New School - blank canvas

[Heskell]

Hi, I'm in the process of starting a completely new school and so choosing a MIS. We'll be a small 16-18 school, and the MIS will be cloud based. Any views on the best way of making a choice? We won't be going with SIMS because of the pricing model. We're unlikely to make heavy use of behaviour logging functions, but provisioning users for AD and Google Apps is essential, and good communications functions would be useful. Assessment functions need to be pretty flexible; I like to play with the data.

Currently we have narrowed choice to Bromcom, Integris, iSams and Arbor.

Damian

[PlantHead]

iSAMS is aimed at the independent school market with boarding requirements particularly in mind.

If you match the criteria, then it is pretty much the only game in town.

[Heskell]

Thanks, PlantHead. We're to be a state funded free school and won't have boarding. We will be a maths school, and the third such school to open. Of the two existing maths schools the one with boarding uses Integris and the one without boarding uses iSams. I'm not sure how much the state/ independent distinction matters provided the MIS can produce the necessary statutory reports.

[PhilNeal]

Lesson registration, exam entries, option choices, cover & timetabling are the sort of considerations I would be looking at.

[Heskell]

Thanks Phil, we're only going to offer 3 A-Levels (you can do any A-Level you like so long as it's Maths, Further Maths or Physics!) so timetabling is going to be pretty straightforward compared to the 12 form entry 11-18 school I worked at previously, and there won't be any options to worry about. Exam entries also much more straightforward than normal.

[PhilNeal]

My subjects I would have been OK there. My wife on the other hand

[Heskell]

Yes, we'll be doing a lot of computer programming as well - you'd love it.

[Ditto]

Hi, I'm in the process of starting a completely new school and so choosing a MIS. We'll be a small 16-18 school, and the MIS will be cloud based. Any views on the best way of making a choice? We won't be going with SIMS because of the pricing model. We're unlikely to make heavy use of behaviour logging functions, but provisioning users for AD and Google Apps is essential, and good communications functions would be useful. Assessment functions need to be pretty flexible; I like to play with the data.

Currently we have narrowed choice to Bromcom, Integris, iSams and Arbor.

Damian

I'd add Progresso to the list as I believe the assessment module might meet your complex needs. It might not be the easiest to work with but once you get your head around it, it's not so bad. The only other general MIS I'd mention is SchooPod, but I'm not sure on its assessment strength.