Trojan Posted February 4, 2014 Posted February 4, 2014 Hi All, I am after any information people may like to share with me about the current status of Progresso in terms of it's current usability from anyone that uses it in a live environment. Have the sprint releases done what was advertised? How fast is it? Is it reliable ? Would you recommend it? etc... We were due to go live here last year but we postponed it and now the question has arisen again as to whether we should migrate or stick with Facility or move elsewhere. Any Info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
jamin100 Posted February 4, 2014 Posted February 4, 2014 Not got it live (yet) but we are going live in 2 weeks. The data manager seems happy with it in terms of both speed and features. Although we are only in transition at the moment.. 1
Achandler Posted February 4, 2014 Posted February 4, 2014 We have been waiting to go live for over 2 years now I think. Honestly I think it will never happen, noonne ever updates you as to what is happening either, I wouldn't bother trying to go live by choice now. 1
Trojan Posted February 4, 2014 Author Posted February 4, 2014 Honestly I think it will never happen, noonne ever updates you as to what is happening either, I wouldn't bother trying to go live by choice now. Your right about that, I have very little info coming out of L2ICT. Which is annoying to say the least.
Michael Posted February 4, 2014 Posted February 4, 2014 Why's there a big rush to upgrade? Facility is now being supported until 2018
Trojan Posted February 4, 2014 Author Posted February 4, 2014 Why's there a big rush to upgrade? Facility is now being supported until 2018 There is no real rush so to speak, Leadership have asked the question and L2ICT have been on the blower asking if we are still interested in migration. Originally we were attracted to the features on offer by Progresso and the chance to banish ePortal and it's idiosyncrasies.. then the Progresso scare stories started. With Facility being supported it's less of a drama but the question has been asked and I was interested in getting other peoples "live" experiences rather than relying on the claims made by L2ICT and Advanced.
Michael Posted February 4, 2014 Posted February 4, 2014 I think the general feedback is not great and personally, the fact that Advanced Learning have increased support by four years... clearly Progresso isn't ready for the masses. If it was, we'd be migrating schools now and not in 2018. 2
michael2k6 Posted February 4, 2014 Posted February 4, 2014 Since the move to amazon hosting and the latest sprint releases it's been much quicker and more reliable. We've got two schools using it now with a total of about 500 staff and 2500 kids and we're fine. The difference was quite noticeable. In terms of supporting facility until 2018, surely it's a good thing that establishments can now move at a time best fitting the school not the business? Since advanced, things are quite a bit more transparent. If you want to discuss my recent experience of it in more detail feel free to pm me. Mic 1
Trojan Posted February 4, 2014 Author Posted February 4, 2014 Since the move to amazon hosting and the latest sprint releases it's been much quicker and more reliable. We've got two schools using it now with a total of about 500 staff and 2500 kids and we're fine. The difference was quite noticeable. In terms of supporting facility until 2018, surely it's a good thing that establishments can now move at a time best fitting the school not the business? Since advanced, things are quite a bit more transparent. If you want to discuss my recent experience of it in more detail feel free to pm me. Mic Thanks very much, I'm speaking to Leadership about it soon I will PM you if I need more detail. Thanks again.
Oaktech Posted February 4, 2014 Posted February 4, 2014 We've backed away from it after they asked for more money.
APC Posted February 5, 2014 Posted February 5, 2014 Feedback im hearing from schools who have recently moved to Progresso is very positive, it certainly appears that Advanced Learning have resolved the majority of the issues early users were experiencing. I understand the ball is now well and trully rolling again.... 1
GREED Posted February 5, 2014 Posted February 5, 2014 It is much the same in the feedback I have from current or soon to be Progresso schools. Admittedly raising public opinion from the depths it was to a nominal level shouldn't be too hard, that said it is starting to look like the next gen system it promised to be. 1
Michael Posted February 5, 2014 Posted February 5, 2014 That's good news things appear to be looking on the up, but I find it strange Advanced Learning haven't announced that the latest version resolves a lot of issues. I think realistically I'd still leave it a few years to mature Plus, it will be interesting to see what Capita's SIMS Online will look like. 1
Trojan Posted February 5, 2014 Author Posted February 5, 2014 At least it sounds like some real progress has been made by Advanced. I look forward to actually seeing and using a live system. Thanks All.
GREED Posted February 5, 2014 Posted February 5, 2014 Plus, it will be interesting to see what Capita's SIMS Online will look like. It's being piloted in NI now, early versions anyway. 3 years to wait yet.
LiHoll Posted February 5, 2014 Posted February 5, 2014 (edited) HI Achandler, It's Lindsay from Advanced Learning. I look after the schools in Manchester looking to move to Progresso & I may have been speaking to one of your colleagues. If you want to give me a call we can speak further . many thanks Edited February 5, 2014 by Dos_Box You cannot list your contact details as a non-sponsor
GREED Posted February 5, 2014 Posted February 5, 2014 Lindsay @LiHoll Welcome to the forum Just an FYI, usually you would have your hand slapped by the mods for encouraging/promoting your own software. But (mods) think this is relevant in this thread It might be good if you want to respond publicly to some of the points made here?
clockend25 Posted February 5, 2014 Posted February 5, 2014 We've used it since September. Feel free to PM.
Joshubuh Posted June 3, 2014 Posted June 3, 2014 We're also looking to make the change to Progresso for ease of access for our teaching staff. Obviously the water is muddied from a lot of last year's negative feedback so I'm hoping to get some genuine responses from people on here who have experience working with it recently. I'm about to PM some of you who have expressed that you would be willing to give your opinions but would also welcome messages from others too. Thanks.
Michael Posted June 3, 2014 Posted June 3, 2014 Personally I think one of the criteria with cloud based MIS systems, is that both the day to day functions of MIS systems and the finance side are all part of the same solution. This makes sense for compatibility, simplicity and cost effectiveness... otherwise having the finance side separate (be it local or cloud), I think will prove more problematic long term.
GREED Posted June 4, 2014 Posted June 4, 2014 Personally I think one of the criteria with cloud based MIS systems, is that both the day to day functions of MIS systems and the finance side are all part of the same solution. This makes sense for compatibility, simplicity and cost effectiveness... otherwise having the finance side separate (be it local or cloud), I think will prove more problematic long term. It doesn't give you the ability to choose the best of breed for that element of the software though. I have not found one MIS provider that does Finance software as well as the dedicated providers. If you have a solution that takes the appropriate data from the/and MIS then what difference does it make? I would say the same for any specialist software.
michael2k6 Posted June 4, 2014 Posted June 4, 2014 Here's one for among the pigeons, Advanced have a finance product which existed very successfully before the acquisition of Learning. It's in place in the public health sector, quite a few key player commercial companies, and quite a few LA's and universities. It's just going to market for schools, and it stands to reason it will work with the MIS provided by learning. At the moment looking at the sector, it's the third biggest player. So i do think the future for accounting and MIS may be bright, but can see how it does remove the flexibility to choose best of breed; unless you happened to have the best MIS and best finance product!
GREED Posted June 4, 2014 Posted June 4, 2014 Here's one for among the pigeons, Advanced have a finance product which existed very successfully before the acquisition of Learning. It's in place in the public health sector, quite a few key player commercial companies, and quite a few LA's and universities. It's just going to market for schools, and it stands to reason it will work with the MIS provided by learning. At the moment looking at the sector, it's the third biggest player. So i do think the future for accounting and MIS may be bright, but can see how it does remove the flexibility to choose best of breed; unless you happened to have the best MIS and best finance product! Or... your finance product is compatible with other MIS software to extend your coverage!
michael2k6 Posted June 4, 2014 Posted June 4, 2014 That, sir, I cannot yet comment on, as I've only seen an introduction to it in terms of the key facts, and a brief demo. I'm not sure what the API access to that part of the software is like at the moment. But we're all about interoperability which is reflected in the partnership programme we have now being open. We want to help schools get the best out of the systems they choose to use and accept that there is no one size fits all. I'm going to stop now before I get too sales-y, but I only sound like that because I've got a genuine passion for it. I would just say watch this space
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