Data retention after migration (Sims-Bromcom)

[Fill.S]

Hi Everyone

 

Currently in the process of moving to Bromcom from Sims. I'm considering the implications that Bromcom only migrate 7 years of data from Sims and that we are required to retain some student data for a period longer than this. I am wondering what other trusts and schools did about this when they migrated. Contractuallly we cant keep the sims server active after our contract ends. I am probably looking at the concept of some kind of data dump from sims but into a format that would be usable in the future. What's people's experiences here?

 

Phil

[synaesthesia]

Just keep a copy of the database. It's standard SQL so easy enough to extract data should you need to. Anything else, look at things like Recordlink Exporter for document server etc.

[mavhc]

You can pay them to migrate more data

[Rob_D]

Don't forget that if you're looking at a "dump/copy the whole database" type solution, that you will probably need to be able to delete student records one/some at a time (ideally in bulk by year group) as and when they hit your retention period, so make sure you have a way of doing that.

[synaesthesia]

This is on a "best efforts" approach, so if you don't have the means, it's not the end of the world and the ICO aren't going to come for you and your family for it. Hence very important to do a full data cleanse prior to losing your SIMS license. I'd make it a priority to ensure any special category data is migrated or stored otherwise then ensure that is entirely sanitised from SIMS.

[mthomas08]

We migrated from SIMs to Bromcom and didn't pay for extra data to go along with it. We kept a copy of the data, standard procedure really - backups and keep the server available for the WHAT IF scenario.

 

My only tip is to make sure you have all the data checked and double checked and TRIPLE checked when you have the 'test migration'. We found certain bits of data didn't migrate over but only after it went live....

[Aftab_Ahmed]

Also - if you have Salamander - they can export documents uploaded very quickly using their tools etc.

It's worth asking them as well

[daturum]

Hi Everyone

Contractuallly we cant keep the sims server active after our contract ends. I am probably looking at the concept of some kind of data dump from sims but into a format that would be usable in the future. What's people's experiences here?

Phil

 

I'm fascinated by the idea that contractually you are unable to keep the SIMS server active once the contract ends.

 

When we move to SIMS eight years ago, around half the cost was the initial license with the other half for the annual updates, and Capita said this was because we had those licenses in perpetuity and could therefore keep the data if we decided to move away. What legal authority do SIMS's new owners have to unilaterally change that understanding?

[supportman]

We used salamandersoft to extract all the linked documents to a SharePoint folder.

 

We also kept the old Sims server on a virtual machine. That was 5 years ago now though but the data is still there even if not online.

 

Don't migrate any more data to bromcom, you want a nice clean system to work with once setup.

[vikpaw]

I'm fascinated by the idea that contractually you are unable to keep the SIMS server active once the contract ends.

 

When we move to SIMS eight years ago, around half the cost was the initial license with the other half for the annual updates, and Capita said this was because we had those licenses in perpetuity and could therefore keep the data if we decided to move away. What legal authority do SIMS's new owners have to unilaterally change that understanding?

 

That WAS the old licensing model that many of us 'grew up' with, but it's changed, and they're pushing new products and methods now. So it depends on the contract. Only recently they kicked up a fuss about the SQL database having proprietary IP so even keeping a copy of that will have them frowning at you.

 

I would say, use basic reports and exports to extract any data you want to keep for a longer period. Not sure how the migration process works, if they're just pulling data out from SQL, i'd defo just ask them to process more even for a fee. Even if you don't import all of it, it's worth having it extracted into a usable format, cos you really don't want to be running SQL queries at the last minute to find some important nugget of info.