Last month we conducted a survey on child care management systems to learn more about what early childhood education and care providers need from their CCMS and which in your opinion are the best packages to use given the requirements of the job.

This article reports back on the findings from that Mini Poll and will hopefully offer some peer-to-peer insight on which packages are most popular and why.

Despite the large number of CCMS packages available on the market our survey showed that by far the most commonly used package among respondents was Quikkids with nearly 39 per cent of you saying that this is the package you use.

Hubworks came in second place at just under 18 per cent and the third most commonly used CCMS package among respondents was Harmony CCMS at just under 10 per cent.

The good news for designers of CCMS software is that most of you are pretty happy with how well your package works and the level of support and reliability. On a scale of 1 (very poor) to 10 (exceeded expectations) the average overall score was just under 8 and ease of use, reliability and support also came in at an average of around 8 out of 10 as well. In addition 72 per cent of respondents said they wouldn't hesitate to recommend their CCMS package to another user.

As the users of CCMS software many of you had some great suggestions as to how the packages could be improved to make them better and more capable of making life a little easier for the average early childhood education and care provider. These suggestions included:

"Direct line to support people, not having to call a call centre and then have to wait up to 3 hours for someone to get back to you. Also a manual would be useful."

"Online parent portal to share news, documentation for their child, making it accessible to parents at work or home."

"Parents being able to log on an access their accounts and set up their own account."

"Non-web hosted NQS and EYLF management system."

"Some sort of connection to MYOB and less expensive fees for more than one user."

"A waiting list function which can link to any upcoming vacancies."

"Ability to email/SMS parents individually or in small groups. Ability to print reports by room 30/60/90 day function on outstanding amounts on statement. Due to the size of our data file the program runs very slowly and has delays."

"Age listing report and immunisation status report."

"The ability to have bookings for the week grouped by ages. This would make it easier to monitor ratios, especially in the under two age group. At the moment the only way to do this is count the under two year old children individually on each day roll to see how many there are and if there are vacancies available."

"Online enrolment form to be completed by parents that then uploads into software."

"Automatic reminders to parents when they are behind in fees."

"Place to register bond payments and easily refund these. A full instruction document on use of basic features."

"Compatibility with iPad and/or Android devices."

The results also showed that most of you have not changed CCMS providers, with 63 per cent of respondents saying their service has not used another provider. 37 per cent of respondents said they had changed providers and the main reason given for changing suppliers was poor service and an inability to meet new CCMS reporting requirements:

"Unhappy with support from previous supplier plus Kidsoft was Cloud based."

"Used Starcare, poor customer service."

"Support was very poor and certain aspects did not take into account automatic calculating of the Health Care Card Funding."

"Our previous software was not able to meet the changing requirements of CCMS."

"It was an old solution that did not provide a vision for the future."

"Better reporting functionality including BPay and financial reporting and simple statements and receipts for parents to read."

Just 16 per cent of you said you are currently considering changing your CCMS provider with the main reasons given as out dated technology which can't keep up with other offerings in the market place. A number of respondents said they would try and source a local supplier claiming that the support and training options available locally would make it easier to make the transition.

For early childhood education and care providers currently weighing up the offerings currently available in the marketplace to determine a viable alternative the comments provided by users below may be of assistance:

"I do not like web based systems as they are slow and cumbersome."

"I have been with Kindy Manager for about 13 years now and I couldn't be happier. Phillip and his crew are exceptional. Whatever issues I have, they are always happy to help resolve and are always quick to do this. Plus, they don't overcharge. Highly recommended!!"

"The team at Kindy Manager are great but the software lets them down."

"Starcare staff are always helpful and understanding."

"Looking forward to seeing a parent portal for their child's learning documentation"

"Smartfees are always willing to listen to and respond to our suggestions for a better product. They are just very slow to act."

"The ease of use of Kidsoft was astounding when I consider my old solution. I can use Kidsoft with an iPad when I'm away from the centre. Their support system also allows me to get on with my work. They are helpful and friendly to deal with."

"HubWorks is a great software package and the helpdesk people are fantastic."

"If the cost of transferring to an alternate program wasn't so hefty, we might consider it."

"We find it better to deal with a software company that operates in our state and has the personal support if needed and we can contact for support and know that we would have an answer the same day to any problems or concerns which is better suited to our needs."

"Quikkids are fantastic, highly recommended."

"Although I am not overly satisfied with Quikkids, it does do all I require and I think it would be too difficult/inconvenient to change, just for the sake of it. But the questionnaire has prompted me to look at other options!"