Monday is phone call day
You own three nurseries. On Monday you ring each manager: how full are you, how many enquiries, any staff off, any fees overdue. One sends a spreadsheet, one reads numbers out over the phone, one says she will email later and does on Wednesday. You write it all into your own spreadsheet, and the numbers never quite compare, because each manager counts occupancy a slightly different way.
By the time you see that the second setting's enquiries have dropped for three weeks running, a month has gone by. Your accountant asks for group figures for the quarter and you spend a weekend putting them together.
Why group numbers never line up
- Each setting may use a different version of the same nursery software, set up differently, or a different system altogether.
- Managers define occupancy, funded places and staff hours in their own way.
- Enquiries are tracked in a notebook at one site and an inbox at another.
- Fees and payments sit in one accounting file, but split by setting inconsistently.
- The owner's view depends on each manager having time to report.
The problem is not the managers. It is that nothing collects the same numbers from each setting automatically, on the same definitions.
What the gap costs a group owner
Decisions get made late. A setting drifting down in occupancy, a rise in staff sickness, a growing pile of overdue fees at one site: each is easier to fix early. Managers spend time reporting rather than managing. The owner's weekend goes on spreadsheets. When you consider opening a fourth site, or selling, the history you need is scattered.
There is a quieter cost as well. When the numbers are gathered by asking, managers learn which answers make Monday's call easier, and the picture drifts towards what people hope rather than what the systems say. Nobody is being dishonest. It is simply what happens when figures are reported by hand under time pressure, and it is one more reason to take them straight from the source.
The group view we build
- Each setting's nursery management system, rota and enquiry list is connected, using exports or APIs, whichever each offers.
- Definitions are agreed once with you: what counts as occupancy, a funded place, an enquiry, an overdue fee.
- Numbers are pulled overnight and calculated the same way for every setting.
- The owner sees one page each week: occupancy by setting and room, enquiries and registrations, staff absence, fees overdue.
- Each figure can be opened to see the detail behind it, so a question can be answered without a phone call.
- Managers see their own setting's page, so they are looking at the same numbers as the owner.
- Month and quarter summaries are ready for your accountant.
| Measure | Where it comes from | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Occupancy by room and session | Each setting's nursery system | Overnight |
| Enquiries and registrations | Enquiry tracker or inbox | Overnight |
| Staff absence and agency use | Rota tool | Overnight |
| Fees overdue by age | Accounting package | Overnight |
If your settings use very different systems, part of the work is agreeing the definitions. We do that with you before building anything.
Monday, after
On Monday you open one page. Setting two's enquiries have dipped for a few weeks. Setting three's fees overdue have grown. Setting one is fine. You ring two managers, with specific questions, and talk about what to do rather than what the numbers are. Managers spend their Monday running their nurseries.
At quarter end, the figures are there. When the bank asks for occupancy history, you have it.
Most groups start with two or three measures that matter most, usually occupancy and enquiries, and add fees and staffing once the definitions are settled. Starting small also shows quickly where a setting's records are incomplete, which is useful in itself.
Is this your Monday?
- You own or run more than one nursery.
- Weekly figures come from phone calls or emailed spreadsheets.
- Settings count occupancy differently.
- You find out about problems at one site weeks late.
- Quarter-end figures take a weekend to assemble.