Program Setup Guide

Overview

Programs are the comprehensive childcare plans which combine rates, groups, and scheduling for student registration. Programs are what parents will register into and they drive what options are available for them via the Online Registration form. Programs let our SMART registration system know what proposals to make, when parents can enroll, and how much it costs to register. Programs are highly customizable depending on your center or organization’s size and needs.

This guide outlines how to set up programs to make registration simple and effective.

It is important that you first view the articles on Groups, Spaces, and Rates.

Table of Contents 

1. Program Setup

2. Rollover

Program Setup

The Program setup is going to dictate what programs show up for parents. The Programs tab also limits what parents can select in the online registration form.

1. Click the Setup icon to access the Setup module.

2. Select the Programs tab at the top of the menu.

3. Click the plus (+) sign to begin creating a new program.

4. The first step is to enter the Name for the program. An example would be Toddler Full Time, or Toddler Part Time. Try to be specific so you can easily distinguish between programs if you have multiple ones for the same age groups.

5. Select the Registration Ages drop-down menu. Here you will see a list of all age groups that have been set up. These are set up in Center > Age Group Dictionary. In the example below, the group Toddler (19-29 months) is selected. This means any children who are between these ages can register for this particular program.

 6. Next, select the Registration Groups drop-down menu. The system will automatically filter for the registration groups that fit the selected age groups. Review the Setup - Groups Guide for more details. You can select whichever qualifying groups you’d like this program to be able to pull from. 

7. The Rates is used to select which rate anyone registering for this particular program will be charged.. These rates have already been set up - review the Setup - Rates Guides. In this example, the toddler program is a full-time program, so we will select the rate set up called “19-35 months FT.” If you have both part-time and full-time programs, you will differentiate between these when setting up rates.

 8. Registration Deposit lets you specify if you would like parents to pay a deposit when they register. This essentially holds their spot in the program until registration is complete.

Waitlist Deposit is used if you want to charge a deposit for parents to pay if there is no space currently in the program they want, but they would like to be waitlisted.

9. The Open Date and Close Date fields signify when the program begins.

Open Date does not refer to when people can register for the program, but instead is the date the program is up and running. For example, this may be a new program being launched that begins at a later date; or, it may be last year’s program that is being updated for the new year.

Close Date is used if the program has an end date. This would commonly be used for something like a preschool that goes from September to June, where parents have to re-apply for the following year. If this is for a daycare, it’s likely the program is continual and just runs year-round. If that is the case, you can simply enter a date far in the future so you don’t need to come back and change it anytime soon. 

10. Next is the Registration Open Date (Public). This is where you set the date you will open registration to the public (usually new families) through the online form. For instance, if you run a program that begins March 1, you may not want to open registration until December.

The Registration Close Date (Public) is when you are no longer taking applications. This would likely be used for a program that runs on a school schedule, or a preschool. If the program runs from September to June, you may stop taking registrations in September, for instance.

 11. The Reg in Advance (weeks) field lets you select how far in advance you want to let parents register for programs. You may not want to let parents or guardians register one year in advance for a program, with just a $150 deposit. Or if you have a school- year program that only runs from September to June, you may only open registration beginning the previous April. You can set this up however you would like.

 12. The Registration Open Date (Portal) is the date this program will be available for existing parents that have access to the parent portal to register in this program. You may choose to to set this date earlier than the public registration date to give existing parents priority access to the program. On the parent portal, this program will not be shown until the portal open date. If no date is set, the program will always be available for registration on the parent portal.

Add a Registration Close Date (Portal) if desired.

The Reg in Advance (weeks) field limits the number of weeks in advance parents are able to register for a program.

13. The next section is to determine which days the program is offered on. If you are setting up a full-time program, ensure you select every day of the week. If you are setting up a part-time program, then just specify the certain days - for example, T and T for Tuesday and Thursday.

Click the time below each day to adjust the time you open and close. Click Save to save any changes.

Program Rollover

The next area in the Program creation is the Rollover section. Like rates, you can also rollover programs. This means we can move the kids up as they age. As an example, if a child begins at the center at 16 months of age in the infant program, by the time the child is 19 months of age, they will be ready to roll over to the toddler program. Then, 18 months later, they will be ready for the preschool program. The system needs to know how to roll over programs so it can predict and recommend registration records. This helps prevent manual labor here and ensures the center stays full.

NOTE: Set up all programs first, then come back to the Rollover section for each program.

You have the option to leave the Rollover section empty and do the work manually, or you can customize it to your liking and really systemize the registration process.

1. If you DO NOT want to use this section then deselect the Repeat Annually box.

2. If you DO want to have the system regularly do the rollover work for you, you will leave "repeat annually" checked off and then you need to add dates you want the system to be checking.

• Select the calendar icon to add a new date.
• Select the date you want the system to regularly be checking. As an example, you may want the system to check for rollovers every 6 months, or more frequently, such as every month. You can add as many dates as you’d like by selecting + Repeat Date.

3. Next, you need to select which program you want the system to be checking for as the child ages up.

• Select the Next Program drop-down menu.
• Here you will see a list of all available programs. Select the appropriate one that will come after this program. For example, if the child is in a full-time toddler program, the next step up will be the full-time preschool program. When creating the full-time preschool program, you can then select the next program up - in this case, the pre-K program. This chain is then used to build out an automatic registration proposal or recommendation for a family as their child moves throughout the system.
• The Kinder Program field is used if your center offers either a kindergarten program, or a before and after school program. In ChildFriendly, this is referred to as OOSC. This drop-down will then be used as the child moves from an age based program to a grade based program. Please select the kinder program you want students to be rolled into. This option only needs to be filled out for programs that would typically have children graduating from their age based program (ie. Pre -K) into a kindergarten or grade-based program.

•  Click the Create button in the bottom right to save the new program.

NOTE: If you need to make any changes while creating or editing the program, click the back icon.