SIMS\FMS Alternatives

[CommodoreS]

I am sure this has been asked many times before, but apart from the RM finance system which I already know about, please can anyone recommend any SIMS\FMS alternatives which they use and recommend and have lower yearly support costs.

[vikpaw]

Do you just want FMS alternatives or SIMS too?

What type of school / institution are you?

For an independent Double First products are great.

 

However, cost shouldn't be your determining factor, you would need to look at the whole solution.

 

For example, FMS works seamlessly with SIMS, other systems may introduce added costs due to time spent completing tasks or doing workarounds, if you kept SIMS.

 

If you're moving away from SIMS there are lots of options but it depends what you want/need.

 

Just on the financial front Corero and PS Financials are names that crop up often, SAGE can do most things out of the box cheaply but a more robust solution would would require a bespoke Sage plan which is costly.

 

Costs could vary depending on setup.

We shifted away from SIMS but have kept FMS going for a relatively small annual fee. Ideally we'd be looking for a bespoke Sage solution which would manage payroll and assets etc. but that is dear and in the very long term plan, like for review in 3-5 years.

 

Quite a few schools that changed to academies also changed finance systems so there should be some folk with hands on experience who'll chip in with more info.

[CommodoreS]

Thank you for quick reply.

 

I am looking at whatever option would reduce the support fees, but like you say a lot has to be taken into consideration such as time saved with SIMS\FMS being compatible and retraining costs for a new system. It would also have to be Target Tracker compatible.

 

The school is a very small county primary with shared year classes - 4 Classes for years 1 to 6 and a reception class.

Considering this, it would also have to be something Essex County Council agrees to that can be used and they seem to be very pro Capita SIMS and FMS.

 

I did not realise you could have FMS separate from SIMS, but from enquires I have made it seems that other schools are all being charged different amounts for their yearly support.

 

Also wondering if there is anything I should specifically look at BETT next year, that might also have a special offer on around that time. From what I remember this year there was a few companies offering these types of products, but I did not pay too much attention or get details as that was not something that was being looked into.

[vikpaw]

If you're a small primary you may get away with some of the cut down finance packages, but like you mentioned, training and usage is an issue, as is support from the county.

 

EDIT: BETT will be a good place to find these companies.

[john]

Would be well worth a discussion with your county finance team, when we looked at changing when I was in Edu they had issues with us looking as they had lots of custom reports and stuff they issued that they didn't for other products so we had no real choice but to stay with what we had and suffer.

[zag]

Sage works fine in schools. We used to use it.

 

Not sure about costs though.

[teejay]

PS Financials is very popular for finance in schools, as for SIMS then they all have various issues, but I know quite a few schools who moved from SIMS to a different MIS and ended up moving back to SIMS.

If cost is your main factor which seems to be intimated by your OP, look at alternative support providers for you SIMS/FMS support. We moved a couple of years ago and save a lot of money, in the thousands, plus have better support and consultancy/training is a lot cheaper at about half the price of Capita and tbh is better. So, ask around for support providers, the one we use is in the North so probably wouldn't want to support a school in Essex.

[pickman]

+1 for PS financials. Think its to big/costly for primary have used sage in the past which is also good

[CommodoreS]

PS Financials is very popular for finance in schools, as for SIMS then they all have various issues, but I know quite a few schools who moved from SIMS to a different MIS and ended up moving back to SIMS.

If cost is your main factor which seems to be intimated by your OP, look at alternative support providers for you SIMS/FMS support. We moved a couple of years ago and save a lot of money, in the thousands, plus have better support and consultancy/training is a lot cheaper at about half the price of Capita and tbh is better. So, ask around for support providers, the one we use is in the North so probably wouldn't want to support a school in Essex.

 

I could be wrong, but as far as I was aware the Capita Support was mandatory in order to get the SIMS and FMS updates throughout the year. If you could PM me the name of the company use that would be useful. Do they provide Technical as well as usage support?

 

As far as I can see all the companies that offer SIMS\FMS support also require a SIMS\FMS support contract in addition to their support costs, which would make things more expensive rather than cheaper.

 

It could also be a case of things usually being cheaper in the North

[vikpaw]

That sounds strange, if you have SIMS support, it is with someone, that would i guess be Capita.

If you go with a third party (they should be Capita accredited) and you shouldn't have to pay a separate support fee.

At least that's what I though happened. We pay Annual maintenance on our licensed modules and support is part of that.

[Jehanzeb]

Firstly you got to be very good at what you're doing, a very strong Personnel, student data record, claims, accounts, budgeting etc. understanding before moving away from packages that are already running in the School. FMS is boring and dated system but it works, although not as good as Sage but you'll find to be stuck with high costs with Sage than SIMS at a long run.

 

Regards

 

J.

[Michael]

I can't see the logic of staying with FMS and not SIMS. You can't unfortunately look at legacy systems and cloud systems black and white; as legacy systems have much higher costs -

 

- A physical/virtual server it needs to be hosted on

- Remote backups

- Migration costs every 3-5 years to a new server

- SQL licensing\CALs

- How many 'bolt-on' packages are you using, such as a third party Assessment tool(s)? Can these be dropped?

- Your time

- Training

 

You don't need the first four/five with a cloud based MIS/Finance package - think about it

 

And as for LAs being pro SIMS/FMS - if that's all they offer, then they should be discredited automatically. Schools can and should be more proactive at looking at numerous solutions and not settling for just one.