Talaxy by TASC

[1TF0rward]

Hi all,

 

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with Talaxy by TASC. We are looking to move to this solution as it looks promising bringing insight and pars together. This also being a cloud solution will help with updates as when we do them things tend to go wrong!

 

We currently have Insight and Pars but use Teachers 2 Parents to send messages. Talaxy offer a text messaging service with a slightly cheaper per text cost.

 

We are a high school, initially TASC said this was aimed at primary schools but have added a lot more features to tailor for high schools too.

[supportman]

Saw it at BETT, looked good but we already use Insight and it works well.

 

I think Overnet's Edulink one is a more modern solution though if you want to run something on top of Sims.

[itdep]

Hi,

 

Just wondering if you went down that path?

 

We're a high school and have been using Talaxy since September after previously having used Pars and Insight. There were some initial minor issues, most of which have been fixed now. The support we've had from Tasc had been very good (as it always has been), and that was why I didn't want to move to another company. The reason for we looked to replace the existing platforms was to try and rationalise them into one package. The initial cost is less than Pars and Insight together, though texting costs more. There is also a charge for emails, but it's minimal. We are currently testing the video conferencing module for parents evenings, though our Head seems keen on us purchasing Parent cloud instead, even though it means another cost and yet more administration and configuration from our perspective.

[Edu-IT]

A charge for emails? That seems bizarre in this day and age.

[fiza]

Take a look at Edulink if you haven't already. No charges for emails, video parents system built in and you can get 25000 texts for free by using the Gov Notify system in conjunction with Edulink.

[gh5000]

Take a look at Edulink if you haven't already. No charges for emails, video parents system built in and you can get 25000 texts for free by using the Gov Notify system in conjunction with Edulink.

I was going to say that you need to have a relay system to send out the emails. We did use the LGfLs relay with pars but were regularly hitting send limits. When we moved to Edulink we set it up with Gmail. We've been warned about spam a few times and had the sending account suspended once.

 

But you've mentioned Gov notify which I've never come across before. The might do for everything.

[fiza]

How are you sending the emails? We send to distribution lists of parental emails we have built in G Suite groups. Never had any issues with being flagged for spamming.

[TASC_Software]

A charge for emails? That seems bizarre in this day and age.

 

Hi

 

Thought I should respond to this.

 

Firstly we can't compete with government free emails and text (up to a certain allowance).

 

TALAXY is hosted on high secure AWS so therefore we use this facility for email and text. Our PARS and INSIGHT linked emails with SMTP however the amount of support (technical) for configuring, firewall issues, port issues etc... along with school email allowance restrictions via outlook/gmail etc....can be vast. Whilst our software was sending emails, they would sit on school email servers for various reasons. Issues were often outside of our software and although we are prepared to go above and beyond assisting; school network/LA/email/server, restrictions can only really be dealt with by a Network Manager with their own server admin access.

 

Using Amazon Web Server eliminates spamming issues. There are no restrictions with size or number of emails. Whilst 365 and gmail send x amount of emails over a period of time (again based on size of files), TALAXY sends data via AWS in bulk so every recipient receives data within seconds. This applies to text also. There are no limitations using AWS.

 

There is a free email allowance in TALAXY for schools and the cost is minimal for emails over the given allowance. Texts are chargeable HOWEVER, TALAXY has a chat system, push notifications, broadcast which is all free of charge so there shouldn't be any need for multiple emails and texts when using the software. Not only this, as TALAXY is a staff/parent/pupil gateway, this means parents own personal text and email allowances are not effected. A parent can send a message to school free of charge in various means so not only are we providing a school with a cost effective and secure means of communicating with parents, we are providing a secure and free option for parents and pupils to contact the school.

 

Looking at safeguarding also...emails from school to parent and vice versa can be to personal inboxes. How are these monitored? How do you view and track communications? TALAXY chat allows SLT to monitor and view communications. They cannot be deleted. This is extremely important, particularly with so many schools liaising with parents and pupils 'virtually'. Emails can be deleted. Evidence of issues or potential issues can be dealt with. Safeguarding in systems is extremely important and unfortunately, this can be lost using email systems. With experience working with SLTs and DSLs in many schools alongside our CURA software, communications via email can lead to situations.

 

So -- from a non technical person, this is where we stand with TALAXY and when the software starts at £500 a year - you certainly get a vast amount of features which not only presents data - allows you to manage track and analyse data on any device! The beauty of Progressive Web Apps

 

Hope this sheds a little more light on the product and communications.

 

Thanks

 

Jenny Urey