Bromcom vs Arbor... is there a difference?

[robjduk]

Hello all,

We are seriously looking to move from SIMS to either Bromcom or Arbor in the next year. We have made a large list of systems we would need however both options are coming out almost identical. Other than a couple of integrations which Bromcom does slightly better, I'm not sure which one to push.

Edugeek seems to have stories for both but wondered if anyone here has experienced both and can offer any thoughts. I'm looking to start backing one, rather than having my current "anyone but SIMS" approach.

 

Thank you

[dmj]

I'm not sure which one to push.

 

You're supposed to do a competitive tender, or you'll be sued (by bromcom).

[robjduk]

You're supposed to do a competitive tender, or you'll be sued (by bromcom).

 

We are. Now has anyone experienced both and can offer a recommendation?

[Primus]

From our experience Arbor is more user friendly.

[robjduk]

From our experience Arbor is more user friendly.

 

Thank you. On a side note, I find the Arbor staff who have provided demos to be far more engaging. Saying that, I don't want friendly sales people to be my guide.

[6Foot2]

...I don't want friendly sales people to be my guide.

Fair enough. However, you certainly don't want pushy sales people to be your guide.

 

 

*Obligatory disclaimer: NOT saying here that Bromcom sales staff are pushy.

[djm968]

I went through this process with our MAT and I also couldn't choose between the two, I personally had very little preference from a technical position (both were light years ahead of SIMS) and if you haven't already done so, I would throw it open to staff and let them test both systems, then provide feedback. They are going to be using whichever one you choose day to day to perform role. Edited December 7, 2023 by djm968

[k-strider]

We went through the commpetitive tender process when cloudschool went. It was so close between the two - Bromcom always just had the scoring edge. We broudly got the feeling that Support / Admin staff prefered bromcom and teaching staff leant towards Arbor. in the end we wen't with Bromcom (since september) on the whole looking back we are happy with our decision obviously we don't have a comparision to draw on.

[dmj]

We are. Now has anyone experienced both and can offer a recommendation?

 

Really doesn't sound like it from these posts.

You've got to be careful posting that you intend to 'push' for one or the other based on a recommendation, on an open public forum, especially as we know one of the suppliers is particularly litigious.

The process has to be fair and open. Asking for recommendation sounds very much like you are going to skew the tender process by writing the tender in a specific way to exclude one of the competitors.

I'd be inclined to delete the whole thread and ask some questions about what should go into a tender process.

[Jaan]

We moved from SIMs to Bromcom.

 

The hardest thing was changing users mindset. You simply don't do things the same way in Bromcom than you did in SIMs.

 

Bromcom can be a pain sometimes......normally small episodes of it running slow in a morning or evening. It does tons more than SiMs ever did. We're totally happy that we went with Bromcom and would ever ever consider going back to SIMs.

 

Bromcom has also had more features and updates in the past 2 years we've had it, than SIMs ever did in our 18+ years of using that.

 

Also, saves us lots of time and money not having to maintain a server a do the dreaded solus updates!

 

It would be unfair for me to comment on Arbor and we only had it during a testing/review period. Users here prefered the "look" of Bromcom...... #endusers

[mavhc]

Which has had more downtime in the past year?

 

Which implements feature suggestions?

 

Which fixes bugs fastest?

 

Which integrates with other software the best?

 

And most importantly: Which has the best export? Never put data into something you can't get data out of again

[Frodo_Baggins]

Arbor much more user friendly than Bromcom but found reporting to be a bit better in Bromcom.

 

Best to get Head Teachers and other key figures to watch some demo's and get a general consensus from them. Also BETT around the corner so good time to get more info and speak to techies & directors at these companies in person.

[6Foot2]

When we moved from Sims to Bromcom, a LONG time ago now, the biggest single complaint that came back to me, why me? I didn't make the decision to make the change, the one thing that was complained about most loudly was the loss of the timetabling functionality in Sims (was that NovaT?)

 

We later moved on to Facility ePortal. People still missed that timetabling module in Sims.

 

I have never seen, used, or supported Arbor.

[Jaan]

When we moved from Sims to Bromcom, a LONG time ago now, the biggest single complaint that came back to me, why me? I didn't make the decision to make the change, the one thing that was complained about most loudly was the loss of the timetabling functionality in Sims (was that NovaT?)

 

We later moved on to Facility ePortal. People still missed that timetabling module in Sims.

 

I have never seen, used, or supported Arbor.

 

Yep we had this issue. Bromcom (at the time) offered a piece of software that was installed on computers (so not cloud based) to do timetables. Its now moved into the cloud and is native.

[Theblacksheep]

Bromcom supports Nova t6 imports. Some timetablers will explode if you use anything else.

[Jaan]

timetablers will explode if you use anything else.

 

thanks now i have coffee and cake on my screen!

Edited December 7, 2023 by Jaan

[robjduk]

Really doesn't sound like it from these posts.

You've got to be careful posting that you intend to 'push' for one or the other based on a recommendation, on an open public forum, especially as we know one of the suppliers is particularly litigious.

The process has to be fair and open. Asking for recommendations sounds very much like you are going to skew the tender process by writing the tender in a specific way to exclude one of the competitors.

I'd be inclined to delete the whole thread and ask some questions about what should go into a tender process.

 

I'm looking for input from peers on two very similar systems. I'm not going to throw my weight behind one over the other just because "Xboxg8mer97" said one was better but its nice to get a feel from the community.

[robjduk]

Bromcom supports Nova t6 imports. Some timetablers will explode if you use anything else.

 

A useful point. Thank you.

[supportman]

Bromcom has better Parent and student Portal App, cashless integration and internal reporting. It also had PowerBi integration.

 

Bromcom has had a few performance issues this year, but that seams to have sorted itself out now.

 

Arbor was simpler, faster to use and had a slightly better interface. Although now Bromcom has caught up with some nice UI improvements.

 

Sims actually has a better timetable creation integration but I know Bromcom are close to releasing their new cloud timetable stuff soon so hopefully that will change.

 

This is just my opinion, we went with Bromcom in the end and are very happy with that choice.

 

I don't think you can go wrong with either really, its a no brainer upgrade from legacy Sims.

Edited December 7, 2023 by supportman

[Chris_Cook]

Its difficult. At some stage you have to make a decision and you need to be able to document the reasons.

 

Like most others here, we tendered for both and it would be a mistake to not include and seriously consider any of the major players in your tender. Both looked miles ahead of Sims in almost all areas. Timetabling is an issue that took us a while to get right.

 

I'd echo the other comments that say get at least some of your users running their day-to-day and annual tasks through the demo systems. Most of your users probably use less than 50% of what Sims gets used for in the rest of your school. Its easy to think that its just a database of students data, but the workflows are everything.

 

To some degree, it doesn't matter so much which looks nicer (Some of our staff preferred one, and some the other anyway), but you want your MIS to support the way your school works as best as possible. You will need to adapt in some areas, but equally you want the best processes possible. Not all schools work the same, and with both products we looked at some features and asked why would a school work that way.

 

Both products seem to be moving forward and improving things. This was something we were probably more impressed with with Arbor, but then again some features have taken more time to develop than some of our staff would have liked (but that's the reality of software development).

 

I would also say don't rush this decision. Its probably the most important system/software your school uses and it has to be right.

 

You also want to look at training for your staff. That's somewhere I though Arbor was great at. Some of the guides are great at explaining terms, and are much shorter than the sims ones. Just reading through the exams guides gave me a lot more insight in 10 mins than in 10 years of supporting sims. Its more "this is what you are doing and why" than just "Click this button, then this one, then that one etc."

Edited December 7, 2023 by Chris_Cook

[Bromcom_mark]

Hello all,

We are seriously looking to move from SIMS to either Bromcom or Arbor in the next year. We have made a large list of systems we would need however both options are coming out almost identical. Other than a couple of integrations which Bromcom does slightly better, I'm not sure which one to push.

Edugeek seems to have stories for both but wondered if anyone here has experienced both and can offer any thoughts. I'm looking to start backing one, rather than having my current "anyone but SIMS" approach.

 

Thank you

As a Bromcom staffer I’m not able to give an impartial view, but I can share that Corinium Education Trust are a small MAT who have experience of both Arbor and Bromcom, and you can read about their journey here. Please read and feel free to draw your own conclusions:

 

https://bromcom.com/whitepaper/why-mis-flexibility-and-configurability-matter

[Primus]

As a Bromcom staffer I’m not able to give an impartial view, but I can share that Corinium Education Trust are a small MAT who have experience of both Arbor and Bromcom, and you can read about their journey here. Please read and feel free to draw your own conclusions:

 

https://bromcom.com/whitepaper/why-mis-flexibility-and-configurability-matter

 

As others have said previously - I'm not sure this is as convincing as you seem to think it is.

 

The long and short of it is - MAT that didn't evaluate their needs and the market jumped to a new MIS only to find it didn't fit their needs and has now jumped to yet another new MIS.

[sefton]

When we did our procurement exercise I went in with quite a set view that Bromcom would be my choice but I opened up the process to as many stakeholders as feasible with full day demonstrations from Bromcom, Arbor and Iris. Once those who participated had completed the scoring exercise it was clear that for our Trust and individual schools that Arbor was the preferred option.

 

What I will add is that whatever option you go with will be light years ahead of Sims.

Edited December 8, 2023 by sefton

[Bromcom_John]

Not with a Bromcom hat on here really, but in my experience it is very important that you ask the questions important to your school/MAT during your procurement.

The last thing you want is to just go with what you saw, from any supplier, without asking the challenging questions.

Use your demo and presentation time with us, with Arbor, with whomever to challenge on what you need.

The demo's I enjoy delivering more than any other are the ones when someone asks "can it do X?" and you have to think, to ensure it is going to do what is being asked.

To then demonstrate or at least verbalise how you can envision the system doing that.

If it won't do it, the supplier should tell you straight. If it is something coming down the pipe, that should be clear as well.

Transparency and clarity on top of everything else.

[ABR82]

Chances are that if you're posting on here, you'll do fine with whichever of Arbor or Bromcom you choose. The schools I know of that have hard harder transitions to a new MIS lacked a member of staff to drive the process and make the decisions who was also the key operator/trainer/user of the software. In our school, it was essentially my decision, my tender process, and me implementing most of it, so if people didn't know how things worked or were unsure, they asked me. I won't say that didn't put a ridiculous amount of strain on me personally (and that is no comment on other support/training options - staff will always go to someone they know/trust inside the building before contacting an outside agency). A nearby school asked to borrow my rationale, costings etc for our choice and made the same move at the same time. Their experience of the transition was more awkward than ours, as there was nobody there to drive it with the correct experience (there were members of SLT who were convinced by what I'd written, but they weren't the ones making it work or explaining how to do things on the ground), plus there were some users with an aversion to any changes, and nobody to talk them through how to do it, or how changes could make their lives easier.

 

I spoke with technical and leadership staff at several schools using both options before making a decision - I'd rather hear their real world experience than sales personnel.

 

As for timetabling, we moved to Edval and I've found it very good. Previously used Nova-T6. Of course that may involve changes - when we made the decision to move our timetabler decided he didn't fancy learning new software, so I went from helping/altering/doing bits of the timetable in NOVA to being the sole timetabler in Edval. Either way, the timetable was created much more quickly and available and uploaded to our MIS earlier than it had been for many years! Subsequent timetables have of course been easier. Mid year alterations on the fly within the MIS are much much easier than they were in SIMS.

 

 

There are one or two things that were easier in SIMS, but mostly it is just a vastly better user experience all round, from reception/admin/classroom staff all the way through.