"Hey! I just finished the core School Management System for my uncle’s school, and now I’m adding an automated WhatsApp notification module.
I need to handle things like circulars, event alerts, attendance updates, and fee reminders. Since I don’t have a verified WhatsApp Business API account, I’m looking at third-party providers like Twilio to manage the messaging because it’s the most cost-effective option.
My plan is to build a workflow that allow me to just add the students whom to send the Fee reminder , whom to send the Fee payed notifaction , some circulars that to send the all students like its bascially for 400 students that will connect third party tool with n8n to send messages to the students as Now its for just basic level as with time and with increasing student will make it more advance but now I have to make like this,
@Hanzala1 heads up before you build, twilio doesnt skip the whatsapp business api, its a provider TO it so you still register a sender either way. and outbound stuff like fee reminders and circulars all need pre-approved whatsapp templates, you cant free-text blast 400 students. the n8n side is the easy part after that. are you set on twilio or open to metas cloud api?
@achamm Thanks bro . I didnt start the process to approve my template . First just analyzing things then will start .Verifying the buisness on meta is the headache ig . And also the template approve stuff , Now first if you have any knowledge with out verifying the meta business .Is it posssible to make this kind of system .
@Hanzala1 two honest paths. official (twilio/meta) has a dev mode without full verification but its capped to a few test numbers, for real volume the verification + templates is unavoidable. the way around it is unofficial tools like Evolution API or WAHA, they drive a normal whatsapp account so no verification or templates, but its against whatsapps terms and bulk-sending 400 students is exactly what gets numbers banned. fine for an mvp, risky as the real channel. is this going live soon or still proving it out?
@achamm That makes total sense ,I definitely don’t want to risk getting the school’s number banned.
I’m currently in the proving-it-out phase, but the plan is for this to go live for the school soon. Given the risk, I think I’ll stick to the official path. It’s better to do it right from the start than to have to fix a banned number later.
Hey @Hanzala1 Good decision on taking the official route. While you’re on the wait for Meta business verification, which could take anywhere from a couple of days to a week, here are some things you can do to work actively instead of remaining idle.
You can currently build your n8n workflow using Meta’s test mode. You can add a maximum of five phone numbers to your account under the tester list without needing to verify your account fully. Creating and building out your workflow logic for fee reminder and paid notification circulars will be enough and ready for you to validate once we go live.
You can also create your message templates on the Meta platform and create drafts for them, as this process can be done before we go for business verification. Meta message templates have to comply with their business message standards, having them created will allow us to submit for verification as soon as we are cleared.
For n8n, a simple architecture that works and scales for 400+ students:
Use Google Sheets to maintain your student database (name, phone, fee status, class).
Use a Filter node to distinguish fee-pending vs fee-paid students vs all-students circulars.
Use a WhatsApp Business Cloud node with the approved template per branch.
Finally, create a Wait node between sends, to scale the safe limit of sends.
Good luck with this! The first verification process will be worth it to build a system that the school can depend on long-term.
@Stanleyy I appreciate it man . But my main issue is verifying the buisness on meta to get the Whatsapp buisness API . Actually uncle has a school but now growing as just 400 students. So i am trying to make this in the right way as you suggested . As rest one is easy for me as I do AI automation . As also we have also other Browser based automation by coding for basic level sending messages to the students.
@Hanzala1 verification itself is done in Meta Business Manager (Security Center), and the thing that actually trips people up is the details matching, the schools legal name, address and phone in business manager have to match an official document exactly, a registration certificate or a utility bill in the schools name. a registered school normally has those, so line them up to match before you submit, mismatches are the usual reason it stalls. once the business is verified, the whatsapp sender and template approval come after that.