My experience with SmartCare has improved for the better.

The main benefit that a user would get from this product is all the child and family information in one place and easily accessible. Another amazing feature is the ability to print reports for attendance, billing, and other items.

Pros

I enjoy the real-time updates within the center, teacher and parent apps. I can also appreciate that there is always someone in customer service with anything that needs to be addressed. Lastly, I enjoy that there are always constant improvements based off of suggestions that actual users have suggested.

Cons

Thankfully, there have been so many improvements since the release of the program that there are not too many cons to mention. The only improvement that I can suggest is the ability to print out individual balance reports for families.

Loved it

Customer service was great in helping me to understand the set up.

Pros

Parents can use with ease. The app for their smartphones gives them everything they want to know about their account, child day, erc

Cons

It took a long time to set up all the tuition types and assign each child a tuition plan. It also didn’t have a monthly plan that suited us as we figure tuition weekly and some parents pay monthly. Therefor some months have a 4 week payment and others a 5. To do this I had to go in and switch Timon plans each month.

Not an easy transition from Child Care Manager

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.

Smartcare Review

Overall I have been pretty happy. I don't think it's perfect, but there are enough good aspects to make me not look elsewhere for another option. Customer service has been excellent and I believe they will continue to improve it.

Pros

Tuition payments online, timeline posts and child sign in via app all make my life as Director easier. Customer service is good. All representatives have been very responsive. User manuals are well done.

Cons

I wish I didn't need to download reports to customize them. I wish there were report that I used to use on Childcare Manager. I miss the emergency report that would print out children in attendance and emergency contacts for fire drills. I wish parents could fill in their own contact information, their authorized pick up people. This take a lot of work on my part every summer.

Smartcare Saves Time and Helps Organize!

It has been a joy to be part of Smartcare's development and growth!

Pros

They are constantly adding new features that are requested. The support at Smartcare is very responsive, quick to help, and eager to solve problems. Smartcare saves administrative time and has really cut down on paper used at our center. The pictures are such an amazing feature!

Cons

The parents seem irritated when the app needs an update or the kiosk takes a long time to respond, I think a lot of the time loss is from slow internet in our area.