ACTIVE Education (ACTIVE Net) vs. brightwheel

Good for online registration of community programs; the sort of class which is once a week. Poor for tracking classes where there might be assignments or homework.

Incentivized

Any preschool can benefit from brightwheel, no matter the size. Brightwheel is also excellent for billing, which is especially helpful for schools that do not have other databases and billing systems. Because our school is a PS-12, it is a little cumbersome to have brightwheel along with another management system that we use school-wide. It would be nice to have a separate price point that does not include the things that another database system does for schools that are required to use what the older grades also use.

Incentivized

• Separation of payer and the person attending the activity. For example: children incur charges, but the parent is responsible for paying them.
• Fast - in our old system there was a delay while customers waited for the system to respond.

Incentivized

• Recording data for students.
• Connecting to parents with photos, videos, and messages.
• Signing in and out electronically and saving paper daily.

Incentivized

• I really like the look and feel of ActiveNet Reporting, but it isn't extremely customizable. Maybe there is something I am missing, but other employees have shared that same feedback.
• It would be nice to have the system synchronize with other software we use. (EMS, StarRez, etc.) When planning conferences, we currently have hotel guests and registration that we would like to share information for through each system. Currently it is just double data entry.
• Would like to be able to add more resources and details to a room booking and have the corresponding departments be notified of the order/track inventory.

Incentivized

• Offering a price point that does not include billing.
• Allowing more freedom of uploading own documents.

Incentivized

I would continue using ActiveNet over EMS only because it connects and talks back to Banner, which EMS currently lacks. Otherwise I am not sure I would choose it over anything else as the functionality isn't quite the same as the competition.

Incentivized

Brightwheel does much more for the preschool level than FACTS does. The creators of this app know early childhood. The company also provides helpful webinars that are unrelated to their software, such as staff retention or ways to market. They understand the business of early childhood and exist to make the lives of providers easier.

Incentivized

• Not sure yet.
• It is newer to me and my department.
• Double data entry which is just extra man hours.

Incentivized

• Value add for parents
• Saves paper
• Benefits for teachers who fully utilize

Incentivized