Hi Jinaki,
We use Procare for our centers serving around 400 children. It was the overall best solution that we found.
There are significant drawbacks- Procare as a company is not innovative at all. Remember, you are dealing with sales people. Nothing against sales people- they are doing their job to sell you the software and related monthly charges. In the past few years there have been zero value additions to the program. Everything is an add-on and very expensive. Instead of developing proprietary parent communication functionality, they bought a company to do it. Instead of providing that for free along with the software that cost thousands of dollars up front and hundreds per month, they wanted several hundred dollars more per month for centers our size when there are free alternatives. The email options included with the base system are functional at best. We use mail chimp for our email database, management, and creation.
Perhaps, the biggest frustration is that it only works on windows devices. If you intend to use the check-in features at the front door, that's easy with one windows device. That doesn't work for us so we would have needed a new device for every classroom. On top of that, Windows devices are far behind Apple with regards to photos and video which parents want to see.
Finally, with Procare you are forced to use their merchant services. On a positive, they get you the money very quickly compared to other providers. On a negative, they are very expensive and could significantly eat into your profits on an ongoing basis if you don't negotiate with them on price of merchant services. Beware.
With all of that said, Procare is the best option we found for the 95%+ of the activities that we need it to do- billing, enrollments, account management. It is user-friendly and thorough for center financial management.
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Scott Bohnert
Indianapolis IN
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-20-2020 04:14 PM
From: Jinaki Kambui
Subject: Center management software
Hi Veronique,
Thank you for your feedback. I have not heard of any of thee software programs. I do want to utilize one all- encompassing , ie. family engagement, newsletter, administrative news and alerts, especially during inclement weather closing. How has any of thee tools been effective during this pandemic?
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Jinaki Kambui
Director
Clarence Blount CDC
Baltimore MD
Original Message:
Sent: 06-20-2020 11:20 AM
From: Veronique Liebmann
Subject: Center management software
We are using three different tools that complete each other to address all our needs:
- TADS for tuition management, enrollment, financial aide, students and families database. Possibilies are endless to create custom lists, labels etc
- BLOOMZ app to communicate with families and staff. You create classrooms or groups with students, invite parents to join their child's class. Teachers can communicate daily with their families and share pictures, posts or communicate privately with a family. The admin can also post for all families or target choosen groups/classes. With 20 + years of experience this is the best and intuitive tools i ever found.
- CHILDCARE CRM : this is our marketing tool.
I will be happy to share more details.
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Veronique Liebmann
Minnetonka MN
Original Message:
Sent: 06-19-2020 03:16 PM
From: Jinaki Kambui
Subject: Center management software
Hi, I am researching a software program which can bring our Center into the digital age. After having to introduce my staff " quickly" in using "ZOOM" classes for summer and connect them to the digital world for virtual resources, it has become clear that we can no longer depend on " face-face experiences. I feel like we have been in the stone age and now I feel compelled to expand how we engage with our children and families- from parent education to teacher educational updates- online workshops for getting those essential clock hours for licensing requirements. We are small, only 36 capacity, and I didn't feel we needed to change. What is anyone using or are you still doing it yourself, manually?
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Jinaki Kambui
Director
Clarence Blount CDC
Baltimore MD
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