Convincing school to move MIS

[ASA-Simon]

Just curious to know if anyone else has experienced reluctance to move away from SIMS in their school?

 

We have support amongst the staff but upper management are very much of the opinion of if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

If you were successful working around this I would be interested to know what helped.

[gszech]

Just say that nearby school moved to another MIS and it's amazing. I'm sure that SLT will copy the idea in no time.

[Linfit]

If its SIMS, then it is broke.

 

They need to see the alternative systems - either demos or in use at other schools.

The difference is light and day.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Linfit

[ASA-Simon]

Just say that nearby school moved to another MIS and it's amazing. I'm sure that SLT will copy the idea in no time.

 

This is true. It looks like all the surrounding schools are on SIMS at the moment. I am looking forward to seeing the latest figures to see who has moved.

[RLR]

This is true. It looks like all the surrounding schools are on SIMS at the moment. I am looking forward to seeing the latest figures to see who has moved.

 

You may have seen this already as this was a few months ago now:

 

https://bringmoredata.blogspot.com/2022/12/mis-market-moves-winter-2022-what-did.html?m=1

 

Not sure if there is a more recent one yet.

[RLR]

If you do plan on moving you need to make sure that everyone is aware that there will be big changes in the way of working and it might be frustrating at first trying to figure everything out but it's defiantly worth it in the long run. You don't want to tell SLT that they need to change MIS if they're not on board as they'll be quick to point fingers when it doesn't work the same.

[ASA-Simon]

You may have seen this already as this was a few months ago now:

 

https://bringmoredata.blogspot.com/2022/12/mis-market-moves-winter-2022-what-did.html?m=1

 

Not sure if there is a more recent one yet.

This normally has figures first: https://www.edtechcentral.uk/mis/

 

I do like bring more data for the commentary.

[Jamman960]

I approached it as a two stage project, the first is purely exploratory to identify what other MIS' are out there and how they can improve upon what SIMS already does for the school, it also explores the costs and effort involved in changing MIS. The core deliverable should be a fully costed recommendation. During the process key stakeholders go through various demo's and trial instances.

 

The second project implements the recommendations of the first, this could be a complete MIS change or potentially improvements to how the existing MIS is used - potentially bolting on edulink etc

[psydii]

Yes. We have other priorities for SLT time, and the 'problems' of sims are mitigated by various systems that aspiring SLT members run. I've certainly got better things to be doing with my time than winning hearts and minds for a change that will upset at least three extremely influential and powerful people here.

 

We have to reprocure properly in a couple of years, and some staff (both teaching and admin) have already have positive experiences of non-sims MIS's, so grass roots support for change is growing. If external pressure also gets applied I'm sure change is coming sooner or later, but it really isn't for me to drive it.

 

I've done an MIS migration in the past, and it didn't have the support of SLT (we had to, our MIS was shutting down), and my take away is: this is an SLT lead project - a Deputy head has to own it. I'm not going to push for it until they do.

[howartp]

I approached it as a two stage project, the first is purely exploratory to identify what other MIS' are out there and how they can improve upon what SIMS already does for the school, it also explores the costs and effort involved in changing MIS. The core deliverable should be a fully costed recommendation. During the process key stakeholders go through various demo's and trial instances.

 

The second project implements the recommendations of the first, this could be a complete MIS change or potentially improvements to how the existing MIS is used - potentially bolting on edulink etc

 

Very much this.

 

(My CPD target says) I've been presenting a report to our 3Rs meeting* for 2 years, but working with Deputy Head and Data Manager - both of whom have been the kingpins to TAGs and CAGs so been out of the loop.

 

We're only now starting to think about the first stage stated above, but that is how we're doing it.

 

(*sub-SLT but practical/financial/administrative rather than curriculum/T&L)

[ITGuyNW]

I approached it as a two stage project, the first is purely exploratory to identify what other MIS' are out there and how they can improve upon what SIMS already does for the school, it also explores the costs and effort involved in changing MIS. The core deliverable should be a fully costed recommendation. During the process key stakeholders go through various demo's and trial instances.

 

The second project implements the recommendations of the first, this could be a complete MIS change or potentially improvements to how the existing MIS is used - potentially bolting on edulink etc

 

We weren't entirely convinced about the current cloud based alternatives, so we've signed up with a bolt on for now to improve its functionality. Gives us a school app etc.

[coolhands]

I’m happy staying with sims. I haven’t heard any overriding reasons they x y or a is so much better.

[PotNoodleTech]

Sadly sometimes it can be like trying to get your 90 year old grandad to have a new kitchen.

 

You can list 20 good benefits that make total sense but nothing'd going to matter if they just can't face the upheaval of it all.

[Jamman960]

Pretty accurate analogy, when our previous bursar got wind I was even suggesting we switch I received a stern email telling me it'd need approval at every stage right through to governors.

 

We've made the move to Engage and its been worth it, almost everything is now done within the same far more modern system. Just make sure you have a clear idea of who's doing what towards the migration - I ended up being landed with the whole thing and had to get an MSP to take over part of my IT management role so that I could dedicate time to the migration project.

 

James

[TwistedHelixis]

I’m happy staying with sims. I haven’t heard any overriding reasons they x y or a is so much better.

Have you tried any of the other MIS Demos?

 

Out of the 4 separate primary schools I look after, 3 have moved to alternatives over the past year+ and the 4th is moving in a few months. This is after a few demos.

 

I have been trying to get them to jump for a few years but obviously failed to explain how much better the alternatives could be. TBH I am surprised how fast they jumped once they had seen how an alternative MIS works.

[Primus]

Have you tried any of the other MIS Demos?

 

Out of the 4 separate primary schools I look after, 3 have moved to alternatives over the past year+ and the 4th is moving in a few months. This is after a few demos.

 

I have been trying to get them to jump for a few years but obviously failed to explain how much better the alternatives could be. TBH I am surprised how fast they jumped once they had seen how an alternative MIS works.

 

Yes I'm surprised there's a few members who don't see the benefit of a cloud MIS or aren't convinced by them - SIMS is a terrible product that hasn't been fit for purpose for years - adding more and more add ons on top of it will not change that. I know some members will be unable to get SLT to budge on this but that's different.

 

The churn away from SIMS is telling - it'll not be long before they lose their majority position in the market - they had 75% of the market in 2020 - in Q1 of 2023 that was down to 55% and there's a reason for that!