Daycare Software for Other Administrative Tasks

Parent Communications - Perhaps the most basic computer application of all is word processing. In addition to writing letters, today's word processors offer sophisticated font, clip-art and layout control that allows you to produce attractive newsletters for communicating with parents and prospective families.

Daycare center management software should allow you to use your existing word processor (like Microsoft Word) to produce merge letters which insert information from your databases. Daycare software products that have their own word processor will typically be limited in features and require you to learn an additional product that other people won't know. The result is additional expense, rather than the savings such products claim to offer. Integration allows you to transfer your word processing skills and existing materials in a fraction the time it would take to create new documents. It also enables you to maintain a level of professionality in your center's communication with parents and other external groups.

Food Program - The childcare food program (CCFP) requires a substantial reporting burden for those centers that participate. Typically this falls into two areas when dealing with daycare software:

Meal Count Management - This allows centers to track children's eligibility for the program and calculate the number of meals served by eligibility class. This information can either come from the child schedules (and then be adjusted) or from the time-clock data.

Menu Planning/Food Production - Allows daycare centers to establish menus and calculate required food purchases based on serving size and unit size data. Although this requires a great deal of initial setup with daycare software programs, those centers that are required to document menus and food production reports will find this very useful.