Cloud based MIS selection

[Ellie04]

We are a small school that uses Google Apps and are looking for a cloud based MIS. Wondered if anyone is willing to talk about their experiences with Progresso, Tribal Synergy in schools and Bromcom. I am interested in the stability, speed and capability of the product as well as ease of integration with third party apps and gmail/google calendar. We would also like to be able to push data out easily to the parents, via a parent portal or easy to use functionality within the MIS.

Thanks for any help!

[GREED]

@Ellie04 what is your timescale for possible change. I'm hoping the MIS Survey (see the sticky in this forum) results will be back from many of the suppliers including those you mention in the next couple of weeks which is aimed to answer a lot if not all those questions, from and objective technical standpoint.

[matt40k]

@Ellie04, I'd be interested in what features you are after from the cloud, also how you came to selecting just those three.

 

If you look on @GREED website, Market Statistics | Eduware Consulting, at the bottom he's got a spreadsheet of schools and their MIS system based on the Census return, this should give you a list of actual customers who have completed a migration to a particular MIS system, they should also have a pretty good idea about the new system as they have completed a census! You can get the school contact details off Edubase also (Home).

[GREED]

@GraemeBC you say a bespoke parent portal... so one that is built and tailored specifically for each customer???

[GREED]

Hi @GREED

 

When I say "bespoke" I refer to a product (MCAS) that has been developed specifically to deliver key information to parents/carers, rather than adapting another product/medium to achieve a similar end result.

 

Regards

@GraemeBC

 

I will assume you are referring to SLG being a SharePoint product, as most other parent portal offerings from MIS providers or 3rd parties are 'bespoke' products as well...

[hindertonhead]

Hi we are also a small school, using Google Apps and looking for a Cloud based MIS. We have investigated Tribal's Synergy for Schools, and are looking at Progresso too. I would be interested how you get on in terms of integration with Google Apps, calendar and docs etc.

[Ellie04]

Hi, the survey sounds great and just the kind of thing I'm looking for but we are under some time pressure to make a choice. I will keep a look out for it!

Thanks

[Ellie04]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for those links - very interesting. I will definitely follow up. We attended a presentation and narrowed it down to these three as they seemed the most configurable.

We are a growing school using google apps and chromebooks. We don't want to manage servers and most staff don't have access to MS Office. We also want to be a able to work remotely easily.

Thanks again

[matt40k]

Cheers, I would say you can get servers hosted (on or offsite) that are managed, but it wouldn't help with the whole MS Office situation.

 

Have you seen this thread: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/134480-sql-server-reporting-services-2008-requires-uac-please-help.html - @burgemaster, should be a good person to ask about Bromcom. Also it'll be worth checking out the reporting will work on chromebooks.

[GREED]

Hi, the survey sounds great and just the kind of thing I'm looking for but we are under some time pressure to make a choice. I will keep a look out for it!

Thanks

 

Understood. Just make use of the list of suppliers so you have an awareness of who is out there and you can contact.

 

Lets this be a lesson to you MIS suppliers, get your responses in quickly!

[matt40k]

Hi @Ellie04

 

The Bromcom MIS is compatible with the Chrome browser therefore I don't envisage any issues with using Chromebooks.

 

Regards @GraemeBC

 

My comment was regarding the fact you need to install add-on that appears to be a windows-only component. Which wouldn't work on a non-windows machine like a chromebook - something that I suggest needs to be confirmed prior to commit to such a critical decision in a non-Microsoft environment, ie that a add-on for Chromium (the OS) exists. I'm sure Chrome on Windows will work fine.

[bigdannyb79]

Progresso could well be a decent solution for you if your just taking your first steps into a full blown MIS - the majority of the functionality I imagine you would be accessing works well and the interface is generally easy to follow. We have struggled with it but we adopted Progresso expected it to add value to an provision that we considered to be very good and already provided us with all the information our campus needed. Progresso was the solution to take us from good to great if you like and increase efficiency and enable us to provide the information quicker and to a wider audience then before. That hasn't happened but as I said I think we are a bit further up the ladder toward data utopia than yoursleves and progresso offers a very accessible and easily distributed solution for day to day processes.

 

We are 6 months in with progresso on a large 11-18 campus and I wouldn't recommend it for any school of similar size at present. There are just too many critical processes plagued by little niggles that on our scale just make important operations almost impossible.

 

That said I believe advanced will get there with it and in its current form it may well offer a preferable solution for primaries or maybe small secondary schools. I'll happily discuss any specifics with anyone if you PM me as there are some nice features that will really appeal to some schools but some areas that would defiantly make it a no go for others.

 

--Daniel.

[Bromcom_John]

Hi @matt40k

I've left my Chromebook at home today so can't try this until I get home however, a colleague just demonstrated the ability to generate reports, albeit in PDF format, from his Samsung Android tablet using the Chrome browser without any need for an add-in as that's only needed for Microsoft integration I believe. As for using the full web-merge functionality, I'd need to evaluate that situation accordingly.

@GraemeBC

 

Morning everyone,

 

I can confirm that the Cloud MIS Web merge report production features will work fine on a chrome book.

All of the compilation of data and composition of the document output occur on the server.

Which means that on your Chrome book it will process and deliver a PDF (or other format) document to your devices local file store for consumption with whatever app you use (such as Google Docs or Polaris office) as well as that output being stored on the servers Document management System (DMS) for later retrieval.

 

As far as printing is concerned, on my Galaxy Note 10.1 I use Cloud Print to interface my document production with a physical print server.

 

Regards

John

[matt40k]

Cheers John. Just to be crystal, you can create reports (in Microsoft terms Report Builder, in SIMS terms - Report Designer (Reports | Design), ie dragging fields in and not default\built-in reports) on a non-Windows device, such as chromebook? All the work is done server-side, and the add-on, is to enable local creation (ie the work is done client side then sync'd back. There is no limitations either.

[Bromcom_John]

Cheers John. Just to be crystal, you can create reports (in Microsoft terms Report Builder, in SIMS terms - Report Designer (Reports | Design), ie dragging fields in and not default\built-in reports) on a non-Windows device, such as chromebook? All the work is done server-side, and the add-on, is to enable local creation (ie the work is done client side then sync'd back. There is no limitations either.

 

Correct.

In Bromcom terms "e-Reporting".

The server processes and creates the final document output (which the user will have created as one of Table, List. Matrix or Mail merge format) and delivers it to the user, in this case, as a file in a choice of formats. PDF being the most universally accepted.

The only limitation is on the printing. Which instead of being direct to printer would require you use the export option and then print the exported file via whatever app you deem appropriate for the purpose.

 

Regards

John

Edited April 25, 2014 by Bromcom_John

[matt40k]

Cheers, does beg the question why you bother with client side printing then? :s

[Bromcom_John]

Cheers, does beg the question why you bother with client side printing then? :s

Not everyone is Cloud.

You'd be amazed how much rage can be generated by even "1" extra mouse click (actually you're in IT no you wouldn't)

Familiarity

 

Anyway, back to the OP's original topic.

Nothing more to see here.

Move along.

[GREED]

Great, simple, to the point responses John thank you.

[matt40k]

Familiarity

 

Good point, you'll be surprised how many people have been moaning about moving from XP to Win7, especially on an IT floor.

[GraemeBC]

Correct.

In Bromcom terms "e-Reporting".

The server processes and creates the final document output (which the user will have created as one of Table, List. Matrix or Mail merge format) and delivers it to the user, in this case, as a file in a choice of formats. PDF being the most universally accepted.

The only limitation is on the printing. Which instead of being direct to printer would require you use the export option and then print the exported file via whatever app you deem appropriate for the purpose.

 

Regards

John

 

Having finally remembered to bring my Chromebook into work, I can confirm everything John has stated above and earlier relating to the Bromcom MIS can be achieved on a Chromebook.

 

 

Regards

@GraemeBC

[burgemaster]

Hi all,

 

We went to Bromcom MIS before the Easter holiday. I can confirm that you can do the report building on a chromebook. You only need the print client to print from a windows machine running IE.

We are slowly getting everything in order and using more and more of the features. I can give you all an honest picture a little later on if you like. I can say that the support is great compared to the previous MIS.

All I can say is make sure that your current data is in order before your migration. Make sure that all any fields that you may never have used in the old MIS are input as they may well be used in the new. e.g. we didn't have email addresses as the old MIS system didn't use them.. many more...

 

All in all a good experience