Your first week with NestliCare

Follow this track in order. Each step is linked to a detailed article — skim them if you already know what you're doing, or follow the steps if you don't.

Prefer to watch? This full walkthrough sets up a daycare from scratch, every feature, in about twelve minutes.

In this video:

• 0:00 Create your account
• 1:25 Settings and data migration
• 2:09 Rooms and programs
• 3:14 Add your team
• 4:23 Families and children
• 6:09 Billing and automatic invoices
• 8:01 Announcements, newsletters, and documents
• 10:06 Invites, check-in, and attendance
• 11:49 You're set up

Day 1 — Set up your account

1. Create your organization. Signing up creates everything you need to start: your organization, your center (with the address you entered), and your first room (Room 1, with you assigned to it and your capacity set). You land straight on your dashboard.
2. Confirm the basics. Check your daycare's name and time zone under Settings → General. Every timestamp in NestliCare (check-ins, activities, invoices) uses this time zone.
3. Upload your logo. Your logo appears on invoices, emails to parents, and the parent app. A 512×512 PNG is ideal.

Day 2 — Shape your rooms

1. Make Room 1 yours. Go to Organization → Rooms, rename the auto-created Room 1 to what you actually call it (Infant Room, Sunflowers, Preschool), and check its capacity.
2. Add your other rooms. If children are grouped into more than one room, add the rest. Capacity here feeds your ratio reports later.
3. Multi-site only: add centers. Most daycares have exactly one center and it already exists. If you run more than one location, add the others under Organization → Centers.

Day 3 — Invite your staff

1. Invite teachers and admins. Go to Staff & Time → Staff → Add Staff. Each teacher gets an email with a link to set their password and install the app.
2. Assign them to rooms. A teacher only sees children in the rooms they're assigned to.

See Invite your team for the full walkthrough.

Day 4 — Set up billing (optional but recommended)

1. Create your billing plans. Go to Billing & Payments → Billing and click Create Plan. A plan defines how much you charge and how often. Examples: "Full-time toddler, $1,200/month", "Drop-in, $60/day".
2. Get online payments enabled. They're not self-serve. Go to Billing & Payments → Finances and message us; our team provisions your payment account, then you finish a short verification.
3. Let invoices run themselves. Turn on Auto-Invoice Generation so every family is billed on their plan's schedule.

See Set up billing for the full walkthrough.

Day 5 — Add your first children

1. Add families. A family is one or more parents plus one or more children.
2. Add each child. Enter their name, date of birth, room assignment, and emergency contacts.
3. Assign a billing plan. This is what you'll charge them each period.

See Add your first children.

Day 6 — Invite parents

On each family's page, send an invite to each parent. They receive an email with instructions to install the parent app and log in.

Day 7 — Run a live day

1. In the morning, check children in — teachers use the mobile app's check-in screen, or families can self-check-in at the kiosk.
2. Throughout the day, post activities — meals, naps, diaper changes, photos.
3. At pickup, check children out.

You're live. 🎉