Dinner systems

[DevilsAdvocate]

Hi all,

 

Long time no post here! I've been asked to try and find us a new dinner system for the school.

 

Currently we use a system installed by Cunninghams that uses software called 'Impact'. We use finger prints for pupil recognition and also on the reval machines for the kids to 'attach' money to their fingers (no cash changes hands between children and dinner staff)

 

We have 6-7 tills that have now become extremely slow and the reval machines are looking somewhat tired. We paid a fair whack of money the first time this was installed and have had quite a few problems with the system and generally slow support from Cunninghams. So we'd like to see what else is out there.

 

What are the good people of Edugeek using in your schools?!

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Rob.

[NikChillin]

Which MIS system do you have? Some are specifically designed around Sims and don't work too well if you use something else.

[DevilsAdvocate]

We use CMIS (Facility) by Serco.

[irsprint84]

NRS have always been good and quite supportive though aviod parent pay like the plague! first few days this term were awful!

[nadeem]

We use Trust-e from Nationwide Retail Systems Nationwide Retail Systems Ltd | ONE STOP SOLUTIONS

[irsprint84]

We use Trust-e from Nationwide Retail Systems Nationwide Retail Systems Ltd | ONE STOP SOLUTIONS

 

To add to this they have all their eggs in one basket, they only use parentpay as a 3rd party thing

[nadeem]

To add to this they have all their eggs in one basket, they only use parentpay as a 3rd party thing

 

That's not true.

[DaveyPitch]

We use Impact here as well, and have experienced the same support problems you have. I ended up moaning so much at them that they eventually came out and replaced all the fingerprint readers on the tills and the revals, which improved the performance quite a bit. I do find the revals to be very flakey though, at one point I was in the canteen at least two times a week rebooting one of them because it would just seem to crash every other day.

[john]

To add to this they have all their eggs in one basket, they only use parentpay as a 3rd party thing

NRS support more than ParentPay as I have asked them that as part of my eval of system for our install, my preference is for NRS over Cunninghams I feel much more confident in the product, the abilities of the company and have spoken to a few schools using it with Serco and received positive feedback on the Serco integration.

 

I know that NRS are certainly available with ParentMail's +Pay system (or are very nearly there) as we are considering that for the future after this months ParentPay farsical situation for the second year running.

[DevilsAdvocate]

Thanks for the replies all. Have investigated NRS and have received a quote that isn't too unreasonable. Will see how things progress with the other couple of companies we have contacted and let people know what we eventually go with

 

Rob

[irsprint84]

NRS support more than ParentPay as I have asked them that as part of my eval of system for our install, my preference is for NRS over Cunninghams I feel much more confident in the product, the abilities of the company and have spoken to a few schools using it with Serco and received positive feedback on the Serco integration.

 

I know that NRS are certainly available with ParentMail's +Pay system (or are very nearly there) as we are considering that for the future after this months ParentPay farsical situation for the second year running.

 

I dont mean eggs is one basket with one payment company, I mean they dont have 3rd party add-ons to get their system working (other than online payment)

[peepsw]

Trust-e from Nationwide Retail Systems (NRS) works with ParentPay, Parentmail +Pay, Wise Pay, Tucassi, Civica and Squid.

[PaulHughes]

For info ... ParentMail is now linked with NRS (e-trust), Cunninghams/CRB, MH Systems, Gladstone's and by Monday Sharp Retail systems. Other integrations are also on the way.

[Steven_Cleaver]

Hi

 

I have used both Cunninghams Impact and NRS Trust e.

 

Pro's and Con's Cunningham Finger print recognition seems better than NRS's, NRS's reval units are more reliable than Cunninghams. NRS's reporting systems seem better than Cunningham's easy to get out what you want. Found support from both very good once you build up a rapour with them although I am in Birmingham not far from where Cunninghams have a base but both used remote access to fix most problems, but both good response times.

 

The same as you and a couple of people have mentioned Cunninghams seemed fine at the start but they were reluctent to upgrade or replace equipment unless it completely failed even if it was consistantly breaking down or giving us issues.

 

Also as a couple of people have said avoid Parent Pay at all costs unless your arms are tied.

[john]

Thanks @Steven_Cleaver that echos what I have found regarding both from talking to a number of schools in my area, the Cunninghams is an interesting one two well regarded schools I have spoken to (well regarded in terms of views, what they do, management style etc) both report issues as you describe with Cunninghams which is adding more to my view of using NRS

[localzuk]

We have Gladstone and since I've been at this school, my impression of it hasn't been great. We've had issues due to upgrades, a patch was applied to a version that it shouldn't have been, we were unable to run the end of year trimming process due to those issues too.

 

On top of that, we've had the server randomly stop working several times, including one where it just randomly decided to unregister a DLL.

 

However, in my experience, all cashless systems have issues.