Smartcare is missing many important features from Child Care Manager

The transition from Child Care Manager to Smartcare we did in phases, first employees, then parents practicing with app before actually using it. It has been a difficult transition. If it wasn't for Smartcare taking over Child Care Manager we would never have changed. Seems odd that the we were told CCM would not be supported after August yet I just got a notice for a renewal of the support contract. Feel like there was dishonesty with that information. I would not suggest this program at this time due to the conflicts I have encountered.

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.

Billing issues

Overall it is OK, not as dynamic as I had hoped. I like the digital log in/out process for families. However some of our families fin the two step process hard to follow.

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.

Kids of Promise

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.

I liked Childcare Manager better

In all honesty I am extremely disappointed with Smartcare. If I had not required my parents/staff to adjust to ChildCare Manager then to Smartcare a short time afterwards I would look for something else.

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.

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.

We love Smartcare at our center. It has been awesome for us.

Pros

It makes tracking everything so easy. As a director, I love the reports. They are easy to use and well laid out. For teachers, the ease of the program is wonderful and the communication between parents and the classroom is awesome. For parents, the technology on their phones is amazing. They don't have to take home a sheet of paper every night that gets lost. They can always access the information. They can directly communicate with the teachers when needed.

Cons

The cost for us can be a little daunting. We initially had all intentions of passing it on to the families but ran into a lot of bumps along the way needing to take the cost on ourselves because it wasn't really providing the offered services. It is now hard to pass on those costs to parents because we don't use it for billing. Long term I wouldn't mind going back to billing parents this way, but the transition back is a bit overwhelming to think about. I truly think that we have done a lot to incorporate this program into our child care center. We give a ton of feedback along the way. We didn't always get the best support and I think that could have been improved. I feel like we do now, but we did get "forgotten" for a while. I love the program and will continue to use it but I wish there was just a bit more support and help along the way to continue the initial support we received.

Program design needs lots of work

Rough start. After reading online reviews I see I am not the only one and suggest the program developers work quickly at addressing the concerns from users...most concerns are addressed over and over and yet changes have not been made. How hard can it be to organize everything by first name or last name or some common denominator? Right now its very confusing and time consuming going between families, children, payment and accounting when every single category is organized differently.

Pros

I love that I can access it from my smartphone while away from the office. I also really like the group emailing feature.

Cons

1) The number of steps it takes to do things is time consuming and completely unnecessary. Streamline everything to be more organized and functional. 2) The "Report" section needs a lot of work and even very simple parent statements are not possible. The filtering option only works on some reports but is needed all the time. 3) Billing has had a very rough start for us as well as our families. 4) Parent APP needs to notify parents of the 2.85% credit/debit convenience change BEFORE they choose that method of payment. Being notified after inputting their card information is a waste of time and seen as being sneaky. 5) Having to have a PC, Tablet and Ipad to use all features is ridiculous. Streamline everything.

Messaging

Smartcare Technical team are always willing to help solve any problem we present to them. They have help parents with issues as well.

Pros

I love the "Messaging" feature. Recently while away from my computer our center had an emergency situation that I needed to alert our families about. I logged in from my phone and was amazed the the messaging worked so well. Every parent received a e-mail with the pertinent details about the situation. I am grateful for the ease of use.

Cons

It would be nice if messaging could include text to parent phones.

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.

Mediocre at best!

I feel like it could have potential, but they just launched their system too soon without working out the kinks first. The list of cons goes on forever, but I just don't have the time to write them all.

Pros

The overall look of the software is nice and appealing.

Cons

Customer support is not helpful, they talk to you more like you're an idiot than anything. The reports make no sense, especially the monthly statement (OMG the monthly statement is horrible)! Good luck trying to set up your monthly billing on the first of the month, because not even customer service can seem to make it work. The parent app seems to be down or not working most of the time. I find it ridiculous that you can't go back to the same screen you were previously on without scrolling down through the first page again. The ladybug icon would be great if they actually worked on what you sent them. Instead they send you the generic email "Thanks for your input we will send it to our Smartcare team", but you never really know what happens cause they never send anything back saying they took care of the problem. There isn't any option in the sign in and out area for you to mark if a child is sick, on vacation, or if they are just absent! It's concerning that there is no system backup for our records, it just seems to be saved in the "cloud" somewhere. There should be a local backup or something.