Back-to-School, Made Easier: Four Powerful New Features in Lillio for Childcare Centers

Back-to-School Season Has Arrived

Back-to-school season has a way of arriving quickly for childcare centers—and it tends to bring everything at once: new enrollments, shifting schedules, growing classrooms, billing updates, and a constant flow of parent communication (especially if you have many new families joining your program at the same time!).

For childcare providers, this can be one of the busiest times of the year. More families and more moving parts naturally mean more coordination, more administrative tasks, and more pressure on already busy teams.

That’s why we’re excited to introduce four new features in Lillio, designed to simplify everyday operations and help childcare centers feel more supported going into the new school year.

These updates strengthen the core of our childcare management software—scheduling, enrollment, billing, and documentation—so your team can stay organized, connected, and focused on providing exceptional care.

1. Smarter Staff Scheduling That Finally Keeps Up With Your Center

Staff scheduling is one of those tasks that never really slows down—especially during back-to-school season, when directors are focused on keeping staffing consistent, supporting smooth routines, and helping new families feel confident in their child’s classroom experience.

Too often, directors are working across spreadsheets or disconnected tools, constantly updating shifts and trying to keep up with last-minute changes while also managing ratios, compliance and family relationships.

What’s new in Lillio Staff Scheduling

This new experience brings all your staff scheduling needs into one place:

• A visual calendar that makes it easy to build and adjust schedules in just a few clicks, so you can stay flexible as plans change
• Day, week, and classroom views that give you a clear picture of staffing across your center at any moment
• Simple drag-and-drop scheduling to move shifts between educators and days without the back-and-forth
• Quick shift creation directly on the calendar, so updates happen right where you’re working
• The option to include unassigned shifts, giving you more flexibility when planning ahead or filling gaps
• Clear tagging and scheduling for substitute educators, so everyone always knows where they’re needed
• Easy filtering by staff, shift length, or day, helping you find exactly what you need without digging
• The ability to copy schedules forward week to week, saving time on repetitive planning
• Reusable templates that make it faster to build consistent schedules across rooms and weeks
• Send and print schedules directly to staff, keeping everyone aligned and informed
• Real-time visibility into ratios and coverage, helping you feel confident that rooms are properly supported
• Customizable reporting for hours and staffing breakdowns, giving you clearer insight into how your schedule is working in practice

Proper back-to-school staffing is key for directors who want to keep things running smoothly those first few weeks, especially if you are a multi-location provider managing multiple locations. Having strong staffing in place also demonstrates strength, stability and security for families who are experiencing your center and classrooms for the first time.

This update also helps childcare centers stay ahead of shift changes, reduces scheduling stress, and gives educators more predictable routines—supporting smoother operations and stronger team confidence.

2. Registration Fees That Make Enrollment Simple for Families and Centers

Enrollment season brings a lot of energy—but also a lot of admin. Between forms, payments, and follow-ups, things can quickly start to feel scattered when systems aren’t connected.

What’s new in Lillio Registration Fees

Now, registration fees can be managed directly inside Lillio as part of your digital enrollment workflow:

• Create flexible fees that can be managed online with a name, amount, and due date – offering better communication for new families
• Attach fees to registration packages or individual applications, so everything stays connected to the right enrolment
• Easily edit fees as enrollment needs change, without disrupting your workflow
• Track fee status directly in each child’s profile for quick, at-a-glance visibility
• View fee status clearly in the registration dashboard, so nothing gets missed during busy enrollment periods
• Allow parents to view and pay through the parent app, creating a simple and secure experience that parents love
• Automatically move invoices from “Ready” to “Sent” when families are invited, helping keep billing workflows consistent and up to date

This creates a smoother, more transparent enrollment experience for families while giving directors real-time visibility into payments and registration progress.

It also reduces manual billing work and improves messaging and overall communication—helping child care centers move through enrollment season with less friction and more clarity.

3. Mass Invoicing That Takes the Pain Out of One-Time Fees

Back-to-school season often can come with a long list of one-time charges—things like program fees, activity costs, enrichment experiences, and other center-specific charges that need to be communicated and managed clearly across families.

The challenge isn’t deciding what to charge—it’s how to apply those fees quickly and accurately across many families without hours of repetitive work.

What’s new in Lillio Mass Invoicing

This feature inside the Lillio billing and invoicing platform makes group billing faster and far more efficient:

• Create invoices for multiple children at once, helping you save time during busy billing periods
• Filter by enrolled or pre-enrolled children so you can easily target the right group
• Assign fees by classroom or group, keeping billing organized and consistent across your centre
• Automatically send invoices upon creation, reducing manual steps and follow-up work
• Apply consistent charges across selected groups, helping ensure accuracy and fairness for all families

Instead of building invoices one by one, childcare centers can now handle bulk billing in minutes.

That means fewer errors, more consistent finances, and significantly less time spent on repetitive administrative tasks during one of the busiest times of the year.

4. Incident Reporting That Protects Your Center and Keeps Families Informed

Incident reporting plays an essential role in childcare—supporting safety and compliance and keeping families connected.

But paper-based systems and disconnected workflows can make it harder than it needs to be to track, store, and share important information.

What’s new in Lillio Incident Reporting

This update makes incident reporting easier, more connected, and less stressful for your team—while keeping families in the loop in a clear, secure way:

• Quickly log incidents through a simple, guided workflow that fits naturally into your day
• Keep everything organized in one place with a centralized incident reporting dashboard
• Stay on top of follow-ups with clear status tracking and full submission history
• Collect secure digital parent signatures when required, without the paper chase
• Instantly access a complete, searchable record for each child to support continuity of care

This makes documentation more consistent, creates easy access for reports, and is better aligned with regulatory compliance requirements.

It also supports faster, clearer parent communication by allowing updates and acknowledgements to be shared securely in real time.

Most importantly, it replaces paper-heavy processes with a reliable digital system that strengthens both safety and trust.

A Stronger Start to the School Year for Childcare Centers

Back-to-school season can feel demanding—but it’s also full of opportunity to reset, organize, and strengthen how your center runs day to day.

These four new features in Lillio are designed to meet that moment with practical support: smarter scheduling, simpler enrollment, faster billing, and more reliable incident reporting.

Together, they create a more connected, user friendly, all-in-one system that helps childcare providers reduce administrative workload, improve operations, and strengthen parent communication.

And most importantly, they give teams more time back for what matters most—children, families, and the care they provide every day.