2024 was an exciting year for us.
We introduced Arux, announcing that the next wave of program management software had arrived.
Our new platform is specifically designed for multi-site after care and enrichment programming, modernizing the way after school and community education programs work.Â
First, a quick story:
After an 18-year wait, we finally achieved a long-held dream: acquiring arux.com. While we'd made do with aruxsoftware.com, we always knew our ideal domain was out there. When we discovered the owner lived in Japan but had no way to email them, we didn't give up. Through the trusty US Postal Service and our newfound connection, we successfully secured arux.com. This streamlined domain will make it even simpler to connect with us. Anyways.
A year dedicated to platform growth
As the year progressed, our team got to work, digging into our platform to build 17 new features and capabilities designed to address the challenges faced by today’s after school and community education programs. These features are driven by industry solutions to the challenges our customers face.
As we grow and partner with more programs, we learn that the after school and enrichment industry is complex. We are doubling down on our development and customer success efforts to understand its intricacies and create effective solutions from coast to coast and program to program.
Nearly a year after our launch, I wanted to recap 2024 and share an update on the exciting developments ahead at Arux this year. As we sit at the crossroads between 2024 and 2025, four main categories guide our platform development. We’ll uncover each one, explain why it's important to us, and discuss how our platform is responding.
Increasing access to site-level information
Easier data sharing with other platforms
More ways to engage with familiesÂ
Other solution-driven developments
Increasing access to site-level information
After school operations require real-time mobile information gathering and updates from staff on the ground. When we launched Arux last year, we also launched the Arux Connect: Child Care app for iOSÂ (AC:CC), an extension of the Arux platform. AC:CC provides onsite staff with a mobile layer of operations, allowing them to collect and evaluate data when needed. We made key improvements to AC:CC in 2024.
These updates include a streamlined Attendance tab for quick roster views, an Activity Feed showing 30 days of program data available both in-app and in the Admin Dashboard, Staff Check In/Out functionality for real-time staffing insights, and enhanced Kiosk Mode with multilingual support and improved privacy features. These tools strengthen safety compliance, facilitate team coordination, and provide the real-time data insights necessary to operate modern child care programs.
As we move forward in 2025, we continue emphasizing the real-time onsite information you collect and analyzing the information to help you make better-informed decisions. This emphasis means committing to feature developments such as:
Ratio reportingÂ
Insights on staffing will always be top-of-mind for programs. We’re collecting more data and giving you more insight into how you can better staff your programs.Â
Snack reporting We’re adding a system report for recording snacks and meals from Arux Connect: Child Care for state and federal subsidies.
Automating data exportsÂ
We are exploring ways to send recurring reports directly to staff inboxes when they need them, like the ability to send a facility request report to all custodians on designated dates and times.
Easier data sharing with other platforms
When considering the future of after-school programs, I envision closer integration with other systems, especially in the larger community education space, and integration with more enterprise systems, such as Student Information Systems, Single Sign-on Providers, Subsidy Management Systems, and even HR / Payroll Systems.
In 2024, Arux strengthened its data integration capabilities across multiple platforms to better serve education partners. Implementing admin SSO brought enhanced security and streamlined authentication for district IT teams, while a successful pilot with data exports from facilities management systems helped our customers get set up quicker while reducing facilities and scheduling redundancies. Additionally, in response to growing state-level child care subsidies, Arux established certified APIs with KinderSystems and the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to facilitate attendance data sharing, supporting providers in accessing increased funding opportunities.
2025 will bring even more data-sharing opportunities between Arux and other platforms as this becomes more of a requirement and an opportunity for programs. Here’s where we anticipate investing our time.
We're enhancing our platform's data management capabilities in several key areas. These include developing automated synchronization scripts for seamless facility data imports and streamlining state-mandated reporting processes. This will help providers capitalize on increasing child care subsidies and federal funding opportunities while meeting heightened data management requirements.
We will also start mobilizing our staff timesheet data in more ways to help our customers streamline their payroll operations.
Making it easier to engage with families
Although some things change in the after school industry, programs will always strive for deep connections with families and community members. As such, our focus remained on this area as we developed new features in 2024 and beyond.
Arux has rolled out several key features to strengthen the connection between after school programs and their communities. Our new Cart Assist functionality gives administrators direct control over users' shopping experiences for enrichment courses, and an increasing number of community members are embracing our new donation option during registration.
We've integrated AI-powered tools into the Admin Portal to enhance content creation, helping programs craft compelling descriptions and communications across program listings, course information, and emails.
Looking ahead to 2025, we're expanding our Community Portal capabilities with new content builders and features, giving programs even more tools to create engaging, professional-looking portals that resonate with families and community members. We’re also refining the account dashboard design to accommodate new features and create an even more intuitive user experience and exploring the ability to put more information and communications, including pictures, in the palms of parents’ hands.
UCare — for Minnesota programs that accept UCare, they’re moving from a post-billing to a prepaid credit card model. We are enhancing our checkout experience so community users can apply this prepaid card as an additional payment method.
And last but not least, we are excited to soon be launching an integrated email delivery system to streamline customer communications. Customers will be able to create any variety of custom lists to send emails to. It will also allow you to send test emails, select reply-to addresses, and schedule emails for later delivery.
Other solution-driven developments
Beyond our core focus areas, we’re working on several enhancements to elevate our platform further as Arux continues to enhance administrative efficiency and user support across its platform.
We've strengthened agreement tracking capabilities within the Admin Portal, offering clear visibility of user-agreed documents through List Views and View Pages. In 2025, will explore layering in electronic signature functionality to facilitate digital document workflows within our web application.
We are excited to have recently expanded tax statement functionality across all program types, ensuring community members can easily access their necessary financial documentation.
Finally, we are scratching the surface of using AI solutions to help you save more time. We've launched Ask Arux AI, a sophisticated assistant powered by large language model (LLM) technology, and trained on extensive help documentation to provide instant support. Ask Arux AI delivers clear guidance in response to natural language queries.
Looking forward to this coming year, we’re continuing to think about ways AI can improve your experience. Insights like staffing recommendations, description recommendations, and survey analysis are some AI workflows on our horizon.
Our commitment to community education
One of the challenges of this industry, and why I am so energized by it, is how nuanced it can be.
Our team doesn’t have all the answers, but rest assured: we will continue to work tirelessly to understand these nuances and build solutions to advance programming worldwide.
To help accomplish this, in 2025, we want to get out there more. We hope to see you at industry events, and when you do, I encourage you to say hi, learn about us and our technology, and share with us how your programs are trying to evolve.
I hope you also begin to see the Arux team engaging with the programming itself. We believe that we need to be more connected to our customers than ever to continue to build the right solutions, so as a team, we’re investing in attending the community education programming we build solutions for. More to come on that.
As a final exercise as part of this message, I want to hold Arux accountable to our core values. So, let’s see how we did:
Put people first -> Making it easier to engage with families.
People are at the heart of our industry and our company.
Lead by example -> Easier data sharing with other platforms
We know this will only become more prevalent, and we’re working on staying at the forefront. Be dependable -> Increasing access to onsite information
Nothing can be more dependable than having accurate real-time information for staff on the ground.
Keep it creative -> Other solution-driven features
We’re flexing our creative muscle to uncover outside solutions to move our platform and customers forward.Â
Thank you. We are so grateful for the opportunity to keep building alongside you. And, if you’re an after school program looking to make a change from your current software, I encourage you to reach out to see how we can build something together.Â