ass17 Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 Just a quick heads up to says SIMS are charging based on two subscriptions for customer WITHOUT SLG (SIMS Learning Gateway) 1 Year = £2 per pupil per year, but capped at £2500 per year 3 Year = £1.80 per pupil per year, capped same as above No other hidden costs, no software to install on your server, Association code sent to your school for staff to connect their iPad to your SIMS DB (SIMS app will connect to a SIMS Microsoft Azure site for activation). If you have new pupils starting the school halfway through the year, you will not pay for them until the next renewal of your subscription, a little grace period, thanks SIMS. Dont undercut on the number of pupils to save money as SIMS check school pupil numbers via Edubase. Rollout date for this is 9th Feb 2015 (Thanks to the lovely lady @ SIMS for providing me with this info)
PhilNeal Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 Just to add there is minimum of £200/year. Self hosted SLG gets a heavily discounted price.
LosOjos Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 iOS only or is there an Android and Windows Phone version too?
Banjo Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 (edited) iOS only or is there an Android and Windows Phone version too? Android KitKat v4.4.2 or above & Windows 8.1 from Easter Edited January 26, 2015 by Banjo 1
teejay Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 Had a look at this at BETT, quite nice and shiny, but there were several features missing at this time that make it unusable for us. Be very careful if going down this route, most of the features we need we were told were going to be 'In the next release' but tbh I took that with a pinch of salt. 1
ass17 Posted January 26, 2015 Author Posted January 26, 2015 I think SIMS are going to take some business from Groupcall because we were quoted £2950 + VAT per year.
rob101 Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 Just asked about a trial of it and was told they are not doing trials of it, you can watch a demo but that's it. Stump up the cash then find out if it works/is good enough.
GREED Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 Such as @teejay ? I'm aware of a couple of features not available, that are in other comparable solutions. I've also got questions over data security procedures as well as how it handles data offline/data caching. But then, I know a great deal about a competing solution Funny... Capita staff were cagey about sharing such things with me! - - - Updated - - - I think SIMS are going to take some business from Groupcall because we were quoted £2950 + VAT per year. We'll see - - - Updated - - - Just asked about a trial of it and was told they are not doing trials of it, you can watch a demo but that's it. Stump up the cash then find out if it works/is good enough. Very worrying with a brand new product as well as some interesting open questions about how it all works.
ass17 Posted January 26, 2015 Author Posted January 26, 2015 This should answer your questions about security and data transport etc, its everything you need to know... SIMS-Teacher-App-Technical_Overview_Jan2015.pdf
PhilNeal Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 @GREED are you still working for a competitor in this space? Android and W8 versions will follow. We can't see that its possible to design a slick interface for assessment entry on a phone so no plans at present for a phone implementation
CAM Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 Tablets only then? Also please please please make use of live tiles on Windows 8.1, not enough app developers utilise them properly destroying the big advantage of the Windows platform!
PhilNeal Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 Certainly for now tablets only. The devs are really excited by live tiles so I think we'll see that. I've not touched the W8 version so can't be sure if it does yet!
Edu-IT Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 (edited) Interesting that Capita have gone down device specific app route as opposed to a web based interface that would work across multiple platforms. I suppose a bonus is that it doesn't require network connectivity. If that isn't an issue then there are certainly far more polished products out there for this sort of thing. That said, a few releases later everything the app lacks might be there. Edited January 26, 2015 by Edu-IT
CAM Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 A web-based interface wouldn't allow for offline mode.
LosOjos Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 We can't see that its possible to design a slick interface for assessment entry on a phone so no plans at present for a phone implementation Spreadsheet layout (as per SIMS), double tap a cell and get a "Select Grade" pop up or comment box...
PhilNeal Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 @LosOjos we modelled that - far too cumbersome!
mark80 Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 @LosOjos can you imagine the predictive text in iOS for reports home Disappointed that trials aren't available if that is true.
Edu-IT Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 A web-based interface wouldn't allow for offline mode. As I said in my post. I suppose a bonus is that it doesn't require network connectivity.
Banjo Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 This should answer your questions about security and data transport etc, its everything you need to know... Information use and disclaimer The information contained within this SIMS Teacher app Technical Overview should not be distributed, shared, reproduced, in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium including by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally) without the written permission of Capita Children’s Services That's why I didn't post it.
rob101 Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 @LosOjos can you imagine the predictive text in iOS for reports home Disappointed that trials aren't available if that is true. That's what the sales guy from Capita i talked to said, i said that this was very unusual for a software vender to not offer a trial before buying solution, he said Capita have never done that. I asked how do i know it works, his reply was its been in testing for a long time, and would be fine. Still not comfortable splashing £2500 out on a product i cant even get my hands on.
vikpaw Posted January 28, 2015 Posted January 28, 2015 Just to add there is minimum of £200/year. Self hosted SLG gets a heavily discounted price. I was told it drops to £1 per pupil per year which is awesome, but then you do have to put up with the pain of SLG. Had a look at this at BETT, quite nice and shiny, but there were several features missing at this time that make it unusable for us. Be very careful if going down this route, most of the features we need we were told were going to be 'In the next release' but tbh I took that with a pinch of salt. I thought that and mentioned a number of improvements during the demo, the product manager took note. My main concern was security and how the offline bit works, how quickly it syncs back up. What takes precedence if two updates are made at the same time, or the offline is over-writing. I'd like to see a longer time to live offline, configurable by user. The default is an 8 hour wipe, which is pretty good. @LosOjos can you imagine the predictive text in iOS for reports home LOL That's what the sales guy from Capita i talked to said, i said that this was very unusual for a software vender to not offer a trial before buying solution, he said Capita have never done that. I asked how do i know it works, his reply was its been in testing for a long time, and would be fine. Still not comfortable splashing £2500 out on a product i cant even get my hands on. Hmph. The updates are in testing for a long time too, no?
ass17 Posted January 28, 2015 Author Posted January 28, 2015 Information use and disclaimer The information contained within this SIMS Teacher app Technical Overview should not be distributed, shared, reproduced, in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium including by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally) without the written permission of Capita Children’s Services That's why I didn't post it. ops, sorry SIMS, didn't see that bit. Got totally engrossed in the full details that it totally went over my head. What I am surprised with is the person who sent it to me never mentioned not to share. Lesson learned for everyone here, ready it, read it again, even the small print.
matt40k Posted January 29, 2015 Posted January 29, 2015 @ass17 I didn't like to say anything! Well not after the last time you gave good advice! 1
dapaulio Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Just to add there is minimum of £200/year. Self hosted SLG gets a heavily discounted price. Don't take my word on this but I have had several conversations with our sims manager generally about the development of slg and I believe as we are a self hosted SLG customer we get the teacher app free of charge
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