Funky front ends for SIMs for registration and assessment

[Midget]

Right, having been "using" (in the loosest possible terms) Lisol Pathways for the last 2 months I can say that it is unreservedly sh1t+, and I'd highly recommend that noone else should waste their time and money on it.

 

So back to the question at hand, what other software is out there to perform this role (other than BromCom, which is what has been replaced - unless the latest version is spectacular) and changing the whole system to Serco is _NOT_ an option, we cannot get rid of SIMs

 

 

*Throws open the stage*

 

 

+damn filters

[bossman]

New look coming soon with the Sims, lesson monitor, personnel and a couple of other tasty apps within the .net framework. Having looked at the prototype the only app left outside of Sims is FMS which will soon be sorted, i can't wait.

[djm968]

PARS from TASC Software is quite user friendly. I know a few schools using it for registration.

 

http://www.tascsoftware.co.uk/index.php?content=products/detail.php&product_id=041030410410430

[ConTheITGuy]

PARS from TASC Software is quite user friendly. I know a few schools using it for registration.

 

http://www.tascsoftware.co.uk/index.php?content=products/detail.php&product_id=041030410410430

 

We're one

 

Andy

[NetworkGeezer]

Okay that's eReg taken careof but what about things like report writing and pupil record browsing? Lisol Pathways do (sorry attempt) to do that ?

[Midget]

this is the pathways system for you to have a look at

 

http://www.lisol.co.uk/solutions/pathways/index.aspx

 

We chose it mainly for it student report writing ability apparently,

 

I had nothing to do with it except saying that we should just upgrade the bromcom network as its safer to have the seperate PDAs in case the curriculum network went down.....like what happened 1 hour ago, damn dlink fibre switches.... and in the case of a fire.

 

Any system that has been given the thumbs up for working well with SIMs will be forwarded into the options list.

[pete]

We use PARS, and like it a lot. Support is brilliant: Tasc made changes to the UI for us during the evaluation after we mentioned we'd quite like something more obvious (icons a bit larger).

 

Phone them up, ask for a demo and a months free trial.

 

Re D-Link Fibre switches.

Even crappy DES 1024s work a _lot_ better if you stick them on a UPS.

[Midget]

A few thumbs up for TASC PARS then, how much does it cost?

 

What do those with these PC based systems do in the case of a fire alarm?

 

 

 

pete:

 

This is a DGS-3024 w/ 3 SFF fibre modules.

 

Thinking about it, it is possible that power problems could have effected it, it's wierd, the fibre works fine, but if you have more than 8 machines running off the copper ports it screws up, nm dlink will swap it out on monday so I am happy.

 

Hmm 450va 1u APC UPS for £100 on dabs, might be worth it to protect £800 worth of kit.

[wesleyw]

How about SIMS .Net Profiles for the Report writing and if you want external connections possibly sharepoint and capita web parts? (cost is high though) you'll then be able to write reports and browse student records remotely!

 

 

Wes

[kxv2020]

We use Lesson Register & lesson Monitor for e-Registration - replacing bromcom. We trialled Profiles for report writing mainly due to the fact that teachers could ONLY USE comment banks, but were using a reporting package called AIM High , which was very good and most teachers liked it due to the fact that it was free text but the ability of comment banks was there. Now SLG don't won't free text reports - as there are far to many errors [thats what they say]!!

[pete]

@Midget

Cost: Depends on the size of your school, we have ~830 = £5,800, annual maintenance is ~£1K.

 

Fires: PARS has a Fire module, which allows you to dump registers / school roll to a laptop or PDA. I'm pretty certain you can automate a daily printout of the same info as well (say after morning registration).

 

Fibre: Yeah, I guessed it wasn't a DES-1024 . Point is, as you understood, that a UPS can make a significant difference to network performance for very little cost IMNSHO.