---
title: "Check staff-to-child ratios"
description: "Three views of ratio. Room Overview for right now, the Room Day Log for any day, and the Staffing Plan report for how many staff each room's full roster needs."
type: guide
updated: 2026-09-14
canonical_url: https://help.nestlicare.com/owners/reports/check-staff-to-child-ratios
roles: ["super_admin", "center_admin"]
platforms: [web]
---
"Are we in ratio?" has three different answers, and NestliCare has a screen for each:

- **Right now** — **Room Overview** on the dashboard. Every room card shows children here vs staff clocked in, and turns red the moment a room goes over. This is the live number, and it follows [room moves](/owners/centers/move-a-child-for-the-day) for both children and staff.
- **On a given day, minute by minute** — the [Room Day Log](/owners/reports/room-day-log) report. Who was in each room and when, and the ratio between every arrival, departure and move. This is what to hand an inspector who asks about last Tuesday.
- **How many staff each room needs for its full roster** — the **Staffing Plan (Ratios)** report, described below. It counts *enrolled* children, not who is present, so it is a planning number, not a compliance one.

## The Staffing Plan (Ratios) report

A **current-state snapshot** — no date filter. For each room: how many children are enrolled, what your licensed capacity is, and how many staff you would need on duty to meet your state's ratio if every enrolled child came in.

1. **Reports → Staffing Plan (Ratios)** in the sidebar.
2. Optionally filter by center (no date range — always current).

<ScreenshotWithPointers
  src="/screenshots/owners/reports/ratios-report.png"
  alt="The Room Ratios report: capacity stat cards, per-room capacity cards, and a compliance table"
  caption="Stat cards (total rooms, within capacity, over capacity), per-room cards with a capacity fill bar and staff ratio, and a detail table marking each room Compliant or Over Capacity."
/>

## What the math is

For each room:

- **Capacity** — the licensed max, from the room setup (see [Add a room](/owners/centers/add-a-room))
- **Enrolled** — count of active enrollments right now
- **Staff Ratio** — e.g., 1:4 means one teacher per four children. Set on the room
- **Required Staff** — `ceiling(Enrolled / Staff Ratio)`. If you have 14 kids in a 1:4 room, you need 4 teachers (14/4 = 3.5 → rounded up)
- **Within Capacity** — Enrolled ≤ Capacity

## What to actually do with this

### Daily — a 30-second check

Before opening or mid-morning, run this report. Confirm every room is **green** on capacity and staffed to match **Required Staff**.

### Before a licensing inspection

- Click each over-capacity room (red bar). Either move a child to another room or document a waiver.
- Cross-check **Required Staff** against who's actually clocked in (Room Overview shows this live).
- For the day itself, print the [Room Day Log](/owners/reports/room-day-log); many inspectors want the per-room timeline, not the plan.

### When hiring decisions are tight

Export CSV, drop it into a spreadsheet, and model "if I lose teacher X, which rooms break?" before approving time-off or cutting shifts.

<Callout kind="warning" title="This doesn't lock attendance">
The report *shows* when you're over-capacity. It doesn't *prevent* new check-ins. Staff can still check a child into a room beyond capacity — the system assumes you have a judgment call to make (dropping off briefly, ratio teacher on break). Your job as admin is to watch this.
</Callout>

## What "missing staff ratio" means

If you set up a room without a staff ratio (left the field at 0 / blank), the Required Staff column shows **N/A**. The room can't tell you if you're staffed. **Go fix it** — Room → Edit → Staff Ratio. Every state has a required ratio; your room should too.

## Export and print

- **Export CSV** — columns: Room, Center, Age Group, Enrolled, Capacity, Staff Ratio, Required Staff, Status. Filename: `ratios-{today}.csv`.
- **Print** — full report prints cleanly on letter-size; the per-room cards reflow to fit.

## Annotations

Notes at the bottom stay attached to the current snapshot. Useful for "Room 4 has a parent observing today, 2 staff + observer = 3 adults effectively." Annotations don't roll forward — they're per-snapshot.

## Troubleshooting

**"Required Staff" shows N/A for a room.** The room's Staff Ratio is set to 0 or blank. **Rooms → [room] → Edit → Staff Ratio**.

**Report says over-capacity but our center just had a new child enrolled this morning — it's not red yet.** Reports refresh on page load. Hard-refresh (Cmd+R) to re-query.

**Live staff count doesn't match Required Staff.** This report counts enrolled children, not children currently present. For live-in-the-room math, use the **Attendance** page which shows who's actually checked in right now.

**Room is green on capacity but I'm worried we're understaffed.** Capacity is about enrollment, not staffing. Compare **Required Staff** to who's actually clocked in. The report doesn't know who's on break — you do.

**Multi-site org, ratios look fine at one center but wrong at another.** Filter to the problem center to see only its rooms. "All centers" view can hide a single over-capacity room.