Xplor Education

Pros

It is well designed and easy to navigate.

Cons

The only complaint i had was that some of the features were not working... pretty sure it was to do with my center not the software.. center only just started using it this year after using another program. This program far exceeds the old one.

Pros

Great app that is easy to use and quick to find information

Cons

It is quite functional so there isn't anything really to comment on

Pros

I am open to trying anything new. I feel that at the educator on the floor level it is not that easy to use. There is no template to write observations in. It should have a place for analysis of learning . the look of the system is friendly, the rostering is good. We print out emergency contact lists but cant do it on here. we also have reports (age of children) that we use but cant do it on here. The excell format isnt always able to give us an easy report. Perhaps have a choice of a data sheet.

Cons

Sign in and out notifications you have to scroll through puts parents off and also you have to scroll through them all to find observations. Not easy to give admin permission for room leaders on the floor they need to be able to access and publish their staffs observations. We call them learning stories you call them observations. The live programming feature is only available via lap top . You have to select individual parents if posting something to one room and not the whole service. Observations are lost if saved and then re-edited. I cant load PDF to admin posts for flyers and invitations. Colour coding for signing in is green no Colour for having been signed out. We need to have a quick reference as to who is signed in and out all day. Notifications of parent observations/input too hard to find. Admin needs to have control in all areas that educators use. Including being advised that a parent has posted something.
Most of our staff use IPADS. There has been some issues.

Pros

efficient, cloud based, easy to use, informative

Cons

need more maturity. hope be able to talk to othe.

Pros

Its easy to use interface, very straight forward.

Cons

Id like to be able to create a more custom statement

Pros

I enjoy the photo updates of my child that I get daily. It helps my head and heart to be at ease.
I also like the communication that comes through.

Cons

That I can’t communicate back through it even though it has the function to and the sign in/out function from the mobile is constantly down.

Pros

Everything is there so for example booking days, account balance. Fingerprint sign in is nice

Cons

Not all buttons are intuitive. So for example adding a family member having to click through some envelop. Even then it’s not obvious.
Also sign in with app still doesn’t work which is frustrating so we still have to sign in and out at childcare center

Pros

- Frees me up from the boring admin so I can spend time with the kids and teach them
- Very supportive and responsive customer service team

Cons

- So many functions and features can be overwhelming at first
- As its evolving, you need to be flexible and learn with the changes

Pros

Ability to view attendance records, payments...

Cons

Lack of information about food, due payments, holiday calendar.

Pros

Very easy to navigate around the website, and the iPhone app. High level of functionality and accuracy.

Cons

Very good system, however could suggest adding the access to CCS agreements to iPhone app, and perhaps a fingerprint or face scanner function to hasten the manual login process when signing children in/out of the centre.

Pros

I like the ability to keep in contact with parents via playground and being able to show them what they are doing throughout the day. It is live so parents get to see it now and not have to see at the end of the day everything that their child has done. Parents like being able to see if their child is having a late sleep so know if to come early to pick them up or not.

Admin: I like the ease of use and being able to add in information, set up enrolment etc. A lot of great features on xplor

Cons

Issues with transition to playground has made it harder to keep parents excited about a service they pay for. Parents have lost notifications as well as not being able to consitently see what is happening with their children's day (not being able to see all photos etc)

Admin side: Not being able to easily change children to different rooms has made one admin task harder by having to delete all future bookings and then put new ones in. This should be easier.

Pros

Xplor allows me to manage my child's kindy attendance through my phone. It's easy to see his booked days and log absences/holidays especially if you have full day without time to make a phone call. I like that it also provides me with a detailed trail of payments required and made. With the CCR change still confusing me, that list gives me confidence that I am getting the correct benefit. It has also allowed for faster sign in/out at kindy.

Cons

This is minor, but I don't like that an absence is treated like a booking, so there are 2 "bookings" instead of replacing the booking with an absence.

My real pet peeve is that it always asks me to turn on my bluetooth when I log in. It's an unnecessary step, especially since the feature to sign in/out through mobile is not used for our kindy. I think regardless if it's used in kindy or not, it's up to the parent to turn it on if they want to (maybe have a shortcut to do it), but don't get parents to relogin just because bluetooth is off at the first instance.

The transaction trail can also be designed better so it's easier to understand.

Pros

It's web based. I appreciate that customer service agent has tried his best given the constraints he has. Highly recommend his efforts.

Cons

The cost is too high for the product that you get. The reports often don't reconcile, nor are they adequate for our needs. Fixes are made to reports and something else goes wrong - testing of reports before they go live is very poor. A report will work and then changes are made randomly that you aren't advised about and then the report doesn't work. It seems that the developers have had no experience with developing financial systems - as double entry accounting is not understood - reports need to cross match. We have had in many cases needed to hold Xplor's hand to get any of the reports we need. We have had the software for 18 months and still have many of our reporting requests outstanding. This product.sales team is high on promises but low on delivery. I would prefer less sales fluffy saccharine promotional videos with American accents and more meat to the product - and for the team to deliver on it's promises. It is not a mature product and is at very early stages from a reporting perspective.

Pros

Everything is in one place. Child bookings, Staff rosters, sign in/outs, fees accounts the ability to use paypal.

Cons

The manipulation of reports that we require, to be able to build your own reports would be great. The information gathered for the enrolment form and waitlist form has information that we don't need and it is missing information that we do need. Would be great if these were customised as promised when we signed on and parents were able to complete these online so there wasn't additional data entry each year. Would be great if there was a version that was dedicated to Preschools and the different needs they have against Long Day Care facilities.

Pros

Makes learning visible to families, and allows instant feedback. Puts minds at ease if a child is sad at drop off time.

Cons

Lots of faults, not parent friendly, response time to have bugs fixed is very long (over 8 months for some faults last year) and it is extremely expensive compared to other CCMS systems..

Pros

1. The customer support is prompt, responsive and supportive.
2. Transparency of data information for management needs is quite satisfactory.
3. The user interface is simple, clean and straightforward.

Cons

1. report formats are rigid, should allow users to pick up the valid parameters to extract their own reports
2. data discrepancies can not be identified by the software
3. needs to have warning reports before the claim each day/week, including 1. list of the child CCB not available; 2. sign in/out information are not complete; 3. Claim statistics compare to previous weeks...

Pros

It pretty much covers everything I like that parent can digitally sign children out on the same place we can record observations and sunscreen etc etc the list is long

Cons

Some reports don’t show me totals, or aren’t laid out as well as they could be.

Pros

Not sure if you want this from a staff point of view or parent as I am both. From a parent point of view its good and easy to use. From the staff point of view it has its good points

Cons

From a parent pount if view I know my mother in law is not confident to use it when she picks up or drops off my children for me.
From a staff point of view I dont like how you can print out single room contact lists or birthday charts (although birthdays on the rolls are good). I also dont like how you have to stuff around to print out roles. It should be a one click and print.

Pros

interactive with families. One platform for the adminstrator

Cons

the change in one platform to another just as staff become confident move to playground with many errors and features that staff miss from Xplor care

Pros

It's easy to use and great for being able to control when you need care, payment info, childs info, and for signing in and out.

Cons

i find navigating a bit clunky, and it's frustrating only one parent can have full access to it. I think both parents should be able to have full access to check statements and amend payment details etc. And it's hard to scroll back and forth as that little bar on the top keeps flickering, and if you miss it you have to move your finger around the screen to get it back otherwise you have to go back to main menu again.

Pros

Quick and easy to post high quality photos and videos and ability to share so much with families about their children and their interests, experiences and being in the moment. Families can comment on our observations allowing them real time event notifications on their child whilst in care

Cons

timeing out issues and posts not saved the draft and loosing all the information, the ISS case claims are set to individual children rather than the room.. ISS claims are hours per room not per child. this makes it difficult to claim each week ..

Pros

I like that this child care software has everything we need to help parents feel more secure with leaving their child at our center every day. All of our contacts/updates are in this system as well as forms such as evacuation forms, medical forms, etc.

Cons

You have to be careful with privacy issues since a lot of personal information will be found within this software.

Pros

Not really time consuming. Very quick to update about sleeping time and nappies change for children.

Cons

I think need some changes about posting meal time for children like how many serve they had eat or how many ml formula they drink.

Pros

The look and ease of use. The ability to speak to the support desk

Cons

Not being able to update bookings within the child's profile. It is time consuming to go to the Master Roll to delete bookings in the child's particular room and then rebook them in the next room

Pros

Continually improving and features are constantly being released. Love that the team listens to feedback and is willing to support services.

Cons

Would love to see programming and planning and hourly bookings functionality released. This would save lots of time for my educators.

Pros

With the use of this app, managing school operations has become much easier. Families like to use it because it's so easy and intuitive.
What I like the most is the possibility of generating reports and payment that can be made electronically.

Cons

The price is a bit high. But it's still worth it.

Pros

It has organised my work a very big time.

Cons

It takes time to do software updates tailored to the needs of our business

Cons

I didn’t like anything about this software.

Pros

I wasn't the biggest fan of Xplor and would much prefer OWNA

Cons

I cancelled my subscription no [sensitive content hidden] and they are still deducting payments as of [sensitive content hidden]. Do not recommend using them as once you set up your direct debit, it seems they will indefinitely deduct payments from your account

Pros

I like how easy it is to use that platform. Since the day one when we started using it to now it’s been a few years and I would say that at the moment we use most of the features there. But I like how easy it is to get all the important information about your child’s day.

Cons

As the app is cloud based and you require an internet connection for it, sometimes it gets a while for the app to load when the network signal is not strong.

Pros

so many things i love about this product.
-our onboarding specialist, [SENSITIVE CONTENT], was incredible and went above and beyond
-the support agents are always so professional, so kind and friendly. I sometimes ask a lot of a questions and they always have answers and never make me feel silly for asking.
-it is very user friendly

Cons

i sometimes struggle (and so do the parents) with reading the statements as fore mentioned. We charge two weeks in advance which makes it harder.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Xplor Education

Reasons for Switching to Xplor Education

Pros

The software itself is great and easy to use. It is easy to understand and get used to the different features. The layout of the software is also very clear and simple making it easy to adapt to. Some of the features are also customisable which is good.

Cons

Too expensive. You have to pay for the Office feature, then pay again for to add on the Playground feature (which is the parents portal). When using both, it is so expensive per month. Also, they provide excellent support when you are joining the software (onboarding), but when I was offboarding and leaving the support was very very poor. Many times I was told someone would call me back but they didn’t. I emailed and would receive no replies. Very opposite to the support you get when you are joining Xplor.

Pros

The Xplor accounting system works extremely well for Tharawonga. If the Master Roll is right then accounts are correct and charges are made to parents and it is very easy.

Cons

Parents find it hard to connect and book and sign Compliant Written Agreements. I have had parents that have been with us for two years that still haven't connected with the childcare subsidy. Sometimes, when I am inputting emergency contact details for a child, the addresses and contact details will auto-fill. This has caused confusion as the details entered may be wrong. I have also input addresses on parent profiles that disappear.

Pros

This software has many features including client management, memberships, facility booking, activity registration, reporting, etc. It handles most things well and streamlines the process of registration and payment collection.

Cons

Many features are not integrated with each other making reporting difficult at time as even custom reports cannot pull all the info you need. Many features are not intuitive to set up and documentation is not always helpful even if it exists.

Pros

Xplor is easy to use
Accounts and observation and planning are all under one program
Can use multi media devices to use. Bit restricted to just the computer
Can provide a snap shit and come back later and expand
Parents have instant snap shots if there child day. Throughout the day

Cons

For me it’s the distance. I’m in Western Australia and Its difficult to have a face to face chat and training
Everything is done on line

Pros

Easy to manage
There is menu options to apply holiday discount, check on health, report any issued and above all keep an eye on how my kid is doing at the center.

We get regular feedback and communications via XPlor.

An additonal benefit is to check-in and check-out my kid right from the convenience of mobile.

Cons

The interface can be improved and made more interactive but that is not a burning issue as such. It is more of an add-on

Pros

Due to the software being Cloud based and offering a waitlist feature (that is terrible)

Cons

The softwares inability to correctly estimate families child care subsidy for more than 2 weeks in advance.

Pros

We love that families are able to see and respond to posts, giving Educators immediate feedback and acknowledgement of their time and efforts. We are also loving that Families can make their own posts to children's timelines; this enables us to better connect with families and develop more meaningful relationships.
The sign in and out feature is also great; we know exactly how many children are in each room at any given time, and can manage our rosters and staffing more effectively.
We also love that the app functions give families real-time feedback about what their child is doing throughout the day. This enables them to keep track of how their child is progressing, monitor sleep and meal times, and other useful functions such as nappy changing and toileting.

Cons

The app can be a little buggy to use, sometimes dropping out if internet is not great. This can make it a little more time consuming as you need to close and re-open the app, which is frustrating if you are trying to quickly make notes.
Also, as much as an advantage the real-time recording is, sometimes mistakes can be made, and there is not the ability to edit some posts (such as sleep) which can make timelines look a little messy. It would be great if admin users were able to make small changes to some posts.

Pros

We love the ease of use both for Educators and Families. Everything is clear and easy to see. The Families especially love the real time updates of their children, it takes little to no time to take a photo of their child engaged in an experience, add the learning and send it straight to the child's timeline for families to view. It helps both families and children to engage in our program on a daily basis with little effort.

Cons

Some families do find it difficult at first with setting up their devices and paypal settings, but with assistance from us and Xplor we work through these issues pretty seamlessly

Pros

Great if you have only one child at a centre that uses Xplor.

Cons

Our second child joined a centre that uses Xplor. We were not able to use the same email address to access Xplor as that email had been used for our first child who had attended another centre that uses Xplor last year. We had to register our second child using a work email. There is a similar problem when trying to use the same phone number for signing in and out. The child care centre was not much help and the only way for parents to get assistance from Xplor was by email. To Xplor's credit, they responded in a timely manner. But three weeks had passed since our child had enrolled and we missed three weeks of CCS because we haven't been able to sign in and out.

It is impossible to work out from the statement how a payment amount was determined. The running balance includes daily estimates of the CCS and the actual CCS amount from Centrelink.

We are pulling our child out of this child care centre and the criteria for her new child care centre is that they don't use Xplor.

Pros

As a user of this, i find it simple and easy to use. Im able to sign in before i reach the door, i can check my details and update and add bookings in a user friendly, simplified app.

Cons

A few teething glitches to begin with, was unable to understand the statements section until i asked someone else to explain the different sections and how to read them easier.

Pros

Everything I need is in one app, I can see my payments, book additional days and view the timeline of the days events/reflections in one place. I love that it's compatible with facial ID for easy access, and that we can use it to sign in/out of the centre. I can log on anytime during the day and see if my child was signed in, or has eaten their lunch that day, the updates are in real time.

Cons

You do need to go onto the desktop version to view your full payment statement as it doesn't seamlessly transition, and I find when swapping between my two children I need to navigate backwards a step or two to do so (it would be handy if that wasn't the case when viewing the daily observations/photos), and I can't seem to download the photos for my own storage which means I'll lose them when they finish childcare.

Pros

The program is very simplistic, it is easy to use most of the time
The screen views are clear and easy to read

Cons

The new master role - when i want to look at 1 room, i need all the other children to disappear, i dont want to have to scroll through looking for bookings past children in other roles.

I have been waiting for 3 weeks for feedback about an issue, i dont know whether it is fixed yet, my families Direct Debit is not processing properly. I have phoned and dont want to keep phoning - sitting on hold is restricting. I just need it fixed

Pros

I like the ability to sign my child in and out via the phone app to avoid the queues at the access points.

Cons

That the sign authorisation is only available in the app for primary caregivers and not others that may be authorised to drop/off and pick up.
I don't think there is a need for a hidden menu, due to the limited options in the menu and that not a great deal is displayed on the "home screen" it would make more sense to have the menu icons on the home screen (less clicks for users to get to where they want)

Pros

That the admin functions and programming functions are within the one program

Cons

The constant glitches, especially on playground

Pros

Easy to log my children into school daily in a Xplor care app.

Cons

Frustrated that it’s no longer one email received with all information provided on what kids did, what they ate and some photos. There are no daily notifications that can be issued and I have to log into two different Xplor systems. I’m really not impressed or happy!

Pros

I love the automated notification as I arrived in the car park each day for pick up and drop off. Some days when I am in a rush, well most days, forgetting to sign the little fella in is a battle, thanks to Xplor I am reminded as I pull up, brilliant!

Cons

It does have some loading time delays for certain functions, however as noted above I am in a rush all the time so somewhat impatient!

Pros

Xplor's customer service have been amazing and always able to get in contact with them when needed via their online chat. Xplor has meant as both a Director and Approved Provider I can see exactly what is going on with staffing and ratios when I am not there. It has also helped to minimize my time spent on family accounts.

Cons

With the new upgrades there have been a few teething problems which have caused minor issues for the office and educators, however looking forward to once all these have been resolved.

Pros

They take improvement suggestions on board and make it happen. Amazing customer support and commitment from the team.

Cons

It still feels a bit clunky. Every time when there is an update or something new, there are too many issues that arise and I have to deal with frustrated parents and educators.

Pros

Ability to access and manage my child’s childcare booking

Cons

I don’t know who does not make updates the centre or this feature. I haven’t seen any activities done by my child in their observations never display anything!! And the links are so confusing! I can’t sign up for a new account! It’s exhausting. I do not need a demo because I already know how to use it but a direct link for just simply signing up an account and creating a direct debit for a new service would have been very helpful