Any recommendations apart from SIMS?

[IanT]

Hi Guys,

 

Does anyone have any recommendations apart from SIMS, as the school I will be working for would like "to move away" from SIMS?

 

Regards

[RabbieBurns]

we are gonna be looking for a new mis soonish as pearson phoenix withdraw support from gold. Be good to get a few names of ones to check out. Definately not going down the e1 route.

[jcollings]

Hi Guys,

 

Does anyone have any recommendations apart from SIMS, as the school I will be working for would like "to move away" from SIMS?

 

Regards

 

I would check out why they want to move away - I know several schools in this area who moved away thinking that the grass would be greener then came back to SIMS. IMHO SIMS does a pretty good job and has lots of functionality that schools often fail to exploit.

[kxv2020]

I know of school that moved to CMIS... but then moved back.. .good luck!

[Guest monkeyx]

We moved from SIMS just over 3 years ago, and would not consider moving back. And I was an advanced SIMS user involved in assessments , timetabling and reporting. But it just did not do what we wanted in relation to assessments.

 

The teachers find Eportal front end far easier to use, than the various SIMS modules.

 

Facility has some very powerful features for tracking assessments and behaviour via the reporting tool.

 

I would not consider moving back to SIMS now.

[kxv2020]

We moved from SIMS just over 3 years ago, and would not consider moving back. And I was an advanced SIMS user involved in assessments , timetabling and reporting. But it just did not do what we wanted in relation to assessments.

 

The teachers find Eportal front end far easier to use, than the various SIMS modules.

 

Facility has some very powerful features for tracking assessments and behaviour via the reporting tool.

 

I would not consider moving back to SIMS now.

 

I think you need to remember now that SIMS has consolidated most its modules into the .net platform - which means that if they are entering profiles; assessments;registration information about their own classes it all be done from the homepage timeline!!! You don't have separate application modules for each part of sims now!

[PhilNeal]

IanT I would be happy to arrange for one of our Strategic Partnership Team members to visit your new school to listen to their issues. Almost certainly a small investment in training will have a massive impact in the school and will be a lot cheaper than changing systems.

[Guest Guest]

I think you need to remember now that SIMS has consolidated most its modules into the .net platform - which means that if they are entering profiles; assessments;registration information about their own classes it all be done from the homepage timeline!!! You don't have separate application modules for each part of sims now!

 

Yep. So in other words if one bit of it breaks the whole lot goes down!

 

We have finally got SIMS updating on the workstations properly (well via a script ive made as the proper update tool simply does not work even with full admin privileges) so actually accessing the system isnt the problem. The problems are when an update comes out and breaks something server side. Or the constant loss of data from the database, at last count the office staff had entered the timetables 6 times. Last year the time was never correct which was fun when teachers booked out the IT rooms at the same time as a scheduled class.

 

Sorry im ranting now but i certainly symphosize with you, the vast majority of problems here involve SIMS and cachepilot

[maniac]

If the school is wanting to move away from sims because it doesn't offer the functionality they want, I'd say that's a good reason. If however it's because of technical difficulties, or reliability issues (which it invariably is) I'd say they may want to re-consider and maybe invest in getting SIMS working properly insted. In my experience if you've got a good spec server to run SIMS on and it's been set up properly, then it is a very reliable platform.

 

The thing to remember is there is no consistantly good MIS system, where one system is strong, another system is weak, where one system works, another system experiences problems, it's all swings and roundabouts.

 

So basically I'm saying, don't just take their desire to change at face value. If you have the oppertunity, examine why it is they want to change, you could come out smelling of roses if you save the school needless expense.

 

Mike.

 

Oh and by the way I'm not a sims advocate, but I have witnessed first hand how disruptive it is to a school not only changing MIS system once, but then changing back again a year later when they suddenly realise their new MIS system costs more to run, and isn't doing anything more than the old one was.

[IanT]

IanT I would be happy to arrange for one of our Strategic Partnership Team members to visit your new school to listen to their issues. Almost certainly a small investment in training will have a massive impact in the school and will be a lot cheaper than changing systems.

 

Thanks Mate, I havent started at the school BUT will be interested what you can offer.

 

I will get back too you.

 

Ian

[Netman]

It doesn't receive much press around here but WCBS Pass is used in quite a few independent schools including ours. Might be worth a look...

WCBS – Information Management for Schools

[Guest Guest]

In my experience if you've got a good spec server to run SIMS on and it's been set up properly, then it is a very reliable platform.

.

 

Id love you to share how this was done with our LEA as afaik there is not a single school in our borough which would call SIMS "very reliable" lol

[PhilNeal]

j17sparky - if you'd like to make contact with me I will speak to your LA and see what we can do to sort out the issues. I am 100% certain that it can be fixed.

[Guest coquet636]

We moved to CMIS about 4 years ago and although the first year was a nightmare its all ok and running very well now.

 

At first it was a horror story as there project management skills were none existent, so they installed CMIS and said get on with it after you have completed your courses.... There helplines were always busy so it was a case of try your best.

 

Since then i have to say there helplines are better, and the updates they roll out dont create as many bugs as they solve anymore.

 

So on the whole were happy with CMIS now, but when you get your contracts and agreements make sure you get them to do everything you want before signing it off and paying them..!!!!

[Jake]

IanT I would be happy to arrange for one of our Strategic Partnership Team members to visit your new school to listen to their issues. Almost certainly a small investment in training will have a massive impact in the school and will be a lot cheaper than changing systems.

 

What kinds of training courses etc are available? We (the tech dept) have mentioned several times to SMT that we feel there is a need for training of staff, but are repeatedly told by them that people have done courses before but the courses only covered the bare basics and didnt go into any real depth on the advanced uses of SIMS.

[IanT]

j17sparky - if you'd like to make contact with me I will speak to your LA and see what we can do to sort out the issues. I am 100% certain that it can be fixed.

 

Hi mate,

 

the school im starting at said "it never seems to work properly"......I will find out what they mean and go into more details, from the responces im getting from everyone here seem mixed about SIMS.

 

I will find out, if its a problem are you able to help in anyway.

 

Ian

[Gray]

I invite you to a public demonstration of SchoolBase - a tailored database solution specifically for independent schools. It is easy to use, needing minimal training and works the way you want it to (not getting you to work the way of the package). As you mention Wallington, Surrey, may I suggest one being held on 12th November in Godstone. Alternatively we can arrange a school visit. If you require further details contact the SchoolBase office on [email protected]

[Guest Guest]

j17sparky - if you'd like to make contact with me I will speak to your LA and see what we can do to sort out the issues. I am 100% certain that it can be fixed.

 

We'll see how the Sept updates go eh, due for wenesday at 4pm so thursday might be fun lol.

 

One of the most simple issue which i simply cannot possibly do wrong is automatic updates. Even with full domain admin rights the auto update does not always run and i fail to see how it can be my fault.

 

As i said, the DB keeps losing data. It is impossible for this to be user error due to the fact it is working one day, come in the next and the data is gone without trace. So it must be a mis-configured server right? But then how do you misconfigure the server side of SIMS, id have said it was pretty straight forward to anyone with server-client experiance.

 

Either way thanks for the offer and depending on how wed goes ill probably be having words with the LEA support team so will mention it.

[PhilNeal]

Jake courses are available from a variety of places - if you are an LA school that is probably the cheapest place to try first. The following link takes you to our courses Education Support Services - Capita Education Services

 

To get the best out of ANY management system the senior leaders have to be on board and understand what (not how) it can do. We have consultants that can assist with setting up the system both technically but more importantly in such a way that it meets your needs. These consultants can work in your school or if you want to club together that is fine too. The technical overhead after SIMS has been set up should be minimal.

 

J17Sparky if the SIMS upgrade has been going wrong the next release will do too - something is wrong with your set-up and it needs to be rectified. You do not need to give everyone high access rights to do upgrades. I would really like to solve this so please get in touch.

[Guest monkeyx]

I think you need to remember now that SIMS has consolidated most its modules into the .net platform - which means that if they are entering profiles; assessments;registration information about their own classes it all be done from the homepage timeline!!! You don't have separate application modules for each part of sims now!

 

Perhaps you should remember that I was using SIMS.net at the time we left, and gave both the LEA and Capita a list of requirements, specifically related to tracking assessment and behaviour. It was always going to be in the next release, after several realeses we gave up waiting. The fact that teachers needed less training to use the system, has also been a big benefit

 

I would point people more to documenting what they require and speaking to as many suppliers as possible to see who can best their overall requirements. The Serco system met our written requrements, as that was the basis on which we signed up.

Edited September 28, 2008 by monkeyx

[maniac]

Id love you to share how this was done with our LEA as afaik there is not a single school in our borough which would call SIMS "very reliable" lol

 

Simple. We make sure SIMS is running on a well speced server, our LEA tests all SIMS updates before giving us the go-ahead to install them, and we make sure that staff have the correct privledges on their laptops for updates to install. We never have any trouble with updates, very few problems with SIMS itself, it runs quickly and is generally trouble free from a technical perspective.

 

Mike.

[Hecate]

I agree with maniac. We rarely have trouble with the actual update process. Occasionally the update refuses to run at all usually because someone somewhere is still logged in but once the server has updated the update process on the workstations runs smoothly. btw I have scripted the workstation update so it runs at computer startup which prevents impatient users messing it up.

[jcollings]

I agree with maniac. We rarely have trouble with the actual update process. Occasionally the update refuses to run at all usually because someone somewhere is still logged in but once the server has updated the update process on the workstations runs smoothly. btw I have scripted the workstation update so it runs at computer startup which prevents impatient users messing it up.

 

Ditto here - remoted in last night and did 2 patches and the Sept update. All was well this morning.

 

@Hectate - I'd be very interested in your automation script if you don't mind sharing. Thanks

[vikpaw]

I can't believe no-one has mentioned the offering from BROMCOM. It quite often gets a slating but in my opinion i've never seen a better system. Mostly because the service is second to none. Problems will always occur with every system, so i base my view on the level of service.

 

You have to bear in mind it's a solution that's in it's infancy (for a whole MIS) however, that is to it's advantage as it was designed after a lot of thought and user input. It's really quite intuitive and easy to use from the user's perspective.

 

I was using single sign-on and web based registering years ago. All the data is available over an html interface. Data can be accessed wirelessly with ease, on laptops or dedicated devices.

 

There are no hugely expensive costs for access or to share the information over the web. The functionality has always been there. There is little or no annual fee aside from the maintenance costs, once you buy, you own the software package.

 

It's been a while since i was involved with it, but it's definitely worth considering if you are lucky enough to be looking at alternate solutions.

 

Change for the sake of change is not good, but sometimes, the fear of change and the cost / effort involved can leave you blinded to an alternate product that may suit your needs better. Each school is different after all.

 

Get a company in to do some demos and then ask them about their competitors, and how they are better. That's a good way to see what is out there and what 'they think' their relative strengths are.

 

I've worked a lot with SIMs and it is very powerful indeed, but i wouldn't put it at the top of my list, simply because of the sheer number of small niggly problems that en masse over time cause a minor headache to become a full blown migraine!

[Tonyoung]

Hi Vikpaw. It's not clear from your post on whether you have dropped SIMS in favour of Bromcom or are running the two in parallel - a separate post on SIMS reporting suggests the latter but I may be wrong. If you are running in parallel how much functionality of the Bromcom solution are you using ? Timetabling, assessment, cover, reporting to parents etc ?