Working in partnership with our nurseries since 2004

Help & Support

We made a promise to you when you joined us that we’d support you and your team to get the most from our software.

Our experienced Customer Support Consultants are available from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday.

What’s new to support you this month

Top Tip

Are you using our iConnect web app?

In this HelpDesk article, we have highlighted some helpful tips, links and videos to help you navigate using iConnect on web browsers. You can lock down the browser to only allow iConnect if required.

Connect Academy

We have recently launched our new Connect Academy held by our software training and development coordinator, Charlotte Woods. Join here as she as she dives into all things surrounding the Connect Childcare solution.

See dates and topics for the next sessions and book here.

Contact Your Success Manager

Each customer is allocated to a named Customer Success Manager, they are on hand to discuss any specific enquiries about your connect solution and to ensure that you are getting the most from your software.

Contact your success manager by emailing customersuccess@connectchildcare.com.

Connect Academy

Free Customer Training

Join our next block of Connect Academy sessions! Over 700 users have attended and rated them 5/5, gaining valuable training and confidence in using Connect Childcare. These sessions are designed to share best practices and valuable insights for efficiently using both the Connect Childcare management system and iConnect.

Whether you’re new to Connect Childcare, haven’t used the platform before or you’re a current Connector who wants a refresher on best practices, these sessions are perfect for you.

Register below to register or see upcoming dates!

Join the Connect Community

Here you can interact with the wonderful community of Connect Childcare users to ask questions, post ideas, get useful advice and generally share the joy of childcare with a like-minded group. You’ll also keep up to speed with latest updates, tips, and insights directly from the Connect Childcare team.

How to Guides

Connect Childcare

Click on Children and select the child’s name.

Once you have added the contract for the child, you then need to set up the room movements. This ensures that the system knows which room the child will be in now and in the future and also what rate to bill them at. When allocating the room movements by age, the system will move the children based on their date of birth and the age bands set up in the site details.

To set up the child’s room movements, select the Contracts tab in the child’s record, then click on the Rooms button from the top right-hand side. This is where you will allocate the child to a specific room or additional site for bookings across multiple sites. Press Allocate by Age for the system to move the child based on their age and birthdays.

How to Allocate Child to Room Connect Childcare 1

Setting up the room allocations will also tell the system which sessions to offer, so if your babies can’t have a breakfast club session, the system won’t display it in the booking panel.

Once you are happy with the room movements, select Confirm. This will take you back to the Contracts screen.

Adding Room Movements Manually

If you wish to manually assign the rooms, double click the room name in the Room Movements window, select each room in turn and type in the dates you expect the child to be in each room. You can alter these later on if necessary.

Once you are happy with the dates selected, select Confirm. The room selected will now be displayed as a green bar in the Room Movements window.

How to Allocate Child to Room Connect Childcare 2

View the full help desk article

Click on Children and select the child, then select the Contracts tab. The child will need to have a contract added to their record. If the child does not have a valid contract, then you will not be able to create bills for the child. To add a contract, please select the Add Contract button at the bottom of the screen, remembering to allocate the child to a room.

Once you have allocated the rooms for the child you can add the recurring booking pattern for them. To do this, select the Add Bookings button from the top of the screen. This will bring up a blank booking panel.

To add a new booking, you will need to select a session from the Add Bookings button. The sessions available will be determined by which sites and rooms the child is allocated to in the room movement window set up previously.

How to add a Booking Pattern Connect Childcare

To book the session in simply select the day in-line with the session and click on the days attending (one click will book the child in, two clicks will add them to the waiting list). Once a session has been selected, click on Done.

Click Apply

Changing a Booking Pattern

If a change in circumstances means that a child requires a change in their regular booking pattern.  All you need to do is go into the child’s record from Children, search for the child and view the child details. Select the Contracts tab, you will see all historical and future planned regular bookings.

Please change the end date for the existing booking pattern before you add a new pattern. You can do this by clicking on Edit at the bottom right of the panel, then selecting an end date, then click on Done.

To start a subsequent booking pattern, select Add Bookings, the end date of the previous booking pattern will determine the start date of the new booking pattern. Then all you need to do is to add the new recurring pattern.

The system will check that no booking patterns have overlapping dates as this means they will appear twice on registers and be billed twice.

View the full help desk article

To add additional sessions for a child on an ad hoc basis you would use the Specific Days or One Off Bookings screen. This can also be used when changing a child’s booking as a one off.

Select the days that require the additional bookings within the Specific Days calendar. If you wish to add bookings for a whole month, you can select all days in a month by clicking on the name of the Month at the left-hand side.  Once the required days are selected, select the Add Bookings button from the bottom right-hand side of the window. This will open up the Set Specific Day Attendances window as displayed:

How to book a one off session Connect Childcare

To add a new session, select the relevant contract from the Site drop-down menu, then select the required session group / room from the Session Group drop-down menu.  A list of available sessions for the specified site and group will now be displayed in the sessions grid.

There are three billing options available to you when adding an additional session. These are available in the Billing Session Extra Options area at the bottom of the window. The three options are: System Derived (set as default), Bill as Normal Session and Bill as Extra.

If you have left the tick box to System Derived, the system will flag this session as extra if the period is already billed and this session has missed the bill run.  If you have not billed this period, the system will bill a system derived session in with the usual sessions.

Once the correct session and relevant billing options have been selected, select Add to create the booking.

View the full help desk article

Click Children and then select your child

From the Extras tab within Billing in the child record, you can add either a one off extra or a recurring extra.  To add a new extra select the Add New button from the right hand side of the screen. This will open a Client Extras Entry window. Within this window will be a list of all extras set up for the current child’s billing site and should look similar to this:

How to charge for extras Connect Childcare

To add an extra for this child, select the extra required from the list, enter the extras start date and extras end date (if this is a one off extra, set the end date to the same as the start).  Once you have entered the correct dates you will need to select the frequency for the extra

  • One off extra
  • Per session
  • Per week
  • Per month
  • Per quarter
  • Per year
  • Per attending day
  • Per week attending day (extra will be charged per week as long as the child is on on the day of week selected)

Then, if required, change the quantity of the extra.  Once you are happy with the details specified, select Confirm. Once the extra has been confirmed, it will now be listed within the Extras tab on the child record.

Booking extras ‘per session’ may require a system billing flag to be altered within Configuration and Data ItemsBy default, per session means if a child was in for a full day, it would be 1 extra booked, the flag means if you have your system split into time slots, per session means time slot.

View the full help desk article

Select Children and click on your child

On the child’s record you’ll see various tabs. Select Health / Doctor, Dietary Needs, Permissions / Other and Medicines.

These screens are where you will answer any registration questions that were set up within Configuration and Data Items. To answer questions either select Yes, No or Not Known and type any notes required in the notes section of the question. The notes field can be used to log the severity of reactions to certain things and will filter through to the relevant reports.

Within the Health/Doctor tab you will record the doctor’s details for the child i.e. Name, address, telephone etc. You can also log the date these details were last checked, again, these details can be reported on later on, to ensure all important information is kept up to date.

You can add additional tabs along the child’s record for whatever purpose, for example, a Family Profile tab might include the number of siblings, if the parents are teenage parents, if the parents have just gone back to work etc.

View the full help desk article

Click on Sites

Select your sites and click Check Availability

Type in the date period you wish to look at, select the room if you wish to look at a particular room, then click on Search.

How to check occupancy & availability Connect Childcare

You also have the option to include children that have been marked off in the room totals by ticking Include Marked As Off.

All columns are colour coded, the colour green signifies there is space, amber signifies you are at capacity, and red shows you are overbooked.

If you click on the Week Commencing date, the system will bring up the register screen which will allow you to see exactly which children you have booked in during that week, this would allow you to plan for future occupancy levels i.e. John Smith is in the baby room, he is walking at 9 months, he could be moved up into the toddlers room, making a space for another child in the baby room.

View the full help desk article

Click on Main and then select Change my Password

How to change my password connect Childcare

Enter your new password information and click Change

Select Register

If you have more than 1 site you can choose the site you wish to run a register for

Next, you have the option to run the register for just one room (Please note when the registers are printed they will be separated by room)

Then the date section please select the Sunday before the week you wish to view.

Next click search, this will now run your register for you on screen.

How to create a register Connect Childcare

The colour coding matrix will let you know the status of the child on the register

Printing Registers

To print a register off simply click on the register drop-down at the bottom of the screen and select the style you require.

You will be shown a print preview before actually printing off your register.

View the full help desk article

 

iConnect

The Today screen is the first thing you’ll see on iConnect.

How to use the today screen iConnect

Here you’ll see information on your key children as well as upcoming events and any staff or parent requests. 

You’ll be able to see the site and room you’re assigned to and how many children are booked in today. 

Click on Due In to take you to today’s register 

Click on your name to take you to your Profile

Click on Last Observation to see when your key children were last observed in each area of learning

Click on the iConnect logo to come back to the today screen at any time.

You can set a 4 digit security pin to use when switching users on iConnect

Click on your name to view your Profile

Select Change PIN

How to set a security pin iconnect

Enter a 4 digit pin and Save Changes

Select Register

Click Check In to see a list of all children due in today

Select the child and click Mark off 

Enter the reason for absence and select a mark off category if required

The child will now show in the Off section of your register

View the full helpdesk article

You can change your personal details and preferences in your Profile by clicking on your name in the top right hand corner. 

You can add or change your profile picture and view your shifts for the day. 

If you’re using a shared device you can switch users and log out from here too.

Click a field to update the information and click Save Changes 

Once updated, an approval request will automatically be sent to a Manager or Administrator.

View the full help desk article

Accounts will be locked after 3 incorrect password attempts.

If this happens you can reset your password by clicking Forgot Password – or it can be reset by a Nursery Manager.

You’ll receive an email to reset your password.

Create a new password that contains 6 characters and 1 number and fill out a secret question and answer.

If you have not already set a secret question, or if you have forgotten the answer you will then need to contact a manager at the nursery who will be able to send you a password reset email.

Your Nursery Manager will need to go to 

  • Settings
  • Manage contacts and Staff
  • click Staff
  • Enter the staff member’s name
  • click Filter results

Click on the arrow on the Registered button, then select Reset password to send a password reset email. 

View the full article on the Help Desk 

To check a child in, select Register 

Click Check In and you’ll be shown all of the children due in today. 

Select the checkbox next to the child, change the check in time if needed and then Check In

  • From here you can also mark a child off and select the reason

You can obtain a signature from the parent on check in. Simply slick Sign and the parent can sign directly on your touch screen. 

Follow the same process to check a child out

Select Register 

Click Check Out to see a list of all children that have been checked in, alongside their leaving times. 

Select the checkbox next to the child, change the check in time if needed and then Check Out

Again, you can obtain a parent signature by clicking Sign

If you check a child in or out by mistake you can click Undo

View the full help desk article

Select Staff Register 

(if this option isn’t available – call our support team on 01282 507 945 who will be happy to switch it on for you)

From here you can view the staff due in today with their expected shift times. 

How to use staff registers iConnect

Select the Staff Member

Change the time if needed and click Check In

You can select staff individually or click Select All

You can obtain a signature from staff checking in or out by clicking Sign

Use the same process to check staff out when leaving

View the full help desk article

Select Settings

Click Manage Contacts & Staff

Select the Contact or Bill Payer that you’d like to invite to ParentZone

  • The contact will need a valid email address to receive the invitation

Click on Unregistered and then select Register 

This will trigger an email invitation to be sent out and the button will change to Pending

Once a parent has activated their account they will show as Registered

You can use this same process to unregister parents when required,  this will prevent them from logging into ParentZone.

View the full help desk article

Additional Training

Get the best out of Connect Childcare by building your knowledge and expertise with our additional training sessions.

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Head To The Help Desk

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