In many offices, the management software is still a program installed on a specific computer: the one by the window, with the sticker on the monitor. If it’s off, the data is gone. Elsewhere, the data is a shared spreadsheet, updated by three people with three different criteria. It works, as long as it works.
This article compares the two setups on six concrete questions that eventually come to the table of those coordinating a nursery or preschool: who accesses and from where, what happens if that computer breaks, who does the backups, how are multiple locations managed, who updates the software, and who is responsible for the security of the children's data. With the limits of the cloud stated, because they exist.
What Does "Installed" Mean and What Does "In Cloud" Mean
An installed management software lives on the disk of a machine: the program is there, the data archive is there. To work with it, you must sit in front of that workstation or connect to the internal network. The shared spreadsheet is a variant of the same scheme: a file, kept by the one who created it.
A cloud-based management software, on the other hand, lives on servers managed by the software producer, and you access it with your credentials from any device. Easy.School works this way: it opens from a browser and from two apps, Easy Family for family members and Easy Staff for educators and staff, compatible with smartphones and tablets.
The difference is not technical, it’s organizational: it changes where the data is stored, and therefore who accesses it, who protects it, and who restores it when something goes wrong.
Who Can Access, and From Where
With the installed program, access is tied to the workstation. The educator in the section does not register attendance while the children enter: they note it on paper, and someone copies it later. Those working from home take a copy on a USB stick, and from that moment there are two versions of the same archive.
The shared spreadsheet has the opposite problem: anyone with the link sees everything. There’s no simple way to give an educator access only to their section, or a family only to their child.
In Easy.School access permissions are customizable by role, item by item, for both staff and families: you decide who sees the complete records, who sees only the attendance of their section, and who enters the administrative part. There is also a log of actions on the database tables: if a data point changes, there is a record. Photos and videos are not public links that can be copied in a chat, but signed addresses that expire after an hour, on storage space dedicated to the individual license.
If That Computer Breaks (And Who Does the Backups)
This is the question no one wants to ask. A disk fails, a laptop disappears, a wrong attachment encrypts the files: with the archive on a single machine, the structure loses records, issued fees, family contacts, and attendance history.
A blunt question: who does the backup, today, in your structure? If the answer is the name of a person, the risk is that this person is on vacation when needed. If the answer is an external disk in a drawer, check the date of the last copy: often it’s older than remembered. And a disk kept next to the computer shares with it thefts, floods, and power surges.
In the cloud, the provider does the backups, and the office computer becomes a replaceable object: if it breaks, you open another one and log back in. There remains a question to ask anyone: how do I retrieve my data if I change one day? In Easy.School data export is unlimited and included.
Multiple Locations, One Archive
As long as the structure is one, the local archive holds up. When the locations become two or three, each site has its own computer, its own file, and its own numbers: to know how many enrolled children there are in total requires phone calls and a summary filled out by hand, already outdated when it arrives.
In the cloud, the archive is one, and the data updates where it is entered. In Easy.School those working across multiple structures switch from one to another without logging out and back in: no second user, no second password. A useful technical note: each structure has a dedicated database, not a shared table filtered by customer code. We discussed this in depth in the article on how to manage multiple locations with a single management software.
Updates: Who Installs Them, and How Much Do They Cost
With installed software, each new version is a small construction site: someone has to come on-site, or download a package and install it on each workstation. Often the new version is paid separately, and it happens to stay on an old one for years because the right moment never comes. Over time, the program stops communicating with the updated operating system, and the problem shifts to the hardware.
In the cloud, the update happens on the server side: the next morning you find the new function. In Easy.School updates and new features are included in the license, for its entire duration. We are explicit about the cost: the first 20 children are 25 euros per month, or 250 euros per year plus VAT, with 4 GB included; each additional child adds 0.60 euros per month (6 euros per year) and 0.2 GB. The only discount is 17% on annual payment.
Who is Responsible for the Security of Children's Data
Here we do not provide legal assessments: the compliance of your structure must be verified with your consultant. However, we can describe the technical choices, which are the concrete part of the question.
With installed software, physical security is yours. Who enters the office, who knows the password, where the disk ends up when the computer is replaced, what happens to the USB stick used to take data home: responsibilities that remain within the structure, and that rarely someone has put in writing.
The technical choices of Easy.School on this front are:
- Data stored in the European area, not on scattered servers without indication.
- Dedicated database for each structure, separate from those of others.
- Role-based permissions configurable item by item, for staff and families.
- Log of actions on the database tables.
- Photos and videos with signed addresses that expire hourly, on storage space dedicated to the license.
- Downloadable appointment letter for data processing officer and designated DPO, to be forwarded to your consultant.
You can find a dedicated in-depth article on how to protect children's data in the nursery.
The Real Limits of the Cloud
It would be dishonest to tell only the good side. The cloud has three real limits.
- You need a connection. If the structure's line goes down, you cannot log in. The countermeasures are trivial: the smartphone's hotspot, a tablet with data network for attendance in the section, a second line where coverage is unstable. But it must be said: without a network, the cloud-based management software does not open.
- You depend on a provider. You do not have the file on your disk. For this reason, it matters who is behind it: Easy.School is developed by a Roman software house active since 2010 and is used by over 1000 structures, and unlimited export serves exactly to prevent you from being locked in.
- The cost is recurring. An installed program is often paid once; a cloud-based management software is paid every year. In return, you receive updates, backups, and support included, but it is a budget item that remains.
There is also the transition cost, which is not cheap but is a matter of habits: the first month you work a bit more while bringing in the records and fixing the old data. On what is worth bringing and what to leave behind, you can find the guide on how to import data from another management software.
In Summary
An installed management software keeps the data close: you see them, they are on that machine. The price is that access, backups, updates, and physical security become your job, almost never formally assigned to someone. The cloud shifts that work to the provider and disconnects access from a single workstation, in exchange for a functioning connection and a renewing fee.
The useful question is not which of the two is better overall, but how much would it cost your structure to lose the archive tomorrow morning, and how many hours a month are spent today copying data from one place to another. If you want to see how it works with data safe and reachable from where needed, Try Easy.School for free.
