Capita 'billed schools £75m too much'

[Sivadam]

Sivadam, if you wish to see the reason why the Autumn Release is being delayed then you are quite welcome to visit our site.

 

I thought we had covered the delays to Upgrades in another thread!

I may well have caused delays myself in the past, via UAT (don't think I actually have - as any issues I found were probably corrected before you other guys got the Release!)

[MattMitchell]

Is it me, or is this turning into a "we hate capita" forum???

 

 

I don't object to griping, and certainly I have my niggles with SIMS, but it's not all that constructive really, is it?

[GREED]

Matt

 

I agree totally. While I am a supporter for SIMS and Capita and will defend them (hark back a long way to my post about football teams!), they don't always get everything right, and I am the first to complain when things are dodgy (don't I Phil!?)

 

I am sure the same is true with all other MISs, but I don't see them being bounded about in threads left right and centre by people that use totally other systems...

 

There seems to be groups of 'We love Capita', 'We love ' and 'We have Capita but hate it'...

[Sivadam]

Well said Graham. And I know that Phil and the Product Managers at Capita will vouch for the fact that I criticse when things go wrong or want amending, as well as offer praise when they work well!

 

My perceived unfair negativity is exactly why I started to contribute here instead of just being a casual observer!

It was time for somebody to jump in with both feet and try and set the record straight - and I didn't mind being the one to do so!

 

What I really hate though is those that knock a system for not being able to do something when I know that it does. I guess this could be lack of knowledge/expertise by that person - but they should not be blaming the system for that!

Edited December 18, 2009 by Sivadam

[GREED]

See I do agree in principle that one should not be totally biased, but if you have only experienced one product (in my case SIMS, SchoolComms etc) then you can only talk about that and give your opinion on that. You won't find me bad-mouthing other MISs because I don't know what they can do...

 

... I might suggest other forum contributors also consider doing the same...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

time to be banned!

[Sivadam]

I spent a lot of time studying and analysing the Rules of Edugeek a week or two ago. I came to the conclusion that I was nowhere near breaking any of them - which I could not honestly say about the people whose posts I was responding to at the time!

 

I reckon you are in exactly the same position Graham!

[beeswax]

Matt

 

I agree totally. While I am a supporter for SIMS and Capita and will defend them (hark back a long way to my post about football teams!), they don't always get everything right, and I am the first to complain when things are dodgy (don't I Phil!?)

 

I am sure the same is true with all other MISs, but I don't see them being bounded about in threads left right and centre by people that use totally other systems...

 

There seems to be groups of 'We love Capita', 'We love ' and 'We have Capita but hate it'...

 

You see the same thing with Microsoft, though on a larger scale.

[GREED]

Very true!

[Linfit]

I’m not one to defend the corporate monoliths against the little guy, especially when it comes to Capita, ( some of their activities in other areas I find dubious) but I’m not sure anti-competitiveness really is the issue here; its more that the product is not bad enough to make it worth changing.

 

When SIMS was actually SIMS, before Capita took them over, they got their product in on the ground floor in the majority of schools because it was the only game in town so people went with it.

 

Once you are using a system, it becomes increasingly costly and difficult to change, and you still end up with an MIS that doesn’t do all you want, its just different things it doesn’t do. You have to have a huge issue with the software then to make the change worthwhile. Some people would call this ‘lock-in’ but actually its more to do with the product having been first to market, and gaining the benefit of that, and the fact that it is ‘good enough’; in other words it does enough that most people don’t find the cost of changing to gain any extra features worthwhile.

 

I would add, as an aside, that I am also involved in UAT testing and field trials for Capita and the people that I deal with at these events are desperate for their product to work well and for it to meet the needs of the schools; a lot of the issues they have are because they are working to very tight deadlines, don’t get as much feedback as they need from schools, and are often not aware of just how the product is being used, and they are also not always in control of their own destiny; for example, last minute changes required by Government, and poor communication channels within exam boards have often cause issues with functionality in the past.

[Sivadam]

Capia/SIMS also had the sense to buy out THE best system a long time ago!

 

I mean Nova of course. I hated SIMS when I first had to use it as I came from a Nova background and, for me, it was way in advance of SIMS in the early days. (Sorry Phil!)

 

But you are right about the Testing. If some of those schools that say they had severe issues after Upgrades actually volunteered their data for testing then many issues that they report could be resolved before a release!

Edited December 18, 2009 by Sivadam

[GREED]

Very well said Linfit!

[mavhc]

Capita 'billed schools £75m too much' -- so they billed them £75 million?

 

I'm sure £75 million would get you a nice open source MIS doing everything you want