Since all the products SOUND the same, how do you communicate how really great DCMS is? - Melanie Bruce, Children's Workshop, MA

An excellent question and one that can only be answered by understanding the differences between newer technologies and methodologies and those of older systems for child care centers and that are encumbered with outdated systems architecture. DCMS based iCare Child Care and edMaster School Management Software are comprised of the latest technologies and methodologies that allow it to be the finest productivity engines within the child care and early education industry. Rules based processing, workflow automation, and real time processing were not concepts incorporated into the older products that are in the marketplace today. Long-term  child care software products have camouflaged their basic outdated architecture and rudimentary design structures with superficial changes, and therefore cannot render the fundamental profitability and productivity values that iCare and edMaster Management Software can deliver to your private school or child care center business.

RULES BASED PROCESSING AND WORKFLOW AUTOMATION

SET IT AND FORGET IT:

BILLING

A rules based system allows users to define under what rules and principles they want their child care center to operate. Once these rules have been setup, the system will process all transactions based on the defined rules. Why is this important to the child care center's director? The rule by which the child care center is operated is setup initially. Thereafter all transactions are processed against the rules with no manual interaction. Several billing options are accessible with the system and are available as hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, session billing, hours per day code billing, and additional hour billing. These options are supported for both multi-payers and subsidy payers. For example, once the director has established the hours of operation for the child care center and the billing specifics for each child, iCare and edMaster will do all the billing operations for your child care or school business, including late fees and unscheduled hours, without so much as a keystroke or click of a mouse.

IMMUNIZATION

The immunization processing is one of the vital tasks in the child care center. iCare and edMaster have defined rules based on your state's regulations programmed within it. Once the child's up-to-date history is entered into the system, forget it. iCare and edMaster will calculate the due dates for the next shots, notify the parents as the due date approaches, and inform the child care center's director if the procedures were not completed within the proper timeframe. All of this is done without anyone touching the computer.

COMMUNICATION
One can setup a series of messages that are frequently sent to parents and staff and/or enter a specific message for an individual. The system will deliver them and record a receipt automatically to related people of the child care center. Bilingual options can deliver messages about immunization, overdue accounts, staff meetings, delinquent accounts, announcements, special events, medication administration and scheduling appointments in the child care center. Again all of this is done automatically by iCare and edMaster Management Software.

STAFFING AND SCHEDULING
Once child and staff schedules have been entered, including temporary schedules and planned leaves of absence, iCare and edMaster Management Software will automatically provide reports on the child care staff availability, plan staff requirements, present historical attendance profiles, predict future attendance, forecast optimal staffing levels and maintain a record of all future schedules. When the temporary scheduled is completed, the child care software will automatically revert to the permanent schedule of the child care center. The results are all accomplished without anyone operating the computer.

ACCOUNTING
General ledger, accounts receivable, and payroll need to be setup initially using the rules that the center's director wants to define. In addition, payments received from the parents must be entered into the system. However, iCare and edMaster take over from there and posts the data to the ledgers, creates billing reports, identifies those parents who are delinquent, and notifies the director of those past due accounts. It also automatically calculates payroll and posts it. No human interface is required after the payments have been entered.

REAL TIME INFORMATION:

CRITICAL CHILD/TEACHER RATIOS

Because iCare and edMaster Management Software use a data entry terminal to check in and check out the children, it can display instantaneously and continuously the child/teacher ratios in each classroom. A color-coding scheme will indicate at a glance whether a particular room is understaffed, overstaffed or within limits. This will insure compliance with state regulations and will improve bottom line results by highlighting overstaffing conditions in the preschool. Again, all information is provided automatically without human intervention.

GRAPHICAL POPULATION PRESENTATION

A continuously updated graph shows the total number of children that are in the childcare center at any moment. With PIN requirements for both parent and child, an extra element of security is afforded by iCare and edMaster. No one needs to be at the computer to provide this critical information.

TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN:

RELATIONAL DATABASE

A relational database is a structure indicating how data is stored and "relates" to other information in the database. Why is this important to you? When using a true relational database, data only needs to be entered once. Non-relational structures require you to duplicate the data depending on the functionality you are using. Any Information Technology person will tell you that under this environment, there is a loss of productivity. But more importantly, when you duplicate data, invariably there will be an error in the transformation of the data and that when updated, sometimes individuals will only remember to update one of the fields and forget to update the other occurrences. iCare and edMaster have the only cross-linked database where multiple contacts are connected to each child, and each child is connected to multiple contacts. Operationally, this means that you only need to change it once and it applies to all applications. This means greater productivity, accuracy and flexibility.

DATA INTEGRITY

To assure data integrity, iCare and edMaster distinguish between data that can be modified and the activity data that cannot. For example, consider activity data such as the punch-in time of a child. To assure that this data is not mistakenly modified or erased, the system does not write over the data when modifications are made. Instead it marks the old entry as void and creates a new entry with the modified data. This provides you with greater control, accuracy and an excellent audit trail that Licensing Offices will accept.

DATA SECURITY

To insure the total reliability of the data, transactions are recorded directly into the database. If a catastrophic event like a power outage were to occur, only the current transaction being processed could be lost. All forms and reports are opened in read only mode so that data cannot be accidentally modified or deleted. User group setup assures that only selected users are allowed to see or modify data. The system provides complete automated backup facilities that execute daily without manual intervention. These design features contribute to increased productivity and accuracy.