There is one kind of log in ARC: a form your staff fill in. A fire walkthrough, a weekly health check, a morning log, a family visit, a room search. They all live in one list called Logs, and you can edit any of them, including the daily and additional logs that come with ARC. Logs belong to the organisation, and every home uses the same ones.

Where they live

Sidebar, Company Admin, then Logs under Recording & compliance. The page is headed Logs.

What you can set on any log

Setting	What it does
Name and description	The description shows at the top of the form
Icon	The picture shown for the log
Show as a tile on the child card	Puts the log one tap away on each child's card
Recorded for	The home, or a child
Required	On, the log shows on dashboards until it is done
Frequency	Per shift, daily, weekly, monthly or as needed
Due by	For daily, weekly and monthly logs, an optional time of day the log is due
Can be linked to a plan	Staff may attach an entry to one of the child's plans
Active	Off hides the log from staff
Access	Who can record it, who can read entries, who is notified
Form	The questions staff answer

Every log also has a When time, so staff can record something from earlier. You don't need to add it.

How often

Frequency, together with Required, decides when a log is due:

Per shift, Daily, Weekly and Monthly: due once in each of those periods. A weekly required log shows as still to do until it has been done that week.
As needed: never due. Staff record it when something happens.

Due by is optional. With no time set, a daily, weekly or monthly log is due by the end of the day, week or month. With a time, it is due by that time on the last day of the period (each day, on Sunday for weekly, on the last day of the month for monthly). After that time it shows as overdue, but staff can still record it.

Home or child

	The home	A child
What it is	One log by a staff member for the home	A log recorded against one child
Required means	Each person has an entry to complete per period	Every child needs an entry for the period
Plan link	No	Optional

The choice can't change once entries have been recorded.

Create a log

Select New log.
On the Settings tab, give it a Name and a Description.
Choose Recorded for, set Required and Frequency.
For a child log, switch Can be linked to a plan on if staff may attach an entry to a plan. Linking logs to plans is worth turning on wherever it makes sense, because it keeps the child's picture in one place.
Under Access, tick the roles (Staff, Senior, Deputy, Manager, Safeguarding lead) for who can record it, who can read entries, and who is notified.
On the Form tab, build the form.
Select Create.

Who can record, read and be notified

Who can record it: leave all roles ticked for everyone in the home.
Who can read entries: managers and anyone who can record it can always read. Narrowing this keeps entries from other roles, and from the daily journal.
Who is notified when an entry is saved: an in-app notification to those roles in the home, not to the person who saved it. Leave all unticked to notify nobody.

Company admins can read entries in any home, but need a home role to record.

Build the form

The Form tab has the fields on the left and the form as staff will see it on the right.

Add a field by dragging it onto the form, or by pressing Enter on it.
Move a field by dragging it, with the up and down buttons, or Alt and the arrow keys.
Edit a field by selecting it: label, help text, Required switch and, for choices, the options.

Field types: short text, long text, number, yes / no, dropdown, choice, multiple choice, file or photo, date, time, and staff member. A staff member field lets staff pick one or several people from the home, and you can limit it to certain roles. Long text boxes offer dictation, so staff can speak instead of type.

A file field takes up to 10 files per entry, each up to 20 MB. Photos show as small pictures in the log. Files are stored privately and open only for people who are allowed to read the entry.

Renaming a question doesn't break past entries or reports. Each time you change a form, ARC keeps the earlier version, so old entries still show the questions they were answered against.

Turning one off or deleting it

Switch Active off and the log is hidden from staff; entries already recorded stay readable. A log can only be deleted if it has no entries. Otherwise, deactivate it.

Retired logs

Shift journal, Room checks and Incident drafts are no longer separate logs. Past entries are kept as they were. If you want something similar, create a log for it.

Checking who has completed them

Pick a Home and a Date and the list shows how many were completed and how many are overdue, with anything overdue in red. For a child log it shows the children still missing one. It's a spot check, not a report.

What staff see

Required logs appear on the staff and senior dashboards. Child logs shown as tiles sit on the child's card, and the rest are in the child's log menu.