Smartcare

Pros

I do appreciate that it is web based, nice to see things remotely. Like that the parents have an app and are able to view the timeline and keep tabs on their child's day. Whitney who helped to transfer all my CCM to Smartcare has been wonderful.

Cons

My biggest problem currently is the integration of Quickbooks, our old software CCM exported into individual customer accounts. Smartcare will only export into 1 Smartcare Customer making it a nightmare to balance between software. The tech support answer when emailed about a fix for this was "We have followed up with our Product Engineer and the integration of the data from Smartcare to Quickbooks is only configured for the one Smartcare named Client in Quickbooks. Unfortunately, at this time, it is working as designed" and I quote. Perhaps you should listen to the what the client needs.
The teacher app does not allow other teachers to see the timeline entries made by a teacher that clocked out prior. Can not see at a glance the class information such as when a child was last changed, fed, napped etc. Daily connect is free and does a much better job at this.
There is no way of keeping track of vacation/personal benefits or training's and certificates for employees.

Pros

I like the reports that I am able to run. I like that the staff can clock in and out and only access our stuff when they are workings.

Cons

1)The most important aspect of this tool is to be able to collect on payments. The billing system is showing bills as being due the next billing cycle, rather than the current billing cycle. My parents are confused and my payments are coming in late. If this issue is not fixed, we will be starting the next year with a new company. The customer service people don't seem to see the gravity in the situation, but if I cannot collect payment in a timely manner then I don't really need the service.
2) We use this service for an after school program. The timeline is not geared towards OST but to daycare. I would like to see some prepopulated timeline items specific to older students. Diaper changes and bottle feedings are not important to us.
3) The statements that we are able to generate for families do not meet the requirements for reimbursement for childcare. I have to create separate invoices to families with flexible spending accounts.

Pros

1. Payment through the App is great
2. Posting is fast and easy
3. Cloud based makes it faster and easier, no need to do backups continually
4. Parents love the ease of checking in / out.

Cons

1. Reports are difficult to work with and I can't find a way to create specific reports we use. They also contain unnecessary information which requires having to do a lot of remedial work in the excel format. For example why is there a time (ie 12:00 AM) placed by the date. In order to effectively read the report I have to change every date to remove the time. Put it in a separate column so it can be deleted.
2. We can't easily move from one genre to another with a connection (Ex: If I'm in accounting and I need to check in the Children's area when I move over it doesn't connect me to the family's child I need. I have to find the child). This becomes annoying when I want to go from a child to their family and may not be sure of the family name or vice versa and have to find the second item instead of it working like a toggle.
3. In the state of Florida we need only one date on the Immunization Record (not the date of each shot). I can't use this feature to keep track of renewal dates.
4. Very difficult to create sign able attendance records for children receiving benefits from outside sources. I have to convert the all school PDF to Excel and then create a page for each child required deleting the unnecessary data.. We should be able to get this report by child or by class.
5. I would prefer to look at attendance records for children and employees in a monthly calendar format rather then the ledger format currently available.

Pros

- The tablet that the parents and staff use to check-in/out is very modern looking.
- The ladybug allows us the opportunity to screenshot a problem for tech support.
- The layout looks good and is more modern.
- Updates are being made often which increases our ease of functionality.

Cons

- There are a lot of things that we need in the childcare world that ChildCare Manager had that Smartcare is sluggish with. For example, live files vs. archived files. If I want to look back at a past child I have to unarchive them to bring them forward.
- The accounting portion does not allow corrections. I'm concerned that the "credits" we had to add to correct issues will come back to haunt us at tax time.
- Parents cannot see notes that we've added to the accounting so that they know what the charges are for (for example, field trips are not on regular billing. When parents see the charge they don't know what it is for because the "note" doesn't appear to them)
- In ChildCare Manager the reports section gave a brief synopsis of what could be included. Smartcare gives the title of the report alone, it has to be run and downloaded just for us to see that it was not what we needed.
- We still do not have a place to document employee discipline that they cannot see. In CCM we had a page that we could keep track of things, but staff could not see.
- We discovered that if a staff person downloads a Smartcare Kiosk app they can clock themselves in remotely. This we discovered in the testing phase and we had the employees delete the app (hopefully, it will stay deleted).
- The ladybugs are helpful, but not always answered immediately. Additionally, if/when the problem is corrected we are not assigned a ticket # for us to refer back to should we need to follow-up.

Pros

We like the parents ability to set up accounts and manage funds on their own. I like the reports of children not signed out of the school and the employees not signed out of the school. I like the ability to log on and see our data anywhere.

Cons

This system does not feel very streamlined. It feels cut and paste. When you are dealing with children and families, you should be able to go to the parents last name see.the children, the accounts, etc and do your functions - adding credits, changing billing items, making notes...all in one place. One stop shop. Not ten clicks to see it all and to do what you need to do.

With the transition from CCM to Smart Care some of the functions needed additional finesse to get working - the primary /secondary sponsor was a huge issue. It would be better if the parents when signing up could choose the family sponsor. Instead of us finding billing issues because this was not configured right from CCM.

Reports - Smart Care assumes everyone is going to be on tablets but unfortunately this is not the case with all preschools including ours. We need to be able to generate paper copies of all reports like we did in CCM. The reports are not as professional looking as those in CCM.

Door Access not yet an option - waiting.

Text Message notification - not everyone has the app or will put it on their phone. We need this function to work for mass text messaging. Grandparents can get texts they haven't all embraced the app.

All searches and displays should be the same. I prefer families and children listed by last name so siblings will be underneath siblings. Also, a search bar should be on every single page.