Kyle Posted April 15, 2013 Posted April 15, 2013 We've got Cunninghams, Nationwide and Gladstones coming in next week and this thread has been a great resource for us. I just want to know if there are any more updates to be added and also if there are any recommendations for online payments to go with the cashless catering.
sonofsanta Posted April 15, 2013 Author Posted April 15, 2013 With regards to online payments, WisePay has been brilliant for us - it's a really clean, useable interface and our finance team can't speak highly enough of it. All three you're talking to will work with it. With regards to questions, we found that issues around Free School Meals, Staff Duty Meals etc. were often what figured most highly in considerations, because certain companies suited our current working practice better. You will have your own priorities for these things. Things to ask that may not be obvious: how comprehensive is the reporting, and how customisable; how much lead time is required, and what is the plan/support for live week; what are the support terms (NBD, 4 business hours, etc.); can tills be rolled out to other locations such as a school shop and can the system handle multiple purses (may not be relevant); how do the tills deal with loss of network, as that can happen; how easy is it to catch up in the event of a power outage (i.e. logging meals after the fact); how do you deal with visitors/hospitality; how do you deal with students who have run out of money. That should keep you busy for a while. Each of our meetings has ended up being about 2½ hours by the time we're done with the technical questions 1
plexer Posted April 15, 2013 Posted April 15, 2013 We just got told we had to use one vendor by the 3rd party running the kitchen. Ben 1
Kyle Posted April 15, 2013 Posted April 15, 2013 That should keep you busy for a while. Each of our meetings has ended up being about 2½ hours by the time we're done with the technical questions We've got an hour with each :-(
Edu-IT Posted April 15, 2013 Posted April 15, 2013 We've got an hour with each :-( My advice would be to try and keep to the point then and don't like the people doing the demo's try to compare their systems to all the others out there as this will just eat away at time. If you're tight on time might be best to come up with your questions beforehand and let them know what you're looking to see. From here you can discount which systems won't work for you and call the people back to demo further the systems you do want to know more about. 1 hour is pretty short to be honest to do a proper demonstration. We also spent a good 3 to 3 hours with each company, and we went through a lot in that time, and still had more to ask after.
bossman Posted April 15, 2013 Posted April 15, 2013 Cunningham's provided our cashless catering system and have done for many years, all I can say is that it has worked for all these years flawlessly! Only issue we had was a hardware fault with one of the tills and a smaller issue with one of the fingerprint scanners they changed them the very same day if I remember rightly and all has been well since. Set up with static IP's with backup of the server config done daily every evening by the admin office staff. As for technical help we haven't really required that much and when we have they remote in and fix as it is part of their SLA. Simples
dskinz Posted May 3, 2013 Posted May 3, 2013 Ask about 2nd third year support and maintenance prices. Support is important. How secure is the data. End of year procedures etc, new intake. Any more email me.
Edu-IT Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 Anyone using Nationwide able to tell me what's new in their latest release?
sonofsanta Posted July 4, 2013 Author Posted July 4, 2013 Just an update for everyone who was kind enough to offer assistance - we had go live day yesterday and, remarkably, it all went really rather well. Hell of a job getting to that stage, but the day itself was fine, the system is marvellous, and Nationwide's engineers and support have incredibly helpful and supportive throughout - we're all really very happy now I just need someone to bring the weekend forward by a day or two for me, that'd be really appreciated right about now... 1
woody Posted October 1, 2013 Posted October 1, 2013 Just an update for everyone who was kind enough to offer assistance - we had go live day yesterday and, remarkably, it all went really rather well. Hell of a job getting to that stage, but the day itself was fine, the system is marvellous, and Nationwide's engineers and support have incredibly helpful and supportive throughout - we're all really very happy now I just need someone to bring the weekend forward by a day or two for me, that'd be really appreciated right about now... Hi, we are looking at changing and I just wondered how you have got on with Nationwide since your last post. Thanks.
sonofsanta Posted October 1, 2013 Author Posted October 1, 2013 Hi, we are looking at changing and I just wondered how you have got on with Nationwide since your last post. Thanks. Really well - now rolled the system out into the school shop as well, with a cash drawer and barcode reader, integrated the biometrics into the library (Eclipse.net from MLS) and integrated it into our Moodle 2 install so girls can check their balances & purchases on the VLE. Any teething issues we had - there were some early problems with account codes and online payments, for example - were worked around in the first instance and have since been patched out entirely by their development team. We've implemented weird requests like internal-only FSM (so they don't show up on the census from CMIS). All in all, support have found a way - they've never just said "the software isn't designed to do that" - and the system itself has been solid, comprehensive and a marvel of modern IT as far as our kitchen manager is concerned, who never had any accurate figures before for what was selling. So no regrets from us! 1
nadeem Posted October 1, 2013 Posted October 1, 2013 How was the moodle 2 integration done - that sounds interesting
sonofsanta Posted October 1, 2013 Author Posted October 1, 2013 How was the moodle 2 integration done - that sounds interesting From Nationwide's side, they publish the data through a web service on the internal cashless server, accessible only from select IPs and offering a few functions via an API. Our Moodle 2 install is developed/administered by Overnet Data who have their own SIMS/CMIS integration block and they've connected to the Trust-E web service through that. There may be other ways - Frog at least can do it as well, judging by the documentation - but that's how we did it. I'm sure someone from NRS would be delighted to tell you more.
Gongalong Posted October 3, 2013 Posted October 3, 2013 Interesting reading. We're currently with Tucasi and have a set of 5 year old tills. Tucasi have stopped developing the cashless catering side of their system (Schools Cash Office, SCO) as they're focusing on online payments only (purportedly 7 customers with the former and 3,000 with the latter). We have an issue currently where the tills keep going offline, and support are struggling to figure out why and don't seem very motivated. Also the online payments side is a bit fragile. The difficulty we have is a compressed day, with a 20 minute lunch break. Currently we use barcode cards which scan very quickly. Our Bursar has looked at biometric systems but it takes 2-3 seconds to scan a fingerprint, which is just too long to get 1,000 kids through in 20 minutes. I'm not sure if she's spoken to Nationwide/NRS but I'll point her that way.
john Posted October 3, 2013 Posted October 3, 2013 Interesting reading. We're currently with Tucasi and have a set of 5 year old tills. Tucasi have stopped developing the cashless catering side of their system (Schools Cash Office, SCO) as they're focusing on online payments only (purportedly 7 customers with the former and 3,000 with the latter). We have an issue currently where the tills keep going offline, and support are struggling to figure out why and don't seem very motivated. Also the online payments side is a bit fragile. The difficulty we have is a compressed day, with a 20 minute lunch break. Currently we use barcode cards which scan very quickly. Our Bursar has looked at biometric systems but it takes 2-3 seconds to scan a fingerprint, which is just too long to get 1,000 kids through in 20 minutes. I'm not sure if she's spoken to Nationwide/NRS but I'll point her that way. I would think NRS could do that for you they do a range of ID options for primary schools they can do a screen with the pics of the kiddies on for staff to just press that I have seen they also do Mifar proximity cards which could be easier or they may even do barcode reader option give them a call they are very helpful 1
Gongalong Posted October 3, 2013 Posted October 3, 2013 Apparently we've got Cunninghams coming in already, as they are recommended by Tucasi. We'll see...
john Posted October 3, 2013 Posted October 3, 2013 Apparently we've got Cunninghams coming in already, as they are recommended by Tucasi. We'll see... As this thread shows well worth getting NRS in as well. In my experience for the same thing they were a good bit cheaper and better software IMHO. 1
Gongalong Posted October 3, 2013 Posted October 3, 2013 I've made the recommendation, but we'll see whether it makes it through the politics...
sonofsanta Posted October 3, 2013 Author Posted October 3, 2013 NRS, Cunninghams and Gladstones were all within spitting distance of each other on price. The NRS system was much more professional though - you could tell it had come from industry and stood up to their demands, whereas the others still felt a bit "aimed at education" - you know the kind of software, where you find out it's using an MS Access database at the backend, or only runs on Server 2003 as it's not been recompiled for newer .NET Frameworks. Those aren't specific issues with those companies, it was just the sentiment I got. On the evidence, as well, NRS will bend over backwards to meet your needs as well. Our account manager, incredibly, actually knows the product, and can talk about it on a technical level - there's very rarely an "I'll get back to you on that". 2
john Posted October 3, 2013 Posted October 3, 2013 NRS, Cunninghams and Gladstones were all within spitting distance of each other on price. The NRS system was much more professional though - you could tell it had come from industry and stood up to their demands, whereas the others still felt a bit "aimed at education" - you know the kind of software, where you find out it's using an MS Access database at the backend, or only runs on Server 2003 as it's not been recompiled for newer .NET Frameworks. Those aren't specific issues with those companies, it was just the sentiment I got. On the evidence, as well, NRS will bend over backwards to meet your needs as well. Our account manager, incredibly, actually knows the product, and can talk about it on a technical level - there's very rarely an "I'll get back to you on that". Yup very much what I experienced as well which is what you want and need with things like this For anyone that has stayed in a Travelodge you will have come across NRS without even realising it I know @robk and myself were enjoying winding up the staff at the one from BETT that we could probably get through it and make food free
Gongalong Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 To update: we had all 3 in, albeit I wasn't involved in the meetings. NRS impressed the most, so now it's a case of waiting for quotes.
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