For centres and agencies · 6 min
What to ask any child care software vendor
Ask where the records are stored and who can reach them, who in your own organization sees what, whether a correction keeps the original, what happens to your records if you leave, and what it costs to stay or go. Get each answer in writing, and keep the answers with your own records.
A buyer’s guide: it names no product. Where it points to a section, that is O. Reg. 137/15, checked against e-Laws on Nov 2, 2026.
A child care program’s software holds the records the Ministry asks to see and information about children and staff. These questions work for any supplier, whatever it sells, and the answers are worth having in writing before the program signs. A good supplier will answer each one plainly; a vague answer is itself an answer.
Where the records are, and who sees them
| Ask | Why it matters | Listen for |
|---|---|---|
| Where are our records stored, and who can reach them? | Children’s and staff information is sensitive, and where it is held and handled decides which laws apply to it. | A named country and region, the outside companies that handle the records and for what, and a plain answer on which of them can read the content. |
| Who in our organization sees what? | A child’s health information is not for everyone who works at the program. | Access by role and by site, a separate login for each person, and an activity log that names who did what. |
| How do people sign in, and what protects a lost or reused password? | One shared login cannot be traced to a person, and a reused password opens every record the account can see. | A login for each person, a second step or a passkey, and a way to sign out a device that was lost. |
| What else do you do with our data besides run the service? | Records about children are not material for advertising, selling or training a product. | A plain no, in writing, and a list of the companies that handle the data for the supplier. |
Whether the records can be trusted
| Ask | Why it matters | Listen for |
|---|---|---|
| Does each requirement or figure say which section of the regulation it comes from? | You may have to explain a figure to a program advisor, and the Ministry, not the software, decides compliance. | Section numbers on the screen, the date the text was last checked, and wording that leaves compliance to the Ministry. |
| When a ratio or group size is out of range, what does the system do? | A short count that nobody notices is the kind of gap an inspection finds. | A result shown when the count is entered, and a record that stays flagged until someone explains it. |
| Can a record be changed afterwards, and does the original survive? | A correction is honest when the first entry stays visible. | Corrections that keep the original and name the person and the reason. |
| What works without a connection? | Staff are in a park or a basement with no signal at some point. | Which screens work offline, how entries wait and are sent, and how a conflict is shown. |
Staying, leaving, and paying
| Ask | Why it matters | Listen for |
|---|---|---|
| What happens to our records if we leave? | Many records must be kept for set periods after they are made (the Records and retention guide, linked below, lists them), and you need them in hand after you leave. | An export in a format you can open (a spreadsheet or a PDF), how long the supplier keeps its own copies, and how the deletion is confirmed. |
| What does it cost, for how long, and what notice does each side give? | A price that changes mid-term, or a long notice, is a cost too. | The price and what it includes in writing, the term, how to cancel, the notice period, and what can change the price. |
| Who answers when something is wrong, and how quickly? | A problem on the morning of an inspection cannot wait for a ticket. | A person, a stated response time, and a record of when support looked at your records. |
Sources
O. Reg. 137/15 as consolidated on e-Laws (consolidation from July 1, 2026; last amendment O. Reg. 197/26). This guide lists questions to put to any software supplier; it is not legal advice, and the Ministry’s program advisors decide compliance.