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Transitioning from Hosted SIMS with Scomis—Arbor, Bromcom, or SIMS Next Gen?

kwatt

By kwatt
in MIS Systems

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kwatt

kwatt

Posted
Posted
**Subject**: Advice Needed on MIS Options as Hosted SIMS Ends with Scomis in March 2025Hi all, I'm looking for some advice on MIS options as we face changes in our setup. We are a primary school in Plymouth, currently running hosted SIMS with Scomis, which I believe is linked to Devon County Council. Recently, we’ve been informed that Scomis must stop hosting SIMS by March 2025, as it’s no longer allowed.This leaves us with three main options:1. Stay with Scomis but switch to **Bromcom** or **Arbor**.2. Move directly to ESS and adopt **SIMS Next Gen**.We use HR, payroll, and invoicing functionalities in hosted SIMS, which, as I understand, aren’t yet available in SIMS Next Gen. Additionally, I believe Arbor requires an additional fee for finance-related modules, though I’m not entirely sure about Bromcom’s setup.If any schools have gone through a similar transition, I’d love to hear about your experiences, particularly:- Which MIS option you chose- The functionality coverage (especially HR, payroll, and invoicing)- Cost considerations Any insights or feedback would be greatly appreciated!Thank you in advance!
Ditto

Ditto

Posted
Posted
I hope I can summarise several years of conversation on Edugeek on this topic. Explore option 1. Don't go anywhere near option 2. Financially, you are likely to be better off, functionally you will be far better off.
  • Thanks 1
DWilson1997

DWilson1997

Posted
Posted

NextGen is fine for a couple of tasks teachers do, such as registers however it does not have the full feature set. With the NextGen option you would need to either host your SIMS database via SIMS Connected (like you did with SCOMIS, staff login via RDP) or host it on your own infrastructure.

 

Whilst you could move to another MIS and finance provider, depending on your individual school, it could amount to a large project would need appropriate resourcing. Also, it is quite a short timeframe to make a decision and implement such a large change to operational systems (such as finance processes), and it is worth thinking about if a new MIS provider has the capacity to onboard you with such short notice given lots of schools will be in this position.

 

It will all come down to the business needs of your school and the appetite for change.

kwatt

kwatt

Posted
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Posted

Thank you both for your input! Based on what you've shared, it seems like SIMS Next Gen might not be the best fit for us right now, so I’ll focus more on exploring Arbor and Bromcom.

Does anyone here have direct experience using either Arbor or Bromcom? I’m particularly interested in how these systems handle HR, payroll, and invoicing, as well as any insights into costs and overall ease of use. Any additional feedback would be really appreciated!

Thanks again!

  • Thanks 1
Julian

Julian

Posted
Posted

Currently the two leading MIS contenders, are Abour, and Bromcom. They are both cloud hosted, run in a browser, and so are available at home.

 

My advice is to find a local school that is running either Bromcom or Arbour, and ask if they can show you the system in use. I would particularly speak to the office staff, and about their experience using the system, also ask about tasks such as the school census, sms messaging to parents (lates), bulk email to parents ("there is a tube strike", weekly school newsletter...). Cashless catering integration, and suppling data to third party systems (CPOMS, DfE,…)

 

Also check on Parental access to the MIS information (timetable, behaviour…)

 

We are using Bromcom, which is getting regular updates. Loggins can be linked to either a Office 365 account, or a Google account. 2FA in Bromcom requires the use of Google Authenticator app

 

Be aware that you will lose some data when changing system, a CTF for the school will get most of the basic student data, but behaviour / finance information may be lost.

pete

pete

Posted
Posted

We picked option 1. Which of the two you pick doesn't particularly matter (price and functionality are sufficiently the same that it's more down to fit/finish/preference) as either will be a significant improvement.

 

Only look at option 2 if, looking at the company behind it, any of your decision makers can say say (with a straight face) "That seems like a well-run company that won't nose-dive into the ground in a few years".

  • Thanks 1
russlp

russlp

Posted
Posted (edited)
We've gone with option 1 (with finance) Staff really wanted the peace of mind of having Scomis to help with the how to's. We're still very early on in our journey (only just put order form in) but looking to move MIS in Jan and Finance in Feb - I think Scomis are trying to form a buyers club, where they can get great deals e.g. low cost, finance, integration, and hosting & support by Scomis, so I'd definitely recommend speaking to your account manager to discuss your options. Edited by russlp
supportman

supportman

Posted
Posted
**Subject**: Advice Needed on MIS Options as Hosted SIMS Ends with Scomis in March 2025Hi all, I'm looking for some advice on MIS options as we face changes in our setup. We are a primary school in Plymouth, currently running hosted SIMS with Scomis, which I believe is linked to Devon County Council. Recently, we’ve been informed that Scomis must stop hosting SIMS by March 2025, as it’s no longer allowed.This leaves us with three main options:1. Stay with Scomis but switch to **Bromcom** or **Arbor**.2. Move directly to ESS and adopt **SIMS Next Gen**.We use HR, payroll, and invoicing functionalities in hosted SIMS, which, as I understand, aren’t yet available in SIMS Next Gen. Additionally, I believe Arbor requires an additional fee for finance-related modules, though I’m not entirely sure about Bromcom’s setup.If any schools have gone through a similar transition, I’d love to hear about your experiences, particularly:- Which MIS option you chose- The functionality coverage (especially HR, payroll, and invoicing)- Cost considerations Any insights or feedback would be greatly appreciated!Thank you in advance!

 

We moved from Sims >> Bromcom.

 

Transition was easy, honestly nothing to worry about at all.

 

Prices are all vaguely similar and most providers will match each others quotes if requested.

 

I don't think any of the major players have anything missing from the feature list these days except maybe sims ;)

 

Don't forget you can keep any finance software you have (we kept Sage 200) or take on the MIS provided one but obviously that's going to cost a bit more.

 

Overall its an easy decision to leave Sims in my opinion, but do get each provider in and test out the systems. We went with what felt best in terms of the interface and don't regret it.

  • Thanks 1
  • 4 months later...
snagrat

snagrat

Posted
Posted
On 09/04/2025 at 17:13, Bromcom-PR said:

The battle of Scomis

 

And the winner MIS is ...

 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bromcom_edtech-mis-educationinnovation-activity-7315673662265720833-GCjm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAMpjjgBbMtIVk0cul1rRsJMZRuDrW7CM0Q

 

 


The stupid thing is most schools wanted to move to a different MIS but DCC would only support Bromcom Finance. So schools were forced to move MIS as well 

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