5ofus Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 Hi all, We currently use a system of spreadsheets and word documents to manage the income of our community pre-school. We have a maximum of about 60 children at any one time, who are either fee payers, EYES funded or a mixture of the two. I'm thinking it would be MUCH easier if we could load all this info into an online software package, have the facility for parents to pay their invoices online and have it generate reports. Do any of you use nursery management software? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybertwin Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 we have just bought one, similar amount of sessions children lots of investigating for the right thing led us to instant nursery manager lots of help, more that one user, we have ours hosted and backed up rem,otely so we dont loose anything is working really well does registers, allergies, invoicing , pay loads of things am still learning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyanne Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 When my preschool looked at this last year, most of the good software (ie, recommended on here!) was going to be too expensive for us to buy - we're a charity run preschool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5ofus Posted October 13, 2010 Author Share Posted October 13, 2010 We are too! It's just when I think of the 2-3 days per term the administrator spends trying to get EYES forms in, never mind the chasing of fee payers and calculation manually of invoices I can't help but think there MUST be a better way of doing this. It's probably because I work for an IT company that there's this nagging idea that an online system could be the answer We have offered parents the option of paying via bank transfer but so far no-one has taken up the offer! (and the cheques and cash keep coming....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buttercup Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 I am using express invoice. downloaded free of internet. They keep telling me my trial is over but still using it. Creates nice invoices easy to put in hours and price etc. you can then tell it whose paid and it will do a spread sheet telling you who has not. I found it simple to use and I am no wizz on the computer. Any probs please ask buttercup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyanne Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 It's tricky isn't it! I don't think any software is going to make funding forms easier though Buttercup's suggestion sounds worth a look. We find it's the chasing after parents who do fiddly payments the worst. You know, the ones who want to pay each session, or who didn't have quite enough so carried some forward, but then they paid more that week so are they in credit by a bit, oh and can they have an extra session but if they pick the child up early can they only pay for part of it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristina Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 I also use Instant Nursery Manager and I have to say although it cost £500 it has been worth it's weight in gold!! I am a private Pre-School and found that working 6 sessions a week and doing all the paperwork was stressful and time consuming and Nursery Manager has cut my paperwork time by half!! Kristina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 We are using the one recommended by the PLA and still trying to work it out but looks like its going to do more than we wanted. Cost about £250. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 The Isle of Wight has been lucky to have a free software package developed called Superfox. Not too sure how this came about but I do know that other LEA's also have it. We implemented it in full this September and am loving it!!! It really does do pretty much everything you need it to! Lot's of hours involved in the initial set up and data input but once it's up and running saves hours! It even produces a head count and census report which has been brilliant! The guy who developed it has been down to do training and is available via email for any problems we've had, can't big it up enough, it really has transformed how we run the administrative side of things! Have a look! http://www.superfox.org.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 had a look and found this about other areas... "SuperFox has been developed as a sustainability initiative in collaboration with local authorities in Kent, Cumbria, Northumberland, Warrington, Bexley, Stockton, North Tyneside, County Durham and the Isle of Wight. Over 4000 copies have now been shipped." may be worth an ask.. looks like an interesting piece of software.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 I'm, finally going on training for Superfox on Wednesday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimms o'clock? Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 (edited) ...defo a Superfox fan. I have been using it since Kent first signed up, when it was very basic, and have been lucky enough to get updates when they are in "trial" stage so i can feed back to Keith, the man who created it for his own After School Club. The final updates are easy to add. What does it do. Family registration details Registers to use for signing in and out. Timelines showing how many of each age group are in throughout the day. Occupancy levels in various chart forms Show services used by family, service type etc, Full accounting systems for income and expenses. Invoices which you can do weekly, monthly, termly can be in arrears or advance depended on how you do the bookings. Can get lists of outstanding debt once invoices are done. Staff details, including key person lists, holiday taken, Can do gross pay but you need to input tax deductions before priniting. These are not linked to the accounting system so will have to be entered as "staff costs" each pay day. Cash flow. Profit and loss. EY census Headcount data. Lots of lists; birthday by date of age, medical list, family addresses, email addresses. Blank family registration forms. I'm sure I've missed out loads, these are just from memory. It easy to back up and can be done on memory stick so you can take your up to date version home to work on if need be. So in case you haven't worked it out yet I don't think I could fuction without it now, I just need to get someone else trained to do it in case I'm not around to do it. It took around a couple of days to get up and ready to run. Oh and best of all, if you can get your LA to sign up for it its free with all the suport you need as our Childcare Business Officers are all trained to help. BMG Edited January 15, 2011 by BMG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Am liking this superfox thing! After just spending goodness knows how long trying to do headcount and that dastardly census thing as a dinosaur on the computer it took me absolutely ages. I wonder if I could talk my committee into purchasing this or similar, it seems to do all of the jobs that I do! I wonder if our lea will provide this for us? Doubt it though in current climate. Does anyone know how much it would cost to buy. My only worry would be that I wouldn't be able to work it but perhaps committee would. Debbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Am liking this superfox thing! After just spending goodness knows how long trying to do headcount and that dastardly census thing as a dinosaur on the computer it took me absolutely ages. I wonder if I could talk my committee into purchasing this or similar, it seems to do all of the jobs that I do! I wonder if our lea will provide this for us? Doubt it though in current climate. Does anyone know how much it would cost to buy. My only worry would be that I wouldn't be able to work it but perhaps committee would. Debbie The way super fox works you would have two levels of access, one for records like accounting and another level for access by staff for registers, outings that kind of thing. Some LEA's have purchased super fox and you can access it for free. I will be using it from Easter I think. Because its free to use for us, i don't know how much it would be to purchase, but, I would suspect it to be reasonable in comparison to other commercially produced systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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