Owner's Guide

Everything a childcare owner or director does in BrightBadge — for daycares, preschools and after-school programs. New here? Start with the Owner Quick Start.

1. Plans and your free trial

Each plan is one flat monthly price plus applicable sales tax — no per-child fees. Limits are for your whole account, added up across all your sites.

• Starter — $99/month: 1 site · 5 staff · 20 children
• Growth — $199/month: 2 sites · 12 staff · 40 children
• Enterprise — $299/month: unlimited sites · unlimited staff · unlimited children

Enterprise also includes a dedicated account manager, and online enrollment on your own website — we connect BrightBadge to your site to handle enrollment and packet distribution.

When you reach a limit, the next site, staff member or child is refused with an upgrade prompt. Nothing you already have is removed.

Free trial: a trial code gives you a 30-day free trial, with no credit card needed. You enter the code at signup or when you create your site, and the trial starts when the site is created. We email you reminders before it ends, and your dashboard counts down the last days. Nothing is charged unless you choose a plan; if you choose one during the trial, it starts when the trial ends. If the trial ends without a plan, check-in pauses until you choose one — nothing is deleted.

2. Your dashboard

Sign in at bright-badge.com/auth/login. Your dashboard is one screen for the whole center.

• Top bar: Dashboard, Create a Site, Invite Parent, Settings, and How-To (short in-app videos). The language menu switches between English and Spanish.
• Site switcher: shows which site you're looking at. Every number on the page is for that site.
• Three tiles: Total Children, Checked In, and Staff Present.
• Quick actions: Manage Team, Manage Children, View Site Attendance, Send Announcement, Search Signatures, Health Information — and Enrollment when online enrollment is on for your site.
• Recent Activity: check-ins, pickups, when the kiosk opens and closes, and "on my way" alerts from parents, as they happen.
• Billing: your plan and its status, with Manage Billing.
• Kiosk Access: your Site ID, Your Staff Code, and the Kiosk URL — each with a copy button.
• Parent Management: every invited parent and the status of their invitation.

3. Sites

A site is one check-in screen with its own children, staff and records. Our advice: if a floor or a building has its own front door and check-in table, give it its own site.

Create a site

1. Click Create a Site in the top bar. The form shows how many sites your plan allows and how many you have left.
2. Enter the site name, address and Timezone (every check-in time follows it).
3. Click Create Site. The new site gets its own Site ID.

Switch sites: use the site switcher at the top right. Each site keeps its own roster and records, and a child checked in at one site can't be checked in again at another.

Archive a site: open the site switcher and choose Archive next to the site. An archived site can be restored within 30 days.

4. Settings and record retention

Click Settings in the top bar to open Owner Settings.

• Profile Information: your name and phone. To change your email, contact support.
• Daycare Information: the Daycare Name families see, and your Site ID. To change the address, contact support.
• Record retention: how long sign-in and sign-out records and signed enrollment forms are kept before they are deleted. The default is 6 years, and you can choose from 5 to 25 years. Check your licensing rules before shortening it. Legal hold pauses all deletion. We email you at least 30 days before any records are deleted, so you can download copies first.

5. Your team and staff codes

Every staff member has their own six-digit staff code. The kiosk asks for a code to open and to close, so every opening and closing is tied to a real person.

Add an employee

1. Click Manage Team. The top shows how many staff your plan covers and how many you're using.
2. Click Add New Employee and enter their first name, last name and email.
3. Optionally check Manager (can check children in and out, see attendance, and help with enrollment). If enrollment is on, you can also let them Review enrollment applications.
4. Click Add Employee.

BrightBadge creates their code automatically and emails them an invitation. Until they finish setup, the invitation shows as pending — you can Resend it or Revoke invitation.

Manage a staff member (from their row in Manage Team)

• Copy code — to give it to them privately.
• Regenerate staff code — if a code is lost or shared. The old code stops working.
• Make Manager / Demote to Teacher.
• Remove employee — their code no longer opens your kiosk.

Your own staff code is on your Kiosk Access card. To see who's working today, click View Site Attendance — the staff section shows who is online and since when.

6. Children and parents

Your roster: click Manage Children. Search by name, filter by Active / Inactive or by classroom, and see how many children your plan covers.

Add a child

1. Click Add Child.
2. Enter the first name, last name and date of birth, and choose a classroom (or + Add new classroom).
3. Add allergies, medical notes and special needs (optional, but encouraged — staff see them).
4. Click Add Child.

Link the parent

1. Open the child (View/Edit child) and go to the Guardians tab.
2. Click Link a Parent.
3. If the parent already has a BrightBadge account at your center (for a brother or sister, say), choose Select Existing and pick them. Otherwise choose New Parent and enter their name, email and relationship.
4. Leave Can pick up this child checked, then click Send Invitation (or Link Parent for an existing parent).

The parent gets an email to create their account. The child is linked to them as soon as they accept.

Invite a parent first: Invite Parent in the top bar sends an invitation where the parent adds their own children during setup. Only the email is required.

Track invitations: the Parent Management section of your dashboard lists each parent with a status (Complete, Invited, Expired or Pending) and lets you send, resend or revoke an invitation.

Importing a whole roster: our team imports your roster for you on request — email support@bright-badge.com. Inside the app, you invite parents one at a time.

7. Authorized pickups

Parents decide who else may pick up their children. From their own account, a parent adds an authorized pickup, who gets a welcome email and their own six-digit pickup code — so nobody has to share a code. A newly added pickup can only be removed after 7 days.

BrightBadge allows up to 3 authorized pickups per child; keep any additional authorized people on your center's written list.

If a family enrolled through an enrollment packet, people named on the signed contract appear on the child's Guardians tab under Also allowed to pick up (from the signed contract). They have no app account — check their photo ID at the door.

8. Digital enrollment packets

Online enrollment replaces the paper enrollment packet. It is available on the Growth and Enterprise plans, and our team switches it on for your site — email support@bright-badge.com. When it's on, you'll see Enrollment in your quick actions.

Send the paperwork

1. Click Enrollment. Families are grouped by where they are: New and waitlisted, Paperwork sent, Awaiting your review, Enrolled and Closed.
2. To add a family yourself, use Invite a family: enter the parent's name, email and phone, the child's first name, the program, and the language for their forms (English or Spanish).
3. Click Add family and create paperwork link. Nothing is emailed — click Copy link and send it to the family by text or email, however you normally reach them.

What the family does: the link opens in their phone's browser — no app and no password. They read the forms in English or Spanish, fill them in (answers save as they go, so they can come back later), type their full name, agree to sign electronically, and sign.

Review and admit

1. When a family is under Awaiting your review, click Review.
2. Check what they told you on the application, what will go on your roster (from the signed contract), and every form with who signed it and when.
3. If a form has to come in on paper (for example, one a doctor signs), mark it received once you have it.
4. Choose Approve & admit, Send back for corrections (tick the forms to redo and add a note; they get a fresh link), or Decline.

When you approve, the child is added to your check-in roster, and the parent is invited to create their BrightBadge account and get their pickup code.

9. The check-in kiosk

Open it: on the kiosk device, go to the Kiosk URL from your Kiosk Access card (or bright-badge.com/site-kiosk), enter the Site ID and a staff code, and click Access Site Kiosk. The session ends on its own after 4 hours.

Families check in and out: a parent or authorized pickup enters their registered email and six-digit pickup code and taps See My Children. They only ever see their own children. They tap their child, sign on the screen, confirm, and tap Complete Check In (or Complete Check Out). Select Multiple checks several children in or out together. Next Parent clears the screen for the next family.

Close at the end of the day: a staff member taps End Site Session, then Yes, Close Site, and enters their staff code. This ends the kiosk session, marks the site offline and stops new check-ins until it's opened again.

QR check-in: on a tablet running the BrightBadge app in Kiosk Mode (or a staff phone in the Staff Portal), families can show the QR code from their BrightBadge app instead of typing. The code refreshes every minute, so a screenshot won't work. Parents can also save a signature ahead of time; it is applied only when their own QR code is scanned. See QR check-in in the Parent Guide.

10. Attendance and signature records

BrightBadge records each child's arrival and departure times as they happen, with a signature, and exports a monthly PDF. Ask your licensor whether an electronic record is acceptable for your program.

Today: click View Site Attendance to see every child, whether they're checked in, when they arrived and who dropped them off — and which staff are on.

Search past records

1. Click Search Signatures to open Signature Records.
2. Filter by child name, site, direction (in or out) and dates, then click Search Records.
3. Click View to see the captured signature and how it was signed, or PDF for a printable copy of that one record.

Monthly sign-in and sign-out sheet

1. On Signature Records, click Export Attendance Report.
2. Choose the site, the child (or All children), the month and the year.
3. Click Download Report. It opens in a new tab: the daily sign-in and sign-out form with each day's time in, time out and signature.
4. Click Print This Page, or choose Save as PDF in the print window to keep a copy.

These are printable monthly sign-in records you can show an inspector. Only you and your staff can see them.

11. Health information

Click Health Information to see every child's allergies, medications and dietary needs in one place. Search by name, or filter to Severe Allergies, Active Medications, Dietary Restrictions or No Health Data. Parents keep their own children's health information up to date from their account; you can also edit a child's allergies, medical notes and special needs from View/Edit child.

12. Announcements, absences and "on my way"

• Send Announcement: add a subject and message, choose a Priority Level (Low, Normal, Important or Urgent), and click Send Announcement. BrightBadge tells you how many parents were notified. Parents see it under Announcements.
• Absences: parents report absences with dates and a reason from their account. Your staff see them under Today's Absences on their dashboard.
• On my way: when a parent taps I'm On My Way, it shows in your Recent Activity.

13. The BrightBadge app

The BrightBadge app is on the App Store and Google Play. It has three ways in: Parent Portal (parents and authorized pickups), Staff Portal (scan QR codes, attendance) and Kiosk Mode (a tablet check-in station opened with the Site ID and a staff code).

14. English and Spanish

BrightBadge works in English and Spanish — the website, the kiosk, the app and the enrollment forms. Anyone can switch language from the language menu, and families can fill in their enrollment forms in either language.

15. Billing and subscription

Open Billing & Subscription with Manage Billing on the Billing card of your dashboard (or go to bright-badge.com/dashboard/billing).

• See your plan, its price and your trial end date.
• Change Plan: upgrade, downgrade or subscribe. An upgrade takes effect right away; the prorated difference for the rest of the billing period is charged to your card (nothing during a free trial).
• Manage Payment: update your card in the secure Stripe billing portal.
• Cancel subscription: stops future charges. You keep access until the end of the period you've paid for.
• Archived Sites: restore an archived site.

Need help?

• Email: support@bright-badge.com — we help you set up BrightBadge and show you how to export your records.
• Billing questions: billing@bright-badge.com
• Videos: the how-to playlist on YouTube