Frequently asked questions about Childcare Sage™

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A: Childcare Sage™ can easily automate most of the tasks you have to do to run your business.

To help with record keeping, it will store child, parent, and pickup person information, photos, childcare rates, enroll dates, immunization histories, and comments, diets, and allergies.

To help with billing and payroll, it will keep track of child attendance and staff hours and it will track expenses for each child and expense reimbursements for staff. On billing day, it will print childcare bills for each child and on payday it will print paysheets for the staff.

To help with bookkeeping, it will track childcare and staff payments and center expenses. It can even run accounting reports to show you which children owe a bill, which staff you haven't paid, and what your income is.

To help with attendance tracking, it includes a Timeclock program that lets parents and staff sign themselves in/out.

To help with menu planning and the USDA meals program, it includes meal counting and menu planning functionality. It will even check to ensure that your menus are CACFP compliant. At the end of each week, you can print reports that count which meals all of your children ate, and charts that list all meal foods served.

To help you stay in touch with parents, it includes an appointment scheduler and functions to automatically create emails and form letters. Plus, it also includes a Pocket PC PDA application that can keep all child records on your Pocket PC PDA, This is especially useful when you need to lookup a child's phone number or schedule and are not at the childcare center.

Finally, we added numerous daycare forms that you can print and give to parents.

Q: Why does your software come in 3 versions, and is there a difference between the versions in addition to the number of children they can hold?

A: Childcare Sage™ comes in Family Center (up to 15 active children and 5 staff), Small Center (up to 30 active children and 10 staff), and Large Center (unlimited children and staff) versions. There are no differences in the versions except the number of children and staff they support, ensuring that you will get a professional program that has functionality and power to easily handle 300 children, even if you only have 10 children. We offer our software in different versions because we want every childcare to use our software, regardless of budget.

Q: I am a novice at using the computer. Is your program easy to use?

A: Childcare Sage™ was designed to be easy to use. Our program doesn't have multi-layered menus or complex operating procedures. Each function is given a picture icon for easy reference. In addition, our timesheet screen is completely graphical and looks like a calendar for simplicity. Of course, Childcare Sage™ also comes with manuals, guides, and online and phone support.

Q: I own a small daycare business with a few kids. Will your program help me?

A: Even if you only use Childcare Sage™ to store attendance, expenses, and parental information, and print bills to give to parents, it will quickly pay for itself in the time it will save you. Plus, you also get the built-in accounting functions and daycare forms to help you manage your business.

Q: I've seen other programs. How is yours different?

There are many Childcare/Daycare programs out there, ranging in price from $80 to $3000. We directly compare our software to competitors that start at $1000. Childcare Sage™ is simple, comprehensive, and offers the most flexible billing options on the market. We believe that no matter how you bill at your center, the software you use should be able to handle it. You shouldn't have to change how you bill so that software will work at your center. Plus unlike many of our competitors, our system is powerful enough to be used by large preschools and daycare centers alike, meaning that our software can grow with your center. By purchasing our software, you get all of these benefits for an unbeatable price. To show you the value of our software, we have put together comparison charts that compare Childcare Sage to other leading Childcare Management systems. To view the chart, click here.

Q: What do I need to run Childcare Sage™ software program?

Childcare Sage™ only runs on Microsoft Windows based machines. Any computer from the last five years can run our program. Our software is compatible with all versions of Windows from Windows 98 to Windows Vista. We provide all the software you need to run our program. Minimally, you should have at least a Pentium II machine with at least Windows 98 and 64MB of RAM.

Q: What kind of support can I get?

We offer toll free phone support for installation issues and toll phone call and email support for any other issue. We also give you complete access to our user forums where you can find answers to most of your questions. We also provide you with full manuals and user's guides that explain how to use our program.

Q: How long have you been in business and how often do you release new versions?

We started in 2000. Our first Childcare Sage sold in August 2002. We are growing by 10-15 centers per week. We generally release new versions every 6 months incorporating the suggestions that we receive from our users and new features we design through our research and development.

Q: I'm ready to buy. What do I need to do?

We've made the buying process easy. You can order Childcare Sage™ online from our homepage using a credit card. After your puchase, you can download Childcare Sage™ right from the Internet, and we will also mail you a CD-Rom package free of charge.