Shadow_Walker Posted January 6, 2016 Posted January 6, 2016 RS Connect Ed Does anyone have any opinions or use this product at school. We are looking at it but just want to see if anyone else uses it to see what they think of it. Thanks
Shadow_Walker Posted January 6, 2016 Author Posted January 6, 2016 30 day free trial might be worth a punt ? Think that's what we are getting. Just wanted to know if anyone uses it. I know it is a re branded version of keep kids safe but everywhere i look there is nothing about rsconnect.
bobsmith Posted January 8, 2016 Posted January 8, 2016 It is a rebranded version of keep kids safe. At my last school I bought into KKS, when I came here they suggested we shift to RSConnectEd as this is the evolution of the product. You're right that the connection between the two is as clear as mud on both their websites!!! However 30 seconds playing with RSConnectEd and you can see the KKS development hiding under the hood, the interface is almost unchanged. - - - Updated - - - oh and the big difference is that you can effectively eliminate your actual messaging costs if your parents all have smartphones.
Shadow_Walker Posted January 8, 2016 Author Posted January 8, 2016 It is a rebranded version of keep kids safe. At my last school I bought into KKS, when I came here they suggested we shift to RSConnectEd as this is the evolution of the product. You're right that the connection between the two is as clear as mud on both their websites!!! However 30 seconds playing with RSConnectEd and you can see the KKS development hiding under the hood, the interface is almost unchanged. - - - Updated - - - oh and the big difference is that you can effectively eliminate your actual messaging costs if your parents all have smartphones. Is that a good thing it is keepkids safe? I am just a bit concerned that no one else is using this product really.
bobsmith Posted January 8, 2016 Posted January 8, 2016 I liked KKS and I like connectEd, it seems like early days for the product, and I've been helping my admin team this morning with setting up some more features in it and come across annoying omissions, but no show stoppers. There are other products that I would explore - schoolcomms looks nice. It's a matter really of what your brief is. For us it was replacing a really ropey communications system. 1
browolf Posted January 8, 2016 Posted January 8, 2016 we just started using it as an upgrade for keep kids safe. Had kks for years and been happy with it. With it's other mobile related features we're going to drop Sims Learning Gateway. That'll save a tonne of time. 1
GREED Posted January 10, 2016 Posted January 10, 2016 With BETT only a week away would it be sensible to go to the show and speak to the usual players in this market and see what thay have to offer now?
fiza Posted December 7, 2016 Posted December 7, 2016 Is RS connectEd web based? We have KKS at the moment and will be getting the upgrade in the new year. I wasn't involved in the discussions so know very little about it. Will staff be able to login from anywhere and send messages/letters to parents if they need to?
tekins Posted December 7, 2016 Posted December 7, 2016 Is RS connectEd web based? We have KKS at the moment and will be getting the upgrade in the new year. I wasn't involved in the discussions so know very little about it. Will staff be able to login from anywhere and send messages/letters to parents if they need to? It is web based, so staff can log in from anywhere. We use it here, switched from Schoolcomms a few months ago, quite like it. It has it's niggles, but then so do most systems. 1
fiza Posted December 7, 2016 Posted December 7, 2016 It is web based, so staff can log in from anywhere. We use it here, switched from Schoolcomms a few months ago, quite like it. It has it's niggles, but then so do most systems. Are there any gotchas with it? What are the niggles with it?
tekins Posted December 7, 2016 Posted December 7, 2016 Are there any gotchas with it? What are the niggles with it? Main bugs for me are the import into the app - not clear at all what columns of a CSV are required, even using the supplies templates doesn't seem to go smoothly. And, the biggest annoyance for me is that it adds seemingly random characters into imports to the app, for example in our term dates, it says "31 OctoberÂÂ2016" I clear the wrong characters, now that date is ok, but another date changes from what was correct to "17 AprilÂÂ2017" 1
fiza Posted December 7, 2016 Posted December 7, 2016 Main bugs for me are the import into the app - not clear at all what columns of a CSV are required, even using the supplies templates doesn't seem to go smoothly. And, the biggest annoyance for me is that it adds seemingly random characters into imports to the app, for example in our term dates, it says "31 OctoberÂÂ2016" I clear the wrong characters, now that date is ok, but another date changes from what was correct to "17 AprilÂÂ2017" Thanks. Is the import a manual process or is there something like groupcall exporter doing the job?
bobsmith Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 It has it's own exporter executable that runs on the server (at least it did last time I was NM), I haven't experienced any issues with the export though, bit surprised by what @tekins is experiencing. Only figured out that it can sync staff into the system this week, one extra permission added to the SIMS user and a 2 minute phonecall to ConnectEds support team and my staff are now sync'd weekly. 1
tekins Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 The SIMS export works perfectly, the import I am talking about is for the My Ed App. 1
fiza Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 The SIMS export works perfectly, the import I am talking about is for the My Ed App. what is the My Ed App?
tekins Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 what is the My Ed App? It's an app that parents can install, it allows free 2 way messaging, it also links to their children to show attendance data, achievements and timetables. It also allows for things like staff contact details, links to online payments, contact details, term dates etc. It's pretty good really (apart from the data import and niggles mentioned earlier). We have over 220 parents using it, which considering it launched in November isn't too bad. 1
Xebec Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 Watch out for the T's & C's - after the initial 3 year contract expires you are tied in for another 3 years, not a rolling one year contract! So buy it and immediately give notice to cancel. They almost definitely won't turn you away in 3 years time if you decide to stay but you then do have the option to move if another supplier has beneficial pricing or additional features. 1
Linfit Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 We have been using this live since Sept after using KKS for many years. Seems to work well and the parents like it. The App is very configurable so you can use it as a sort of portal to access other related online services: we have links in it to our online payment system, web site, various other stuff. It uses the same export service as KKS so the setup required at our end was minimal - the actual App content is maintained by our web site admin, and she finds it pretty straightforward. 1
fiza Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 We have been using this live since Sept after using KKS for many years. Seems to work well and the parents like it. The App is very configurable so you can use it as a sort of portal to access other related online services: we have links in it to our online payment system, web site, various other stuff. It uses the same export service as KKS so the setup required at our end was minimal - the actual App content is maintained by our web site admin, and she finds it pretty straightforward. When you say links to payment system do you mean web links that take the user out of the app and onto the payment website? Our payment system supplier are introducing an App themselves, if they weren't, a link would have been good.
Kingstech Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 Has anyone used the ConnectEd Gateway program who has hosted sims?
Linfit Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 When you say links to payment system do you mean web links that take the user out of the app and onto the payment website? Our payment system supplier are introducing an App themselves, if they weren't, a link would have been good. Yes, they are web links, although you can put in links which allow direct download of documents I believe. 1
DrCheese Posted December 10, 2016 Posted December 10, 2016 Watch out for the T's & C's - after the initial 3 year contract expires you are tied in for another 3 years, not a rolling one year contract! So buy it and immediately give notice to cancel. They almost definitely won't turn you away in 3 years time if you decide to stay but you then do have the option to move if another supplier has beneficial pricing or additional features. Yeah I think that's my only real complant with the company, it's very easy to accidently get signed up to a 3 year contract with no escape. Other than that, we've used KKS for years & found it very useful - They've just added the ability to send digital documents from within SIMS (i.e reports) so we've done a trial run of that for Year 13 that's gone pretty well. Haven't looked into the My Ed app yet tho as I think it's an additional cost (Correct me if I'm wrong!)
Kingstech Posted December 10, 2016 Posted December 10, 2016 They've just added the ability to send digital documents from within SIMS (i.e reports) so we've done a trial run of that for Year 13 that's gone pretty well. Are you running on site SIMs or Hosted SIMs?
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