Attendance and the timetable are the two systems a school touches every single day, and the two most likely to start a quiet argument in the staff room. A parent asks why nobody told them their child missed school. A teacher covers a class they were never assigned. A period clashes because two versions of the timetable are in circulation and neither is marked as final.
Vendor websites are little help in predicting any of that, because every one lists attendance and timetabling. This article compares 14 capabilities, 11 for attendance and 3 for timetabling, across six school platforms, so you can shortlist faster and ask sharper demo questions.
Who publishes this, and why that matters
ScolaOS publishes this article and is one of the six platforms compared. Read it with that in mind.
Because of that conflict of interest, the ScolaOS entry is held to a stricter standard: checked against the product's source code rather than its marketing pages, and listing what the product does not do alongside what it does. This is a comparison with an honest split. ScolaOS is behind several competitors on attendance and ahead of several on timetabling, and both halves are stated plainly below. Nothing here is ranked. No scores, no winner.
Methodology
Last verified: 20 July 2026
- What was compared: 14 capabilities, 11 for attendance (daily and period marking, biometric and card capture, absence alerts, corrections, minimum-attendance rules, reporting and staff attendance) and 3 for timetabling (manual creation, automatic generation and substitution).
- How competitor facts were gathered: from each vendor's own public website and support documentation. Nothing from review sites, directories or third-party marketing.
- How the ScolaOS entry was gathered: from the ScolaOS codebase, not the website. Where code and marketing would differ, the code won.
- No ratings, no ranking: no platform is scored, and none is called better than another.
What "not publicly stated" means, and what it does not
Many cells in the table below read "Not publicly stated."
That means one thing: on 20 July 2026, that vendor's own website and support documentation did not advertise that capability. It is not a finding that the product lacks it. Vendors document unevenly, and a capability can be fully built and used every term while never appearing on a public page.
Treat every "not publicly stated" cell as a demo question, never as a mark against the product. Some will turn out to be yes. Vendor features and packaging also change frequently, so confirm current details before deciding. The ScolaOS column reads differently on purpose: because it was checked against source code, it can say "yes" or "not available" definitively, while the competitor columns record only what each vendor publishes, which is why they never say "no".
The comparison table
| Capability | ScolaOS | Fedena | Entab CampusCare | Campus 365 ‡ | Vidyalaya | Classe365 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily, whole-day marking | Yes, daily only | Stated | Stated | Stated, card scan per session | Stated | Stated |
| Period or subject-wise marking | Not available | Stated, optional module | Stated, either or both | Not publicly stated | Not publicly stated | Stated |
| Biometric integration | Not available | Stated | Stated, add devices later | Stated | Stated | Not publicly stated |
| RFID or card-based capture | Not available | Stated | Not publicly stated | Stated | Stated | Stated, barcode or QR ID card |
| Mobile app marking by teachers | Yes, phone, tablet, desktop | Stated | Stated, web and app | Not publicly stated | Stated | Stated |
| Automatic absence alert (channels) | Yes, portal and app only | Stated, SMS and push | Stated, SMS and in-app | Stated, SMS or push | Stated, channel unnamed | Stated, SMS |
| Correction with audit trail | Not available | Not publicly stated | Not publicly stated | Not publicly stated | Not publicly stated | Edit stated, trail not stated |
| Minimum-attendance or eligibility rule | Not available | Not publicly stated | Not publicly stated | Not publicly stated | Not publicly stated | Not publicly stated |
| Attendance reports and analytics | Yes, per section only | Stated | Stated | Stated | Stated | Stated |
| Staff or employee attendance | Yes, geo-tagged check-in | Stated | Stated | Stated in passing | Stated | Not publicly stated |
| Staff attendance into payroll | Yes, loss of pay computed | Stated | Module listed | Not publicly stated | Stated | Not publicly stated |
| Manual timetable creation | Yes, cell-click editor | Stated | Stated, module listing | Stated, drag and drop | Stated | Stated |
| Automatic timetable generation | Yes, rule-based | Stated, paid tier | Not publicly stated | Not publicly stated | Stated, algorithm-based | Not publicly stated |
| Substitution for an absent teacher | Yes, suggests free teachers | Stated | Stated | Not publicly stated | Stated, proxy settings | Not publicly stated |
‡ Campus 365's support documentation could not be reached on the verification date (SSL failure). Its "not publicly stated" cells are the least reliable in this table, and several may reflect documentation this exercise could not open rather than absent capability. Ask Campus 365 directly rather than reading anything into that column.
"Stated" means the vendor advertised that capability on its own site or support docs on the verification date. These five publish at very different depths, which shapes how you read their columns. Fedena and Classe365 keep operational support docs, Vidyalaya has detailed feature pages, Entab publishes module listings plus one attendance page, and Campus 365 has marketing pages only because its docs site was down. A "not publicly stated" cell for Entab or Campus 365 is more likely a documentation gap than a product gap.
Where the public record goes quiet
Two rows are "not publicly stated" for every competitor and "not available" in ScolaOS: a minimum-attendance rule (comparing a percentage to a threshold and flagging a student, or gating exam eligibility) and, nearly so, a correction with an audit trail (Classe365 states editing but no recorded trail). That is a fact about what this category publishes, not about what these products contain. A minimum-attendance rule is exactly the kind of feature a school configures once and a vendor never puts on a landing page, so several here may enforce one internally. Ask each vendor to show it rather than confirm it, and make ScolaOS demonstrate it too.
Notes on each platform
Fedena
Fedena states day-wise attendance and, through an optional module, subject-wise attendance, with biometric and RFID or swipe integration and mobile-app marking. Its absence alert is stated as SMS plus push, reporting as day-wise and batch-wise, and it states attendance feeding payroll. On timetabling it states automatic generation, though as an Ultimate paid-tier module rather than a base feature, and a one-click substitute swap. If the automatic timetable matters, confirm which plan carries it.
Entab CampusCare
Entab states daily and period-wise attendance and lets a school configure either or both. It states starting web or app based and adding devices later, so biometric is stated as a later add-on while RFID or facial capture is not stated on the page this exercise could open. Its absence alert is stated as SMS plus in-app, with bulk attendance, leave approval, and a marking-window setting that controls when marks can be entered rather than recording a history of changes. Substitution appears on its modules page. Automatic timetable generation is not publicly stated, which given its module-listing style of documentation is worth asking about rather than assuming.
Campus 365
Of the material this exercise could read, Campus 365 describes card-scan attendance per session rather than a teacher daily-register flow, and states biometric plus RFID capture, including fingerprint and face recognition, on a dedicated page. Its absence alert is stated as SMS or push, and on timetabling it states a drag-and-drop builder, with automatic generation and substitution not stated.
A fairness note applies more strongly here than anywhere else. Campus 365's support documentation could not be reached on the verification date because of an SSL failure, so its "not publicly stated" cells are the least reliable in this set and several may simply reflect docs this exercise could not open.
Vidyalaya
Vidyalaya states biometric, QR and mobile capture, with a biometric and RFID integration page. Its absence alert is described as instant notification without naming the channel, so do not assume one. Staff attendance is stated as feeding payroll reports, though the loss-of-pay arithmetic is not named. On timetabling it is the most detailed competitor: automatic generation described as applying algorithms, conflict detection stated for time-slot allocation, and substitution through proxy settings.
Classe365
Classe365 states sessions and subject-wise attendance, both enable-able, with barcode or QR ID-card scanning through mobile. Its absence alert is stated as SMS, set through checkboxes at the point of marking. Editing attendance is stated, while a recorded audit trail of the change is not. Its class scheduling module is stated as drag-and-drop, manual and Excel based, with a conflict check; automatic generation and substitution are not publicly stated.
Where ScolaOS is behind, and where it is ahead
ScolaOS is Education Infrastructure as a Service (EIaaS), built by Terra System Labs Pvt Ltd, which is ISO 9001:2015 compliant, ISO 27001:2022 compliant and a Startup certified company. On these 14 rows it splits clearly: the more limited platform on attendance, the more capable one on timetabling.
Where it is behind, on attendance
These are stated as plainly as the competitor rows above.
- Daily marking only, no period-wise. ScolaOS records one attendance state per student per day. Fedena, Entab and Classe365 all publicly state period or subject-wise marking. If your teachers take a register every period, test this before anything else.
- No biometric or RFID integration. Gate hardware, fingerprint readers and card scanners are not part of the platform today. Several competitors state device integration; ScolaOS marks attendance by hand from the class register, on phone, tablet or desktop.
- Absence alerts are in-app only. The alert lands in the parent's portal and app notifications straight away, which is real and automatic, but there is no SMS, email or WhatsApp on that path, and the parent needs a linked portal account to receive it. Most competitors that name a channel name SMS or push, and one (Vidyalaya) states an alert without naming the channel at all.
- No correction audit trail. A mark can be re-marked, and the record shows who marked it and when, but the previous value is overwritten rather than versioned. It does not keep what a mark used to be.
- No minimum-attendance rule. Reports return a raw percentage. Nothing compares it to a threshold, flags a student, or feeds exam eligibility. Schools apply their own rule to the number.
- Reports are per section only. A report needs a section and returns a flat per-student list over a date range. There is no day-of-week pattern, no period analysis, and no branch-level roll-up.
One attendance strength is worth naming against that list: staff attendance flows into payroll. ScolaOS reads staff attendance for the payroll period, derives present, leave and absent days, and computes loss of pay from real records rather than someone keying deductions by hand. Geo-tagged staff check-in feeds that.
Where it is ahead, on timetabling
First, the clarification the product name invites. ScolaOS calls its automatic generator "Smart Schedule", and that name should not be read as artificial intelligence. Smart Schedule is not an AI optimiser. It is a deterministic, rule-based generator that places periods by a fixed first-fit set of rules, with no machine learning and no constraint-solving. When a competitor states an "algorithm-based" generator, the two may mean different things, so compare behaviour, not labels.
With that set, the strengths are real and worth stating without overselling.
- Automatic generation that respects approved leave. When Smart Schedule builds a timetable, teachers on approved leave are dropped from that day with a warning, so the grid does not schedule someone who is away.
- Clash detection for teacher and room, across published timetables. It catches a teacher and a room double-booked, and checks not only the timetable being edited but other already-published timetables, which is where cross-class clashes usually hide.
- Versioned, publishable timetables. A timetable is published as an immutable snapshot, and families only ever see the published version, never a work in progress.
- A date-based calendar layer. Beyond the repeating week, a specific date can differ from the template, and academic holidays suppress generated periods when the timetable is saved.
- Substitutions that suggest and show. When a teacher is out, the system filters the teachers free in that slot and offers them, and the chosen substitution appears in the student and parent views.
The honest limits sit alongside those strengths. The automatic generator does not allocate rooms; rooms are assigned by hand and the generator does not honour room blackouts. It does not enforce workload limits; maximum periods per day or week is a report you read afterwards, not a constraint the generator obeys. You build and edit by clicking a cell, not by dragging. And there is no per-room view and no printable version of the classic cell-click builder, though the Smart Schedule view itself can be exported and printed.
How to evaluate this yourself
The table gets you to a shortlist. These questions get you to a decision, and they work on any vendor including this one.
Ask to mark attendance for one period, not a whole day. Have the vendor take a register for a single period in front of you, then again for the next period the same day. Daily marking looks identical everywhere until you need the class recorded twice in one day.
Ask which channel an absence alert actually uses. Not "does it alert" but "SMS, push, email, WhatsApp, or only inside the app", and whether the parent needs an account to receive it. The channel is the whole point of the feature, and the detail most easily glossed over in a demo.
Ask the generator to schedule around a teacher on leave. Put one teacher on approved leave, run the automatic timetable, and check the grid does not use them that day. A generator that ignores leave produces a timetable you have to fix by hand.
Ask whether it allocates rooms. Whether the automatic generator places rooms and respects room availability, or whether rooms are still a manual step after generation. This is a common gap and rarely stated on a feature page.
Frequently asked questions
Does "not publicly stated" mean the product cannot do it?
No. It means the vendor's own website and support documentation did not advertise it on 20 July 2026. Vendors document unevenly, and many working capabilities never reach a marketing page. Treat those cells as demo questions.
Why is ScolaOS behind on some attendance rows but ahead on timetabling?
Because the two modules were built to different depths, and this article was checked against the ScolaOS code. Attendance is daily marking with in-app alerts and no gate hardware, which is narrower than several competitors. Timetabling includes automatic generation that respects leave, clash checks across published timetables, and family-visible substitutions, which several competitors do not publicly state. It depends entirely on which of the two you are buying for.
Does ScolaOS send absence alerts by SMS or WhatsApp?
No. The absence alert is automatic, but it appears in the parent's portal and app notifications only, and the parent needs a linked portal account to receive it. There is no SMS, email or WhatsApp on that path today. Several competitors state SMS or push, so if an external channel is essential, confirm it in a demo.
Does ScolaOS support biometric or RFID attendance?
No. Fingerprint readers, face recognition and card scanners are gate hardware, and that hardware is not part of the platform today. ScolaOS marks attendance by hand from the class register. Biometric and RFID are discussed here as general industry methods, not as ScolaOS features.
Is ScolaOS Smart Schedule an AI timetable generator?
No. Despite the name, Smart Schedule is a deterministic, rule-based generator. It places periods by a fixed first-fit set of rules and does not use machine learning or constraint-solving. It does respect approved staff leave and check for clashes, but it does not allocate rooms or enforce workload limits.
Is Campus 365 treated fairly here?
Its support documentation could not be reached on the verification date because of an SSL failure, so its "not publicly stated" cells are the least reliable in this table. If it is on your shortlist, ask directly rather than reading anything into that column.
Conclusion
Attendance and the timetable are run every day, and the details that decide whether they run quietly are rarely on a feature page: which channel actually carries an absence alert, whether a corrected mark leaves a trace, whether the generator schedules around a teacher on leave, whether it places rooms or leaves that to you.
Use the table to shortlist, then use the demo questions to test what a table cannot. This comparison names where ScolaOS trails on attendance and where it leads on timetabling, and several platforms here will suit schools that ScolaOS would not, which is the point of an honest comparison.
Want to test the awkward cases against ScolaOS? Book a demo and bring your hardest attendance or timetable scenario, or read the platform, apps, pricing and security pages first. More answers sit on the FAQ page and in the blog.