Considering Moving MIS

[junz]

Our school (AKA SLT) is considering moving MIS from Isams to Hosted Sims, Arbor or to Broadcom and I have been asked me to conduct a review. Our main issues with Isams are as follows

 

 

• CTL Files are never imported correctly so the admissions officer has to manually import data for new starters
  
• Reporting/data functionality is very limited unless you build reports yourself or have custom reports built at cost from Isams
  
• It is hard to find data managers that know how to use ISAMS as most use SIMS
  

 

I personally do not want to move to SIMS as I think that is a step backwards and a lot of schools are moving away from SIMS but SLT want to consider SIMS. I have come on here to ask whether there are any state Secondary schools that have moved from SIMS to Arbor/Broadcom or from Isams to Arbor/Broadcom who would be willing to share their experience. Additionally, it would be great if we could also speak to a data manager using one of the above MIS's as the main pinch point is around data.

 

We are not certain that we want to move away from Isams (as there are some very good things about Isams) so if any schools are using Isams and are willing to discuss their experience with Data/CTF files imports, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you.

[FN-GM]

The third port shouldn't be a driver. The school should be training any new starters.

[Danp]

I really like iSAMS, it's not perfect, but show me a product that is perfect for everyone out of box?

 

We've just had a new member of staff start who's role will involve using iSAMS a lot. They have never used it, but had used SIMS for years and have taken to it really quickly. I think if someone has the correct mindset they will pick it up, loads of support material now to help too.

[paulkerton]

SIMS is absolutely a step backwards, and broad accessibility should be one of the points being considered as part of any process now.

I also concur on the third point. Exeperience of any MIS is more important than a particular MIS. Otherwise, you're just entrenching monopoly positions. Training should be provided.

[deshills]

Hi there. We (Harris Federation) use Bromcom in 49 schools and Arbor in 2 schools and would be very happy to have a chat about them and offer some advice if needed Edited November 4, 2021 by deshills

[2ilent8cho]

We moved from SIMS to iSAMS about 4 years ago at the high school, and from SIMS to Scholarpack at the primary schools, no way would we go back to SIMS. If we had to move off iSAMS I would likely be looking at Arbor , or anything else on the market. SIMS would be last.

[mthomas08]

I personally do not want to move to SIMS as I think that is a step backwards and a lot of schools are moving away from SIMS but SLT want to consider SIMS. I have come on here to ask whether there are any state Secondary schools that have moved from SIMS to Arbor/Broadcom or from Isams to Arbor/Broadcom who would be willing to share their experience. Additionally, it would be great if we could also speak to a data manager using one of the above MIS's as the main pinch point is around data.

 

I am in the process of tendering and we currently have SIMs hosted on site. I think Arbor is looking to be the nice one and least amount of hassle BUT that is only a basic opinion and I will give everyone a fair share. I've listed quite a few and had a nice read through on the websites. Certainly seems to be pros/cons for Bromcom/Arbor/ISAMS and a few others.

 

The negatives of SIMs on site for us

- Can be a lot of hours of maintenance

- One minute things are smooth with updates - the next there is an update to fix an update to fix a patch to fix another patch to fix another update...

- Updates have a habit of being released at the start of term or last minute on the last day of the half term (like the recent Autumn update last week on Friday + a new update few days ago which has been pulled)

- Slow slow slow - Have tried all sorts and it somewhat improved but still very slow

- Most depts that rely on SIMs outside of registers are getting fedup with the consistent issues and general slow process on day to day tasks

- No cloud option and I really don't want to go down the route of remote access in to our system from home

- Entire system still feels like it has been fudged together (from InTouch / to SLG which we got rid of a few years back / connecting to O365)

 

And that blog released by SIMs pushed me over the edge.

[dhicks]

Reporting/data functionality is very limited unless you build reports yourself or have custom reports built at cost from Isams

 

The thing I like about iSAMS compared to systems I've used in the past (SIMS, School Manager) is that iSAMS has a reasonably well thought-out API, so I can extract data from it for further processing in whatever way is most appropriate. This probably works best if you have a larger group (MAT or similar) of schools all using the same product, then you can share reporting functionality and expertise.

[ajp233]

SIMS can now offer a new and improved version of hosted called SIMS Connected. It is supposed to be much better in terms of speed and reliability.

[Edu-IT]

Where did you learn this?

[junz]

Hi there. We (Harris Federation) use Bromcom in 49 schools and Arbor in 2 schools and would be very happy to have a chat about them and offer some advice if needed

 

Would love to have a chat. I will DM you

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

We moved from SIMS to iSAMS about 4 years ago at the high school, and from SIMS to Scholarpack at the primary schools, no way would we go back to SIMS. If we had to move off iSAMS I would likely be looking at Arbor , or anything else on the market. SIMS would be last.

 

Can I ask if you are a secondary school adn if so would you be willing to have a chat?

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

SIMS is absolutely a step backwards, and broad accessibility should be one of the points being considered as part of any process now.

I also concur on the third point. Exeperience of any MIS is more important than a particular MIS. Otherwise, you're just entrenching monopoly positions. Training should be provided.

 

I completely agree but SLT want to consider SIMS. What MIS do you use if you don't mind me asking?

[junz]

I really like iSAMS, it's not perfect, but show me a product that is perfect for everyone out of box?

 

We've just had a new member of staff start who's role will involve using iSAMS a lot. They have never used it, but had used SIMS for years and have taken to it really quickly. I think if someone has the correct mindset they will pick it up, loads of support material now to help too.

 

There are a lot of good things about Isams IE the interface and the fact that Isams is great for teachers to use for their day to day needs but we feel as a state school there are some missing features that other MIS systems offer.

[CrootUK]

SIMS can now offer a new and improved version of hosted called SIMS Connected. It is supposed to be much better in terms of speed and reliability.

 

Its awful, basically same product but in a HTML5 Remote App Page and to top it off the hosted environment is 2012R2! Shocking.

[paulkerton]

SIMS can now offer a new and improved version of hosted called SIMS Connected. It is supposed to be much better in terms of speed and reliability.

As far as I'm aware, all they've really done is enabled the RDP HTML5 gateway and called it a new product.

[supportman]

We moved from Sims >> Bromcom last year.

 

Very succesful move overall.

[TechMonkey]

There are a lot of good things about Isams IE the interface and the fact that Isams is great for teachers to use for their day to day needs but we feel as a state school there are some missing features that other MIS systems offer.

 

May be worth looking at the IRIS version then, which is iSAMS but geared towards state schools, less customisable so cheaper, following DfE guidelines.

[junz]

We moved from Sims >> Bromcom last year.

 

Very succesful move overall.

 

Are you a secondary school and if so would you be up for a chat?

[paulkerton]

I completely agree but SLT want to consider SIMS. What MIS do you use if you don't mind me asking?

We are using Bromcom at our school.

We also have a Primary on SIMS, but we are at the beginning of an (admittedly slow) process of moving MIS with them - away from SIMS.

[supportman]

Are you a secondary school and if so would you be up for a chat?

 

Secondary school.

 

I'm actually doing a webinar next monday with Bromcom about our experience. I'm hoping to tell our story with all the successes and challenges along the way.

 

You can read about it here: LinkedIn or direct register here Virtual Open Day

[junz]

We are using Bromcom at our school.

We also have a Primary on SIMS, but we are at the beginning of an (admittedly slow) process of moving MIS with them - away from SIMS.

 

Is your other school a secondary and if so what MIS where you on before. Also would you be willing to talk about your experience?

[paulkerton]

Is your other school a secondary and if so what MIS where you on before. Also would you be willing to talk about your experience?

Secondary on Bromcom. Primary on SIMS. Yes, please feel to PM me.

[sefton]

I'm just about to start our project to move our trust from Sims to Arbor. We looked at Arbor, Bromcom and iSams as part of our tender project and I'd recommend any single one of them over Sims, they would all offer substantial improvements.

[junz]

I'm just about to start our project to move our trust from Sims to Arbor. We looked at Arbor, Bromcom and iSams as part of our tender project and I'd recommend any single one of them over Sims, they would all offer substantial improvements.

 

Can I ask why you went with Arbor over Broadcom and do you have secondary schools in your trust?

[sefton]

Can I ask why you went with Arbor over Broadcom and do you have secondary schools in your trust?

 

The Trust felt it was a more coherent package, the UI was more intuitive and its Trust level package was more mature, that's not to say that Bromcom was a bad package, far from it, and it did offer more of a one stop scenario than Arbor did but on balance we decided to stay with our current finance system and CPOMS.

[bobsmith]

How long would you say it took you to do the migration and go live?

 

From a DM point of view - how long till you reached the same level of competency with it as you had with SIMS?

 

The new 3 year contract is making me want to push this move sooner rather than later.