Choosing the right system to help a childcare organisation move forward

Feb 9
3 min read

Dog and Bone helped Sparkways, an early years education and care provider, to make an informed decision on the best childcare management system to support delivery of childcare services, improve efficiencies and communication with families.

“Dog and Bone's independence was a critical factor for engaging them for this project. This allowed us to ensure the advice that was given was not tainted by any pre-existing relationships with the vendors and gave us peace of mind that the right solution was being put forward”. Jo Moloney – CEO Sparkways

The client

Sparkways are a leading not for profit provider of early childhood education and care in Melbourne, with a long and proud history of empowering children and young people. Serving a diverse community of families across a large geographical area, they undertook a multi-year program of improving their IT capabilities to better serve their families and communities, reduce administrative burden and operate more effectively.

Projects and services

Having supported Sparkways with a Technology Assessment, Managed Service Provider selection and HR systems review, we were engaged to help select a new childcare management system. The existing system had been outgrown, was based on old and no longer fit-for-purpose technology and was not able to grow to meet the organisation’s developing needs.

Through a collaborative process and drawing on the sector expertise of the Sparkways staff, we ran a structured process to understand business requirements, balancing the need for greatly improved family experience against more efficient operations. The requirements gathering process uncovered key needs for automation, integration, reporting and family self-service. The requirements process also took account of support and implementation priorities, with data migration and highly effective training being identified as key needs.

A key requirement was being able to work with the organisation’s existing technology, including their Finance and Childcare Management platforms. They also sought to investigate technology options for the kindergarten side of the organisation.

We scanned the market for technology systems and providers, and identified an initial list of candidates that showed potential to meet the requirements. Following our proven Request for Proposal methodology, vendors were given the opportunity to formally respond to the requirements and present proposals that demonstrated solution capability and the ability to partner into the future.

Working closely with Sparkways, we facilitated a scoring and evaluation exercise against carefully defined and agreed criteria, covering commercial, functional, services and implementation considerations. Once a shortlist of candidates had been agreed, we guided the selection process by facilitating workshops with vendors and stakeholders to resolve questions, confirm proposal details and finalise scoring.

With scores finalised, we worked with Sparkways to arrive at preferred vendor and solution, and then supported final negotiations and contract discussions. Our evaluation methodology made it easy to identify the best-fit solution and vendor, with automation capability, superior parent experience, direct integration with existing systems and support services that were ahead of the competition.

Outcome

Our proven approach guided the selection process to a successful outcome. Sparkways was able to select a best-fit solution, having thoroughly considered their needs, required outcomes and priorities with the preferred vendor. Sparkways could also feel confident that stakeholder needs had been listened to, smoothing the way for a successful implementation. And with the technical and industry insights we provided, the organisation could make an informed decision knowing they had identified a robust product that met technical requirements, with commercial terms that met their budget and risk profile.

What's more, Sparkways could be confident that implementation would be set on the right path, with a shared understanding of priorities, implementation needs and definition of success.

“The technical expertise provided by Dog and Bone is something that we didn’t have. Being able to lean on our consultant for guidance and support and having them stand by us throughout the whole engagement resulted in a smooth process. We are extremely happy with the outcome”.

Jo Moloney