The Ultimate Guide to Daycare Scheduling Software: Features & Benefits

Endless invoicing and administrative tasks got you down? For center admins, staff scheduling can be a whole lot harder than it looks. To elevate your daycare management and have the right staff at the right time, you need powerful daycare scheduling software.

In this article, we’ll help you unlock the potential of daycare scheduling software, including the best daycare software features to propel your childcare business forward.

What Is Daycare Scheduling Software?

Daycare scheduling software is a digital tool that helps childcare centers manage their teams, including staff attendance, time off requests, and class ratios. It automates tasks like payroll, communication, and reporting, making it easier to stay compliant and keep centers running smoothly.

Top Features to Look for in Preschool Staff Scheduling Software

There are dozens of daycare scheduling and classroom management tools on the market, so where do you start? The following feature table will help you decide which functionalities you actually need.

Daycare Software Systems: 6 Must-have Staff Scheduling Features

Now that you have a broad view of the top features to look for, let’s dive into some of the biggest non-negotiables for fast-growing childcare organizations.

1. Paper-free timesheets

Paper-free timesheets are a must for staff scheduling. They save time, reduce errors, and keep everything in one place. No more lost papers or manual calculations—just easy tracking, automated payroll, and a smoother workflow for everyone.

• Features: Automated time and attendance tracking, digital timekeeping​, integration with payroll systems​, real-time reporting
• Functionalities: Recording staff hours digitally​, monitoring attendance in real-time​, generating accurate payroll data​, providing accessible records for compliance, configuring staff pay types, adding a staff member’s schedule
• Use cases: Replacing manual timesheets​, ensuring accurate staff attendance records​, streamlining payroll​, maintaining compliance with labor regulations
• Benefits: Reduction in administrative time and paperwork​, fewer errors in time tracking​, improved payroll accuracy​, enhanced operational efficiency​

2. Digitized check-in and check-out

Digitized check-in and check-out makes staff time tracking accurate and effortless. It eliminates the need for manual timesheets, reduces errors, and keeps payroll simple. Plus, it helps ensure staff are paid correctly and on time, making the whole scheduling process easier for everyone.

• Features: Digital clock-in and clock-out via mobile app, overtime monitoring, payroll integration, timesheet and schedule editing
• Functionalities: Tracking staff work hours, allowing real-time timesheet adjustments, monitoring overtime, syncing attendance data with payroll systems, reducing manual errors
• Use cases: Replacing manual punch cards with digital tracking, ensuring accurate timekeeping, preventing unauthorized overtime, simplifying schedule adjustments, automating payroll updates
• Benefits: Saves administrative time, reduces payroll errors, improves compliance, enhances scheduling flexibility, ensures accurate staff payments
  

3. Customizable schedule types

With customizable schedule types, center directors can easily adjust for part-time, full-time, or flexible care needs. It ensures proper staffing, keeps things organized and makes capacity planning a breeze.

• Features: Customizable attendance reports, real-time parent updates via text and app, easy ratio management 
• Functionalities: Digitizing drop-offs and pick-ups, automatically tracking check-ins and check-outs, making real-time updates to ensure compliance with state licensing laws, filtering attendance reports by individual child, type of user, or group
• Use cases: Streamlining daily attendance processes, improving communication between parents and staff, reducing manual paperwork
• Benefits: Improved operational efficiency, increased accuracy, greater parent satisfaction

You might offer 5-day full-time for infant room and toddler care, half-day OST programs, or all of the above. No matter what your scheduling needs are, make sure your system makes it easy to adjust for the full-time enrollments (FTE) or paired part-time enrollments (PTE) offered at each center.

Pssst! Did you know that LineLeader lets users pair part-time 3-day full-time and 2-day full-time equivalents for comprehensive capacity planning? Just tell the system what an FTE looks like at your center, then highlight other enrollment options by adding ‘schedule types’ within the ‘admin’ section. 

4. Automatic reminders to staff and families

We all need a little nudge from time to time. With automatic reminders, it’s easy to keep staff and families on track by sending quick alerts for shifts, pick-ups, and other important scheduling updates.

• Features: Automatic reminders using data from your tour scheduling software, automated task management, multi-channel notifications via email, text and app
  
• Functionalities: Assigning tasks to staff, setting up automated reminders for tours, meetings, and follow-ups, tracking task completion progress, and monitoring staff productivity. ​
• Use cases: Ensuring staff never forget important tasks, automating reminders for tours and meetings, staying on track to meet enrollment goals, and improving staff productivity through task automation.
• Benefits: Saves staff time by minimizing manual work, keeps everyone informed with automated reminders, enhances productivity by managing daily to-do lists across locations, and allows easy monitoring of task completion to support staff performance.

With LineLeader, you can publish announcements and reminders for the entire team, even at multiple locations. Learn more staff management tips in our Complete Guide to Childcare Operations.

5. Automatic payroll processing

By automatically tracking hours, wages, and overtime, automated payroll processing can shave hours off your week. It also reduces costly errors and ensures staff get paid accurately and on time.

• Features: Automated time and attendance tracking, seamless payroll integration, customizable payroll settings
• Functionalities: Recording staff hours digitally, syncing attendance data with payroll systems, generating accurate payroll reports, adjusting payroll settings to meet specific needs
• Use cases: Ensuring accurate staff attendance records, streamlining payroll processing, staying compliant with labor regulations
• Benefits: Reduction in paperwork, fewer errors in time tracking, improved payroll accuracy

With the ability to access and report on wages or staff timecards in one central system, you can simplify the way you track hours with a lot less work than before.

6. Classroom ratio management & capacity planning

For a healthy classroom ratio, you need capacity planning software that takes all your scheduling types into account to help prevent overcrowding and keep scheduling efficient.

• Features: Automated ratio management, capacity planning reports, real-time occupancy tracking, and compliance monitoring​
• Functionalities: Ensuring compliance with state licensing laws, tying children's schedules with classroom capacities, identifying vacancies and over-enrollment, adjusting staffing levels based on real-time occupancy data
• Use cases: Optimizing classroom use, forecasting enrollment, managing waitlists, and adjusting staffing levels to meet demand
• Benefits: Improved operational efficiency, enhanced safety and compliance, better resource planning, and more revenue

In LineLeader, you can define your ideal revenue and target payroll percentages. From there, your capacity planning report will give you a detailed view of how close you are to your goals.

Childcare Management Software that Brings It All Together

Childcare providers don’t have time to juggle spreadsheets and paper-based scheduling templates. Arm your childcare staff with advanced permissions for admins and internal communication and messaging to help staff stay on top of classroom ratios.

With a powerful all-in-one Childcare Management System, you don’t need to worry about wasting time jumping between six different systems. Your team has everything they need to win all in one place.