Centre dashboard guide — free plan
You are on the free plan. If you have a premium account, see the premium dashboard guide.
What the free widget does
Families visit your website, select a room, enter their household details, and see a clear weekly out-of-pocket estimate. The widget uses your fees and the current CCS rules to produce the number.
At the bottom of the widget, a button reads Get your full report on CCSChecker. When a family clicks it, their calculation carries across to CCSChecker so they can explore the full breakdown. The button always links to CCSChecker and cannot be changed on the free plan.
Getting started
If you have not set up your centre yet, go to Set up your widget. You will be asked to:
- Enter your centre name and state
- Choose your service type (most centres are Long Day Care, which is CBDC)
- Add rooms and sessions — each session needs a name, hours per day, and daily fee
- Optionally add kindergarten funding settings for eligible rooms
- Review and finish
Your first draft is created. Nothing is visible to families yet.
Your dashboard
After setup, your dashboard shows a card for each centre. Click the arrow on any card to expand it.
Inside the card you can:
- Edit rooms, sessions and fees
- Preview what families will see
- Publish your changes
- Schedule a future fee update
- Get your embed code
Changes you make are saved as a draft. Families see your current live version until you publish.
Publishing
When your rooms and fees are correct, open the card and click Publish now.
Your widget updates immediately. You do not need to reinstall or update your embed code after publishing.
To set a future effective date instead of publishing immediately, click Schedule and pick a date.
Embed code
Expand a centre card and scroll down to find the embed code snippet. Copy it and paste it into your website wherever you want the calculator to appear.
It works on any platform that accepts HTML. Common placements:
- WordPress: Custom HTML block
- Squarespace: Code Block
- Wix: Embed HTML element
Tip: Place the widget close to your fee information. Families are most likely to use it when they are already thinking about costs.
The code only needs to be pasted once. It always loads your latest published version.
What families see
After entering their details, families see:
- Estimated weekly out-of-pocket cost
- The CCS percentage that applies to their income
- A breakdown of the subsidy amount and fee
They can tap How we worked this out to see the full calculation. At the bottom, Get your full report on CCSChecker carries their numbers across for deeper exploration.
Insights
The Insights tab at the top of your dashboard shows how many families are using your widget — views, estimates run, and link clicks. Data updates as families use the calculator.
Common questions
Do I need to update my embed code after changing fees? No. The code is permanent. It always loads your latest published settings.
The widget looks blank on my site. Some platforms do not run scripts in preview mode. Publish your page and check the live version.
Can I have more than one room? Yes. Add as many rooms and sessions as you need. Families choose the relevant one in the widget.
Can I use a custom CTA button? No. The free plan uses the CCSChecker button. Upgrade to premium to set your own label and destination URL.
Can I schedule a fee update for a future date? Yes. Use the Schedule button to pick an effective date. The widget keeps your current fees until that date, then updates automatically.