ESS SIMS 3 Year Contracts

[jemal]

Just to add to this thread in case it helps anyone else, Bromcom didn't really suggest how we did this. As Bromcom wouldn't migrate linked documents from SIMS, we used Salamanders document export utility from their website (think it was another thread on Edugeek that signposted us to that). It's restricted to 3 students at a time but if you pay for Salamnder anyway hopefully they'll just give you the license details. From memory I had to rename the files using a bulk file renamer tool and some regex to clean up the files names as it includes a unique ID and I think sometimes duplicated the student admission number. We had quite a few outlook msg attachments which wasn't accepted with Bromcom, so I downloaded another converter to turn them into PDFs. Some people also saved html copies of emails which also wasn't a supported file format, so they were PDF'd too.

 

In Bromcom, using their guidance for bulk file uploads, first uploaded just the Reports, in order to mark them as being published on the parent and student apps. Then I did all the others without them being published. I had to limit the amount I uploaded in a single task as too many would cause it to hang. I think I did 400 at a time, but there were over 10,000 docs in total so took some time. All the uploaded documents were dated with today's date so it did look a bit messy where a year 11 would have documents from year 7, and you hope it's obvious when viewing the doc contents.

 

In terms of attendance data for that missing week before going live, we had a report from SIMS and the data was manually entered by hand on Bromcom.

[GrumbleDook]

Just to add to this thread in case it helps anyone else, Bromcom didn't really suggest how we did this. As Bromcom wouldn't migrate linked documents from SIMS, we used Salamanders document export utility from their website (think it was another thread on Edugeek that signposted us to that). It's restricted to 3 students at a time but if you pay for Salamnder anyway hopefully they'll just give you the license details. From memory I had to rename the files using a bulk file renamer tool and some regex to clean up the files names as it includes a unique ID and I think sometimes duplicated the student admission number. We had quite a few outlook msg attachments which wasn't accepted with Bromcom, so I downloaded another converter to turn them into PDFs. Some people also saved html copies of emails which also wasn't a supported file format, so they were PDF'd too.

 

In Bromcom, using their guidance for bulk file uploads, first uploaded just the Reports, in order to mark them as being published on the parent and student apps. Then I did all the others without them being published. I had to limit the amount I uploaded in a single task as too many would cause it to hang. I think I did 400 at a time, but there were over 10,000 docs in total so took some time. All the uploaded documents were dated with today's date so it did look a bit messy where a year 11 would have documents from year 7, and you hope it's obvious when viewing the doc contents.

 

In terms of attendance data for that missing week before going live, we had a report from SIMS and the data was manually entered by hand on Bromcom.

 

Having the wrong date on them is going to be a pain when it comes to managing your Records Management Retention Schedule. I'd see what you can do about that otherwise you are going to have a problem when it comes to trimming down and deleting records.

[supportman]

Just to add to this thread in case it helps anyone else, Bromcom didn't really suggest how we did this. As Bromcom wouldn't migrate linked documents from SIMS, we used Salamanders document export utility from their website (think it was another thread on Edugeek that signposted us to that). It's restricted to 3 students at a time but if you pay for Salamnder anyway hopefully they'll just give you the license details. From memory I had to rename the files using a bulk file renamer tool and some regex to clean up the files names as it includes a unique ID and I think sometimes duplicated the student admission number. We had quite a few outlook msg attachments which wasn't accepted with Bromcom, so I downloaded another converter to turn them into PDFs. Some people also saved html copies of emails which also wasn't a supported file format, so they were PDF'd too.

 

In Bromcom, using their guidance for bulk file uploads, first uploaded just the Reports, in order to mark them as being published on the parent and student apps. Then I did all the others without them being published. I had to limit the amount I uploaded in a single task as too many would cause it to hang. I think I did 400 at a time, but there were over 10,000 docs in total so took some time. All the uploaded documents were dated with today's date so it did look a bit messy where a year 11 would have documents from year 7, and you hope it's obvious when viewing the doc contents.

 

In terms of attendance data for that missing week before going live, we had a report from SIMS and the data was manually entered by hand on Bromcom.

 

I'm sure thats useful to some, but its important to ask why you needed to import linked documents migrated into a new MIS...?

 

We just exported the old Sims documents to a file server (with the salamander tool) and left them there, sorted by admission number. If any person wanted the reports, or something else we just go there to get them. I think i've had 3 requests in 2 years for this.

 

The reason Bromcom don't import is because its like pushing a square peg into a round hole. Bromcom doesnt need a lot of linked documents becuase it has many features inbuilt into the web UI. The whole point of it is to get away from linked documents

 

By importing them there is a chance that people continue to use them like they did in Sims, missing out on many of the efficiencies of the new MIS.

Edited March 30, 2022 by supportman

[PotNoodleTech]

Very interested to hear some of the stories on migration issues above. At BETT Bromcom promised a super easy migration "just give us your SIMS database and we'll do the rest"

[localzuk]

Very interested to hear some of the stories on migration issues above. At BETT Bromcom promised a super easy migration "just give us your SIMS database and we'll do the rest"

Migrating an MIS is a complex process, so there's always going to be some teething issues. I think a lot of Bromcom's issue at the moment has been due to the sudden massive influx of new customers overwhelming them with a fixed deadline to deal with.

[supportman]

Very interested to hear some of the stories on migration issues above. At BETT Bromcom promised a super easy migration "just give us your SIMS database and we'll do the rest"

 

Our experience was pretty much send the SQL and forget. We found it very smooth.

 

We did move over an Easter holiday though so had no issues with attedance data crossover.

Edited March 30, 2022 by supportman

[mavhc]

Depends what you store, pupil classes, history of classes? History of names? Carers, history of carers? Attendance? Assessment Data (in the 7 different parts of sims that did assessment), Timetables? Interventions, Behaviour, SEN etc etc etc

[ovek]

Just to chime in, I'm currently migrating a school from SIMS to Arbor and the date I have to upload the SIMS database is Friday... Only problem is they haven't sent me the emails with the secure portal information that I was supposed to get last week and my support email has gone unanswered.

 

Brilliant just one more headache to end the term on

[Primus]

Just to chime in, I'm currently migrating a school from SIMS to Arbor and the date I have to upload the SIMS database is Friday... Only problem is they haven't sent me the emails with the secure portal information that I was supposed to get last week and my support email has gone unanswered.

 

Brilliant just one more headache to end the term on

 

You tend to get them on the morning of upload day.

[ovek]

You tend to get them on the morning of upload day.

 

Would except that however all of there own documentation claims you get it in week 3 of the onboarding process.

[Primus]

Would except that however all of there own documentation claims you get it in week 3 of the onboarding process.

 

I've done multiple schools and it was always on the morning of upload day.

[PrimaryNetMan]

Just to chime in, I'm currently migrating a school from SIMS to Arbor and the date I have to upload the SIMS database is Friday... Only problem is they haven't sent me the emails with the secure portal information that I was supposed to get last week and my support email has gone unanswered.

 

Brilliant just one more headache to end the term on

 

Are you down as the Arbor champion? When I migrated 3 schools these emails ended up going to the Business Managers at each school.

[DavidYoung]

Just to chime in, I'm currently migrating a school from SIMS to Arbor and the date I have to upload the SIMS database is Friday... Only problem is they haven't sent me the emails with the secure portal information that I was supposed to get last week and my support email has gone unanswered.

 

Brilliant just one more headache to end the term on

Check your junk mail, the first set of emails all sent into spam for me and I kept chasing, they said they'd sent and resent until they mentioned to check (I never usually check my junk as Gmail's usually pretty good).

 

We're migrating 5 schools to Arbor this Friday for go live after Easter. I've got all three upload emails already.

[ovek]

Are you down as the Arbor champion? When I migrated 3 schools these emails ended up going to the Business Managers at each school.

 

I am and I’m the only person they have contact information for.

 

 

Check your junk mail, the first set of emails all sent into spam for me and I kept chasing, they said they'd sent and resent until they mentioned to check (I never usually check my junk as Gmail's usually pretty good).

 

We're migrating 5 schools to Arbor this Friday for go live after Easter. I've got all three upload emails already.

 

Oh way ahead of you. I really wish it was as simple as them being in my spam folder.

[mavhc]

If they can't set up SPF and DKIM correctly, how can they run a cloud MIS?

[supportman]

If they can't set up SPF and DKIM correctly, how can they run a cloud MIS?

 

Sims? Well they can't... and won't ever be able to have a viable cloud product, without designing from the ground up. They simply have too much technical debt.

Edited March 31, 2022 by supportman

[DavidYoung]

If they can't set up SPF and DKIM correctly, how can they run a cloud MIS?

 

In relation to Arbor? To be fair, most of their emails fully align, it is just the upload system where SPF and DKIM pass but from a different domain so DMARC doesn't align but the record is not set to quarantine or reject. I think it is more to do with the fact that the emails contain links, etc. though full alignment would increase the confidence score.

[paulkerton]

Our decree absolute has finally arrived from ESS. We're finally free! We're so happy! ;)

 

UPDATE: Hold on, I've just seen the date.

[localzuk]

So, ESS really showing their level of competence...

 

We have received photo import licenses randomly, even though we cancelled. On contacting ESS, they are now trying to claim they didn't receive our cancellation, and are in a multi-year contract.

 

Except, the person who replied to that email is the person who acknowledged our cancellation email!

 

Not pleased at all right now.

[DavidYoung]

Just uploaded 5 SIMS databases to Arbor. Now just waiting for our sites to go live next week.

[CyBeRkId2002]

So, ESS really showing their level of competence...

 

We have received photo import licenses randomly, even though we cancelled. On contacting ESS, they are now trying to claim they didn't receive our cancellation, and are in a multi-year contract.

 

Except, the person who replied to that email is the person who acknowledged our cancellation email!

 

Not pleased at all right now.

 

Yep - we went through this saga too!

[DavidYoung]

So, ESS really showing their level of competence...

 

We have received photo import licenses randomly, even though we cancelled. On contacting ESS, they are now trying to claim they didn't receive our cancellation, and are in a multi-year contract.

 

Except, the person who replied to that email is the person who acknowledged our cancellation email!

 

Not pleased at all right now.

 

I did have to contact them a few weeks ago to ask them to stop sending relentless emails reminding us that we hadn't renewed despite having given notice about 3 times already. I don't think anyone in that organisation talks to anyone.

[mavhc]

Not paying them will make them realise they don't have a contract with you

[foofighterjim]

We are looking to make our final decision on what new MIS provider to go with this week. One of the things still nagging me is what do we do with the FMS DB and application? At the moment the plan is just to run things as they are but will the upcoming validation changes prevent us from running the software once we cancel our contract? I'm just wondering if I need to maintain copies of everything FMS related before we inevitably need to apply the Spring / Summer release for census / exams.

 

The next thing to start working on after the summer is to investigate the options for going server less in Summer 23 or 24, I'll most likely just have an Azure VM for FMS and update the connect.ini for FMS accordingly, does anyone have any experience of doing this or similar?

[localzuk]

We are looking to make our final decision on what new MIS provider to go with this week. One of the things still nagging me is what do we do with the FMS DB and application? At the moment the plan is just to run things as they are but will the upcoming validation changes prevent us from running the software once we cancel our contract? I'm just wondering if I need to maintain copies of everything FMS related before we inevitably need to apply the Spring / Summer release for census / exams.

 

Validation only applies for updates, not installs. Make sure you have the up to date installer stored in case you ever need to reinstall to access the software. Your license is a perpetual one, you just aren't entitled to new updates past the end of your contract.