pastymaster Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 Our headteacher had a demo of the VS School MIS system a few weeks back and I've been asked to look into it. I've had a quick search on here for VS Ware and a few threads come up - but none that I can find where people are using the system and have reviewed it or given any feedback etc. Are there many Secondary Schools out there using this system? From a personal point of view I really don't like the idea of a cloud MIS system, I'd much rather have something in house that we can look after on our network. I'm still open to have a look though if it'll benefit the staff in school (as well as saving a few £'s). We currently use SIMS and PARS/INSIGHT which all seem a little clunky (but I'm sure they all are) but do the job well. If anyone does have any feedback it would be greatly appreciated.
matt40k Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 Going by the census data - which you can get from here - MIS Market Statistics | The Eduware Network only one Free School (with 50 students on-roll) is using it - XP School - EduBase - XP School I really don't like the idea of a cloud MIS system It's looking like that's the way its going, all cloud based 1
pastymaster Posted March 11, 2015 Author Posted March 11, 2015 Thanks Matt, those links are quite handy to have. I'm not a fan of cloud technology really - I'm a bit old school I suppose even though I'm not that old What if your link goes down? There must be some sort of caching? I'll have to have a proper look into it at some point really.
matt40k Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 Yer I know what you mean. I think the same, but it's hard to argue with the business case, I've got 2 dev servers in Azure then 3 clients which I spin up now and then and the cost is so ridiculously low its not worth the RAM upgrade costs on my desktop. As for internet going down, its rare your internet connection goes down - proxies are a different matter. I think I've had more power cuts then internet outages!! The cost of supporting on-prem kit from a MIS supplier point of view sees your price to the customer sky rocket, just have a look at the number of posts we have about SIMS problems because of the infrastructure or how long it takes people to apply updates.
vikpaw Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 It's the one that is big in Ireland i think, not sure how much Irish traffic we get here. I spoke to them at BETT and it looks good, and they have a few hundred schools. They should be able to give you some contacts at schools that are using it, you can talk to. When we were looking around, i didn't like the idea of cloud based, so we opted for on site system which still has a portal and the benefits you'd associate with cloud. We do have internet problems, and proxy problems from time to time, so it's much safer for us to know it's here, in our dungeon. PM if you want more info. Any supplier you're looking at should be able to point you to demo schools who use the software well, i spoke to lots of school when we were deciding.
GREED Posted March 13, 2015 Posted March 13, 2015 I had a look at BETT, and know a little bit as my predecessor now heads up their UK efforts. It looks really good. Clean, crisp, very thought out for the cloud. Seems to tick all the boxes (as much as 20 mins at BETT can!), looks responsive and quick too. Top marks all round from early looks. I'm hoping to get a fuller demo before the summer and provider a more fuller review at that point. @matt40k loves my reviews! It is doing fantastic in Ireland.
matt40k Posted March 13, 2015 Posted March 13, 2015 Yer do love when someone teases out answers to standard\common questions and then publishes the results in a open and free format. Especially loved reading about VSware... oh wait... VSWare (SchoolThing) | The Eduware Network... its blank
GREED Posted March 13, 2015 Posted March 13, 2015 Adrian has promised this to me real soon, well... since BETT anyway!
pastymaster Posted March 13, 2015 Author Posted March 13, 2015 Yer I know what you mean. I think the same, but it's hard to argue with the business case, I've got 2 dev servers in Azure then 3 clients which I spin up now and then and the cost is so ridiculously low its not worth the RAM upgrade costs on my desktop. As for internet going down, its rare your internet connection goes down - proxies are a different matter. I think I've had more power cuts then internet outages!! The cost of supporting on-prem kit from a MIS supplier point of view sees your price to the customer sky rocket, just have a look at the number of posts we have about SIMS problems because of the infrastructure or how long it takes people to apply updates. It's the one that is big in Ireland i think, not sure how much Irish traffic we get here. I spoke to them at BETT and it looks good, and they have a few hundred schools. They should be able to give you some contacts at schools that are using it, you can talk to. When we were looking around, i didn't like the idea of cloud based, so we opted for on site system which still has a portal and the benefits you'd associate with cloud. We do have internet problems, and proxy problems from time to time, so it's much safer for us to know it's here, in our dungeon. PM if you want more info. Any supplier you're looking at should be able to point you to demo schools who use the software well, i spoke to lots of school when we were deciding. Thank you both, we do get more power outages than the line going down too be honest. I think I'm still slightly stuck working in industry when our WAN links seemed to be down every other week (or day in some cases!). We do get the odd proxy issue but the line is pretty stable (although we are going through a migration to a new PSN connection), touch wood. I think it's that extra 'uncontrolled' element that concerns me - especially around the MIS. I can see some advantages with services like Office365 etc, but for me the MIS is the most important thing in school. Which system are you on vikpaw? I had a look at BETT, and know a little bit as my predecessor now heads up their UK efforts. It looks really good. Clean, crisp, very thought out for the cloud. Seems to tick all the boxes (as much as 20 mins at BETT can!), looks responsive and quick too. Top marks all round from early looks. I'm hoping to get a fuller demo before the summer and provider a more fuller review at that point. @matt40k loves my reviews! It is doing fantastic in Ireland. I'll look forward to the review GREED
vikpaw Posted March 13, 2015 Posted March 13, 2015 @DFEngage Double First Engage. As per my sig In house reliability is key for us. The MIS is key to many other systems in school. 1
pastymaster Posted March 13, 2015 Author Posted March 13, 2015 Whoops, I should have spotted that. I'll have a look into it, thanks.
vikpaw Posted March 13, 2015 Posted March 13, 2015 The reporting engine is AmazeBalls , I can pipe my own SQL in and access whatever data I need.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now