Naturally Learning · InRatio
From the call to the build
What we understand about how you run, the features that answers, how we would split it into three products, the five versions from simplest to most advanced, and where we would start.
What we understand
Things we understand from the call
Fourteen things about how you run, in plain terms. Nothing here is a feature yet. This is just what we took away.
What we would build
The features, must have and nice to have
Those understandings turned into features, split into what the first version has to have and what makes it better once it works.
Must have
The rota itself, and the rules that keep it right.
Auto-fills the contracts, you edit the rest
Checked on every rota, including who can cover which role
A broken rota cannot publish; Sally can sign off an exception
Works out where it saves a wage
Stops counting someone the moment one lapses
Pulls child numbers and staff data
Hours follow to the right cost pot
Live staffing cost against your 55 per cent target
Managers edit their own site, each site's cost stays private
Nice to have
Real value, but it works without them on day one.
Holiday requests and like-for-like swaps
Flags unused allowance and over-approval
A cover tick, and the agency count for the day
Hours, absence, cost and room occupancy
How we would split it
The product, in three
At its core, InRatio turns your child numbers and your staff into the right rota, and keeps it right. We would build it as three products. Each does one job, each can stand alone, and together they cover the whole picture.
The forecasting tool
The core · build first
- Builds the rota from your numbers, you adjust
- The rules engine, the hard block and age mixing
- Live cost against your 55 per cent target
- The staff app and holiday on top later
The on-the-day tool
The live side · build next
- Mark sickness, move people between rooms and sites
- Clock-in pulled from the QR codes
- Actual hours to payroll, red flags on the day
The certification flagger
A stand alone bonus tool
- Who holds what qualification and experience
- Who is running low, or about to expire
- A flag before anything lapses
Part four · how we would build it
The versions, simplest to most advanced
You do not have to build all of it at once. This is a ladder, from a smarter spreadsheet to the full tool. Each version is useful on its own and a step to the next. Start cheap, prove it works, and climb only when it has earned it. The five that follow build product one.
Most basic
A smarter spreadsheet
Your existing sheet, made clever with formulas and colour coding.
How it is used
A manager builds the term's rotas in the same Excel file they use today, a week at a time, three months ahead, exactly as now. The difference is that the sheet reacts. The moment a room drops under ratio in any time band, that cell turns red, and amber if a qualification or certificate condition is not met. A panel down the side keeps a live count, per room, of who is needed against who is in. Be straight about it, though: it is fragile, a wrong edit can break a formula, and it will not save you much time, because you still build every rota by hand. What it buys you is catching the mistakes, not doing the work.
What it does
- Flags under-ratio rooms live, per time band
- Flags missing qualifications and lapsed certificates
- A running count of needed against actual, per room
Held back for later
No Famly link, so numbers are typed in. Age mixing is awkward in formulas. Nothing on staff phones.
Who it is for
Managers and Sally. Staff do not touch it.
What it kills
The mental arithmetic and the finger counting.
Ongoing cost
None. It stays your file.
Basic
A purpose-built Excel workbook
Engineered from scratch as a proper tool, still a file you own.
How it is used
A manager builds the quarter's rotas in a clean, purpose-built Excel workbook. One tab holds every member of staff with their qualification, certificate dates, contracted hours, home site and the rooms they can work; another is the rota grid. As they build, the engine checks every room and time band and shows where they stand. A built-in calculator works the age mixing: enter the room counts and its formulas show when moving older children down into a younger room saves a member of staff. Certificate dates raise a warning before they lapse.
What it does
- The full rule engine, every room and band
- A downward age-mixing calculator
- Certificate expiry tracked, not remembered
- Structured staff records across seven sites
Held back for later
Still manual entry, no live Famly link, no staff phone view, and a sheet cannot truly block a bad rota.
Who it is for
Managers and Sally.
What it kills
The fragile copy-paste sheet and remembered certificate dates.
Ongoing cost
None, or close to it.
Intermediate
A first custom app
Custom built, and out of spreadsheets at last. A proper tool: prettier, clearer and easy to move around.
How it is used
A manager logs into the app and builds the term's rotas a quarter ahead, on a clean, navigable screen. This is the jump out of archaic spreadsheets: it looks and feels like a proper tool and is far less confusing to work in. The staff on fixed contracted patterns are filled in automatically, so the manager only places the ones who move around. As they do, it checks every room against your ratios and rules, including who is qualified to cover which role, so a manager's place is never filled by an apprentice, and a rota that breaks a rule will not publish, unless Sally signs off a logged exception. It shows the staffing cost live against your 55 per cent target, with a tick for safeguarding and SENCO cover and a count of any agency staff in. Staff see their own published rota on their phone. The children expected per room come from a Famly export you upload, rather than a live link, for now.
What it does
- Auto-fills staff on fixed contracted patterns, you place the rest
- Your ratios and rules engine, with the hard block and Sally's override
- Downward age mixing, and certificates that stop counting when they lapse
- Cross-site staff sharing, hours to the right pot
- Live staffing cost against your 55 per cent target
- A safeguarding and SENCO cover tick, and the agency count for the day
- Built from a Famly export you upload, staff get a read-only view
Held back for later
No live Famly link yet, you upload an export. Staff cannot yet request holiday or swap shifts. Both come in versions 4 and 5.
Who it is for
Each manager builds their own site; you and Sally see them all, and each site's cost stays private. Staff get a read-only view.
What it kills
The archaic spreadsheets, and the rule breaks no one caught until too late.
Ongoing cost
The first version that needs hosting and security, so there is an ongoing cost.
Advanced
Connected to Famly
The same app, now pulling its data automatically instead of by hand.
How it is used
The manager builds the quarter ahead as before, but now the children expected in each room, and the staff and qualification records, flow in from Famly automatically over a live link. No more exporting and uploading a file by hand, and the data is always current rather than as fresh as the last upload.
What it does
- A live read-only link to Famly
- Child numbers per room per day, automatically
- Staff and qualification data kept in sync
- Everything from version 3, now on a live feed instead of an upload
Held back for later
Staff self service, holiday and swaps, still to come in version 5.
Who it is for
Managers and Sally.
What it kills
The manual export and upload, and the errors that come from stale numbers.
Ongoing cost
Hosting and security, plus the Famly data link, a paid add-on from Famly.
Most advanced
The full forecasting tool
The last piece: staff self service. Product one is complete.
How it is used
Staff now do more than look. They request holiday and swap shifts in the app, with a manager's approval in a tap, and every swap is checked by the same rules that run the rota. The chasing by text stops, and a manager building the term ahead can see at a glance who is already off. You also get reports out of it on hours, absence, cost and how full each room is, so you can see where there is room for more children.
What it does
- Staff self service: holiday requests and like-for-like swaps
- Every swap checked by the same rules engine, with manager approval
- Booked leave feeds the builder, so no one is rostered when off
- Reports on hours, absence, cost and how full each room is
Held back for later
This is product one complete. Payroll lives in the on-the-day tool, because it pays on who actually worked, not the plan. The certification flagger is its own product too.
Who it is for
Everyone: you, Sally, the managers and all staff.
What it kills
The holiday texts and the shift-swap chasing.
Ongoing cost
Hosting and security around £1,500 a year, plus the Famly add-on. And with staff using it every day, someone has to keep it running and put it right quickly if something goes wrong.
Our recommendation
Start at version 3
The first version that is a real tool, and the best value for the least risk. Prove it on your seven sites, then climb.
Why version 3
Versions 1 and 2 are spreadsheets. They are quick and cheap, but they stay fragile, they cannot truly stop a broken rota, and they do not save you much time, because you still build every rota by hand. Version 3 is the first version that is a real tool: out of spreadsheets, with the rules engine, the hard block and the live cost tracking that actually solve the problem you came with. Versions 4 and 5 add the live Famly link and the staff app, but each brings real cost, real complexity, and more software to keep running. Version 3 gives you most of the value for the least risk, and it proves the whole idea on your seven sites before you commit any further.
What we would build
A custom web app on laptop and phone. It auto-fills the staff on fixed contracted patterns and leaves you to place the rest, checks your ratios and rules with the hard block and Sally's override, works the age mixing, shares staff across sites, tracks certificate validity, shows the live cost against your 55 per cent target, and flags safeguarding, SENCO and agency cover. Child numbers come from a Famly export you upload, and staff get a read-only view.
What it costs
One real running cost: hosting and security, in the region of £1,500 a year. The build itself is AI assisted, so low in cash; the main investment is time. The commercial arrangement is for us to agree.
Risks worth knowing
It is the first version that is real software, so it carries honest caveats. It is built to assist, not to replace anyone: a named person signs off, exactly as Sally does now. Your data stays safe by design, headcounts not names, in your own environment, so children's details never leave Famly. And real software needs looking after: hosting, security and keeping it current, because a nursery leans on it from 7am.
How it grows from here
When version 3 has earned it: version 4 swaps the upload for a live Famly link, version 5 adds the staff app for holiday and swaps, and product one is complete. After that, the on-the-day tool and the certification flagger are the next products. Each step is a deliberate decision, never a commitment made up front.
After product one
Product two: the on-the-day tool
Once the forecasting tool is proven, this is the next build: the live side, for running the day as it actually happens.
How it works
Where the forecasting tool plans the term, this one runs the day. Each morning your managers mark who has called in sick and move people between rooms and sites as cover changes. Staff clock in on the QR codes, so the tool knows who actually turned up, not just who was planned. The real hours then export to payroll, and you get the day reported against what you expected: where you were over, where you were short, and where a room slipped out of ratio.
What it does
- Live updates: sickness, cover, and moves between rooms and sites
- Clock-in from the QR codes, so it knows who actually turned up
- Actual hours exported to payroll
- The day reported against what you expected, with red flags
Why it comes second
Payroll pays on who actually worked, not the plan, so it needs the live floor that only this tool gives you.
And after that
Product three, the certification flagger, a stand alone bonus tool that shows who holds what and who is running low.
If you like it
Here is all we would need to make it real
If this is the shape of the thing, the next step is a finalised, proper product spec. To write it, we would just need a few things from you.
- The Excel rota you use today, even one site for one week
- Your cardinal rules written down, the ones you hold verbally
- Your Famly plan, and whether the data add-on is available on it
- A sample of your staff data: qualifications, contracted hours and certificate dates
Give us those, and we turn this into the real spec to build from.