Naturally Learning · InRatio
InRatio, in five versions
From a smarter spreadsheet to the full tool, most basic to most advanced. You can stop on any one. Each is useful on its own and a step to the next. Start cheap, prove it works, and climb only when it has earned it.
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.