Choosing an MIS

[Ms_Kuk]

I know this has probably been posted before but thanks in advanced for any guidance.

 

My school is currently using Progresso (for 2 years) , and the general consensus amongst staff is fairly negative. School leadership is after a switch back to SIMs. Does anyone have a handy checklist/set of criteria I should be looking at? Or a comparison chart of these or other MIS systems.

A bit of context- We're a secondary academy, part of a small MAT. Any decision we make would possibly have an impact on the other school in the trust.

My only experience of SIMs was as a classroom teacher, and I remember moaning a lot about it at the time.

With Progresso it has become clear we need an SSRS expert to really make it work, would we need a similar "in house" SIMs expert?

The school also currently uses iOS as it main operating system, does that have any impact on our choices?

 

TIA

[localzuk]

Before looking at changing MIS, you really need to do a proper analysis of what is wrong with your current one. What is it that people don't like? Is it actually the software, or is it a training issue?

 

Whichever system you have you need someone who's job it is to deal with the data. Most schools now have a Data Manager that does it all. So, yes, you'd need someone who is somewhat of an expert in data manipulation whichever system you use. Knowing what data you want, and how you want to present it is somewhat key.

 

There are apps that link to SIMS for iOS but they are not the full SIMS client. You could also make use of RDS from a server to give access to the full SIMS client on iOS (this is what we do here for our teachers).

[Ms_Kuk]

Thanks, my ICT manager isn't too keen on an RDS solution as its just another thing that would go wrong!

 

In terms of issues, its both! There was no training when Progresso was introduced and we don't have an SSRS expert- I'm learning on the fly.

Our data manager can handle the data we generate but it is done outside the MIS, Progresso does a lot of the first level analysis of data, so analysis isn't really a concern.

Many of the issues come from the associate staff eg) SEN tracking, timetabling, behaviour etc. There hasn't been a joined up approach to information, and users have been given a free pass to by third party systems, such as class charts, CPomms, which further muddies the water. So now our database is in bits!

 

I'm trying to figure out if its worth sticking with what we know, and trying to consolidate things or starting afresh with a new MIS.

[localzuk]

Switching MIS is a huge thing to do, and doing it within such a short time as the last change seems like there's no leadership with your MIS.

 

I think you really need to sit down and produce your list of requirements for your MIS, and then consolidate what you've got around them. This needs to come from a leadership position, and needs to be a case of "this is how we're doing things now". Staff cannot be left to do their own thing - you end up with data scattered all over the place and potential data protection issues occur.

[djm968]

Capita offer Hosted SIMS - Hosted SIMS | Services |Capita-SIMS.co.uk

[Esteban_Child_of_the_Sun]

In my experience a school's perception of an MIS can be limited by their support, if you find a good support team who is willing to put in the time to get your school comfortable and proficient with a system then any decent MIS can be good. There are many MIS support teams around the Manchester area and you can find support for many of the major MIS's out there.

[djm968]

In my experience a school's perception of an MIS can be limited by their support, if you find a good support team who is willing to put in the time to get your school comfortable and proficient with a system then any decent MIS can be good. There are many MIS support teams around the Manchester area and you can find support for many of the major MIS's out there.

 

Very good point.