Following a full review of the website functionality, and a scoping process with the client, these core features were identified:

1) Search: parents can discover the full range of childcare options near their area.

2) Compare: a shortlist based on parent reviews, ratings, vacancies, fees, inclusions, amenities and more.

3) Connect: contact favourite child care centres to enquire, book a tour or finalise enrolment.

4) Tools and resources: everything parents need to support their family on their childcare journey.

The search function, detailed filters and relevant results are the primary feature of the app, whether users are familiar with the website or not, so clear access was incredibly important. Additionally we needed to make sure Care for Kids’ commercial partners’ listings were promoted organically.

With budgeting at the top of most parents’ concerns, two more hugely popular website features are the Cost of Care Calculator and the Child Care Subsidy Calculator. This information is displayed in easy to understand graphs and figures, as accessible as possible for all parents.

The application was developed in React Native for a flexible cross platform solution; this was supported by a new .NET API layer we created on top of the existing Care for Kids back-end.

There’s no way we could have achieved this without collaborating closely with the Care for Kids team, and taking on their valuable input. We were able to create their analytics framework, materially advise on their key success metrics, and build a case for existing and upcoming features.