As an FDC agency, you have a lot of responsibility and a very low budget. You have to train and monitor the providers, so children are taken care of properly, records are completed in time and payments are made fully and in time. Also, you want parents to use as much of your services as possible.

As a funding source, you have to maintain records to monitor and pay the providers. You also need to have proper checks so that the providers and parents are not misusing your funds. You want to give the maximum benefits to both the parents and the providers and minimize your administrative cost.

What you need

You need management software that will best fit your needs in the areas of:

• An expandable database for children, contacts and staff
• Demographics data
• AR side billing for parents and funding sources
  
• AP side billing for providers and drivers
• Provider training, certifications, reviews and home visits
• Scheduling and planning
• Attendance entry with authentication
• Enrollment and waiting list process
• Integrated accounting
• Managerial checks
  

How iCare will help

Each of the iCare Child Care Management Software modules is richly developed to give you the flexibility and controls you need to properly manage your accounting and daily operations.

Children, Family & Contacts Database: This module provides you with a great set of child enrollment management tools and a clean database that simplifies accounting. You will have better control on the child enrollment process while spending less time on the computer.

Providers and Drivers Database: The providers and drivers database gives you AP functionality that is integrated with the children’s record keeping and AR functionality. Children are enrolled under providers, and their attendance records are tied to providers and drivers. In this way, you do not have to perform data entry in multiple places, and the management is simplified. AR and AP side rate charts are pre-programmed. The provider database helps you monitor their licensing, home visit inspections, liability insurance, CPR and first aid certifications and professional development.

AR and AP Side Billing: Several batch processes for AR and AP side billing are included that will help you bill your accounts accurately and in timely manner. Billing processes included are AR side subsidy billing, private or co-pay billing, AP side provider and driver billing.

iCareProviderWeb: This is a web-based extension for iCare to be used by providers. It simplifies your communications with providers, and provides an authenticated method for attendance entry. This helps you pay your providers on time. Providers also get direct access to the data of the families they are taking care of.

Attendance and Scheduling: iCare includes the most extensively developed attendance and scheduling features in the market. And, these features are available in both time-based and type-based formats. You can maintain primary, temporary and future schedules, so your data entry work will be done in a timely manner and true projections will be available. Several planning tools are provided, so you can achieve optimal scheduling and organize your staff in the most efficient way. Many methods for automated attendance entry are available – keypad, lobby interface for touch screen monitor, barcode scanner, PDA and signature capture tablet – which are supplemented with a rich set of features to suit your specific needs.

Accounting: An accounting system integrated with the operations side will help you optimize your profitability. The system includes many automated posting procedures, single and batch posting processes, ledger management tools, parent-friendly statements and an integrated chart of account system.

Records Manager: With its standard – immunization, medical, permissions and family demographics – and user-definable features, the iCare records manager can completely eliminate your dependence on paperwork.

Report Making: iCare provides you the most advanced report making tools in the industry – drill-down, ad hoc reports, exceptional tools for formatting, get all data, email link, Excel link and exporting. Both your users and managers will find marvelous tools in iCare for better control and functionality in less time.

Food Program: The iCare Food Program module provides a complete system for managing the CACFP reimbursement program. The system will maximize your reimbursement and reduce your computer work.