Similar to scheduling, there are 2 methods for recording attendance:

• Time-based (Time In and Time Out)
• Type-based (for example, AM, PM, Full-Time and Part-Time)
  

This flexibility allows iCare Management Software fit the needs of centers, schools, extended day, subsidy programs and camps.

For type-based attendance, the attendance types (like the above examples) are user-definable, so you can create whatever types your center requires.

Children and Staff's Attendance

The attendance module gives you many options:

• 24-hour (around-the-clock) attendance for both children and staff
• 5-day or 7-day options
• Roundup and Cutoff minutes set up, which can be different for children and staff. This allows you to do payroll or attendance-based billing by the minute or in intervals of 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes and so on.
• The Grace Period set up allows you to set a certain number of free minutes for children’s attendance-based billing. For example, a child scheduled from 8 AM to 4 PM may not be charged if the child came early at 7:50 AM but will be charged for extra minutes if she came before 7:50 AM.
• Any number of INs and OUTs for a child can be entered into iCare, which will all show in the detailed activity report. The attendance report includes (4) INs and OUTs for children and (8) for staff. In the payroll hours report you can include lunch breaks and upto 2 additional breaks.
• If you edited or deleted an attendance entry, the original entry is not deleted. It is kept in the database as a voided entry. This leaves an Audit Trail so nobody can simply change attendance entries without leaving a track of the change.
• Using reports and graphs you can Analyze Trends in attendance.
• Summary reports for FTE Analysis are also available.
• If you are using any of the automated attendance entry methods, iCare will provide you many Real-Time Attendance benefits. See 'Automated Attendance Entry' below.
• If you are using attendance-based billing for children, Rebilling Integration is available when you edit attendance.
  

Payroll Hours Reporting

The following Staff Payroll Hours reports are available

• Staff Attendance / Payroll Hours Report
• Staff Attendance / Payroll Report - Weekly Overtime
• Employee Time Card Summary Report
• Employee Time Card Report
• Employee Sick Time Summary
• Employee Vacation Summary
• Employee Comp Time Summary
• Benefit Hours Summary
  

The payroll hours data can be integrated with following payroll processing systems

• QuickBooks payroll
• ADP payroll system
• Exported in many common file formats
• Emailed using a processor such as MS Excel or as a PDF file
  

Staff Leaves Management

A complete system for earned leaves and sick, comp and vacation time processing is available. The earned leaves processing is individualized so each staff could be earning different amounts of leaves.

Subsidy Attendance Reporting and Data Entry

The monthly subsidy register provides preformatted reports for subsidy reporting.

Also available is iCareProviderWeb for Internet based attendance entry by providers.

Manual Entry of Attendance

You can collect attendance data using sign-in sheets, which can be printed in daily or weekly formats.

If you maintain schedules for children and staff then you can utilize those schedules to quickly enter attendance manually. In the attendance entry form, you can use the ‘Fill from Schedules’ button and then simply correct the exceptions. So, instead of entering all the data by hand, you will only enter the unscheduled attendance changes.

Automated Attendance Entry

Several methods for automated attendance are available, which all work for both children and staff attendance. These methods have different additional features like messaging, account balance check, RSVP messaging etc.

• Keypad with 4 lines x 20 characters LCD panel: Staff and children’s check-in and messaging; account balance checkup for parents.
• Lobby Interface for Touch Screen or Regular Monitor: Staff and children’s check-in and messaging; RSVP, account balance and account history review for parents.
• Barcode Reader: Staff and children check-in.
• Wireless Barcode Scanner for Curb-side Check-in: Staff and children’s check-in.
• PDA with Pictures and Signature Capture: For remote check-in of children. It shows pictures and personal data – height, weight, allergies, main contact and doctor – of children. It also has an option for getting signatures.
• Signature Capture Tablet: Staff and children’s check-in with option to get encrypted signatures to parents. 
• Finger Print Biometric Reader: (coming soon).

The automated attendance methods provide several real-time benefits:

• A Live Teacher-Child Ratio Ticker, which is color-coded to show you what your ratio is in each room and whether you are over or under.
• Children’s loading profile throughout the day.
• Quick fire-drill report.
• Ability to move children or staff from one room to another for ratio control and efficient staffing especially in the morning or afternoon peak hours.
  

The keypad, Lobby Interface and the barcode methods are integrated with a door-security system. When an authorized parent or staff clocks in, the door is automatically buzzed for opening.

Bus-line Management

The following bus-line features are available:

• Connect schools and busses
• Select days on which the bus runs
• Select children on a bus
• Select which days each child uses the bus
• Quickly check-in all the children of a bus