I'm building a school MIS, what's next?

[speedypro]

I am looking into building a school MIS (Management Information System) similar to the leaders: Arbor and ParentPay. Building the application is the easy part. Marketing it is the hard part. How would one get a working demo into the right hands? Should I start at my children's school and contact the head teacher? Or there's someone else? I've been asked by many parents to build something better than ParentPay and now I've decided to look into this market.

[synaesthesia]

One might hazard a guess that just the use of the term "parentpay" interchangeably and erroneously with "MIS" might suggest this is a bot or someone that doesn't fully understand school MIS systems? Especially calling parentpay a leader

[DrCheese]

How would one get a working demo into the right hands? Should I start at my children's school and contact the head teacher? Or there's someone else?

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but you'll be laughed out the office.

 

Unless you are a company with the resources to even come close to the current competitors you won't get through the door.

[speedypro]

Hi. I'm more used to a Project Management Software so I have a little inclination of what a MIS is. I guess ParentPay is not a leader and they seem to be about "payments", but Arbor seems to be the full MIS?

[speedypro]

Don't take this the wrong way, but you'll be laughed out the office.

 

Unless you are a company with the resources to even come close to the current competitors you won't get through the door.

 

No wrong way. I believe you 100%. I do have mixed feelings about this path but it's nice to explore.

[synaesthesia]

Fair enough, but with all due respect without the multi-million pound backing like companies like ESS (equity funded), Arbor (TES) BromCom etc and decades of intimate knowledge of what's involved and all the little intricacies, legal requirements, reporting requirements, interopability requirements with local authority systems which are usually themselves from the stoneage, timetabling, options, exams, often finance, communication, behaviour, attendance.... It takes huge teams years to get as close to they have to the old market leader SIMS and even then arguably only because SIMS stopped bothering.

Honestly, it's not worth the thought or effort. Feel free to mock me in 5 years time with your market leader however - competition is GOOD.

[David44]

One might hazard a guess that just the use of the term "parentpay" interchangeably and erroneously with "MIS" might suggest this is a bot or someone that doesn't fully understand school MIS systems? Especially calling parentpay a leader

 

I assumed they were using company names rather than product names and meant ParentPay's SIMS and Arbor's Arbor. I also assume they are thinking about a product to be used in a junior school which could be a much simpler product than either of the two mentioned. I think ParentPay are a leader in terms of market share still.

 

To the OP, it would probably be helpful to form a relationship with a school but be careful because you won't be able to use their data for testing your product with without permission, probably from the parents. If you already had a product, I guess you'd want to make it known to schools, make sure it appears on a purchasing framework used by schools?

 

Make sure it complies with best practice when it comes to storing data, make sure you and any staff you have have a current DBS check etc.

 

What technology are you planning to use? I assume, being as it is 2024, it will be a cloud based SAAS product?

[mrbios]

If you want to make something, instead of an MIS where there are already good options available, pivot to making a decent cashless catering system. Because currently every option available to schools is absolute garbage.

[Dos_Box]

Moving to the MIS forum.

[speedypro]

Hi David. Though I have more research to do, I was looking at primary schools or nurseries. I was also looking at a simple system where you'd pay for meals or trips. As what synaesthesia said, I do not stand a chance building a fully working MIS so I'd forget about that, if that's the case.

 

In regards to technology: Ruby on Rails and AWS. Yes, a cloud based SAAS product.

[dhicks]

I was also looking at a simple system where you'd pay for meals or trips.

 

Okay, that makes a bit more sense - starting with a well-defined problem of the kind of size a single person can develope a solution for, then work up from there if it's a success. I would recommend looking at Wonde and similar (Clever in the US, also now in the UK) - aggregates data from various school MIS systems and provides a nice, modern API interface for developers to use it. API usage and costs scale up well from a single school to multiple schools, and they provide test data for you to work on before release. They also have a marketplace for you to list your product.

[speedypro]

Wealth of information here already. Thank you all!

[andy_b]

As a bare minimum you'd need your MIS to comply with this on a yearly basis: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6602a75b65ca2fa78e7da855/2024_2025_school_census_business_and_technical_specification_v_1.0.pdf and possibly this https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/662a3d0d690acb1c0ba7e5de/2024_School_Workforce_Census_Specification.pdf if they aren't using a HR solution.

 

Edit: Change of focus.

Edited October 14, 2024 by andy_b

[Roberto]

I think you're calling it a MIS system based on your perception as a parent of what a MIS system does. You probably need to start by asking several schools what they think their MIS system does.

 

And for all that people here love a well-deserved moan about all the products out there, they're all insanely complex because they're dealing with what is quite often an insanely complex problem.

[synaesthesia]

 

And for all that people here love a well-deserved moan about all the products out there, they're all insanely complex because they're dealing with what is quite often an insanely complex problem.

 

And thus, many of us are made insane (or even more so) as a result

[dapaulio]

If you do decide to pursue this path I wish you the best of luck. Working in ict within the education sector has taught me schools don’t like change. That doesn’t mean they won’t but already that wave is already in motion and you may find your slightly behinds the wave once you have your product developed and tested. I think many would have moved a lot sooner away from sims if they were open to the idea of change.

 

Don’t want to sound the defeatist especially as you currently are behind the wave, but I Honestly I would say your hardest part would be convincing schools and trusts to go with your product.

 

Schools are like sheep they all follow each other but you need a small group of leader schools on your side for when the next wave comes. Once you have a foot in the door and your product becomes the talk within all schools then your solution will take off.

 

I wish you luck and hope to see you challenge the big boy mis in next 5-10 years.

 

Can I buy shares now [emoji12]

[jthompson]

Building the application is the easy part?! If the OP isn't just a bot, then they've not worked in education to know that data managers, business managers and entire ecosystems of third-party integrations are a thing.

 

If you build it, just make sure you partner with Wonde. That will help your business no end.

[Ditto]

Would you consider building an open-source solution, whatever route you take? I know one edugeeker for sure that would back that idea

[vikpaw]

Would you consider building an open-source solution, whatever route you take? I know one edugeeker for sure that would back that idea

 

Or 22,000…

[steveg]

I think there is limited scope for creating add-on apps anymore to the MIS market. There are already established companies out there that were created back when SIMS had a very high market share and didn't do things like communication and payments either at all or very well. The market has moved to cloud based MIS systems that have all of this functionality integrated now which is continually improving. Anyone that has been through the procurement process will have had the whole sales pitch of how you can save on purchasing all the separate apps we used to have. Cost aside, if we only have to ask parents to install one app and direct them there for everything then life is a lot easier and more efficient.

[PotNoodleTech]

This is the most bizzare thread I have seen on here for a while. It's either a bot or a 10 year old child.

[synaesthesia]

Or someone well meaning but ultimately not understanding enough of the market and the challenges in place. I mean, we could all knock up a simple Access database with front end, and it'd still perform better than SIMS

[speedypro]

Definitely not a bot. It's someone's first step to know what it's like getting into this market before writing the first line of code. Not sure if it's an insult for a 10 year old child to do their marketing research? Again, the positive responses here are amazing and well appreciated. Yes, I do not have experience in the education system, hence I asked the "bot-related-question" here to get meaningful response, in which, I did. I do understand in this world there are negative and positive people, and I live amongst both so I know how to adjust to either.

 

I've known about this forum/website since the early 2000s but never once created an account. Now that I'm 40, I've done just that vs when I was in my early 20s. To all that have replied, I'm thankful for your kind words and pointers. I will not, because I can not, go the MIS route; not just yet.

Edited October 15, 2024 by speedypro

[powdarrmonkey]

This is the most bizzare thread I have seen on here for a while. It's either a bot or a 10 year old child.

 

Don't be nasty.

[powdarrmonkey]

Successful disruptors start with one small problem (tick) in an established market (tick), use a small team (tick) and move fast and break things while they work out what sticks. If it doesn't, being small and flexible lets them pivot without wasting tons of resources. Have fun, enjoy yourself and be prepared to switch up your plan at short notice. Today's ambitious youngster is tomorrow's market leader, nothing dominates forever.