What you told us, and how we would answer it

Where you are now

The situation

Nearly 200 staff, about 170 on the rota, across seven nurseries.
Every term, each site manager builds their own rota in Excel, three months at a time, and Sally signs them off and catches the rule breaks after the fact.
You hit a 55 per cent staffing cost target by hand, tracked against income, and it works.
Staff and qualification records live in Famly. Holiday goes through Citation Atlas, payroll through BrightPay, everything else on Microsoft 365.

What is not working

The pain, in your words

You are fed up of doing it the way you have for six or seven years. Archaic. People colouring in blocks and counting the right numbers on their fingers.
The method works. It is the doing of it that is slow, manual and easy to get wrong.
Errors creep in: a week copied and not updated, a missing shift, a rule broken and not caught until it is too late.
The seven sites cannot share staff cleanly, so cover hours get paid from the wrong pot, or missed.
Every morning brings last minute sickness to cover.

Your request list, answered

What you asked for, and how it works

Everything you asked for is below, in your words on the left and the answer on the right. The tag shows what is in the first build and what comes after it, because the honest plan is to build the part that hurts first, not everything at once.

The must-haves

You asked for

Better than a spreadsheet. Automate the build from set shift patterns, then let a manager edit around them.

How it works

It builds the rota from your shift patterns and the children you expect, then hands it to your manager to adjust. The first draft is done before they sit down.

In the first build

You asked for

The rota itself should not be able to be sent if it would breach ratio.

How it works

It checks every rota against the rules as it is built. One that breaks ratio or a cardinal rule cannot be published.

In the first build

You asked for

An authorised override, so Sally can allow an exception when real life demands it.

How it works

Sally approves a logged exception, so a genuine one-off is allowed on the record, not by quietly ignoring the rule.

In the first build

You asked for

The ratios, and the Naturally Learning rules on top: someone in charge, half the staff qualified, a Level 3 in every space, a first aider on site.

How it works

Your ratios and your own rules are built into the engine and checked on every single rota, automatically.

In the first build

You asked for

Downward age mixing, worked out, to save a member of staff.

How it works

It works out where an older child can sit in a younger room at the tighter ratio to save a wage, every room, every day. Never the other way.

In the first build

Everything else you asked for

You asked for

Certificate tracking, with a flag when one expires so the person stops counting.

How it works

It holds every certificate with its dates and stops counting a person the moment one lapses, so an out of date first aider never makes a room look legal.

In the first build

You asked for

Share staff across the seven sites, with their hours following to the right cost pot.

How it works

You move someone to another site by dragging them, and their hours follow to that site's cost pot, so cover is never paid from the wrong place.

In the first build

You asked for

The live staffing cost against the 55 per cent target, and a payroll export.

How it works

It costs the rota as you build it and shows the staffing cost against your 55 per cent target, then exports the hours for BrightPay.

In the first build

You asked for

Pull child numbers and staff data from Famly, automatically.

How it works

It pulls the children you expect per room per day, and your staff and qualification data, straight from Famly. No re-keying.

In the first build

You asked for

SEND: an extra body in a space for a child who needs support.

How it works

A child who needs an extra adult is flagged from their Famly tag, and the rota counts that extra body into the room.

In the first build

You asked for

A safeguarding and SENCO tick, to show cover for the day.

How it works

A tick shows your safeguarding and SENCO cover for the day, even when they are not in the building.

In the first build

You asked for

An agency line: how many agency staff are in that day.

How it works

It shows how many agency staff are in on any given day, alongside your own.

In the first build

You asked for

Reports on hours, absence, cost, and how full each room is.

How it works

Reports on hours, absence, cost, and occupancy against capacity, so you can see where there is room for more children. The core ones first, the rest as it grows.

In the first build

You asked for

Permissions: managers edit, each site's cost stays private.

How it works

Managers edit, everyone gets a profile, and each site's cost stays private so they keep competing on it.

In the first build

You asked for

An app, not a messaged file. Microsoft login. Laptop and phone.

How it works

A web app, nothing to install, with Microsoft login. Managers on laptop and phone from day one, staff on their phone with the team app.

In the first build

You asked for

Staff self service: a profile each, request holiday, swap shifts like for like with approval.

How it works

Each member of staff gets a profile, requests holiday, and swaps shifts like for like, qualification aware, with a manager's approval. This is the staff app that follows the builder.

Comes next

You asked for

Holiday in one place, flagging when the maximum are off or allowance is unused.

How it works

Holiday lives in one place, flags when the maximum are already off, and chases anyone sitting on unused allowance. From day one their booked leave already feeds the builder, so it never rosters someone who is off.

Comes next

You asked for

Later, a QR clock in on the wall, linked to Famly.

How it works

A QR code on the wall for clocking in, linked to Famly, so the live floor knows who actually turned up. This is the last piece.

Comes later

The shape of it

We start where the pain is

The first thing we build is the part that takes the days and causes the mistakes: the rota that builds itself, checks itself, and refuses to go out wrong. Almost everything on your must-have list, and most of the rest, sits in that first build.

The staff app, the holiday system and the live floor follow once the builder is earning its place. That way you feel the difference quickly, on the thing that hurts most, rather than waiting for everything at once.