When using CAPS Online, it’s important that you report your attendance as precisely and accurately as possible. The below tips will help you to ensure that the attendance you enter follows the guidelines set out in the ACS Attendance Maintenance Policy. To read the full Attendance Maintenance Policy, please visit: https://on.nyc.gov/3vtfipE
- Always maintain on-site attendance for enrolled children.
Regardless of whether you enter your time-in/time-out attendance in CAPS Online daily or weekly, you must maintain daily attendance records for all children in your care on-site at your program.
- Know the difference between when to enter absences vs. closures in CAPS Online.
Absences should only be entered for days when you/your program were open and available to provide care, but a child did not attend. For days when you were closed and/or unavailable to provide care (e.g., holidays, vacation, etc.), you must enter a closure for that day in CAPS Online. For more information on how to enter closures in CAPS Online, please review the following article: https://bit.ly/3PrAcfI
- Stop entering attendance and drop a child once they're no longer attending your program.
If a child is no longer attending your program and/or has transferred to a new program, you must stop entering attendance for that child and drop the child from your roster in CAPS Online. Do not enter absences for that child past the day that the child stopped attending your program (or their first day of attendance at their new program). If you are unsure of whether a child in care will be returning to your program, reach out to the parent/guardian to confirm before entering any further attendance in CAPS Online for that child.
- If a child is being transferred to one of your other programs, you must wait until they appear in the new program's CAPS Online account before entering attendance.
Never submit attendance for a child if they are enrolled under the wrong ACS program/provider ID. For example, let’s say you run two programs: Program A and Program B. If a child in your care is transferring from Program A to Program B, as of the child’s transfer date, all attendance must be entered in Program B’s CAPS Online account. If the child’s enrollment with Program B hasn’t been updated in the system, you must wait until it is before continuing to enter attendance for that child. Do not enter attendance for the child in Program A’s CAPS Online account past the transfer date.