Bromcom or Arbor

[mkh]

There seem to be quite a few threads about moving away from sims, but I can't find one that compares (what seems to be) the main 2 options. Bromcom or Arbor? Is anyone able to give clear pros and cons for each one for a 11-18 school of around 1000 pupils

 

Thank you

[TwistedHelixis]

Why not get the sales rep to come in from each company and show you each product or give you a remote demo, it's the only way you will actually get a feel for what they do.

[RootsSchImp]

I've worked for both companies (tho I don't stand to gain anything from you choosing either one), used Bromcom a lot and Arbor a little - here's my opinion:

 

Arbor's UI is a lot nicer both in terms of how it looks and ease of finding stuff and the native analysis/ report writing tools are way better than Bromcom's (which are a bit rubbish). However, Arbor have less experience in secondary and I hear that assessment set up and exams are a bit clunky.

 

Assessment in Bromcom is a real strength - you can set up a whole school tracking system from flat in about an hour - with all the formulas/conditional formatting etc that are available in Assessment Manager. Automating workflow (eg. behaviour events to detentions) is also good in Bromcom although I'm not sure how this works in Arbor so can't say that it's better.

 

Bromcom would argue that their power bi capability makes up for their weak analysis module/reporting - you can get data from Arbor to BI just as easily as from Bromcom so that wouldn't necessarily be a clincher for me. However, Bromcom have a power BI viewer that lets you share dashboards published to a free account so that can save you money on BI licences (if you decide to go down that route).

 

Both companies should give you access to a demo system (if they won't that's a red flag) - I'd say there's no substitute for havinga play yourself

[Lonix]

There seem to be quite a few threads about moving away from sims, but I can't find one that compares (what seems to be) the main 2 options. Bromcom or Arbor? Is anyone able to give clear pros and cons for each one for a 11-18 school of around 1000 pupils

 

Thank you

There are a few threads regarding these companies, I highly recommend in reading through them - especially ones from last year. I would suggest watching your back.

[Primus]

There are a few threads regarding these companies, I highly recommend in reading through them - especially ones from last year. I would suggest watching your back.

 

Watching their back?!

[supportman]

We evaluated both, Bromcom won and we are happy with that.

 

Arbour was nice but it looked very simplistic to me and they appeared to have more expertise in the Primary school field.

 

Bromcoms apps and parent portal are great as well as Single sign on with Google/Office365.

 

Arbour came out more expensive as well which is worth bearing in mind.

Edited March 19, 2021 by supportman

[ajp233]

My opinion would be to go with Arbor

[Ditto]

My opinion would be to go with Arbor

Are you primary, secondary or other? Both are probably in the top three for consideration, but I'm interested what it is about Arbor that gets your vote over Bromcom. I have to admit when I looked in to the companies, I warmed to Arbor's culture an business model. Although not a functional or financial factor, for me it could be influence my decision if making a recommendation.

[Edu-IT]

We evaluated both, Bromcom won and we are happy with that.

 

Arbour was nice but it looked very simplistic to me and they appeared to have more expertise in the Primary school field.

 

Bromcoms apps and parent portal are great as well as Single sign on with Google/Office365.

 

Arbour came out more expensive as well which is worth bearing in mind.

That’s interesting as on the public G Cloud pricing Bromcom is much more expensive due to their setup costs.

[supportman]

That’s interesting as on the public G Cloud pricing Bromcom is much more expensive due to their setup costs.

 

Both iSams and Bromcom came out significantly cheaper than Arbor for us with their full packages. I think possibly because Arbour are pretty rigid with their pricing. We are a 1,000 pupil secondary school.

Edited March 22, 2021 by supportman

[ultraspy2000]

Hi,

Finally, I can add some of my input as I've evaluated few of MIS systems (Arbor, Bromcom, Pupil Asset, SIMS, etc..)

 

We have both secondary and primary schools and we've found Bromcom to be the one which best suites our needs.

 

Arbor UI is very good but they are lacking some functions and we had a feeling that it's still in development. Bromcom seems more of matured systems.

 

Good luck with with any and let me know should you have any questions with regards to Bromcom deployment.

 

regards,

Ray

[Ditto]

Hi,

Finally, I can add some of my input as I've evaluated few of MIS systems (Arbor, Bromcom, Pupil Asset, SIMS, etc..)

 

We have both secondary and primary schools and we've found Bromcom to be the one which best suites our needs.

 

Arbor UI is very good but they are lacking some functions and we had a feeling that it's still in development. Bromcom seems more of matured systems.

 

Good luck with with any and let me know should you have any questions with regards to Bromcom deployment.

 

regards,

Ray

Did you find much variation in costs?

[ultraspy2000]

Yes, definitely when comparing against SIMS. SIMS price is ridiculous and in it's own league when it comes to comparison.

 

With regards to Arbor vs Bromcom, Bromcom was better priced and offered more for the money.

[Koldov]

There are a few threads regarding these companies, I highly recommend in reading through them - especially ones from last year. I would suggest watching your back.

 

Watching their back?!

 

I can only presume it is possibly a reference to this...?

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/217972-disappointed-bidder-sues-mat-after-mis-tender-failure.html

[supportman]

Yes, definitely when comparing against SIMS. SIMS price is ridiculous and in it's own league when it comes to comparison.

 

With regards to Arbor vs Bromcom, Bromcom was better priced and offered more for the money.

 

Its important to look at all the third party products included as well and price the MIS as a whole.

 

After moving to Bromcom last year we have managed to cancel over 10k worth of 3rd party software that now Bromcom does internally. That includes Comms software, Cashless payments, Room bookings, Parents evenings, Parent Portal and teacher/parent apps.

 

I'm guessing the same price advantages of an all-in-one solution come with Arbor as well.

[Edu-IT]

Both iSams and Bromcom came out significantly cheaper than Arbor for us with their full packages. I think possibly because Arbour are pretty rigid with their pricing. We are a 1,000 pupil secondary school.

You must have got some discount as on their G Cloud pricing Arbor comes in less.

 

Arbor £14k

Bromcon £14.5k

 

That's before Migration & Training which is where I think Bromcom creeps up from what I can see on the PDF.

[Ditto]

You must have got some discount as on their G Cloud pricing Arbor comes in less.

 

Arbor £14k

Bromcon £14.5k

 

That's before Migration & Training which is where I think Bromcom creeps up from what I can see on the PDF.

I'm unconvinced about the usefulness of that site other than an initial guide. Every time I renewed a license when I had that responsibility, I negotiated multiple quotes and prices depending on length of renewal. I generally had success in getting costs down over the period of time I was involved. When I got quotes from 3 or 4 suppliers when considering a change of provider, it was true that start up cost varied enormously.

[supportman]

Yes the pricing for all 3 of our MIS quotes was nothing like that.

 

I'd suggest anyone who procures a new MIS gets at least 3 quotes and compares them to each other on both value as well as features.

 

We ended up saving money when moving from Sims even before adding local server and Microsoft licensing costs.

[paulkerton]

I've worked with Arbor in the past, and I'm also in a school that uses Bromcom now.

Personally, I think Arbor is a good product but Bromcom is certainly a far more mature product in regards to the features that are available currently. As I've said before on previous threads, Bromcom have also been in the market for 3 decades plus now, so it does give me a lot of confidence in the product's life and longevity. Ultimately, what you need to do is assess the product across the feature sets as well as the costs that are involved. Someone else has pointed out here that the features Bromcom offer will also allow you to dramatically strip back the third-party services that Bromcom can natively provide too.

 

Utlimately both are modern and forward thinking in their software processes and development compared to other platforms out there *cough*SIMS*cough* so it really comes down to which product offers the features you want. Bromcom is more feature rich, so if it offers features that you're looking for, that would certainly tip the decision in their favour if it were me!

[cabezon1989]

We've invited three in for demonstration: Arbor, Bromcom and Ed:gen (IRIS name for iSAMS).

 

Honestly, its between Bromcom and Ed:gen for me. Arbor didnt wow me as we have a couple of secondary schools in the MAT. Bromcom and Edgen were comparable, pricing wise edgen was better and we liked what they had to say about their future developments etc. If we had to choose today, it would be a tight call between Bromcom and IRIS.