Bookings and Admin SoftwareBristol Association for Neighbourhood Daycare

Bookings and Admin Software

Settings sometimes ask us what they should look for when researching admin management software, i.e. systems that can help with bookings, registration, invoicing, etc. This is particularly relevant at the moment for a lot of out of school settings who have recently been informed that their software system, Libacura, will no longer be available from April 2020. We’ve come up with the following list of questions to ask a potential service. Please remember this list isn’t exhaustive, you may have other questions of your own and the best way to find out if a package is suitable for your setting is to use any free trials offered.

Establish exactly what the new product can do; if you are already using software compare this with new product. Some of the services offered by new products might not be needed for out of school settings, but essential for early years’ settings. For example, do you really need the ability to track/monitor the learning and development requirements
What is the annual price of the new product and what is included/extra?
If you want parents to be able to pay their fees through the product, how much will that cost your setting? For example, what is the percentage charged for the service? Is there an additional transaction fee per parent using the service? How much in total will that cost your setting, on top of the cost of using the product?
What length of contract will you be locked into? There may be a very low cost trial period offered, but what will be the costs following this trial period? And for how long? How expensive will it be to cancel the contract?
When you’ve added up all the cost factors, can your setting afford this product?
Are you able to choose some services offered by the product and reject other services? For example can you use the product solely for producing registers, registration information and managing bookings and not use the payment services? Will that reduce the annual cost for you? If you can do this you might find it cheaper to ask parents to pay online into your setting’s bank account. You have to check the bank statement manually anyway.
Will you be offered a free trial and/or demo? If so, please use it to find out if the services offered really work for your setting. And if the trial product doesn’t work for your setting, don’t purchase it in the hope that it might work when you buy the real thing.
Does the product actually do what it says on the product’s website? For example, if a product states it can print daily registers, does it actually do this?

If your setting collects children from different locations (even within a building) you will need printable registers. Some products are designed for nurseries or childminders who have different needs to out of school settings regarding printable lists.

Are you able to input data from the child’s registration information e.g. date of birth, address, emergency contacts, medical, allergies etc. etc. and produce lists/reports from this information?
How does the product store your setting’s data? Is it on a cloud? How secure is that data? You will need to read the product’s privacy and data protection information. Can there be different levels of log in so that some people are authorised to access everything and other people are restricted to specific parts of the product?
If the product is web-based and/or stores your setting’s data on a cloud that means your setting will be able to use the product from any computer/tablet/phone that has internet access. This is very helpful for settings that don’t have an office base.
What support to your setting is offered by the company selling the product? How quickly can you obtain answers to your queries or obtain advice about an IT problem etc.? Is this support free or will you be charged? How do you access the support?
Are you able to manage bookings through this product? For what periods i.e. how many weeks/months/terms in advance? Can you set different booking rules for different clubs e.g. for After School or Holiday? Can parents access the booking service and make their own bookings? Can you decide whether or not parents can access the booking service?
Are you able to manage waiting lists through this product?
Are you able to invoice and track parents payments through this product?
If the invoice is able to invoice parents, can it incorporate the free hours provided by the Free Early Education Entitlement?
If you opt for parents paying their fees via the product, can parents pay in a variety of ways? (cheque, BACS, childcare vouchers, tax free childcare). When can they pay? (daily, weekly, monthly, termly).
Will the product enable your setting to archive data? You need to keep records about children for a reasonable period after they have left. You need to keep serious accident information for up to 40 years. You need to keep CP information until the child concerned reaches 25. You need to keep financial information for 6 years.
Is the product owned/produced by a sole trader or by a company? Products provided by a sole trader have a different level of support and risk attached, for example, what happens if the sole trader is unable to work?
Will the new product support your setting in importing data from any other software product you have to the new product? If so, this will save a lot of time/effort for your setting.

Some alternative providers are as listed below, but please note that BAND do not endorse any of these, they are simply for information:

Connect Childcare Nursery management software for Nursery Managers & Administrators. https://www.connectchildcare.com/software/connect-childcare/
https://www.childcare-online-booking.co.uk/ – This is targeted for out of school clubs.
https://www.kidsclubhq.co.uk/ – for out of school clubs.
https://pages.magicbooking.co.uk/ – for out of school clubs https://www.clubsbuddy.com/
QuickBooks https://quickbooks.intuit.com/uk/pricing/
Clearbooks https://www.clearbooks.co.uk/
iPAL (Complete Education Solutions) https://completeeducationsolutions.uk/products/ipal-booking-payment-and-management-system
Cheqdin www.cheqdin.com

Out of school alliance database: https://www.outofschoolalliance.co.uk/oosa-club-database?_ga=2.188106401.888058480.1570453821-152534232.1569405492

Posted on Friday, 6th December 2019

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