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Camp Doodle's software sounds very interesting. We at Camp Heartland are looking to buy a program like this as we figure out next year's budget. Does anyone else have some good advice or tips?
Thanks a ton!

Hello there. We have looked at some programs and what we did this last year was have a computer guy that we know write us a program in Microsoft Access. Access can do many of the things that you want it to do and it is far cheaper if you can find someone who knows how to really use it. The person in charge of registration uses Excel to make the database and then it just gets dumped into the program and the program then helps with breaking campers into cabins, scheduling of rotations and things like that. Our program had some glitches and we had to work through it but it is still a good option. I would definately suggest that if you do something like this, that you get the program finished several months out and then run several mock camps through it to see what problems arise. If you have any more questions on what we did, let me know.

We use Filemaker and it definitely has its pros and cons to it. More pros obviously or we would do something differently. There is the possibility of transferring our online enrollments directly into our database but we have decided to wait until more families start going that route. At this time we have more returning campers than new so we just transfer last years info to this years database. It's very smooth and very friendly.

My camp is starting its third season with Camp Brain and we couldn't be more happy!

Camp Brain is MS Access based and provides an immense amount of reports. Report and data customizations are relatively easy. Their staff, Rob Carmichael and Shane Miskin, are incredibly helpful, responsive, and assisted me with modifying reports in Access to meet my camp's needs. They were able to transfer my old data into the appropriate fields for the new software.

The downloadable demo provides good examples, but the program is even better. The software has streamlined various procedures (cabin lists,
store/cantene ops., bus lists, mailing labels, special needs information, etc.), saving my camp many hours of labor and no more inaccurate reports. Camp Brain has a core module and additional modules, such as medical, conference center management, etc., can be added. Over the years, I keep adding modules as my funding permits.

Camp Brain's latest update enables downloadable online registration through Info Snap and camper email set-up through E-camp .

Camp Brain Contact:
Camp Brain
866-485-8886

If I can be of any more assistance, please contact me via email or phone.

Tom Jenkins, CPRP
Director of Programs

Voice and Fax: 888-800-4010
Email: programs@dys.org
Website: www.dys.org

Camp Conrad-Chinnock
Diabetic Youth Services, Inc.

The software program that we use, School Leader (www.schoolleader.com) is absolutely fantastic. We tried around 15 different software programs from Camp Brain to random pre-school software and found that, without a doubt, SchoolLeader was the best.

Most of the software programs have the same basic functions, but the "extras" can make all of the difference.

Some feature we find really useful:

We use the "Check Point" feature which allows either staff of parents to sign children in. We have parents sign children in with a touch-screen monitor. They type "their password" (drivers license, whatever) and are presented with a screen where they can verify their addresses, check their balance and of course, Sign a child in or out.

SIGN IN: Whey they click "sign in", a list of children they are authorized to sign in pops up. They simply select the children and say "done". We have activiated a feature that most camps probably won't need, but we won't live without. Once they say "done", a label printer (dymo.com) spits out a label with the childs name, date & time and either their grade or group name. It does the same for check-out, only it says "OUT" in big letters for security purposes.

We are a day camp with around 120 children per day. This feature allows us to concentrate our staff on being very welcoming to the parents & children. By the 2nd day, the parents are pro's and hardly need any help. In addition to the process being very quick and efficient (not messy either!), it provides a blanket of security for us. We can quickly check #'s, ratios, medical info, pick-up, etc. It also doesn't allow for someone who is not authorized to pick up a child.


MEDICAL INFO: We can quickly print a list of all campers that are signed in followed by their medication/health information. We can also print a list of all campers and their info. Of course, we can print a basic list of all kids signed in.

FORMS: The forms are extensive...financial information, authorized check-in/out, group & activity information, and more more more.


In a nutshell, this software program used at our day camp has made our life so much easier. It was a bit of a pain entering the camper data in the first summer, but with many returning campers, life is quite easy!

I am happy to talk more about this program.

David Hughes
Camp Doodles, Inc.
david@campdoodles.com
(415) 215-4760

There are a number of software options for camps, and new ones are created every year. A quick web search will provide you a list to review. We (SofterWare) have been providing camp management software since 1981 (we started in DOS!) Over the years, we've adapted the software to the latest technologies, and refined it based on the thousands of user requests we've received. So in addition to being the original, we are now the most fully developed, and the most flexible camp management software you can buy, backed by the most knowledgable support and development staff in the industry. Check us out at www.ezcamp2.com or call (800) 220-4111