Latest News from the brightwheel team
Improvement
Feature update

Managing attendance records is easier than ever!

Kerry avatar
Shared by Kerry • May 09, 2024

Hi there,

Big updates to attendance tracking are here that make it easier to understand and manage your attendance data.

Here's what changed:

  • Error flagging. You will now see attendance data errors, like a missing check-out record, flagged directly in your check-in report.
  • Edit modal for updating and adding attendance records. You can update your attendance data errors without leaving your check-in report. All you have to do is enter the edit modal from the call out at the top of the report – from there you can fix attendance data errors by adding missing records, deleting records, and adding completely new records.
  • Audit logs. You can access audit logs on your attendance data by exporting your check-in report and selecting “Include attendance audit logs” when emailing the report.

And in the near future, if you have guardians check in and out students at your center, they’ll see a more streamlined check-in process that makes it easier to complete the process!

See these experiences in action here. 🎉

Event
Improvement
New feature

Pay periods, billing notification updates, mobile portfolios & more!

Claire avatar
Shared by Claire • April 29, 2024

Get more value out of your brightwheel subscription with these new improvements, tips, and resources:

  • Quarterly & annual bill plans: You can now offer families more payment plan options.
  • Pay periods: Timecards and payroll reports will always default to the right date range when you set your pay period.
  • Mobile portfolios: When a portfolio is published, parents receive an email notification and they can see it right in the brightwheel app.
  • Billing notifications: You can unsubscribe from all billing notification emails, and soon there will be a weekly digest of upcoming invoices.
  • Tomorrow 5/1, TAW webinar: Get inspiration to celebrate your teachers, just in time for Teacher Appreciation Week.

Read about the above and more in the April Product Spotlight.

Feature update

Billing-only staff role, streamlined documents, check-in improvements, & more!

Claire avatar
Shared by Claire • March 25, 2024

As you start thinking about summer and fall, don't miss these tips and resources to "spring clean" your workflows with brightwheel.

  • The Paperwork tab: Forms & Requests and Shared Files are gamechangers for streamlining documents.
  • [On-demand webinar] Hiring staff: An ECE recruiter shares how to find teaching talent, how to build an active pipeline of candidates, and more.
  • *Coming soon* Billing-only role: In the coming weeks, you'll be able to give an accountant, bookkeeper, or other financial staff access to billing but nothing else in brightwheel.
  • *Coming soon* Check-in improvements: Exciting updates such as an improved guardian check-in experience and easier correction of attendance errors in the check-in report are coming these next few weeks!

Read about the above and more in the March Product Spotlight.

Improvement
New feature
Event

Photo galleries, deleting forms, tax deductions, & more

Claire avatar
Shared by Claire • February 26, 2024

Here are NEW updates for you to get even more value out of brightwheel this season 🌸

  • Photo and video galleries: Soon, guardians will be able to access a gallery view of photos on the brightwheel app.
  • Delete forms: You can now delete forms and submissions you no longer need.
  • Year-end tax statements for families: These have been delivered! Your payers can download their statements directly in brightwheel.
  • Tax deductions: Make sure you're taking advantage of the 7 different types of deductible expenses this year.
  • Administrators can view schedules on mobile devices: Quickly access student and staff schedules directly on your phone or tablet.
  • Webinar with a CPA on 3/6: Hear what you can do to run a profitable childcare business positioned for growth.

Read about the above and more in the February Product Spotlight.

Improvement
New feature

Prefill forms for incidents, tax tips from Gusto, and more!

Anya avatar
Shared by Anya • February 26, 2024

Exciting updates for you to kick off 2024 --

  • On-demand webinar: hear expert tips on how to take the stress out of tax season.
  • Incident reports: you can now pre-fill a PDF document in brightwheel, which is a great way to have parents sign incident reports.
  • Absence reasons in reporting: Custom Reports in brightwheel can now report on absence reasons

Read about the above and more in the January Product Spotlight.

Improvement

Updates to Forms

Lucy avatar
Shared by Lucy • January 30, 2024

Hi there,

We recently released big updates to Forms that unlock new use cases and improve usability. Here's what changed:

  • You can now reshare the same form with families multiple times. No more duplicating!
  • You can pre-fill portions of fillable forms, unlocking the ability to use brightwheel Forms for incident reports, permission slips, and more!
  • You can search and filter forms and form submissions, making it much faster to find what you’re looking for! You can also filter out closed forms to shorten your forms list.

And in the near future, you’ll also be able to delete a form and a form submission. Be on the lookout for more on this improvement soon. 🎉

Improvement
Feature update

Families will get direct links to 2023 tax summaries!

Claire avatar
Shared by Claire • December 22, 2023

Hi there,

In the next couple months, payers will see a direct link to their 2023 tax statement in their brightwheel account. There will be no additional work for them to access what they need to file taxes. 🎉

When these tax statements are available, payers with an email address on file will receive a notification email. Payers with only a phone number on file will see a notification in the brightwheel app.

To ensure your families are aware that tax summaries are available, encourage all parents to add an email address to their brightwheel account if they haven't done so already.

By the way, you'll also be notified when statements are available for families, and you'll be able to access these direct links to student statements in case you need them for your own records.

Cheers to an easier tax season this year!

p.s. If you or your families need tax information immediately, no problem. Visit our resource hub for step-by-step instructions.

Improvement

A new look and feel for staff profiles

Collin avatar
Shared by Collin • December 19, 2023

Hi there,

Today we released an update to staff profiles on brightwheel! Here's what changed:

  • It's now easier to quickly edit information
  • Fields are grouped in a more organized fashion
  • Attachments have moved to its own tab, located at the top of the page
  • You can navigate to the staff member's timecards with one click
  • If your account is connected to Gusto, you'll see real-time payroll information such as role and pay rate

Be on the lookout for more staff management improvements to come. 🎉

p.s. Interested in 6 months free of payroll processing on Gusto? See if you're eligible for the integration and get Gusto today.

Improvement
Feature update

Families will get direct links to 2023 tax summaries!

Claire avatar
Shared by Claire • December 19, 2023

Hi there,

In the next couple months, payers will see a direct link to their 2023 tax statement in their brightwheel account. There will be no additional work for them to access what they need to file taxes. 🎉

When these tax statements are available, payers with an email address on file will receive a notification email. Payers with only a phone number on file will see a notification in the brightwheel app.

To ensure your families are aware that tax summaries are available, encourage all parents to add an email address to their brightwheel account if they haven't done so already.

By the way, you'll also be notified when statements are available for families, and you'll be able to access these direct links to student statements in case you need them for your own records.

Cheers to an easier tax season this year!

p.s. If you or your families need tax information immediately, no problem. Visit our resource hub for step-by-step instructions.

Improvement
New feature

Longer videos, tax resources, an on-demand webinar & more!

Claire avatar
Shared by Claire • December 12, 2023

NEW updates and resources are here so you can get even more value out of brightwheel.

  • Upload longer videos: add videos up to 90 seconds on a child's feed
  • Year-end summaries: exciting improvements are coming to 2023 tax statements for families
  • Automate payroll taxes: get local, state, and federal taxes taken care of for you
  • Customizable overtime: adjust weekly and daily (single and double) overtime thresholds
  • On-demand webinar: take a tour of brightwheel Learning & Experience Curriculum

Read about the above and more in the December Product Spotlight.