The Set Up Module's Custom Configurations Section Guide

This document explains the final configuration options for your center in ChildFriendly. Use these settings to control email behavior during setup, attendance handling, parent communications, reporting requirements, registration fields, and expiry reminders so they align with your center’s operational and regulatory needs.

Last updated About 4 hours ago

Step 1: Open the Configuration Section for Your Center

  1. In the left-hand navigation, go to the Setup module.

  2. Ensure the correct center within your organization is selected.

  3. Navigate to the Configuration section, which is the final step of your center’s setup. Here you will see multiple toggles that control settings unique to your center.

  4. You will review each toggle in this section to decide how it should be configured for your center.

Step 2: Configure Setup Mode

  1. Locate the Setup Mode toggle.

  2. Turn Setup Mode ON while you are still configuring your center and do not want emails sent to families (for example, while uploading data before announcing ChildFriendly to staff or families).

  3. While Setup Mode is ON, no emails will be sent out.

  4. When you are ready to launch and invite families:

    • Toggle Setup Mode OFF.

    • All pending emails that were queued while Setup Mode was ON will be sent automatically; you do not need to send them individually.

  5. To review emails:

    • Go to Communicate > Emails > History to see email history and emails that are pending while Setup Mode was enabled.

Step 3: Configure Overnight Mode

  1. Locate the Overnight Mode setting.

  2. Understand the default behavior:

    • By default, if a child is not signed out by staff, the system automatically signs them out at 11:00 PM local time.

    • This automatic sign-out allows the child to be signed in again the following day and flags a potential error for admins in the Attendance dashboard under the Admin section.

  3. If your center does not provide overnight care, you can leave Overnight Mode disabled, and the automatic 11:00 PM sign-out will remain in effect.

  4. If your center does provide overnight care:

    • Enable Overnight Mode to disable the automatic 11:00 PM sign-out so children are not incorrectly signed out overnight.

Step 4: Enable or Disable Kiosk Mode

  1. Find the Kiosk Mode setting.

  2. If your center prefers parents to sign children in and out using a tablet at the front desk/reception, enable Kiosk Mode:

    • This will add a Kiosk option in your center settings for further configuration.

  3. If your staff handle sign-in and sign-out directly when the parent enters the room, you may leave Kiosk Mode disabled.

  4. For detailed kiosk setup instructions, refer to the Kiosk Mode training video.

Step 5: Configure Report Acknowledgement Requirements

  1. Locate the Report Acknowledgement configuration.

  2. Enable this setting if your center or licensing authority requires parents to sign off on completed incident and illness reports.

  3. When enabled:

    • Parents are notified via the parent app and see alerts on their dashboard until they sign the report.

    • Admins can monitor which reports have been acknowledged and signed by parents from the dashboard.

  4. For more information, review the dedicated materials on incident and illness reports.

Step 6: Control Parent-to-Room Staff Messaging

  1. Find the Allow parent-to-room staff messaging setting.

  2. If this setting is disabled:

    • Room staff cannot directly message parents using Communicate > Messaging or the top messaging options.

    • Only admin staff can message parents directly.

    • Room staff can still create journal entries, but those are one-way communications.

  3. If you want room staff to be able to directly message the parents of children in their groups:

    • Enable this setting to allow two-way messaging between room staff and parents.

Step 7: Allow Staff to Edit Their Own Attendance

  1. Locate the setting controlling whether room staff can edit their own attendance records.

  2. If you want only admin to correct attendance records, leave this setting disabled.

  3. If you want room staff to correct their own attendance when mistakes occur:

    • Enable this setting to allow room staff to edit their own attendance.

  4. Note that any edits made by staff will still appear on the admin dashboard for review and approval (subject to the next setting).

Step 8: Require Approval for Attendance Edits (Optional)

  1. Find the setting that controls whether staff attendance edits require admin approval.

  2. Decide how you want edits to be handled:

    • If enabled, staff edits are submitted for admin review on the dashboard before they are applied.

    • If disabled, staff edits may be applied without additional approval (depending on your platform configuration).

  3. Configure this based on your center’s internal controls and audit requirements.

Step 9: Hide or Show Detailed Parent Attendance Views

  1. Locate the Hide parent attendance details setting.

  2. If you hide attendance details:

    • Parents will see only the total time a child spent at the center.

    • They will not see detailed movements such as transitions to the gym, outdoor areas, field trips, etc.

  3. If you prefer full transparency of the child’s movements during the day, leave this setting disabled so parents can see the detailed view.

Step 10: Enable Vaccination Tracking

  1. Locate the Vaccination tracking setting.

  2. By default, online registration always includes a basic question on whether a child’s vaccines are up to date, as required by licensing.

  3. Some provinces or states require more detailed vaccination tracking than this basic field.

  4. If your region requires detailed tracking:

    • Enable Vaccination tracking to unlock the extended vaccination tracking features in ChildFriendly.

  5. For full instructions and capabilities, review the Vaccination Tracking training video.

Step 11: Set Required Emergency Contacts

  1. Find the Required emergency contacts field.

  2. Enter the number of emergency contacts parents must provide in online registration.

  3. Adjust this number according to your province or state requirements or your own policies (for example, 1, 2, or more emergency contacts on file).

Step 12: Define Required Family Member Contact Fields

  1. Locate the Require family member contact fields setting.

  2. Use this configuration to determine which contact fields such as work phones or emails are mandatory in your registration workflow for:

    • Legal guardians

    • Non-emergency contacts

    • Other family members or authorized contacts

  3. Mark only those fields as required that you must have on file for compliance and operational purposes.

Step 13: Configure Expiry Reminder Schedule

  1. Find the Expiry reminder schedule setting.

  2. ChildFriendly includes an expiry tracking system on the dashboard for items such as subsidies, certifications, criminal record checks, first aid or other time-limited requirements.

  3. If you want to receive reminders when expiries are approaching:

    • Set your email and notification schedule here (for example, how many days or weeks before expiry to send reminders and how often reminders are to be sent untill complete).