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