Multiple logging systems

[Badaz52]

Hi everyone,

 

I feel I need to ask this question as things are getting out of hand here in terms of how many different systems we have for effectively doing the same thing.

 

For example we are using CPOMS to record behaviour related issues now including detentions, not SIMS. We log Exclusions on SIMS but then use a third party database to record after school detentions. Why we don't just log everything on SIMS I'm not sure.

 

On top of that we use SISRA, myAlps Bluesky, Doddle and Insight as our parental portal.

 

The best of it is that all of these products has been purchased without consulting with me "The NM" at all but my OCD can't handle it. Surely we could use SIMS/Learning Gateway and SIMSDiscover for most of it.

 

I just wondered what you guys use to accomplish this? we are spending far too much in my opinion on third party products per year and every year there is another one that SLT think is a "good idea".

[pete]

SIMS products are mediocre at a lot of things. A company that can focus on getting one thing right will nearly always do a better job.

 

We use SIMS (including Parent App Lite and InTouch),SISRA and MyConcern (behaviour). SISRA is far better for the job and MyConcern (browser-based, MFA) means I can record a behaviour incident from anything anywhere without having to deal with SIMS behaviour.

 

If we replaced SIMS with a decent browser-based MIS? We probably wouldn't need so much stuff, but as it is.......

Edited December 6, 2019 by pete

[bobsmith]

SIMS just isn't good enough to do everything well - no piece of software can do everything and be the best at it.

 

I've been shown the best that can be done with assessment in SIMS and it can do some fairly good stuff, but the game has changed and everyone has moved on - there's no way SIMS can compete with really good Excel or PowerBI.

 

As for Child Protection recording - CPOMS/MyConcern are dedicated platforms with real security features and are designed from the ground up for the job - SIMS has nothing to compete with them - there's a reason why Capita push for their integration with MyConcern.

 

Ultimately the future is (or should be) about integration - about using the best bits of the best products for the job - if the integration is good enough then you won't even notice that they aren't the same product or from the same vendor.

 

As the network manager (guess you don't have a fully fledged data manager?) you certainly should be involved - advising on what products integrate most closely/easily and what products have functional overlaps with others. There could almost always be some rationalising of plug ins.

[DrBeaker]

There's a hell of a lot of stuff that goes on here without me being consulted or informed about them - so it's not just you. Ironically CPOMs was one of those systems.

 

They don't understand that every additional service that goes onto an MIS system either slows it down, or adds more complexity when it comes to any problems. I've seen companies use a groupcall xporter job that simply gets imported and run (seems to be the de facto standard that works), seen others use a batch file, seen others have an installer that simply runs a service on the server.

 

A lot of our processes staff seem to run are paper-based and then need inputting onto spreadsheets all the time. I'm sure they can be improved and streamlined to make life easier all around. But if they don't want my help, what can I do.