[sims] Initial Setup Costs

[garethEds]

Hi All,

 

Our SLA costings for ICT Services from the LEA have just arrived and I have been asked my the HT here to look at what we are paying for and for whether it is worth it.

 

SIMS is one area where we feel tied into the LEA. But... if we were to go it alone, what are the initial setup costs for SIMS? Does it work of a virtual server? etc etc. Has anyone out there got experience of leaving their LEA SIMS provision, exporting the data (recent and historical) and going it alone? Please to get in touch.

 

Thanks

 

Gareth

[matt40k]

Your options are:

 

A) Just pay, stick with them

B) Just keep license, buy support from another company

C) Because you didn't go for A) they are being a pain and you need to rebuy a license so you can do B) - you'll basically throwing a pile of money at Capita

D) Move away from SIMS to a different MIS. North Yorks has done something around this lately - MIS & FAS Framework

 

B) and C) would just a question of building a Windows Server, installing SQL and SIMS then attaching your data. D) is more work but could be better.

[PotNoodleTech]

Won't talk specific prices but I looked at this a while back and it was going to cost somewhere between double, and triple the LEA cost to go direct with capita.

 

It's highly unlikely you will save money by going it alone - now whether you would receive better service/better product/better support is a whole 'nother ball game. But in terms of reducing costs? No.

[garethEds]

Won't talk specific prices but I looked at this a while back and it was going to cost somewhere between double, and triple the LEA cost to go direct with capita.

 

It's highly unlikely you will save money by going it alone - now whether you would receive better service/better product/better support is a whole 'nother ball game. But in terms of reducing costs? No.

And I think this is where the LEA have us by the gonads as it means we would still need to pay for the link into their network as it is a centrally hosted SIMS setup. So it means we would need to pay LEA broadband.

 

Grrrr. Annoying.

[Banjo]

If you already have a decent spec'd VM with the full version of SQL you could possibly host SIMS yourselves. You could still buy the support element from the LA but without the hosting/backup fees. This way you will be able to use the LA's SIMS licence and reduce your costs. The LA should accommodate this request and may already support academies that fall outside their central hostings.

 

It should take no more than a day to install and roll out across your school - so you may/or may not get charged for this work.

Edited March 15, 2017 by Banjo