Forty questions to ask any childcare software vendor

Billing and payments

1. A child starts on the 13th. Show me the first bill. Who calculated it?
2. A family gives notice and leaves on the 20th. Show me the final bill and what happens to the deposit.
3. A family takes a two-week vacation that qualifies for a credit under our policy. Show me how that reaches the bill.
4. Where does the system learn our tuition rules: from a signed agreement, or from settings someone maintains?
5. Show me a sibling discount and a staff discount being applied. What happens when the older sibling leaves?
6. A bank payment is returned. Show me every step from the moment it happens. Who finds out, and how?
7. What are your card and bank-draft rates, in writing? Are there monthly, batch or returned-payment fees?
8. When do funds reach our account, and what are the cut-off times?
9. How do I record a check or a money order against a family's account?
10. Can a parent see a statement and a year-end tax receipt without calling us?

Licensing and compliance

11. An inspector names three children and two employees. Show me their complete files, now.
12. Who types in the doses from an immunization record?
13. Does the system check doses against my state's schedule for child care, or a general one? What about a dose given too early?
14. How will I know a teacher's CPR card or background check is about to lapse? Who tells her?
15. Do training hours count toward the annual requirement without a certificate attached?
16. Show me one list of every gap across all child and staff files.
17. Which of my state's required forms are built in, and who keeps them current when the state changes them?
18. How are parent and center signatures on a form recorded, and what happens to old signatures when a form is revised?
19. Can I correct an attendance mark? What does the record show afterwards?

AI and automation

20. What exactly does your AI do today, in production, and what is announced for later?
21. Can it read a document and update a record? Show me with an immunization record.
22. Does anything change in our records without a person confirming it? What, exactly?
23. When the AI is unsure, what does it do?
24. Is there a log of what it suggested and who approved it? Can a change be undone?

Parents and enrollment

25. Show me a parent completing the whole enrollment packet on a phone.
26. Can parents upload an immunization record and update pick-up people themselves?
27. What do parents have to download? What do their ratings say?
28. A prospective parent visits our website at 10 pm. What happens?
29. Show me a lead from first contact to enrolled, and what follow-up went out without us.

Contracts and cost

30. What is the term on the order form? Does it renew automatically, and with how much notice to cancel?
31. Can the price or the fees change during the term? After the first year?
32. Is any discount tied to using your payment processing?
33. Are onboarding, data conversion and training charged separately?
34. If we go live in stages, when does each charge start?

Switching, support and security

35. Who converts our data, from what, and how do we check it came across correctly?
36. Will our billing history and each family's opening balance come across?
37. If we leave you, how long can we still sign in and see our records?
38. What are your support hours, and who answers: your own staff or a call center?
39. Who can see what? Show me a teacher's view and a parent's view.
40. Do you have a current security report such as SOC 2? If not, when?