ClassMetrix vs a spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is free, flexible and yours, and for one small class kept by one careful person it works. It fails at the door: finding a row and typing while a queue waits, no way to show a pass as a card, no prompt that someone forgot theirs, and no one but its keeper able to run the night. ClassMetrix is a phone list with one tap per payment, passes on screen, and the profit sum done for you, for AU$29 or US$19 a month, and it exports to a spreadsheet whenever you want one.
Side by side
| A spreadsheet | ClassMetrix | |
|---|---|---|
| At the door | Find the row, read the pass balance, type the new one, while the queue waits. One person at a time. | Tap the name, tap how they paid. Two people on the door at once. |
| Passes | A number in a cell. Edited from memory. Can't show the student their card. | A punch card on screen. Shared by a couple. Forgotten card becomes an IOU. |
| New students | Typed in by you, waiver on paper in a folder. | They scan a QR code and sign the waiver on their phone. |
| Profit per class | Possible, if you build the formulas, enter the hall and teachers every night, and keep it up. | Worked out from what the door recorded: takings, hall, teachers, break-even, every month. |
| Teacher pay | A second sheet. Paid from memory. | A list of unpaid classes per teacher; pay several at once; flagged if a paid class changes. |
| Who stopped coming | Only if you look. | A list, with the class each was last at. |
| Who can use it | The person who built it. | Anyone with the sign-in; volunteers see the roll but no money. |
| Cost | Free, plus your evenings. | AU$29, $69 or $129 a month (US$19, $49, $89). Free for 30 days. |
| Your data | Yours. | Yours: the student list and every check-in download as CSV any time. |
When the spreadsheet is the right answer
- One class a week, one venue, one person on the door
- No shared passes, few new students
- You enjoy the formulas and keep it up every week
Keep the spreadsheet. Use the class profit calculator for the break-even, and count the tin each night.
When it isn't
- Someone else has to run the door
- Couples share passes, or regulars forget their cards
- Two classes a night, or several halls
- You want the profit per class without an evening of formulas
- You've stopped updating it
See what the spreadsheet would have to do
The demo studio is six months of a swing school: eight classes, four teachers, two tins, every pass state. No sign-up.
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Questions
Is a spreadsheet good enough to run a dance class?
For one class a week with a dozen regulars and nobody sharing passes, yes, if the same person keeps it every week. It stops being enough when a second person needs to run the door, when passes are shared or forgotten, or when you want to know the profit per class without an evening of formulas.
What does a spreadsheet get wrong?
Nothing, by itself. People do: a row typed on the wrong night, a pass balance edited from memory, a month where nobody updated it. The spreadsheet can't tell the door that this person's pass is used up, and it can't tell you that a regular has been missing for three weeks.
Can I export ClassMetrix to a spreadsheet?
Yes. The owner can download the student list and every check-in as CSV files at any time, so a spreadsheet is always available for anything ClassMetrix doesn't do.