[sims] Extra Curricular Activities or Clubs

[tben2505]

Hi guys - I posted this earlier but I think it went in the wrong forum - wondering if anyone could help...

 

We are currently looking to switch our MIS to SIMS but one module which SIMS doesn't have, or the other MIS systems we looked at, is a decent activities provision.

 

We run hundreds of activities every term and getting the kids to sign up is a rather laborious process currently (we collect info on the activities from staff, timetable it, send it to the pupils home, they then discuss with parents and in form time the tutor enters their chosen activities onto a google doc from which registers are created)

 

Obviously we would like to integrate this process to the MIS so that the pupils/parents can access the activities electronically, sign up, get allocated (this isn't easy when clubs are oversubscribed so it would need to manage that properly) and then the activities appear on both the teachers and pupils timetables.

 

We looked at CHQ but it was pricey and did an awful lot more than we needed - anyone got any ideas!?

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[eean]

CHQ does exactly what you need and does it very well. We have just started using it this term. It seems complicated to begin with and does things that I will never need, but I am finding an immediate use for many of the features we didn't originally purchase it for. It is surprisingly flexible and will allow us to run a better activities system than we did previously.

 

It will do some of the things that you will end up buying other SIMS add-on modules to do (e.g. InTouch) so you might be able to mitigate some of the cost that way. If you are running 100s of activities every term, then it will pay for itself.

 

I know SIMS well and have managed to beat it into doing most of what I require. However, I can't say I love it. If I were buying a new MIS I would think twice before buying SIMS. It is clunky and heavily reliant on Windows and Office, which holds it back.

[tben2505]

Cheers eean - we'll possibly look at it again.

 

We've carried out a lot of work on deciding on our new MIS and having been a SIMS manager in the past too, I am more than confident it will be a good fit for this school given the alternatives we looked at.

 

Cheers

 

T