Sims support rip off!

[chrisjako]

Is it just me or does anyone else think capita are taking the mick with their support costs? Just got a quote from them today as my local sims support run out, it was £5500 for the basic package, thats up by over 50%! The latest FMS upgrade needs end of year VAT report file replacing after the upgrade which isn't mentioned in the accopmanying PDF, hence me needing support in the first place, 99 times out of 100 we wouldn't even need the support if they coded it right in the first place - me thinking some sort of scam going on here!

[kmount]

Does that include your contribution for the use of SIMS itself or just for Support?

[tech-man]

We buy a "top up support" is no where as much as that..........

[DMcCoy]

Our support is much less than that, for the silver option, less than a 1/3rd in fact!

[button_ripple]

I can't believe that price!

 

There support service isn't even that good! We had a problem that SIMS had changed all the passwords and no one had any idea what they were. Capita left us waiting for almost a week!

 

That meant that our admin and finance department couldn't do anything!

[Guest Guest]

I can't believe that price!

 

Yes but remember by paying Capita you are helping to support Labour

 

 

thats up by over 50%!

 

It wont be long before they start their election campain, and that costs money lol

[enjay]

Our support is much less than that, for the silver option, less than a 1/3rd in fact!

 

What's "silver" support? We just pay a sort of modular price based on which bits we use - our costs aren't anything like £5.5k either, but nor are they 1/3 of that.

[Heebeejeebee]

I think we pay about 6K ish. Core products + FMS, LM, NOVAT, Assesment and others that I can't remember. Single site since we're one of two schools in the LA that use SIMS.

 

HBJB

[Oops_my_bad]

It was about £3k for us last year - god help us if it's gone upto 5k. We don't even hassle their support much (apart from supportnet), even when we do, it's for the most simplest thing (like releasing a file on SOLUS) which seems to take them anything upto a fortnight

[ICTNUT]

oh crap, I would love £5.5k, I got our sims support SLA through the other day and that was @ £15.5k for Sims, NovaT, FMS, couple of site visits and a couple of training days and this is via our LEA not Capita.

 

I did approach Capita at one point but they were even more for the same as what out LEA offer us.

[Rozzer]

oh crap, I would love £5.5k, I got our sims support SLA through the other day and that was @ £15.5k for Sims, NovaT, FMS, couple of site visits and a couple of training days and this is via our LEA not Capita.

 

I did approach Capita at one point but they were even more for the same as what out LEA offer us.

 

We are paying the same kind of figure. Its also going through our LEA. I think its completely overly priced.

[Kyle]

We pay 7k to our local LEA support team for the normal packages.

 

But hey are good bu tits still a lot.

 

Does the figure depend on the size of the school?

[ICTNUT]

@kyle: I believe it does as the licensing costs are based on the number on roll for that year.

 

Glad to see I am not the only one who thinks it is way over prices for what it is.

[Heebeejeebee]

I think we pay about 6K ish. Core products + FMS, LM, NOVAT, Assesment and others that I can't remember. Single site since we're one of two schools in the LA that use SIMS.

 

HBJB

 

I stand corrected. Our latest bill is £15k ish.

 

HBJB

[Oops_my_bad]

I would advise anyone who get their support from Crapita to check the contract for the upcoming year - just had mine through and it said last year I had "core" support. and that this year I will have core support + admin support for a few hundred extra, which was "ticked" by default! Oh no i bloody wont So I crossed it out and ticked "core" support.

[Simcfc73]

I would advise anyone who get their support from Crapita to check the contract for the upcoming year - just had mine through and it said last year I had "core" support. and that this year I will have core support + admin support for a few hundred extra, which was "ticked" by default! Oh no i bloody wont So I crossed it out and ticked "core" support.

 

They tried that on with me last year... think the plus included a couple of remote sessions to check the health of the server..... sorry but I'm not paying extra for someone to look through my event logs.

[kxv2020]

Our LA support works using this formula:

£3350 + (number of supported workstations x £105) + (PupilsOnRoll x £1.80)

 

We're only trying to have a very limited number of supported workstations - with the rest supported in house.

[matt40k]

SIMS is a lot, not sure how much, never got my head stuck in it, it's like microsoft licensing, it costs alot, just accept it, pay it before you get your IT budget and you've never know, like your internet connect. I've seen people paying for £7k per year for a managed ADSL line!!

 

Anyway, might just be me, but Capita gives your LEA big discounts for SIMS, because they do first line support. I, personally, don't have trouble with Capita, my calls get a response within a few hrs. The only problem I've had was with 1 case;

 

Customer was installing FMSSQL, had trouble, he had reinstalled FMSSQL and still was unable to migrate the data, Capita responsed within the hr, but with reinstall SQL Server 2005!!! Which was nuts, as it HAD SIMS .net running on it, and it was term time... Anyway, fixed it in the end.

 

Anyway, if your that hacked off with paying Capita, or Microsoft, there is other options. Look at Bromcom, they do everything you need to legally do, there are even some free open source MIS packages out there and some cheaper version.

 

Personally Capita SIMS is the best, execept the fact it costs so much, you don't moan about Cisco, you get Linksys or such.

[sahmeepee]

We are a large secondary and we only pay about £6k/year as a single site, although we don't have much in the way of extras which is where a lot of the expense is. LM in particular was approx £2k setup + £2k/year licensing last time we asked. The price rises in the last few years have been a tad steep, typically around 10% which is obviously way beyond inflation.

 

Things like IEP writer and I think Profiles' comment banks are extras too so it can add up. I'm a bit baffled that a school can have enough pupils and addon modules to reach £15k though.

[Stuart_C]

Didn't he mention some training days and other bits and pieces, that will push the price up.

 

I think our bill is about 6K though that was last year and we have now dropped FMS/Fees and the old MENTOR products.

 

Does anyone else actually use the LANDesk thing? Does anyone know what I'm talking about? )

 

We seem to be paying for it included in the "support" but appart from them remotely accessing my server occasionally, going "oh yes you do have a roust backup strategy and your server is upto date" that's about it and I feel we are wasting the opportunity of getting something out of Capita.

[matt40k]

I don't get why you have LanDesk... just use either Remote Desktop, or Dameware. If you need to access it remotely (ie at home) and you don't have access there are other products that do this, which is a one off hardware cost, about £1500 for a 1u server. No more bills!!! Still this is rather industrial for a school.

[DaveIW]

What's "silver" support? We just pay a sort of modular price based on which bits we use - our costs aren't anything like £5.5k either, but nor are they 1/3 of that.

 

 

Capita offer 3 levels of support for the Isle of Wight region since buying up the LA Support (2007)

 

BRONZE

SILVER

PREMIUM

 

To be honest, there not worth the paper they are written on; the service you get is sporadic at best; you cant get a visit to save your life... okay, that might be overkill, but local visits are limited now that its down to 1 local chap to visit instead of the previous 2 (cus I left), and he's busy almost all of the time (busy as in sold and yes you guested it, charged, on top of the service you're on), it may sound cheap to start with, but you pay for almost every visit (and thats not cheap either).

 

Want to change level to get the cheaper deal; they'll charge you £150 for the pleasure - even with notice since September 2009!

Edited February 2, 2010 by DaveIW

[GrumbleDook]

@DaveIW

 

It is worth pointing out that Capita support a number of places, not just IoW and they might differ. In Northants most of the schools get their support directly from the local team at Capita .ICT and it can range from telephone only through to a complete whole school system (including curriculum systems).

 

I know a few of the local team are members on here and I'm pretty glad they are ... but if you are not happy with the support then take it back to Capita as not fit for purpose.

[DaveIW]

In Northants most of the schools get their support directly from the local team at Capita .ICT

 

And previously working for Capita I have met them on the odd occasion; jolly good people if I may say so; "HELLO You lot!!"

 

You're right, if its not fit for purpose change; (thats why I left), we've also tried talking to them about changing support levels since september 09, but met with negativity and arrogance. We've even looked into getting support from another local authority since our own is not allowed to have a support service since selling out.

 

Personally I think they should improve on their customer service.

 

But any who; I was answering a previous question about "What Silver Service", and so answered the question as McCoy is on the Island too (who mentioned it in the first place).

 

Tally ho for now