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Child Day Care
Management Software Review of Child Care and Day Care Software for Home Care, Daycare, Preschool, Afterschool, Faith-Based, School Districts, and Learning Development Center
Providers
With our child care software
reviews you can
learn which child care software is best suited
to your child care center, home care center or
day care center. Our ratings for the top brands
in our industry is based upon available full
featured child care software and then by the
cost of the product as an offering of 'apples to
apples' comparison. We will give you a calculated
features to benefits differential of each
product. Just because a software costs
more or less does not make it the best product
or value. Child care software is meant to
run your whole child care organization not just
one part of it. When we compare products
we will be compare complete systems with equal
functionality.
There are
many childcare management software
packages available that sell from $100
to over $3,000. The programs range from
simple manual databases to fully
featured automated systems, and come in
both pc and web based varieties. There
are many differences between the
packages in quality, functionality,
usability, stability, and support. These
differences separate a useful and
professional product from others that
are really no better than using paper
and pencil. When comparing software,
look for features that would completely
automate as many of your daily tasks as
possible. Don’t settle for software that
would still make you do many things
manually, including billing, record
keeping, attendance, and payroll.
Childcare
Management software is usually divided
into programs for family, small, medium,
and large sized centers. Many packages
seem to imply that the smaller the
center, the less functionality it needs.
Functions including extensive batch
processing, networking, flexible rates,
extensive scheduling, and comprehensive
reporting are usually reserved for
medium and large center programs that
are much more expensive. Some packages
for family and smaller centers don’t
include a timeclock, and others require
manual entry for all childcare charges.
When comparing software for different
sized centers, make sure that
functionality to automate your center
and save you time is included.
Most of
our "professional software" competitors
sell their software in modules,
reasoning that you shouldn’t have to pay
for modules you don’t need, and that you
can start small and purchase additional
modules later. Buying software in pieces
is expensive, and modules are frequently
codependent, so if you need a specific
function, you have to buy several
modules. In addition, how much time will
you spend doing things manually until
you can afford to purchase additional
modules to automate the functionality
you need? (see below, we
priced out the needed modules from our
"module" competitors for a minimal set
of functions that most centers would
need. Even though we didn’t include many
other modules that most centers wind up
purchasing, the prices are eye-opening.)
Childcare
Management software comes in both
pc-installed and web based systems. Both
of these platforms offer somewhat
similar quality and functionality, but
there are some key differences.
Disadvantages of web-based systems
include: 1) The user is really leasing
the software; they don’t own the
software, they don’t own their data, and
they must keep paying the monthly cost
to use the software.
2) If something happens to the web-based
software company, all the data is gone.
3) The user must have a reliable and
fast internet connection to use the
software effectively, and even with a
fast connection, waiting several seconds
to change children and to change screens
is time consuming and
counter-productive.
4) The monthly cost can always increase.
CHILD DAY CARE CENTER MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
COMPARISON CHART:
There are 2 basic types of systems available for
your day care center, pc-based and web-based. Our system is
pc-based because we believe that this is the best option for
your center. The advantages of pc-based systems include: the
system is faster and more interactive, you own the software and
your data, you can use a time clock where parents and staff can
sign in/out (so you don't have to transcribe hours each day, and
you don't have to have paper sign-in sheets,) you can use the
system when the internet is down, you can store child photos,
and you can keep alumni children in your system without paying
extra.
Feature
|
Child
Care Sage™ |
Day Care
Sage™ |
Minute
Menu™ |
EZ-Care
Online™ |
Childcare
Mangr ™ |
ProCare™ |
Basic Information |
|
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PC or Web Based |
PC |
PC |
Web |
Web |
PC
|
PC |
Can use software if internet is down |
● |
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Can keep alumni kids in system without cost |
● |
● |
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Child Information |
|
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Store child, parent, and pickup person information plus
bus run information, enroll dates, tuition, and schedule |
● |
● |
●
|
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M1 |
Store Photos for child, parents and pickup persons |
● |
● |
|
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● |
M1 |
Track child immunizations |
● |
● |
● |
● |
● |
M1 |
Daily child log (progress reports, incidents, daily
checklist, daily forms, etc) |
● |
● |
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Staff Information |
|
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Store staff information including photo, employment
dates, and work schedule |
● |
● |
|
● |
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M4 |
Store Photos for staff |
● |
● |
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M4 |
Track staff Certifications |
● |
● |
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M4 |
Child/Contact Functions |
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Create custom reports with selectable information,
information column order and contact grouping
|
● |
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M1 |
Child Attendance |
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Separate Time clock Program to let parents sign their
children in/out |
● |
● |
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M1 |
M3 |
Graphically track child attendance in main program |
● |
● |
● |
|
● |
M3 |
Print attendance reports that show child counts, and
arrivals/departures (useful for staffing) |
● |
● |
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M3 |
Child Billing |
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Basic fixed amount billing |
● |
● |
● |
● |
● |
M2 |
Flexible billing that includes tuition, overtime,
expenses, hourly/daily/weekly/monthly/part time/full
time billing |
● |
● |
|
|
● |
M2 |
Agency Billing
(tracks copay payments, state balances, etc) |
● |
● |
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|
● |
M8 |
Supports ACH and EFT automatic payment processing |
● |
● |
● |
● |
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USDA Meals Program |
|
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Plan menus, print production reports, check CACFP
compliance |
● |
● |
● |
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M2 |
M7 |
Print Meals Count Charts and CACFP reimbursement tables |
● |
● |
● |
|
M2 |
M7 |
Staff Attendance |
|
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|
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Separate Timeclock Program to let staff sign themselves
in/out |
● |
● |
|
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M1 |
M4 |
Graphically track staff hours in main program |
● |
● |
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|
● |
M4 |
Print staffing reports that show staff counts for each
class for each day of the week, and daily attendance
schedules that count staff arriving and leaving per hour
and staff schedules |
● |
● |
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M4 |
Staff Wages |
|
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Flexible wages that includes salary, overtime, expense
reimbursement, hourly/daily/ weekly/monthly and part
time/full time wages and automatically generates staff
paysheets |
● |
● |
|
● |
● |
M6 |
Store Payments |
|
|
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Store payments for childcare and pay to staff with date,
amount, and description |
● |
● |
● |
● |
● |
M2,M6 |
Batch Payment Posting |
● |
● |
|
● |
● |
M2,M6 |
Separately store tuition and copay payments and bill
separately |
● |
● |
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M8 |
Center Expenses |
|
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Store center expenses including food, rent, utilities,
time use %, etc |
● |
● |
● |
● |
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M5 |
Store mileage expenses |
● |
● |
● |
● |
● |
M5 |
Center Functions |
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Center Journal to record daily happenings and schedule
and track inspections, maintenance, etc. |
● |
● |
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Accounting |
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Create accounting reports that show payments receivable |
● |
● |
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M5 |
Create accounting reports that show wages payable, and
net income |
● |
● |
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|
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M6 |
Organization Functions |
|
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Built in daily activities and appointment date book with
calendars and alarms |
● |
● |
● |
● |
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M1 |
Built in Activity Planner |
● |
● |
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System Functions |
|
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Password protection |
● |
● |
● |
● |
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Built in database backup function |
● |
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Available Support
(E- email, P- phone, W-Web Direct Connect
to your computer Training, EP- email first then phone, E + P-
email and/or phone) |
E+P
+W |
E |
E |
E + P |
E + P |
E + P |
Typical Cost for Complete System for Home Based Centers |
$495 |
|
$69/yr |
$348/yr |
$1,7651 |
$1,5352 |
Typical Cost for Complete System for up to 60 Family
Centers |
$695 |
$299
20 kids |
-NA |
$828/yr |
$1,7651 |
$1,5352 |
Typical Cost for Complete System for Larger Centers |
$895 |
|
- NA |
$1188/yr |
$2,4851 |
$3,0702 |
Procare Mini
M1-
Family Data
M2-
Family Acct
M3-
Attendance Tracker
M4-
Employee Data
|
Cost
$349
$199
$195
$249 |
M5- Accounts Payable
M6-
Payroll
M7-
USDA Food Program
M8-
Agency Accounting
*2-
Typical Cost includes M1-8 |
$399
$149
$149
$99 |
Childcare
Manager
M1-
Time Manager
M2-
Nutrition Manager
*1-
Typical Cost includes M1,2 |
Cost
$495
$495 |
EZCare Online- Softerware, Inc.
Minute Menu- Skyhill Software
Childcare Manager- Personalized Software
Procare- Professional Solutions |
ChildDayCareSoftwareReview.org ™
Houston, TX USA

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