Who this is for: school and district bookkeepers and administrators using Edlio Pay (OSP).
An obligation is a fee assigned to one specific student, such as a class fee, lost library book, damaged device, or field trip balance. Unlike store items that anyone can buy, obligations are tracked per student. Families pay them online under Pay Obligation, or staff can take payment in person through OTR.
Before you start
The Obligations feature must be turned on for your district by Edlio Pay support. Once it is on, families see a Pay Obligation option in the blue menu bar of your store.
Families are not notified automatically when you create an obligation. Let them know through your usual school communication.
Payments go to the fund account set on the obligation product.
Step 1: Make sure your students are in Edlio Pay
Obligations attach to a student ID, so the student must exist first. Use one of these:
SIS integration: if your district has one, students sync automatically each night. View them under Students > Student Information.
Bulk upload: Import/Export > Students Import. Download the template and keep its columns in the same order. The school name must match the school name in Edlio Pay exactly.
Manual: Students > Student Information, enter the student, and save.
Tip: Excel removes leading zeros from numbers. If your student IDs start with 0, format the ID column as Text before saving, or the obligations will not attach to the right student.
Step 2: Create the obligation product
The obligation product is the type of fee (for example, "Library Fines 2026–27"). You can reuse it for many students.
Go to Transactions > OSP Products and select +Activity/Obligation.
Set Price Type to Obligation and leave the price at $0.00. You set the actual amount for each student in Step 3.
Set the start and end dates. The product must be active to assign or import obligations against it. The date range can span more than one school year.
Optional: on Additional Options, make it a blocker obligation. A student with an unpaid blocker obligation cannot buy anything else in your store until it is paid or written off.
Step 3: Assign obligations to students
One at a time
Go to Students > Student Detailed Obligations and fill in:
Obligation ID: a unique number for this obligation.
Student ID (fills in the name) and School ID (fills in the school).
Obligation Date (defaults to today), Obligation Type (the product from Step 2), Description (up to 90 characters), and Obligation Amount.
Optional: User Defined Values 1–3 for your own tracking.
Import many at once
Go to Import/Export > Obligations Import, download the template, fill it in, and upload it. Follow these rules to avoid rejected rows:
Do not rename, add, or reorder columns. Leave the trailing User columns in place even if they are blank.
Every Obligation ID must be unique. Do not reuse an ID from a previous year or from another obligation type.
The School ID column holds only the school ID, nothing else.
The Obligation Type must match the obligation product name exactly, and that product must be active.
Do not use commas in any field. One comma can cause the whole file to be rejected.
Format Student IDs as text so leading zeros are kept.
The obligation date comes from your spreadsheet, not from the product's dates.
After you upload
An import can show Pending, or a timeout message such as "request failed to complete," even when it worked. Before uploading again, spot-check a few students under Students > Student Detailed Obligations. Uploading the same file twice can create duplicates.
If the import still shows Pending and the obligations are not there, contact Edlio Pay support with your school, the file name, and the time you uploaded it. Support can check the import and push it through.
Managing obligations
Edit: search under Students > Student Detailed Obligations and select Edit. You can change the Obligation Date and Description.
Write off: search for the obligation, select Write-off, enter the amount (full or partial) and a reason, then Apply Write-off.
Delete: possible only if the obligation has no payments and was entered at your school.
Obligations from your SIS: if obligations come from your district's student system, change or remove them in that system. Changes sync about once a day.
Obligation reports
Go to Reports > Additional Reports > Obligation Reports. The main report is the Obligation Balance Report:
Unpaid obligations for my students: Obligation Filter "Obligations and Students From My School" + "Unpaid Obligations."
What has been paid: "Obligations Assigned From My School" + "Paid" or "Partially Paid."
District-wide obligations owed by students now at my school: "Students Currently Enrolled At My School."
Also available: Obligation Write-Off Report, Obligation Invoice (an invoice of what a student still owes), and Obligation Transactions by Sponsor.
Troubleshooting
A family says they can't see the fee. Check that they are using Pay Obligation in the blue menu bar, not the regular store. The student on their account must have the exact student ID and last name in your records. Also check that the obligation product is active.
We only see our imported obligations when we choose "All School Obligations." The school name in the import or SIS file does not match the school name in Edlio Pay. Correct the name in the file.
A family paid, but the fee still shows as owed. They may have bought a store item instead of paying through Pay Obligation. Look up their payment under Inquiry > OSP Payment Inquiry > Details. If they paid the wrong item, refund it and have them pay through Pay Obligation.
A family can't buy anything else in the store. The student has an unpaid blocker obligation. This is by design. They need to pay it, or you can write it off.
The Obligation Reports page is stuck on its first screen. Open it in an incognito/private window, or clear your browser cache and cookies.
All rows in my import were rejected. Check the import rules above, especially commas, duplicate or reused Obligation IDs, an inactive obligation product, and changed columns.