Help & FAQ

TrulyForged is a monthly subscription that includes everything — the admin portal, Guardian app, Classroom app, attendance, messaging, billing, and reports. Contact us at support@trulyforged.com for current pricing.

Yes — every new account starts with a free 30-day trial with full access to all features. No credit card is required to start.

Monthly. Your payment method on file will be charged on your scheduled billing date. Reach out to support@trulyforged.com at any time to discuss pricing.

Yes — a handling fee applies to each tuition transaction processed through the platform. Most daycares restrict to ACH bank transfer, which has a maximum fee of $5 per transaction — weekly tuition amounts typically don't reach the cap unless a family has multiple children. You can configure whether you absorb this fee or pass it on to families. This is separate from your monthly subscription fee.

TrulyForged is a daycare management platform built for childcare providers. It includes this web-based admin portal for directors and owners, a Guardian mobile app for parents, and a Classroom mobile app for teachers and staff — all connected in real time.

Admins add families from the Families section of the portal. Once a family is added, you can invite each guardian to the Guardian app directly from their profile page. They receive an email invite and set their own password.

Create a staff member in the Staff section, assign them a role, and either set a password directly or send them an invite email. Staff can download the Classroom app from the App Store or Google Play, or follow the link in their invite email to get set up.

When you first log in, a Getting Started checklist appears at the top of your overview. It guides you through the four key setup steps: add classrooms, add staff, enroll a family, and invite guardians. It disappears automatically once all steps are complete.

Staff or guardians check children in and out from the Classroom app or directly from the Attendance board in this portal. The Overview dashboard shows real-time counts per classroom, color-coded against Florida DCF staff-to-child ratio requirements.

Yes — multiple ways. The Guardian app includes geofence-based check-in, which comes standard with the software suite — when a guardian arrives at the daycare location, the app detects them and enables check-in. Guardians can also scan the check-in QR code posted at the entrance. If a shared tablet is available at your location, the Classroom app can run as an entrance kiosk where guardians select their child and enter their 4-digit PIN to confirm.

If a guardian doesn't have their PIN, a staff member can tap "Staff Override" and enter their own password to authorize the check-in or check-out on the guardian's behalf.

Go to the family's profile page and click "Log Absence." Set the date range, pick a reason (sick, vacation, appointment, or other), and add an optional note. Excused absences appear on the Overview dashboard so you can distinguish them from unexcused ones.

Go to Configuration → Check-in QR. Generate a new QR, print it, and post it at your entrance. Guardians scan it when they arrive and the app confirms their identity before logging the check-in.

Meals, snacks, naps (start and end), wet diaper, dry diaper, BM diaper, potty break, outdoor time, photos, and a free-text "Other" note. Staff can log the same activity for multiple children at once from the Classroom app.

Yes — guardians receive a push notification on their phone each time an activity is logged for their child. They can tap the notification to open the full activity feed.

Yes. Select the Photo activity type in the Classroom app to take a photo or choose one from the device library. The photo is attached to the activity log and appears in the guardian's feed.

Messages are organized into threads. Either the daycare or a guardian can open a thread. Your inbox shows threads needing a reply at the top (orange) and threads awaiting the guardian's response below. Guardians see their messages in the Guardian app.

Go to Messages → New Announcement. Write your message, optionally attach a photo, and choose whether to send to all enrolled families or to one specific classroom. Each family receives it as their own private thread.

Yes — staff with the Classroom app can send and reply to messages scoped to their classroom. Classroom messages are visible to owner/director accounts plus staff assigned to that classroom.

Each classroom has a weekly rate set in its settings. Billing periods are generated automatically each month based on the Mondays in that period. Payments are collected through the platform.

Tuition payments support ACH bank transfer. Credit card is also available as an optional payment method. Families set up their payment method once during onboarding and billing runs automatically.

The platform charges a handling fee per tuition transaction. You can configure whether you absorb this fee or pass it on to families. For ACH bank transfer, the fee is capped at $5 per transaction — most weekly tuition amounts don't reach that cap. Rates vary by volume and are defined during your trial or in your subscription agreement.

Yes — if tuition is collected through TrulyForged. The Annual Family Billing report (under Reports) generates a per-family statement showing total childcare paid for the year, your EIN, and the children enrolled — ready to hand to families for IRS Form 2441 (childcare tax credit).

Three system roles are seeded by default: Owner (full access), Director (full access except billing configuration), and Teacher (classroom-scoped access). You can create additional custom roles from Staff → Manage Roles.

Yes. Assign a staff member to specific classrooms from their profile. Teachers only see their assigned classrooms in the Classroom app. Directors and owners see all classrooms.

Go to Staff → select the staff member → Account Access section. You can either send them a password reset email or set a new password directly if you have the manage_staff permission.

Enrollment Summary, Attendance (date range), VPK Monthly Attendance (Florida DOE format), DCF Staff-to-Child Ratios (live), Revenue by Classroom, Outstanding Balances, and Annual Family Billing statements. Note: DCF Staff-to-Child Ratio reporting requires staff attendance tracking to be enabled — otherwise the dashboard defaults to one teacher per room. Annual Family Billing statements are only available when tuition is collected through TrulyForged.

Go to Reports → VPK Attendance, select the month, and generate the report. It produces attendance data in the format required for Florida VPK state reimbursement. You can export it as CSV or email it directly.

Green means you're within Florida DCF Chapter 65C-22 ratios. Yellow means you're approaching the limit (≥75% of capacity for your classroom's age group). Red means you need at least one more staff member in that classroom immediately. Ratios are calculated based on the age range configured for each classroom.

Yes. TrulyForged acts as a "school official" under FERPA, using education records solely to provide contracted services. Data is scoped per property, access is logged, and PII retention follows Florida DOE guidelines (5 years post-disenrollment for VPK providers).

Every login requires two-factor authentication — either TOTP (authenticator app) or a 6-digit email OTP. Sessions expire after 12 hours of inactivity.

No. Guardian check-in PINs are never visible to any administrator or staff member. They are verified server-side only. Guardians manage their own PIN in the Guardian app.

All daycare data is stored in an isolated, dedicated database in the United States, in compliance with FERPA's data separation requirements.

The admin portal works in any modern web browser on desktop or mobile. The Guardian and Classroom apps are available on iOS and Android. The Classroom app is optimized for use on a shared tablet as an entrance kiosk.

Use the built-in support ticket system (coming soon) or email support@trulyforged.com. We typically respond within one business day.