WhatsApp Integration

WhatsApp Business API messages are billed by Meta based on conversation type and country. Business-initiated conversations (such as fee reminders and attendance alerts sent by your institution) are charged at per-conversation rates set by Meta, which vary by the recipient's country code. User-initiated conversations, where a parent messages the institution first, are charged at a different rate. OpenEduCat's integration layer does not add a per-message fee on top of Meta's rate. Your institution pays Meta directly for message volume. Most institutions find WhatsApp messaging costs significantly lower than the cost of failed fee collection or manual phone follow-up.

Template messages are pre-approved message formats required for all outbound business-initiated WhatsApp conversations. Each template is submitted to Meta for review before use. A typical fee reminder template might read: 'Dear [Parent Name], this is a reminder that a fee balance of [Amount] is due for [Student Name] by [Date]. Please log in to the portal to clear the balance.' Variable fields are filled from the student record at send time. Templates are approved once and can be reused indefinitely. OpenEduCat provides a library of pre-built templates for common institutional notifications (fee reminders, attendance alerts, exam notices) which institutions can customize and submit for approval.

Institutions are responsible for obtaining consent from parents and students before sending WhatsApp messages, as required under GDPR and equivalent data protection laws in other jurisdictions. Best practice is to capture WhatsApp communication consent during the admission or enrollment process and record it in the student record. Message logs stored in OpenEduCat are subject to the same data retention and access controls as other student records. The WhatsApp Business API operates under Meta's data processing terms, and institutions should include WhatsApp communication in their data processing agreements and privacy notices. OpenEduCat's implementation team can advise on consent capture workflows during setup.

If the registered number does not have WhatsApp associated with it, the message will not be delivered via WhatsApp and will show a failed delivery status in the message log. Institutions should include WhatsApp consent and number verification during enrollment to maintain an accurate contact list. For contacts without WhatsApp, the system can be configured to fall back to email notification for the same event. This means the communication workflow continues without manual intervention. The system delivers via WhatsApp where possible and via email where the WhatsApp number is not registered.

When a parent or student replies to a WhatsApp message from your institution, the reply is received within a 24-hour session window from the time of their response. Incoming messages are captured in the OpenEduCat platform and routed based on the originating message type, a reply to a fee reminder routes to the finance office queue, a reply to an attendance alert routes to the student affairs office. Staff with the relevant access can view and respond to conversations directly within the platform. Each conversation thread is linked to the student record, so any staff member with appropriate access can see the full message history without asking a colleague for context.