MIS Selection

[jpuig]

Good morning everyone, I'm new on this forum, I've already looked for the information of this post, please if there is any other post similar to this point it to me.

 

 

I work on a private school in Uruguay, we have PREP, Form and Higher education, with local and IB diploma. Currently we have a large MIS system developped inside the school since about 2006 with lots of the main functionality of the big MIS systems. We are having problems on the maintenance, all our time is spent on correcting errors, and the implementation of new functionality also takes too long time, tipical problems of a bad maintenance of the system and poor development. I started to work here from about 6 months ago.

 

 

Also we have a complete Administration program, fully integrated with the academic program developped in house, which is very old too and users are demanding reports and functionalities very hard to do (and in some cases imposible, like a cashflow) on this system.

 

 

This is why we began the process of acquiring a new MIS system.

 

 

By now I found three big candidates: SIMS, Bromcom, Aspen.

 

 

The question is to have some references/experiences/recomendations of those of you that already past this process. Would like to share some questions/comments on this process.

 

 

I used to work on a pharmaceutical company with a large world class ERP system on different countries and sites, so I'm very familiar with large systems and their implementation.

 

 

Also if any of you can point to documents or web pages with analysis on this it would be really appreciated.

 

 

Please let me know if some of you would like to spend some time on this or if I can post some questions here.

 

 

Many thanks.

[vikpaw]

There are a number of threads going back some years on various topics such as this. This thread has some useful info on the UK system on choosing systems, and some good links to how to define your requirements. http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/76154-something-keep-eye-dfe.html

The best thing you can do is get a demo from each of them, and many more.

 

If you have specific questions ask away, but generally asking how people find them, you'll end up with a mixture of love / hate, and not much usable info.

[wmiddleton]

I agree with Vik's response and always best in my opinion I feel, to get a demo from the MIS providers themselves of which there are more than just the 3 you mention.

[GREED]

Hi there and welcome to the forum. I recognise the name and enquiry, we have passed the communication to our international relations team who will be in touch shortly. I fully agree with Vik (as always), you have picked some good options already to investigate and there are more UK options in the thread he suggests. Good luck in your search.

[jpuig]

Hi there, thank you all for your replies.

 

I started with some demos from SIMS and already arranged with Furlong and Bromcom, still no news from Aspen.

 

I found an initial major problem, SIMS doesn't support multicurrency finances and administration, which is a must over this latitudes as balances have to be taken normally in two currencies, and in some cases in three or more. I can't find clear information over the other systems on this issue. I'll open another thread with a question regarding this.

 

 

By now the candidates are: Bromcom, Aspen, SchoolBase, RM - Integris, Educaria.

[jpuig]

Hi there and welcome to the forum. I recognise the name and enquiry, we have passed the communication to our international relations team who will be in touch shortly. I fully agree with Vik (as always), you have picked some good options already to investigate and there are more UK options in the thread he suggests. Good luck in your search.

 

Still no news from Aspen!

[vikpaw]

Have you looked at DoubleFirst - Pearson PowerSchool - iSAMS - ACS ?

[GREED]

Juan

 

I have followed this up with the VP for international sales and he is looking into why there is the delay, apologies. Their team does not monitor this forum currently.

 

Graham

Edited September 12, 2013 by GREED

[jpuig]

Juan

 

I have followed this up with the VP for international sales and he is looking into why there is the delay, apologies. Their team does not monitor this forum currently.

 

Graham

 

 

No problem! Thanks!

[GNewnham]

Hiya

 

Have you looked at iSAMS at all? It is mainly used by Independent Schools, has a fees and billing module which links with Sage Accounting.

 

If you want to know some more, have a look at their website

 

I am happy to answer any questions which you may have from a school's perspective.