Safeguarding Record Keeping

[smarties11]

Hi All,

 

Just wondering what you are all using in your Schools for Safeguarding records? We've had a demo of CPOMS which looks great, and have MyConcern lined up too.

 

One of the key features we were hoping for was Microsoft 365 sign in - CPOMS doesn't have this (they are actively against it and said they have no plans to put it on the roadmap) and I don't believe MyConcern do either (but will ask that question on the demo) - so I'm wondering what alternatives there are, that might have this feature? Obviously the main priority is the feature richness for safeguarding records, however we do feel that having a separate account and password might become a barrier to teachers that might only raise a safeguarding concern once or twice a year. I've also made an enquiry with SmoothWall, as we use their Monitor product too.

 

Thanks!

[synaesthesia]

A vast majority of schools I'm aware of using MyConcern are shifting off of it for varying reasons (I can't stand it personally as it's always too worried about letting you know about new features than letting you log a concern), and most appear to be shifting to CPOMS.

Sometimes SAML/SSO isn't always the answer and when things are involving safeguarding, it may very well be better separate.

[DrCheese]

We're using CPOMS at the moment, but swapping to MyConcern. No reason other than that the majority of schools in our area have swapped to it, so it's hit critical mass for inoperably.

CPOMS has worked well & from an IT POV I have no real complants

 

When I spoke to MyConcern at BETT, SSO to 365 is on the roadmap - Whereas CPOMS have always been clear they don't want to support it. I'd rather keep everything under our Azure logins as we literately throw the kitchen sink at keeping that secure & the logging/details you get are second to none.

[Seb1780]

We use CPOMS and have no issues with the lack of SSO, in fact I belive most users appreciate why this is the case.

 

We looked a MyConcern and Cura as well as CPOMS. Cura does have ADFS but we didn't like the way is structured the data around severity rather than by category and the reporting was far less developed compared with CPOMS. With MyConcern we felt the management of the data was lacking.

 

Since we got CPOMS we have found more and more of our feeder schools using it which provides excellent communication of concerns.

[synaesthesia]

Have CPOMS given any particular reasons for this out of interest?

[smarties11]

Have CPOMS given any particular reasons for this out of interest?

 

The salesperson doing our demo said that it was due to the sensitivity surrounding the data. I absolutely get that, if a 365 account was compromised and then used to access safeguarding records, particularly if it was a high privilege account like the DSL, that would be a serious issue - but then this could be mitigated with 2FA if a School felt it necessary.

[paulkerton]

We have MyConcern. Works well for us.

[pete]

We use MyConcern and safeguarding staff like it and using the API we can pull in Smoothwall Monitor alerts.

 

As mentioned up-thread, the "why not attend a webinar" popovers are annoying when logging in to report an issue, however.

 

Regarding SSO, 365 and 2FA:

 

• 365 Integration has been on the roadmap since at least August 2018 (pre-sales emails)
  
• MyConcern don't maintain a log of actions relating to disabling or enabling 2FA in MyConcern if carried out by safeguarding leads / administrators (at least not available to support after 2 weeks of chasing)
  
• MyConcern require you to use their 2FA application if you want 2FA enabled. Their app requires a data connection (4G or WiFi) to function, which may be a problem for very rural schools.
  

[steveg]

We use CPOMS, as do most of the local schools. Popular with staff, integrates with Senso and a few other things.

 

When we moved MIS we migrated every other add-on product except CPOMS and have no plans to move away from it. No issues with login - you can login without 2fa if you just want to log an issue, only needing 2fa for full access, so the lack of single sign on hasn't really been an issue for us.

[Danp]

CPOMS here, not worried about SSO as I like the idea that it has a different username and password. Although, most staff save their password to Google anyway.

 

I really like CPOMS and it has worked well here and at my last school. A few issues with syncing data from iSAMS but they look to have got on top of this over the past 6 months.

[smarties11]

Thanks for the feedback all, this is really useful. Sounds like we should be sticking with CPOMS / MyConcern and accepting lack of SSO rather than casting the net wider.