Business Management Platform
Driving School Management System
One platform for driving schools to run students, instructors, lessons, payments and communication.
- Django
- PostgreSQL
- JavaScript
- Tailwind CSS
- HTML
- CSS
- Twilio
- Docker
- Type
- Business Management Platform
- My role
- Architecture, development & delivery
- Core stack
- Django, PostgreSQL, JavaScript
Context
The Problem
Many driving schools still run on paper registers, spreadsheets, notebooks and phone calls. Student records, lesson bookings, instructor availability and payments live in different places, and usually in different people's heads.
That leads to double-booked instructors and vehicles, missed lessons, unclear student balances, slow reporting and a lot of time spent calling or messaging students one by one.
What I built
The Solution
I built a centralized, role-based platform where every part of the school's operations is recorded once and shared with the people who need it.
Reception registers students and takes payments, instructors see their own schedules and record lesson progress, administrators get a live view of the business, and automated SMS/WhatsApp notifications keep students informed without manual follow-up.
Capabilities
Key Features
Student management
Registration, profiles, lesson history, progress tracking and balances in one record.
Instructor management
Instructor profiles, assignments and workload across the school.
Reception workspace
Fast front-desk workflows for registration, bookings and payments.
Scheduling
Lesson booking with instructor availability to reduce clashes and double bookings.
Lesson management
Track booked, completed and missed lessons with instructor notes.
Payments
Record payments, track outstanding balances and issue receipts.
Reports
Operational and financial reporting for administrators.
Dashboard
A live overview of today's lessons, students and payments.
Role-based access
Each role only sees and changes what it is responsible for.
SMS notifications
Automated lesson reminders and updates via Twilio.
WhatsApp integration
Reach students on the channel they already use.
Multi-user workflows
Hand-offs between reception, instructors and administration.
Who uses it
User Roles
Administrator
Full oversight: users, configuration, reports and finances.
Receptionist
Registers students, books lessons and records payments.
Instructor
Views their schedule and records lesson outcomes and progress.
Support
Assists with student queries and day-to-day operational tasks.
User experience
Interface & Screenshots
Administrator dashboard Lesson scheduling Student management Payments & receipts Student profile & lesson history Reports
Engineering
System Architecture
01Clients
- Web browserAdmin, reception, instructors, support
- StudentsReceive SMS & WhatsApp updates
02Edge
- NginxReverse proxy, TLS, static files
03Application
- Django + GunicornBusiness logic, auth, role permissions
- Notification serviceReminders & status messages
04Data & Integrations
- PostgreSQLStudents, lessons, payments
- TwilioSMS & WhatsApp
Tools
Technology Stack
- Backend
- PythonDjangoPostgreSQL
- Frontend
- HTMLCSSJavaScriptTailwind CSS
- Integrations
- Twilio (SMS)WhatsApp messaging
- Infrastructure
- DockerLinuxNginxGunicorn
Engineering decisions
Challenges & How I Solved Them
01Scheduling without clashes
The challenge
Lessons depend on instructor availability and on multiple staff members booking at the same time, which makes double bookings easy.
How I solved it
Modelled lessons, instructors and time slots explicitly and validated availability on the server before a booking is saved, so the database stays the single source of truth.
02Different people, different permissions
The challenge
Reception, instructors, support staff and administrators need very different views of the same data, and some data (like payments) must be protected.
How I solved it
Designed role-based access from the start, with permissions enforced in the backend rather than just hidden in the interface.
03Reliable communication
The challenge
Students miss lessons when reminders depend on someone remembering to call or message them.
How I solved it
Integrated Twilio to send SMS and WhatsApp notifications from the system itself, triggered by real events such as bookings and changes.
04Repeatable deployments
The challenge
A business system has to be easy to deploy, update and recover without manual server tinkering.
How I solved it
Containerised the application with Docker so the same setup runs locally and in production, with configuration kept in environment variables.
Ownership
My Contribution
Designed and developed the system architecture, backend, frontend, database and deployment infrastructure.
- Gathered requirements and mapped the school's real day-to-day workflows
- Designed the data model and role-based permission structure
- Built the Django backend, business logic and PostgreSQL database
- Built the responsive interface with HTML, Tailwind CSS and JavaScript
- Integrated SMS and WhatsApp messaging through Twilio
- Containerised and deployed the system
Outcomes
Results
- [Add verified project metric here]
- [Add verified outcome, e.g. a real quote or adoption detail]
Demo available on request
See it in action
The hosted demo link is shared on request. Send me a message and I will give you access to a demo environment.
Demo accounts
DEMO ONLYDemo Admin
- Username
- demo_admin
- Password
- demo_password
Demo Receptionist
- Username
- demo_reception
- Password
- demo_password
Demo Instructor
- Username
- demo_instructor
- Password
- demo_password
The demo runs on a sanitized database with fictional data. It may be reset periodically.