Switching · explained for schoolsExplained for schools
Switching.
Without losing anything.
Choosing a new system is one thing. Taking everything with you is the hard part: students and parents, grades that still count, and years of old data. Here you can read how a switch works, what the law arranges and how far Ludendo has got.
For school leaders, administration and IT. This is an explanation, not legal advice: ask your own lawyer or data protection officer to read along. Ludendo is in development and not yet in use at any school.
When and how
One moment in the year.
The preparation starts earlier.
You switch at the start of a school year. That is when classes, timetables and grades start again, and nothing from one year sits half in two systems. This is what the route looks like.
Well in advance
Look at your contract.
When does it end, and what is the notice period? If you end a fixed-term contract early, a fee may apply.
Before you give notice
Ask what you will get.
In writing: which data, from which years, in which file, with a description of how it is built up, and whether there are costs. Also ask for a trial export.
The spring before
A trial.
Import the export as a trial and compare. For exam students, per student: does the school exam average in the new system match the old one?
1 August
The new year begins.
Students, parents, classes and teachers are in the new system. Compare the grades and check a sample while the old system is still open, and agree until when that is.
After that
Collect everything.
You have at least 30 days to collect all the data. In that time the supplier only has to let you download the files. Only after that may it delete them, and it confirms that.
What the school arranges itself
- What the GDPR asks, such as a data processing agreement and a DPIA: the GDPR with a new system.
- Telling parents and students in good time what will change.
- From 2027 the Public Records Act (Archiefwet) asks for a plan when you switch, and a statement that everything was transferred correctly. Ludendo will make that statement when you import. Planned
- What is already past its retention period, you do not take with you. A switch is a good moment to clear things out. The retention periods
What the law arranges
Your data goes with you.
Free from 12 January 2027.
Since September 2025 the European Data Act applies, also to contracts from before then. It makes switching between online services easier. In our view a student administration in the cloud falls under it.
Everything, in an open format
The old supplier hands over all the data that can be exported, in a common file that a computer can read. With an overview of how it is built up.
Free from 12 January 2027
Until that date it may charge at most the direct costs of the switch, and only if that is in the contract. After that, nothing at all.
Fixed periods
A notice period of at most 2 months. The transition itself takes at most 30 days, and the school may extend it once. If that is technically impossible, the supplier may take up to 7 months; it must say so within 14 working days. After that, at least 30 days to collect everything.
What the old supplier may still charge. The normal subscription while the contract runs. A fee if you end a fixed-term contract early, if it announced that in advance. According to the ACM, at most what you would still pay until the end date; with a long contract that can be a lot. And extra services you ask for yourself, such as keeping access after the switch. That extra service may never take the place of the full export.
How certain is this? In our reading of the law and the ACM guidance, this also applies to a student administration as an online service. It is only truly certain once a court or regulator says so. There is also a European proposal to relax the rules for older contracts; the ban on charges stays in it.
Sources: Data Act, Regulation (EU) 2023/2854, Art. 23–31 and 50; ACM, Leidraad Cloud (cloud guidance, provisional version, 19 October 2026). Read on 12 November 2026.
The old data
Three ways.
This is how Ludendo takes everything along.
Not everything belongs in the same place. What you use this year goes into the app. What is over but still has to be kept goes to the archive.
What you use now
Students, parents, classes and teachers of the new school year. You import them from a file, and only after a check does everything go over in one go. Built, not yet in use
What still counts
The school exam grades of students who are still taking exams, a current development perspective plan (OPP) and current decisions. These go into the app, but only after the exam secretary has compared them per student. Planned
What is over
Earlier years and former students, as long as the retention period is still running. They go into the Ludendo Archive: read-only, searchable and always downloadable. Planned
Your export, your own columns. There is no open standard for transferring a whole student administration. So you will match the columns of your export file once, and Ludendo remembers that. The goal: it works with exports from Magister and Somtoday, and in the same way with other systems. This is planned; for now the import only recognises known column names. If an export is disappointing, a PDF per student also works. An alternative to Magister or Somtoday? We only use the export the school makes itself.
Being able to leave again
And if you want to leave later?
Then the same applies to us.
- Everything in one file. All the school’s data, with a description of how it is built up, so another program can import it. The school does not need to ask us for that. Built, not yet in use
- The archive as a package. The whole archive in ordinary files, with a viewer that works without internet and without Ludendo. Planned
Agreements on paper
What happens if a school leaves or if Ludendo stops goes into the data processing agreement. That does not exist yet: the addendum is a draft. The documents
Questions
What schools ask
about switching.
What does the Data Act arrange when you switch?
Your old supplier must hand over all your data in a common file, with a description of how it is built up, and within fixed periods. In our view it may no longer charge anything for that from 12 January 2027. It may charge for keeping access to the old system, as an extra service.
Can we switch halfway through the school year?
Not to Ludendo. You can only switch at the start of a school year. Halfway through, grades, absences and reports from one year would sit in two systems.
Do we have to keep the old system to view old data?
Not if you have a full export. If you switch to Ludendo, you get the old data in the Ludendo Archive, at no extra cost. The archive is planned, not yet built.
Does it work with the export from our current system?
Importing students, parents, classes and teachers from a file is built. For the old years you match the columns of your export once; templates for exports from Magister and Somtoday are planned. How good it gets depends on the export you receive. So request it in writing before you give notice, for all years.
Does Ludendo help with the switch?
Yes: with requesting the export, with a trial and with the real transition. We do not do custom work per school.
What does a switch to Ludendo cost?
That has not been decided yet, just like the price of Ludendo itself. The archive will be included in the licence, at no extra cost.
Can we switch already?
Not yet. Ludendo is in development and not yet in use at any school. The first three schools will switch in August 2028 at the earliest. How far along we are
Thinking about switching?
Come and
get to know each other.
We show you the app with made-up data, tell you honestly what already works and think along about your planning. Do not send any student data.
Your email reaches Thomas and Geert, the makers of Ludendo.