What This Report Shows

Think of this report like a monthly scorecard that shows:

• How much money families paid your school each month
• How well your school is collecting payments over time
• What patterns emerge throughout the year

The Big Idea: Instead of just looking at one month in isolation, this report shows how each month's collections compare to everything you've charged families since the beginning of your chosen period.

Why We Calculate This Way

Most schools follow a pattern like this:

• January/February: Apply big charges (school donations, course contributions, annual fees)
• March-December: Apply smaller charges (camps, activities, special events)

If we only looked at each month's charges vs. that month's collections, the data would be misleading:

• January might show "We charged $50,000 and collected $10,000 = 20% success rate"
• July might show "We charged $500 and collected $2,000 = 400% success rate!"

But July's $2,000 might actually be families catching up on those January charges, not superhuman payment performance.

Our cumulative approach gives you the real story: July's $2,000 collection represents progress against ALL outstanding charges, not just July's small activity charge. This way, you can see which months are truly strong for collecting payments, regardless of when charges were originally applied.

Running the Trend Analysis Report

1. Date range - default is since the first current year payment request was applied.
   
2. Breakdown - select No breakdown, or, view results broken down by Payment request item or Category, payment request item.
   
3. Focus on - default is Received Payments as this gives the most valuable insights.
4. Payment Category - All categories or by Category name.
   
5. Year level - show All year levels or a specific one.
   
6. Payment Requirement - include Voluntary, Compulsory or both.
   
7. Retired requests – toggle to include or hide past requests

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1. Amount received/charged ($)
2. Amount received/charged (%

Interpreting and Using the Results

1. Year level reports - Start with totals per year group, then use the Breakdown filter to see individual fees within that year. For example, Year 9 can be broken down into Donations, Camp Contributions, and Technology. This makes it easy to quickly identify which year levels have the largest outstanding balances and which items are driving them.
   

1. Payment category reports – Start with totals by category (e.g. Subject Contributions, Sports, Donations, Administration), then break down to see individual items within each category.
   

1. Individual Item Reports - See each payment request listed separately with full detail. Use the sortable columns to bring the most important figures to the top or check uptake for specific items like camp contributions or subject donations.
   

Best Practices for Using the Report

1. Track seasonal collection patterns to optimize the timing of major fundraising campaigns and payment requests.
   
2. Use category breakdowns to understand which types of requests (donations, activities, camps) perform better in different months and adjust your communication strategy accordingly.
   
3. Monitor the impact of your communications by looking for collection spikes in months when you sent reminders, newsletters, or payment request emails.
   
4. Plan cash flow management by identifying your predictably strong and weak collection months to schedule major expenses and budget decisions.
   
5. Coordinate with your school calendar to avoid launching payment requests during months that historically show low collection rates (like exam periods or school holidays).
   
6. Use the export option to create presentations for board meetings or leadership discussions about optimizing payment request timing and school cash flow planning.
   
7. Identify systematic patterns that suggest opportunities for process improvements, such as adjusting payment due dates or reminder schedules based on when families typically respond.