From enquiry to enrolled student
Seven steps through the modules in one week at Knight's Gate. Different students appear at different steps. Each step shows what is recorded and what a person still does.
1. Enquiry
Chidi O. asks on the website about his daughter Amara, who is 9 and plays casually. The next day he writes on WhatsApp too.
Staff stay responsible: Admin Layla treats the two messages as one enquiry and owns the next action. The AI can score and triage a lead, and she decides what happens.
2. Trial
Layla books a trial in Beginners A for Monday at 17:00. The family can download the booking as a calendar file.
Staff stay responsible: A person books the trial and tells the family.
3. Enrolment
Amara enrols after the trial and becomes a student record.
Staff stay responsible: Layla confirms the enrolment.
4. Batch
Amara joins Beginners A: Monday and Wednesday at 17:00, 60 minutes, at the centre, with coach Daniel and 16 students.
Staff stay responsible: The owner or admin decides batch placement and capacity.
5. Attendance
Daniel marks attendance. Leo T. was present for 2 of 8 classes, and two records were never entered.
Staff stay responsible: A missing record stays missing. The report says attendance was not recorded for 2 classes and does not guess.
6. Fee
Sara A.’s monthly fee of $120 was due on the 5th. Her parent paid $60 on the 9th. $60 remains.
Staff stay responsible: The reminder on the 6th was a fixed template the academy switched on. A personal note drafted by the AI waits for Layla to edit and send.
7. Report
Mateo S.’s monthly report: attendance 7 of 8, rating 1120 to 1185 over the term, with a coach note about missing pins and 12 pin puzzles due Friday. These are Hannah’s judgments, not engine analysis in the report.
Staff stay responsible: The AI drafts the narrative and a coach edits and approves it. The report does not claim improvement the data does not show.
The detail behind each step lives on its own page.
Recorded tour
See the workflow in the product
A recorded tour of the demo academy: a lead in Leads, then a student's profile, a class, his progress report and his invoice. It uses more than one demo record, so read it as a tour of the modules, not one child's story.
Read the walkthrough as text
- 0:00ChessCore demo academy, running locally. Every student, parent, coach and amount here is made-up demo data.
- 0:05The dashboard shows revenue collected, active students and outstanding fees for the last 30 days.
- 0:14Enquiries land in Leads and move through the pipeline: New, Contacted, Trial booked.
- 0:25Ethan Walsh's lead: the stage bar, an activity log for calls and notes, a follow-up date and the trial class.
- 0:44Once a child enrols, they have a student record. Search the roster for Lucas.
- 0:50Lucas Martin's profile: 30-day attendance, homework, rating and balance, with tabs for family, activity, learning and performance.
- 1:05Sessions lists every class. Clicking one opens a quick preview, which expands to the full page.
- 1:14The Evening Intermediate session: coach, mode, location, start and end time, seats and waitlist, with a Roster tab.
- 1:29Lucas's progress report preview: attendance, chess record and coach notes for the chosen month, then an Approve and Send checklist. This demo month has nothing recorded, and the AI narrative is not generated here.
- 1:52Invoices shows what is outstanding and overdue, how late it is, and every fee with its student, amount and status. Clicking one opens a preview.
- 2:11Lucas's invoice page shows the total, recorded payments and the balance still due.
- 2:18One system from enquiry to fees. Book a walkthrough at chesscore.io/demo.
Who sees what
What coaches and owners see
In the example, each person works from the part of the record that is theirs.
Hannah, the owner, can open the analytics workspace, which covers revenue, retention, attendance, coach utilisation, rating improvement and the enquiry funnel, with a CSV export.
Layla looks at enquiries, trials, invoices and the queue of drafts waiting for her.
Daniel looks at his batch roster, attendance and the homework he assigned.
Families see their own child in the parent portal.
The same number everywhere
Because every module writes to the same student record, a number in the report is the same number Layla sees in billing and Daniel sees in attendance. That is the point of the connected record. It does not remove the need to enter the data: a class nobody marked is still unmarked.
Ask the copilot
In this made-up example of conversational chess academy management, Hannah asks, “Show Sara's invoices so I can check the open balance.” AI academy dashboard questions like this read existing records. Hannah checks the answer; changing an invoice is a separate action with its own approval. See more questions you can ask the copilot.
Training to reports
From a game to a parent report
Three steps, and the engine and the AI stay in their own lanes.
- 1
First, upload a PGN or sync a linked account on an eligible plan.
- 2
Second, a coach picks the game for game analysis, reads the Stockfish findings and edits the AI explanation.
- 3
Third, review the student progress report: it carries game counts and ratings, not engine analysis. The coach can add a note and approve an AI narrative. Automatic monthly emails use a fixed template without that AI text.
Automation
Chess academy workflow automation: what runs without a click
The automatic jobs below need no click, and every message they send is a fixed template with no AI text. Class reminders and recurring invoices run as part of the schedule; monthly progress emails and fee reminders run once the academy turns them on. Absence follow-ups, make-up credit reminders, trial no-show recovery and renewal reminders are templates you turn on from the automation gallery. The rows further down are the points where a person decides.
| Trigger | Action | Who approves |
|---|---|---|
| A class is 24 hours or 2 hours away | Class reminder to the family, within consent and quiet hours | Runs on its ownNo one. It is a fixed template. |
| A fee falls due or goes overdue | Fee reminder on the schedule the academy sets | Runs on its ownNo one. It runs once the academy switches it on. |
| A subscription falls due | The next invoice is generated | Runs on its ownNo one. |
| Month end, with monthly reports on | Progress email built from attendance and ratings, no AI text | Runs on its ownNo one. It runs once the academy switches it on. |
| A student is marked excused, no-show or cancelled for a class | A make-up credit is earned; an absence follow-up goes out if that template is on | Runs on its ownNo one. Templates are switched on from the gallery. |
| A family misses a trial class | Trial no-show recovery message, if that template is on | Runs on its ownNo one. It is off until the academy switches it on. |
| A coach asks for a report narrative or a class summary | The AI writes a draft | Coach approvesThe coach edits and approves report text. A coach publishes class summaries by default; an academy can opt in to auto-publish for summaries whose coach notes pass a completeness check. |
| Someone asks the copilot to reschedule a class or draft an invoice | The copilot prepares the change | One click by the askerThe person who asked, with one click, unless they switched on auto mode. |
| Someone asks the copilot to refund or mark an invoice paid | The request goes to the approval queue | Second person approvesA second person: an owner, admin or finance staff member, never the requester. |
Handoffs
Exceptions and handoffs
Most days are routine. These are the cases where the example academy needs a person.
- Coach awayCase 1
A coach is away. Thursday's Intermediate B class moves to Friday at 18:00 and two students take a make-up credit instead. Someone decides that and changes the schedule.
- Part paymentCase 2
A parent pays half. The invoice shows $60 still due. The automatic reminder is a fixed template, and a more personal note waits for Layla.
- Missing dataCase 3
Data is missing. Leo's two unrecorded classes stay unrecorded until someone fixes them.
- Copilot changeCase 4
Someone asks the copilot to change a record. By default it asks before each change. Drafting an invoice through the copilot is a normal change that needs one staff confirmation. Refunds and marking an invoice paid need a second person to approve. Owners, admins and finance staff can approve, and an approval is always clicked by a person.
Some routine work runs without a person. Class reminders and fee reminders can go out on a schedule the academy switches on, and monthly progress emails can too. They are fixed templates with no AI text. AI-written report text and personal notes are drafts until a person approves them. Class summaries are published by a coach by default, and an academy can opt in to auto-publish for summaries whose coach notes pass a completeness check. The boundaries are set out on the ChessCore AI page.
From the blog
Running an academy, by the playbook
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