Inventry Had its day ?

[Oaktech]

That's quite an interesting financial setup!

 

Indeed it is. It cause no end of grief, but we aren't allowed to merge fully.

 

How about: this extra 900 quid is money well spent out of our 4 million anual budget as Inventry is unreliabile with terrible support and is only going to get worse, cause more problems and cost us more and more money in the long term in both own own staff time troubleshooting, and external costs in possible fees/contracts/engineer visits?

 

If your BM isnt able to balance initial cost with value for money with long term costs with reliability and pick the right outcome then maybe they shouldnt be your BM.

 

You are right, but there is context to this mindset. I'm happy to explain via DM.

[PotNoodleTech]

You are right, but there is context to this mindset. I'm happy to explain via DM.

 

No need, I can see your in a federation so software upgrades and replacements are probably already unneccasarily complicated. :-/

[EssentialRug]

Does anyone know of a 3rd party (Amazon) wallmount we can get that supports the Sign in App RFID reader?

[synaesthesia]

They're fairly bespoke unfortunately but it wouldn't be difficult to drill the 2 necessary boltholes in any of the off the shelf mounts you can get. We only got 2 readers and the other ipads will just be manual signin. It's quick enough to not be an issue, the readers are in the high traffic areas.

[mdrabble]

I must be in the minority as had no issues with InVentry whether it is down to how I wanted it installing (VM for DB) and then screens for main office/reception and quick access terminals for external doors.

 

Support have been ok - managed to speak to someone with in a couple of hours of raising any tickets and had issues resolved quickly.

 

Yes, there are things i wish could be improved - but at present it works well for how we use it - all 6th Form have ID card which they sign in and out with using the quick terminals and year 7-11 use a dedicated student screen.

[HereIGoAgain2601]

Just to say that across our 8 school trust they have been trying unsuccessfully for months to get central to work. The fire evac app is a joke on anywhere and spends hours syncing. Escalated this quite high up and they still haven’t managed to fix it. Actual screens run like a dog when you put AV on them, we replaced all in 2022 and the spec level is shockingly poor given the cost. At the time I had bigger fish to fry so just renewed to keep everyone happy; sadly made the “mistake” of signing up for 5 years. The only saving grace is that the 4th and 5th years were paid as 3 payments, so we can technically afford to move from September. Safe to say we can’t wait to move to Sign in App! Absolutely no innovation at Inventry and it’s definitely become the SIMS of visitor management with the ridiculous costs to match.

[Brummytech]

Not sure how they are in business feels like they have gone the way of Sims. No development and everything else is moving on.

 

We have Inventry and Entrysign, and are looking to go Sign On app but as others have said are stuck in contracts. Entrysign support is lightyears in front of Inventry, you can ring a UK person (Means support now instead of when you are alseep) and normally get issues resolved and they seem really knowledgable nice group of people

 

For Inventry our Consoles runs slow, we assumed it was our setup but then realised that the new consoles are somehow a lot lower spec than our older Inventry machines.

 

For us they use Free Teamviewer instead of dedicated RMM for us so everytime they need to connect, we need to use our remote agent to pass the updated Teamviewer to them. (I mean if a Trust can afford it why can't a large multinational)

 

Inventry Ipad App Fire Evac didn't have personal logged - Rang in and they said we need to log out, reinitilise the database and reinstall it , ok great but building could be on fire. Printing seems to crash or be very delayed.

 

Then you have a console on site that has shared credentials, you either need to keep it in a default VLAN or a office VLAN so office staff can access the console.

 

Office staff seem to love it and when you can set the shortcut on the default desktop it takes the pain away from trying to map the drive.

[mavhc]

Whenever support's solution is to remotely log in you know they've failed. Doubly so when their next solution is reinstall. Tripply so when they blame Microsoft for their crappy installer being killed by Exploit Protection (Xporter)

 

I've decided to ask 2 questions to any software company we might subscribe to: 1. Where is your public roadmap (ie are you just taking our money and never spending it on development?) and 2. How can I export all my data in a useful format when we leave? (we will leave one day, don't just assume you can do no work and take our money forever)

[msi_school]

Does anyone use Sign In App for their Sixth Form? Interested to learn how well it works with signing them in and out, and writing back their mark to the MIS (specifically SIMS Connected).

 

I used Sign in App with a sixth form at my previous job and we gave up doing write back because the process for recording marks in the school was too complex.

 

At its heart Sign in is a fire register, it is very good at recording if you are in the building or not but it can not do marks for students who are on time because they don't have a lesson till p2 but others who are not because they had a lesson p1 or every other Wednesdays every one needs to be in at 0830 for assembly. So we stuck with a member of admin hand updating SIMS however the on line look ups and excel spread sheets made this far easier.

[Spookyville]

Support is shocking now. Are there any alternatives that can integrate to paxton net2? Contract is up for renewal next September and would like options going into that!

[mullet_man]

Just thought I'd post here but any school with Inventry need to double check the guest arrival emails, we have this morning received an email from [email protected] with a fake invoice download link, I've posted about it in the Spam emails thread.

 

I've opened a call with support and I think a follow Edugeeker has done the same as they think they've received emails too.

[ozydave]

Very disappointed with Inventry.

Just renewed our contract with a system refresh. We have two sign in screens 1 in primary and 1 in secondary both with printers attached.

They came out in October half term to do the refresh.

The tech turned up with 1 screen to replace the main unit.

I questioned about changing the one in primary and the printers.

The "refresh" only included 1 screen and the "refresh" of the maintenance contract on the printers.

The original system was installed 2018. Since the main screen was swapped out I have had to reboot the system 4 times as it had just hung.

 

I contacted Inventry, apparently to replace the screen in primary would cost me £1200 but they would wave the £250 installation just this once.

Really poor show.

Would advice everyone not to renew

[Mr.Ben]

I just pulled some stuff out that was a couple of years old - 5th gen intel so would even have gone to Windows 11.

[Roberto]

For us they use Free Teamviewer instead of dedicated RMM for us so everytime they need to connect, we need to use our remote agent to pass the updated Teamviewer to them. (I mean if a Trust can afford it why can't a large multinational).

 

Look it another way - why do they need to bother to afford it when you’re affording it for them, so to speak. Absolutely not defending or excusing any bad behavior by your vendor here, quite the opposite, but you have removed any urgency to do better by you!

 

I've decided to ask 2 questions to any software company we might subscribe to: 1. Where is your public roadmap (ie are you just taking our money and never spending it on development?) and 2. How can I export all my data in a useful format when we leave? (we will leave one day, don't just assume you can do no work and take our money forever)

 

I think y’all should probably develop a set of ‘supplier due diligence’ questions to ask of any supplier of pretty much anything more complex than a pack of pens, and consider how to work these sorts of questions in to that. I can’t share ours unfortunately but there’s an interesting blog on supplier DDQ here: https://www.bulletproof.co.uk/blog/supplier-due-diligence

[FN-GM]

Very disappointed with Inventry.

Just renewed our contract with a system refresh. We have two sign in screens 1 in primary and 1 in secondary both with printers attached.

They came out in October half term to do the refresh.

The tech turned up with 1 screen to replace the main unit.

I questioned about changing the one in primary and the printers.

The "refresh" only included 1 screen and the "refresh" of the maintenance contract on the printers.

The original system was installed 2018. Since the main screen was swapped out I have had to reboot the system 4 times as it had just hung.

 

I contacted Inventry, apparently to replace the screen in primary would cost me £1200 but they would wave the £250 installation just this once.

Really poor show.

Would advice everyone not to renew

 

In all fairness, this could have been avoided and not been a surprise. What did the contract say when the renewal was signed? Did the person who sign it confirm the refresh included both screens?

 

If the contract / agreement said you are entitled to replace all devices get back to them. Otherwise it’s on the school and the person who signed.

Edited December 8, 2024 by FN-GM

[mavhc]

Look it another way - why do they need to bother to afford it when you’re affording it for them, so to speak. Absolutely not defending or excusing any bad behavior by your vendor here, quite the opposite, but you have removed any urgency to do better by you!

 

 

 

I think y’all should probably develop a set of ‘supplier due diligence’ questions to ask of any supplier of pretty much anything more complex than a pack of pens, and consider how to work these sorts of questions in to that. I can’t share ours unfortunately but there’s an interesting blog on supplier DDQ here: https://www.bulletproof.co.uk/blog/supplier-due-diligence

 

That's basic stuff for anything though, SaaS needs additional questions like "why am I paying you every month to do nothing?" and "why are you making it difficult to stop paying you?", just reworded slightly to sound nice

[Lebowski]

The only thing Inventry does better than sign in app is the Paxton integration/door listeners. Do wish this was an option for Sign in for signing staff in on site.

 

Sign In App is superior at basically everything else.

Edited December 9, 2024 by Lebowski

[WannabrewUK]

Just looking into possibly replacing Inventry with signin App.

 

What do people do if their internet goes down? from what I understand you can't print an evac list if it's not connected to the internet.

 

Thanks

[synaesthesia]

Just looking into possibly replacing Inventry with signin App.

 

What do people do if their internet goes down? from what I understand you can't print an evac list if it's not connected to the internet.

 

Thanks

 

It's fairly inconceivable that there would be not one member of staff with a mobile phone, or at least one school device with a SIM card.

[PotNoodleTech]

Just looking into possibly replacing Inventry with signin App.

 

What do people do if their internet goes down? from what I understand you can't print an evac list if it's not connected to the internet.

 

Thanks

 

That is a problem yes. My entrysignn has a local server so can still print with no internet.

 

Mind you, nowadays in that scenaro that's your MIS gone, safeguarding software gone, and possilby site and CCTV so your school would be closing I would assume.

[Cat_Jam148]

Just looking into possibly replacing Inventry with signin App.

What do people do if their internet goes down? from what I understand you can't print an evac list if it's not connected to the internet.

Thanks

We run the companion app on a number of SLT phones. They don't mind using their mobile data in the event of school provided devices not having any connection to the internet.

[Rochdale_Cowboy]

One of the crap features that we use in Inventry is the cloud based Club Reg App so that we can record who is in afterschool clubs, so still on site. Is there an alternative to this that links to SIMS and is easy for staff to set up and use?

[mullet_man]

Since before Christmas we’ve stopped receiving visitor has arrived emails, support say they can’t find the option to turn it on?

 

Am assuming everyone else still has this functionality?

 

Feel like am going mad, the support agent has remotely looked about 4 or 5 times and still no joy, I need to chase the call up as it’s causing reception some issues now with visitors not being collected.

[E_G_R2]

One of the crap features that we use in Inventry is the cloud based Club Reg App so that we can record who is in afterschool clubs, so still on site. Is there an alternative to this that links to SIMS and is easy for staff to set up and use?

 

We fudged something in SigninApp to cover this. We put the clubs in as groups and have printed card badges for the pupils and they just choose the club in the iPad and scan their QR Code. This produces a attendance list.