Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for daycares and creches.
A checklist built from how daycares and creches work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Enquiries and waiting list
- Child profiles and enrolment
- Daily attendance and pick-up
- Daily care log
- Fees and invoices
- Staff rota and ratios
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For the manager or owner
- For the office
- For carers and room leaders
- For parents and guardians
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Children present by room and day
- Waiting list by room and age group
- Staff and child counts against the ratio for each room
- Incidents, accidents and medication given by child
- Invoices raised and payments received
- Dues by family, oldest first
- Enquiries by source and outcome
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- SMS
- Payment gateway
- Accounting export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Is it for a single centre or several?
- Can we hold a waiting list by room?
- Can it record who collects each child?
- Can parents see daily updates and invoices?
- Does it handle session, day and monthly fees?
- Can it help us keep to staff and child ratios?
- How is children’s data protected?
- Do carers need a computer, or will a tablet do?
- What does it cost?
- Who owns the data?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Attendance and ratios sit on paper
- Pick-up authority is held in memory
- Health and allergy notes are scattered
- Fees follow attendance by hand
- Parents ask what happened today
Prefer to talk it through? See the daycares and creches page.