Kookaburra Early Learning

13 DECEMBER 2016

case study

Improve privacy with digital forms Colourworks Australia converts paper formsto digital forms for Kookaburra Early Learning

Kookaburra Early Learning

Kookaburra Early Learning is a privately owned Childcare Centre, located in Casino, in the Northern Rivers

area of New South Wales. With 71 children and 23 permanent staff, the Centre is one of the larger early

learning centres in the region and offers a long daycare program, as well as a preschool, after school care

and vacation care. Opening from 6.30am to 6.30pm, the Centre caters for working parents, with a primary

focus on providing early education and care for children under five years of age.

Next year, the Centre is looking to expand its offering to include a new preschool that will cater for an

extra 20 children. Kookaburra Early Learning Director, Naomi Higgins, says their extensive grounds

include two distinct, age appropriate playgrounds, a veggie garden, sand pit and chickens, rabbits and fish.

“I think the fact that we are a large Centre really sets us apart,” Naomi said. “We are open long hours and

older siblings can come back after school and during school holidays. A lot of our parents love that service,

because all of their kids can come here together.”

The Challenge

Kookaburra Early Learning operates in a tightly regulated industry with strict compliance across all aspects

of their business. Key challenges facing the businesses included quick retrieval of archived forms for auditing

purposes, privacy considerations and form storage.

“We have about 20 forms that we fill out on a daily basis, including incident report forms, daily eat/sleep

checklists, cleaning checklists, responsible person on duty forms and nappy charts,” Naomi explained.

“Every time a child wakes we need to write it down. When a child goes to the toilet we need to write it

down. That is for compliance reasons – it’s part of our accreditation process.”

Quick retrieval of forms for accreditors and parents was also a challenge for the business. “If requested we

can be asked to go back and show our accident forms for a whole year. Accreditors can request any form

at any time and we have to have them,” Naomi said.

case study Autofile - Webforms

Form security and confidentiality were also motivations for moving from a paper-based to electronic

form system. “Privacy is very important to us. Because we are dealing with people’s children, it is very

important for us to get it right. An electronic system will make it easier for us to see what staff member is

accessing what forms and I will be able to see if someone has gone in and edited a form,” Naomi said.

“This is particularly important to us because Casino is a very small community, so you just don’t want

people using personal information in the wrong way.”

The inability to lose forms and negating the need to print paper forms were also motivating reasons to switch

to an electronic system. “Nobody is going to be able to lose a form and we won’t have that problem of

someone coming up and saying this is the last form in the book,” Naomi said.

The Solution

Colourworks Australia presented a solution to Kookaburra Early Learning to digitise their business forms

with Autofile Webforms.

“This is the first time we have attempted to move our forms to a digital platform and improve our

documentation,” Naomi said, adding that they previously used a Canon product called ShareScan as an

interim solution, following a recommendation from Colourworks.

“ShareScan worked well. Basically, you can scan bulk documents through your Canon copier and then

name them. ShareScan then saves those documents into the right folder on your computer,”

Naomi explained. “So we were filling out a form and then scanning that form and then shredding the paper.

Webforms is the next step on from ShareScan, because it takes steps two and three out of that process.”

Naomi said their transition to an electronic system was well managed and seamless from their perspective.

“I found it quite easy - they had it up and running quickly. Marcello was our main contact from Colourworks

in Lismore and he was always available on the phone to answer questions and came out and visited to help

with training,” Naomi said.

case study Autofile - Webforms

The Results

Kookaburra Early Learning said moving from paper to digital forms has been an easy transition for

their Centre. “People sometimes struggle with change, but the new forms look exactly the same as the old

ones, so we didn’t have to spend time teaching staff how to fill out the form,” Naomi said.

“Overall it has been very easy – 99 percent of my staff say that they like using the digital forms better

because the forms autocorrect and provide auto-field comments, so staff can record regular comments

quickly like ‘applied cream’ when nappy changing.” The fast retrieval of information is also a key benefit

for the Centre. “The huge advantage for us is the automatic archiving and retrieval of forms,” Naomi said,

adding that they are required to keep all forms for 25 years.

“Quite often we have to search for a past student incident form, for example if a student grazes his leg

or has to go to hospital. With the new system, we can retrieve that information straight away, rather than

going through boxes of forms.” Time savings have also been significant. “The new system saves me 10-15

minutes every afternoon, because I don’t have to scan forms anymore. We have also included mandatory

sections in the digital forms, so staff members get prompted if they forgot to fill in a section of the form or

forget to sign. This saves me about an hour or so a week, because I am the person who has to chase up

people to fill out and file forms.”

“Overall, I am very happy with the product. It is going really well and I wouldn’t hesitate recommending

Colourworks to someone looking for a similar solution.”

“Privacy is very important for us. Because we are dealing with people’s children,

it is very important we get it right.”

- Naomi Higgins, Director, Kookaburra Early Learning

case study Autofile - Webforms

Learn more

Contact Colourworks to learn moreabout our Autofile - WebformsBusiness technology service

1300 351 594www.colourworks.com.au

case study Autofile - Webforms