| The childcare business has never been more | | | | mind. A good daycare system will accomplish a |
| appealing as a small business opportunity. With | | | | few things: |
| more parents returning to work after a year or | | | | 1) Cost Effective; meaning it will save you more |
| so of having a child, the need for childcare has | | | | money and time than what you had spent on it. |
| never been so high and competitive. If you | | | | 2) Easy to Use; meaning you don't have to be a |
| check the local classifieds, online ads and yellow | | | | computer science graduate to figure out how to |
| pages you will be bombarded with ads promoting | | | | use it. |
| childcare and daycare centers. Caring for children | | | | 3) Be Feature Rich; meaning it offers you a full |
| is definitely no easy task; a highly underestimated | | | | range of features and functionality. |
| job in modern society today is the Stay At Home | | | | 4) Upgrades Easy and Support; meaning you can |
| Caregiver. According to some reports, the | | | | get support when you need it, upgrade easily and |
| equivalent for a stay at Home Caregivers salary if | | | | quickly apply fixes and patches. |
| they were to get paid would be roughly $138,095 | | | | Now, there are literally hundreds of Daycare |
| according to a report recently done by This | | | | Solutions available; choosing the right one isn't |
| figure is up 3% from an earlier estimate from | | | | always an easy task, a lot of vendors seem to |
| 2006 which put the calculations at roughly | | | | be charging a lot but you don't always have to |
| $134,121. What does this mean to you as a | | | | spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to |
| childcare provider? It means that your job is | | | | implement a good system. It seems that most |
| busy; your job is stressful and anything but | | | | Daycare Management Systems are provided by |
| easy. | | | | small ISV's or small software companies; you |
| Just like any business, along with the work come | | | | want to select a product from a good company |
| many other administrative responsibilities such as | | | | that has a firm grasp of child care management; |
| filing for taxes, maintaining customer and child | | | | you don't want to spend too much, but you don't |
| records, tracking billing, payments, employees and | | | | want to spend too little; avoid products ranging in |
| much more. At the end of the day of | | | | price from $10 to $20 as they may lack a |
| watching 10 children and making sure they don't | | | | professional touch and ultimately will make things |
| eat the Play Doe and be nice to each other, | | | | more difficult than easy for you. |
| sitting down to full in paper work is the last thing | | | | A) Offers you free support; whether it be from |
| you want to do before you go home. | | | | an email or phone number. |
| Traditionally small business owners would tackle | | | | B) Has automatic updates; can be hard to find but |
| these tasks with lots of paper, folders, forms, | | | | some newer innovative packages such as Home |
| patience and extra time at night. Ok, it's the | | | | Daycare Plus from Upsilon Dynamics supply this |
| 21st century so society has almost gone | | | | feature. Navigate to for more information. |
| paperless in many ways including managing these | | | | C) Offers features such as a basic punch clock, |
| tasks using computers. If you are still using the | | | | employee and care giver tracking, child and |
| old fashion way with file folders, forms and paper | | | | customer tracking, immunization tracking, invoicing |
| you are literally spending hours upon hours a day | | | | and payment tracking, reporting capabilities, play |
| or week simply keeping track of everything. If | | | | room and rate management; just to name a few. |
| you are using a computer congratulations you are | | | | D) Find something you like the look of, something |
| definitely a world ahead, but are you still being as | | | | that is EASY to use and a product from a vendor |
| efficient as you can be? If you are currently using | | | | that responds with results. Most good software |
| Excel or Word to write up and maintain | | | | companies will gladly implement new features or |
| documents and records that is excellent! But | | | | fix bugs quickly if you work with them. |
| sometimes using Excel and Word can even be | | | | E) Offers you an easy to use 7-14 day trial with |
| confusing and un-organized in its own way. Using | | | | no obligations; just like buying a new car, test |
| Word or Excel, you still are faced with the | | | | driving it first is always a good idea. |
| problem of saving all these files; and where to? | | | | Choosing a Daycare System is like selecting a |
| Having multiple files scattered in folders all over | | | | new car, you know they all have nice features; |
| the place isn't always the best way to store your | | | | but in the end you want something that you are |
| information, especially if you are trying to find it in | | | | comfortable with, something that gives you great |
| a hurry. Not to mention, these are generic | | | | value for the price you pay and something from |
| application programs geared toward a wide | | | | a company you know is willing to work with you |
| market and don't come with features you need | | | | to help you get the most from the software. |
| NOW such as billing, tracking child immunizations, | | | | Following these simple guidelines will not only help |
| printing invoices and receipts. | | | | you improve your profits, but give you more |
| Luckily, there are many software solutions that | | | | time to focus on the kids and in the end - |
| have been designed with the childcare provider in | | | | yourself. |