Client project · Management system
Qalb Academy
A UK-based online Islamic academy teaching students in many countries and languages. We built one system that runs the whole academy, while each regional and language team works in its own separate space.
- Client
- Qalb Academy
- Industry
- Online Islamic education
- Based in
- United Kingdom
- What we built
- Full academy management system
- Our role
- Discovery, design, frontend, backend, launch and support
The challenge
Spreadsheets, shared calendars and WhatsApp groups stopped working
Qalb Academy grew fast. Its students and teachers live in different countries, speak different languages and work in different time zones.
- Teams were mixed together.
The academy runs separate teams for different regions and languages. Each team needed its own teachers, students and leaders, but everything sat in the same shared files, and everyone could see everything.
- Scheduling across time zones was hard.
Booking a lesson between a teacher in one country and a student in another meant converting times by hand, and missed lessons were common.
- Progress lived in spreadsheets.
Teachers tracked each student's lessons and progress in their own files, in their own way, so nobody had a full view of where a student stood.
- Attendance and missed lessons were hard to follow.
It wasn't clear which lessons happened, which were missed, and which needed a new time.
- Parents couldn't see anything.
Most students are children. Parents asked teachers on WhatsApp how their children were doing.
- Fees were tracked by hand.
Families pay in different ways and currencies. Checking who had paid, and who hadn't, took hours every month.
- Teacher pay was calculated by hand.
Teachers are paid by the hours they teach. Someone counted the lessons for every teacher at the end of each month.
- Management had no full picture.
The directors couldn't see all teams together: how many students, how many lessons, and what was paid.
- Everyone had the same access.
There was no way to give a team leader, a supervisor or an accountant only the parts they need.
Our solution
One system, a separate space for every team
We built one management system for the whole academy, shaped around how Qalb Academy really works. Every region and language team gets its own separate space with its own leaders, teachers and students. Inside each space, the team schedules live 1:1 lessons, follows each student's progress through the programs, and handles fees and teacher pay. Parents follow their children, and the directors see every team together on one dashboard.
Problems we solved
Every problem, and what we built for it
| The problem | What we built |
|---|---|
| Teams were mixed together | Isolated teams: each region and language has its own space, people and data |
| Scheduling across time zones was hard | A schedule that shows every lesson in each person's own time zone |
| Progress lived in spreadsheets | Programs split into levels, units and lessons, with progress tracked for every student |
| Attendance and missed lessons were hard to follow | Every lesson is marked as attended, missed or moved, with a clear history |
| Parents couldn't see anything | Parent accounts to follow lessons, attendance and progress |
| Fees were tracked by hand | Fee records per student with clear paid / due status |
| Teacher pay was calculated by hand | Monthly teacher statements built from the lessons each teacher delivered |
| Management had no full picture | A director dashboard across all teams |
| Everyone had the same access | Roles and permissions: directors, team leaders, supervisors, teachers, accountants, students and parents each see only what they need |
Key features
What the system does
Separate teams, one academy
Each regional and language team works in its own space. Directors see them all.
Live 1:1 lessons
One teacher, one student, scheduled in the system and tracked from booking to attendance.
Time zones handled
Teachers and students each see lesson times in their own local time.
Structured programs
Programs with levels, units and lessons, and teachers assigned to each program.
Student progress
Every lesson and result is recorded, so teachers, team leaders and parents see where each student stands.
Parent access
Families follow their children's lessons and progress without chasing teachers.
Fees and teacher pay
Fee status for every student, and monthly statements for every teacher based on the hours they taught.
Roles and permissions
Each person sees and does only what their role allows, inside their own team.
Highlight · Separate teams
One academy. Every team in its own space.
Qalb Academy teaches in several regions and languages, and each team runs on its own: its own leader, teachers, students and schedule. In the system, each team is a separate space. A team leader sees only their team. The directors see every team together, with the numbers side by side. This idea, one system serving many separate groups, later grew into our own product, Afaak.
- TeamUK · English
- Teachers
- Students
- Schedule
- TeamEurope · French
- Teachers
- Students
- Schedule
- TeamAfrica · English
- Teachers
- Students
- Schedule
- TeamAsia · Urdu
- Teachers
- Students
- Schedule
Before: every team in the same shared files, calendar and chat groups.One system for the whole academy.Each region and language becomes its own team.Every team gets its own teachers, students and schedule.Result: the directors see every team side by side.
Inside the system
A closer look
Mockups with invented names and a fake logo.
A team's week of 1:1 lessons, in each person's own time zone. Student progress, as a parent sees it. Monthly teacher statements, built from lessons taught.
Our role
Who did what
Ammar Gomaa
Product and UX, all interfaces: directors, team leaders, teachers, parents and students.
Abdullah Zakaria
Backend, team isolation, roles and permissions, scheduling and payments logic.
Together
Discovery with the academy, the spec, testing with real academy cases, data migration, launch and support.
Results
What changed
- The academy runs from one system instead of spreadsheets, calendars and chat groups.
- Each team works on its own, without seeing or changing another team's data.
- Parents follow their children's progress without asking teachers.
- Teacher statements are ready at the end of each month, without counting lessons by hand.
- The directors see the whole academy on one screen.
- The project gave us the idea for Afaak, our own platform for teaching businesses.
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