Step 1: Set Up Your Agency Details and Settings
Before doing anything else, go to Settings in the left-hand menu. This is where you configure everything that controls how your agency operates on OnCare.
Start with Agency Details and Documents. Click Edit on the first section and you will see the option to add your agency logo. Upload your logo, then fill in your agency name, address, and contact details. Your logo and business details will appear on invoices, care plans, risk assessments, and any PDF documents generated by the system.
Next, set up your rates. Go to the Rates tab in Settings and configure your hourly rates, travel time rates, and mileage rates. These are used to calculate invoices and payroll, so it is important to get them right from the start.
Then configure your alerts and notifications. Set your preferred late visit alert threshold (15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes) and your geofencing distance (10, 20, 30, 50, or 100 metres, or off). The geofencing distance controls how close a care worker must be to a client's home to clock in. You can also manually adjust a client's location pin on the map if the automatic location is not accurate.
If you have purchased the Policies and Procedures and Operational Forms add-on, you will need to take the time to fill out all the sections. There are around 50 variables across the various policy templates, and each section needs to be completed. This can take approximately an hour. If you try to download a policy document without completing all the required fields, the system will let you know which information is missing. It is worth doing this thoroughly at the start so your documents are ready when you need them.
Step 2: Add Your Clients
Go to People in the top navigation, then click Add a Client. Fill in the client's contact details, address, and key contacts. Once the profile is created, you need to build out every section of the client's record.
Start by completing the Care Plan and Risk Assessment. These are essential documents that CQC inspectors will look for, and they also provide care workers with the information they need to deliver safe and appropriate care. Take the time to fill in each section thoroughly.
Once the care plan and risk assessment are in place, go to the Summary tab of the client's profile. From here you can see an overview of everything and also set up additional features. You can invite Friends and Family if you want to give contacts access to visit information, enable eMAR if the client requires medication administration records, upload documents, and set up reminders.
Repeat this process for each of your clients. The more complete each client profile is, the better the experience will be for care workers using the app and for families using the Friends and Family portal.
Step 3: Invite Your Care Workers
Go to People in the top navigation, then click Care Workers, and select Invite Care Workers. Enter the care worker's first name, last name, and email address, then click Send Invite.
The care worker will receive an email with a link to accept the invitation. They need to click the link, set up a password, and then they will have access to the OnCare mobile app. Until a care worker has accepted the invitation and logged in for the first time, their profile will show a "Not Signed In" tag and their name will appear greyed out in the system. Once they log in, this tag disappears and they become fully active.
After inviting your care workers, you also need to set up their working hours. Go to Schedule, click the Care Workers tab, then click the three purple dots next to a care worker's name and select Manage Availabilities. Here you can set their shift hours for each day of the week. This is important because it helps you build an accurate schedule and avoid booking care workers outside their available hours.
Step 4: Invite Your Office Staff
Go to People in the top navigation, then click Office Staff, and select Invite Office Staff. Enter their first name, last name, and email address, then click Send Invite. They will receive an email invitation to set up their account and access the OnCare web platform.
When adding office staff, you can assign them a role. You can set them as a Manager (full access to all features) or give them Financial Access, which means they can see everything related to the financial side of the system, including invoicing and payroll. Choose the appropriate level of access based on each staff member's responsibilities.
Office staff are free and unlimited on your OnCare account. They do not count towards your billing, so you can add as many as you need without affecting your costs.
Step 5: Build Your Schedule
Once your clients and care workers are set up, head to Schedule to start building your rota. The most efficient approach is to set up Weekly Visit Plans first for each client.
To do this, click on the Client sub-tab in the Schedule view. Find the client you want to set up, click the three purple dots next to their name, and select Manage Weekly Visit Plan. From here, you can create a recurring weekly schedule of visits for that client, specifying the days, times, duration, and allocated care worker for each visit.
Once your visit plans are built, you need to apply them to specific weeks. On the top right of the Schedule view, select the correct week, then click Apply Weekly Visit Plan on the top left. You can select one client or all clients at once, which makes the process much quicker. Repeat this each week for the weeks you want to schedule.
When you are ready, click Publish to make the rota visible to care workers in the app. Care workers can only see the next two weeks of scheduled visits on their app at any time.
Step 6: Set Up Invoicing and Payroll
With your rates already configured in Settings (Step 1), you can now use OnCare to generate invoices and calculate payroll. Go to Invoicing in the left-hand menu to create and manage invoices for your clients. You can generate invoices based on completed visits, download them as PDFs with your agency logo and details, and export the data as CSV files for your accountant or payroll bureau.
OnCare also tracks mileage and travel time automatically based on care worker check-in and check-out locations. You can export mileage reports and time sheets as CSV files from the relevant sections.