[sims] SIMS Support and Licensing

[matt40k]

@Banjo Not sure about why you can't buy annual maintenance through any LA you choose if you already paid for the license ?

 

He hasn't, the LA has purchased the license.

 

As for 6, not sure they can?

[localzuk]

2 - Not usually, no. LEA licenses are usually part of a bundled license, so they can't be broken out into individual licenses for schools to break away. The reason given when we enquired about this was that it would be anti-competitive as it would undercut other suppliers unfairly.

[CAM]

An LA will buy licences in bulk and sell them on to their supported schools at a lower rate. If you leave the LA support scheme, you lose the licence and you have to contact Capita for your own at normal rates. If my understanding is correct, my LA has a contracted support company schools can buy into which provides a licence, backups, server maintenance, helpdesk support and patches for a fee each year (I don't know how much). They've actually grown to start covering schools in neighbouring authorities and it's a pretty good setup that saves me and the school a ton of hassle. Edited May 7, 2015 by CAM

[edutech4schools]

see @GREED spreadsheet with a list of schools and their MIS system based on the census return - https://eduwareconsulting.files.word...-analysis.xlsx

 

Very interesting. Sims is way ahead and used in 70%+ schools.

[mjk]

 

As for 6, not sure they can?

 

 

If LA's can supply support for academies which are outside of the LA, so it follows that they must be able to supply support for schools outside the area ??

 

 

I found a support company that also suggests that there are "obstacles" for LA maintained schools

SIMS Support | Keystone MIS

 

Anyway. thanks again.

[matt40k]

If LA's can supply support for academies which are outside of the LA, so it follows that they must be able to supply support for schools outside the area ??

 

 

I found a support company that also suggests that there are "obstacles" for LA maintained schools

SIMS Support | Keystone MIS

 

Anyway. thanks again.

 

Most likely they have a separate agreement for the Academies \ they are providing top-up support rather then core. Core being patches, top-up being training type support, like "how do I..."

 

Well I can think of one obstacle off the bat - if the LA hosts SIMS. They can't apply a patch for you then

[Sylv3r]

We moved to CAPITA direct rather than remain with the LA when we became an academy. But to be honest, we aren't saving any money and the decision was not a financial decision.

 

I must point out it wasn't the LA at fault either - we just required support for our SLG system which the LA weren't able to provide for us.

[Banjo]

Thanks everyone for helping here.

 

To help crystallise my understanding, would you mind going through this:

 

1) Capita Sell SIMS to anyone, but the LA usually owns the software except for academies.

2) Capita only provide patches to the people that they sold the initial license to - Can a license be transferred ????

3) Anyone can provide support for SIMS, but few do due to the high cost of being certified. Being certified adds gravitas.

4) there is no actual need to be actually certified, but it helps Capita keep things cosy.

5) Any school has freedom of a competitive market to choose support/patch providers and lower costs, but you have to 'buy; the system yourself and not through the LA.

6) LA's don't have much incentive to sell support to schools outside their catchment areas; hence the perception that you just pay the bill without asking question.

 

Please let me know where I've gone wrong.

@Banjo Not sure about why you can't buy annual maintenance through any LA you choose if you already paid for the license ?

 

When you buy a licence from Capita you pay a big bill in year 1 (let’s say £10k) and also Annual Maintenance £4k. (All prices are made up )

Year 2 and beyond, you will just pay the £5k (plus any price rises)

 

Something to think about…..

 

If a school moves away from SIMS to another MIS, they stop paying the AM to Capita. The school after just 12 months changes their mind and decides to move back to SIMS.

The school owns the original licence which cost £10k, but now owes £4k of backdated AM for the year they didn’t use SIMS. This needs to be paid to bring the original licence up to date.

 

Then the school then has to pay this year’s AM of another £4k which brings the total to £8k. If the schools hadn’t used SIMS for a number a years, then it would make financial sense to just re licence the whole lot.

 

SIMS LA’s Teams own the schools licences. When a maintained school becomes an academy the school goes to Capita for its licence and AM and the LA licence effectively becomes free, then ‘dies’ overtime, as the annual maintenance doesn’t get paid on it and backdated AM is due.

 

However, if a maintained school that doesn’t use SIMS wants to move to SIMS, they could potentially use one of these free licences (within their LA).

If they get their timing right, with other schools in their LA converting to academies, they might not have to pay any backdated AM on the licence, just the current years AM charge. If they don’t they could end up having to pay 1 or 2 years backdated AM to bring the licence up to date.

Edited May 8, 2015 by Banjo