Why the Discover childcare SMS helps services succeed
Running a childcare service poses several challenges. A recent survey indicated that managing ministry funding is one of the top three challenges facing the NZ ECE sector. This is why so many ECE services use a Student Management System (SMS). Some Student Management Systems do a better job of managing this than others. However, the complexity of government funding still trips up some service owners.
Some software solutions are too highly dependent on the performance of other systems. Interdependencies might be less efficient than a true all-in-one solution because if one link in the chain breaks, everything else follows. That’s where the Discover childcare SMS comes in.
The ideal system caters to all the needs of your childcare service. Such a solution solves the problem of constantly tweaking things to get different systems to play nice together. Discover by Xplor is a childcare administration system that works better by delivering an easy-to-use solution that minimises administrative time drain.
Discover is a powerful all-in-one software solution that provides clear communication channels between teachers, childcare providers and families. It fully integrates with your website to ensure families can access essential information, get answers to their questions and enrol their children for care. It’s a seamless way to manage operations, work more efficiently and build better relationships within your community.
With the Discover childcare SMS, automation is the answer
Discover has tools to help you manage your New Zealand childcare service by automating tedious, repetitive processes so you can focus on caring for children. You can integrate Discover with your website to track enquiries accurately and seamlessly through a workflow-managed procedure that uses templates that provide a consistent brand experience. You can do so whether interacting via phone, email or text message.
Discover is the first licensed SMS that tracks pay parity automatically. Automated tracking can save you 2.8 hours a month, helping you maximise your funding. Administrators can even get notifications when a teacher is due for a progression in their pay scale. A recent survey identified pay parity as one of the top three challenges facing the NZ ECE sector.
Discover can save you more time by automating bank-related tasks. You can allow Discover to issue invoices according to the schedule you specify. Automatically collect and read payments from your bank and pursue non-paying debtors. Discover’s dashboard enables services to upload information once and never think about it. Expiration dates will trigger prompts that will provide excellent reminders that need action, like immunisations, police checks and medical records.
Administrators spend a lot of time on enrolments. With software removing that step from their workflow, Discover can help you free up precious time. A manual enrolment form typically takes up to 20 minutes for an administrator to complete. With Discover, everything is done digitally, giving you back time to focus on other tasks.
Survey respondents indicated that technology like Discover could save them
- 2.8 hours/week on finances.
- 1.8 hours/week on enrolments.
- 4.5 hours/week on general admin.
That adds up to over 9 hours/week on these tasks alone. When ECE providers embrace technology, the survey indicated they could save over 24 hours/week.
Real-time reporting on children in your service with the Discover childcare SMS
Discover can help you keep track of your children as they move from room to room. Discover displays occupancy per room via a graph, making it easy to determine which rooms are at occupancy at a glance. The dashboard data helps forecast attendance and capacity, as your queue with families can be managed automatically.
Manage your roster like a pro
The flexible rostering function allows you to achieve an organised and easy-to-view schedule by giving you various options. With four ways to create rosters (quick entry, spreadsheet entry, graphical scheduler or copying data from previous days/weeks), rostering is fast and straightforward. The ability to manage your staff roster with different views allows you the freedom to make decisions quickly so you can move on to the next business decision on your plate.
While the ECE sector identified staffing as one of the top three challenges, respondents indicated technology like Discover could save 2.3 hours/week on staffing.
Discover childcare SMS—various flexible reports
Using Discover’s reporting functionality, you have the flexibility to create customised reports. Your service can generate reports that are uniquely tailored to your needs. Typical templates restrict you, but with Discover’s drag-and-drop capabilities, you won’t need to download and integrate several reports to get the one you need.
85% of respondents believe technology helps the sector operate more efficiently
– Aotearoa New Zealand ECE Sector Snapshot
You’ll find 60+ reports already included in Discover. View centre funding, weekly staff roster details or monthly attendance reports with just a few clicks. Drag and drop to build your own customised reports—get your data the way you want it.
Bulk communication
Using the bulk communications feature, you can send messages to employees and families via various methods. You have the option of using Discover to send direct messages and emails or bulk SMS messages if you want a more direct approach. With Discover, you can choose how to connect with the people at your service.
Our free family engagement app, Home, is another avenue for connecting with families, allowing them to view bookings and statements at a glance. The Home app can also be used for contactless sign-ins/outs at the centre, as well as messaging teachers via the Messenger function.
Digital sign-in
Signing in digitally is an innovative way for childcare services to speed up their processes and make sign-in easier for families. A digital sign-in solution allows childcare services to securely scan and organise important documents, eliminating the need to file paperwork or store files on redundant hard drives.
It also helps you demonstrate your commitment to providing the best care to your precious children by streamlining and digitising your administrative processes. You get accurate timestamps for each child with much less effort and without the risk of errors associated with manually logging this data.
You can integrate Discover with your website to collect enquiries, which you can easily track and manage within the platform. The option to sort by any column allows you to review enquiries the way you want.
Discover childcare SMS—a cloud-based solution for your service
Discover’s cloud-based platform lets your service access all its information from any location using any device. This means no more maintaining or backing up of your data, as well as not needing to install any desktop software or hardware at your service. Additionally, you only pay one subscription fee for all logins as opposed to paying per login.
Managing your service(s) is easier when you have all the information you need in one place. Instantly view data on everything from enrolments and enquiries to staff hours and funding with Discover’s Management menu. Switch between different centres or compare them based on funding, alerts or aged debts under Group Management.
Finances and payments
In addition to the robust financial reporting available in the Discover childcare SMS, you can streamline payments and provide families with flexibility with our fully integrated payments gateway. Xplor Pay allows families to set up Direct Debit, so they don’t have to remember to make payments. They can also use PayNow to make ad-hoc payments when necessary. Families can use the free Home platform to view statements, set up Direct Debit or make PayNow payments, all from the convenience of their phones.
Discover childcare SMS—ease of use & great support
Discover was designed to be both easy to use and easy to learn. ECE services that switch from another SMS platform often comment on how much easier and more intuitive the Discover by Xplor platform is.
We provide comprehensive in-product support to assist you. If you need further assistance, our dedicated and qualified support team is never far away, ready to provide you with any help you may need. You’re supported by one team for all your needs, so there’s no worrying about getting passed from team to team while you try to resolve your issues. Again, reports from services that have switched from other platforms have mentioned how much easier it is to get hold of someone from the Discover support team via phone or email.
We’ll help you get started, show you how it all works, train you and answer any questions that you have about our software. When it comes to customer service and satisfaction, we strive for excellence!
The Discover childcare SMS—home grown; home maintained
Discover was designed by Kiwis, for Kiwis. Our New Zealand-based support staff are well-versed in all the features of our software. They’re happy to guide you through the ins and outs of everything Discover so you’re comfortable knowing your data is safe and secure.
Security is top of mind
Part of helping childcare services keep children safe involves ensuring your data is secure. Cyber security is a top concern for us, and we continuously look for ways to improve our suite of tools.
The Discover by Xplor ecosystem uses Microsoft Azure as our cloud-based hosting system. All our sites, including those used for logging in to our platforms, use the much more secure “https” protocol (none of our sites/platforms are available via just “http”).
In addition, our software engineering team regularly takes steps to ensure our platform is safe, including things such as annual penetration testing, DevSecOps integration with the use of Snyk to continuously monitor for any code base security vulnerabilities and developer education. We also have plans to offer Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authorisation (MFA) later this year for both the Discover SMS and Playground.
Our integrated payment gateway, Xplor Pay, is Level One PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliant. This ensures all payment information, including credit card details, is processed and stored securely. You can enjoy the benefits of reduced administration and improved cash flow, knowing your payments are being processed securely.
Finally, we issue regular updates to both our web and mobile platforms. These updates not only fix bugs but help ensure you’re using the most recent, up-to-date, secure version of your software.
A software provider with the infrastructure to innovate and improve
Discover by Xplor is a part of Xplor Technologies, a global platform with tools to help businesses grow and succeed. This enables us to align with industry best practice, backed by dedicated teams, that help us support various aspects of the customer experience. Our dedicated teams include
- Sales
- Onboarding
- Training
- Engineering
- Support
- Product
- Marketing
Furthermore, each customer gets a dedicated account manager that helps ensure all their needs are being met. In addition to our online communities, we have a feature request site. That’s where we gather, listen to and action customer feedback, ensuring we’re meeting the needs of the NZ ECE sector. For example, our invoices are already compliant with FamilyBoost. And we’re set to soon release a 3-month invoice that will make things easier for families and service admins come 1 October.
Welcome to the Discover by Xplor ecosystem
The Discover childcare SMS is the backbone of our platform. But we also offer a complete ecosystem to meet all your childcare management needs.
- Playground (teachers)—less time on admin & documentation, more time focusing on the children
- Home (families)—our free platform is the easiest way to keep families happy
- Xplor Pay (payments)—the most efficient digital payment solution for your childcare service
These different platforms all work seamlessly together with the Discover by Xplor SMS. The seamless integration helps you reduce admin and focus on the children in your care. Used together, they can also boost family engagement and satisfaction.
One support team supports our entire ecosystem for all your needs. We don’t waste your waste time passing you around between different support teams.
Discover’s dashboard displays all the information you need in one location. Monitor occupancy, attendance and finances quickly and easily. Never miss an important deadline or notice with Staff, Child and Centre Alerts.
Want to know how your current SMS stacks up? Download this free checklist to see if your current SMS is meeting your needs. If it isn’t, we’d be more than happy to discuss how Discover by Xplor may be able to help.
Dean Comeau
Marketing Team Lead
