Elma.

Quick Setup Guide

Get your Elma institution configured and live in under 30 minutes by following these steps.

Step 1 — Create your institution

After your account is provisioned:

  1. Log in at app.elma.ai with your admin credentials
  2. Go to Settings → Institution Profile
  3. Enter your institution name, logo, address, and contact details
  4. Set your timezone and default currency
  5. Save changes

Step 2 — Configure your academic year

  1. Navigate to Settings → Academic Year
  2. Click Create New Academic Year
  3. Set the start and end dates (e.g., June 2025 – May 2026)
  4. Define your term structure (semester, trimester, or quarterly)
  5. Set your academic year as Active

Step 3 — Set up departments and classes

  1. Go to Structure → Departments and create your departments (e.g., Science, Arts, Engineering)
  2. Under each department, add Programs or Grade Levels
  3. Create Classes/Sections (e.g., Grade 10-A, Grade 10-B)
  4. Assign a class teacher to each section

Step 4 — Invite staff

  1. Navigate to Staff → Invite Staff
  2. Enter their email address and select their role
  3. They will receive an invitation email to set up their account
  4. Assign subject-teacher mappings from the Timetable module

Step 5 — Add students

You can add students in two ways:

Option A — Bulk import

  1. Download the Student Import Template from Students → Import
  2. Fill in student details in the CSV
  3. Upload the file — Elma validates and imports all records
  4. Review and confirm

Option B — Manual entry

  1. Go to Students → Add Student
  2. Fill in personal, contact, and academic details
  3. Upload profile photo and documents

Step 6 — Activate modules

  1. Go to Settings → Modules
  2. Toggle on the modules included in your plan
  3. Complete the quick-start wizard for each module
    • Fee Management: define fee structures
    • LMS: create your course catalog
    • Attendance: choose capture method (QR/manual/biometric)

Step 7 — Test the platform

Before going live:

  1. Create a test student account and log in as that student
  2. Test the parent portal by linking a test parent account
  3. Run a test attendance session
  4. Generate a test report card

If everything looks good, you are ready to go live!

Need help?

Contact our onboarding team at hello@elma.ai or use the in-app chat widget. Dedicated onboarding specialists are available for Growth and Enterprise plans.