Lonix

Might be worth considering exactly the demands of your schools moving forward and recruitment/retention.Some seniour techs might be happy doing server work etc for a school but in my experience, you're lucky if one sticks around. I've seen a lot of techs come and go because of work loads and stress of a school environment. Plus with the recent discussions about salaries, lucky again if they stick around.I'm very lucky that my ST is happy. Otherwise, I could lose him easily for £4-£8K elsewhere. Would some one like me want to take a pay cut to be ST? Well that depends - a small cut for less stress isn't a bad thing. A huge cut for a little less stress, well I'd be gone and won't stick around. There are jobs out there for my salary and in my area or go for jobs with more salaries but right now, I don't want more stress.Some schools have a lot of work to do moving forward. We're in a good place but still a lot to do.Even losing a tech right now, a lot would have to change - behaviour being one (damages etc) - and the constant reliance on setting up the main hall/sports area/canteen daily. All I can say is, try and take in all factors and because it works elsewhere, doesn't always mean a template will work for you - something a Super HT once said to me.

Either way, this still makes me uncomfortable having dealings with Bromcom but I don't blame people for choosing their MIS and there is more info regarding the Trust. They seem to be in another spot of bother: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/united-learning-broke-academy-rules-over-133k-duplicate-payment/

Same where I work - very OCD on safeguarding which is a good thing but not every place is going to be like that. *not at my current job* I do know of one story and that did conclude with the law involved in the end. There was an attempt to sweep it under the carpet which I only found out due to being involved in the 2nd internal investigation. It did get reported to the police, it did go to court and the individual was punished but nothing happened regarding how the school handled it. If it had happened now where I currently work > the individual would have been thrown out the door instantly and reported to the police right away. The evidence was clear and both parties admitted it....... twice. If our government can cover-up things... what about other parts of society....

If you downgrade the server - what about the census / filesets? These tend to need the latest SIMs versions? I'm sure of it.

There are a few threads regarding these companies, I highly recommend in reading through them - especially ones from last year. I would suggest watching your back.

Company formed in 2015 - meaning their old equipment would be 6 years old. Give it 5 years.

Keyword here: potential. Not conclusive. Being sued even if they are found guilty is no easy thing to deal with. Like it or not, it will make people question it. And again, it still leaves a sour taste of that company not taking a loss. You may not like the attitude people have towards it.. but you can't blame them and they have every right to feel negative about it. Even if they turned out to be the best cost effective solution on the market it still can go back to 'preference' something we all argue with IT (especially Apple Vs Windows). Could they still drag us to court? Our current MIS has far too many issues but its the preference of teachers due to the reporting functions.... do we get sued because we decided to stick with our current MIS? even though ours is expensive? Do we find every little negative niggle to note down (wasting time) if we choose NOT to go for an MIS? Just to cover our backs? Far too many questions pop in my head. When we get round to doing our tender process, I can't help but put a little mental note next to that company name stating what is going on - and not for the first time. Our tender process is rigorous with tons of paper work to back it up but there will be key notes on preferences/staff training/time which you can't put a value next to it. Do suppliers go ahead and take the same action and start pushing for the courts?

I think common sense just needs to seriously prevail here. Stay safe. Two simple words. You go to the cinema and share a large room with 100+ people. It can only take a single cough to expose that entire room. That's 100+ people at risk. I share an office with a couple of others - I cough and I expose them. I go to a classroom with 30 kids and a teacher - I cough and I expose them. I walk along a corridor which could be used by 100+ students at a lesson change over - I cough and I expose them. Again, we need to think about common sense here. I wear a mask and it cuts the risk. i wash my hands often, have gel.. just a little bit of cutting the risk. Think driving - you feel good, not tired, not ill and focus solely on your driving. You ignore the tailgater, the swerving cyclist and you focus on your driving. It cuts the risk - there is always the chance you can still make a mistake or someone hits you out of the blue. Its about cutting the risk. Surgeons wear masks and clean thoroughly - to cut the risk. Hospitals need to be cleaned, health staff wearing the kit and masks.. - to cut the risk. We really need to pay attention to just cutting the risk. You can spend 24/7 staying safe and taking every precaution but it takes one person to cough near you.. for you to be at risk. I'd place a bet on the 100 people staying safe and not catching it.. compared to 100 people ignoring the rules and getting it. How many would still be alive if we all made this effort back in January? If you don't believe its serious.. fine.. just stay safe for the sake of others.

I would recommend giving this a read regarding Bromcom. http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/217972-disappointed-bidder-sues-mat-after-mis-tender-failure.html There are certainly other choices out there if you decide to leave SIMs.

Spot on. I have avoided companies that I had bad experiences with and it does matter. When we budget and tender, how many of us consider companies with a good reputation. No one is questioning if it is legally right or not, instead the words used are morally right or wrong. I'd ask the question if Bromcom won the bid and still considered the school not to be following procedures.. would they still sue? Weird how one of the things mentioned in the Bromcom response is how much market certain MIS companies have.. Funny part is.. I'm holding back my actual personal view on this entire thing. Last time I reviewed our printer system, we didn't go for the cheapest solution. Instead we chose the company that supported exactly what we wanted and provided same/next day support (plus their customer support had already proven to be impressive). Sometimes its not about numbers.

I'm still struggling to understand why this court case is being pushed....... maybe I'm being blind or just don't understand... As a Governor, it is our job to make sure we get good value on our MIS and at some point when things calm down I will look to tendering and potentially going cloud based. I think we not long signed up to a 3 year contract on SIMs so at the moment we are stuck. BUT its also important that there are non financial matters here and not just whats cost effective...... going for the cheapest deal isn't always best for the school... and I make this clear - Support: How quick is the company on dealing with issues? how often they occur? - Relationship: How comfortable do we as a school feel with the company? do we feel that the company has our best intentions at hand and do they care about us? - Training: Do we want to spend the time training a whole school? - Personal opinion/preference: Like it or not, I'm the one that deals with the SIMs issues.. patches and updates and yes I do have a personal opinion on the software. So If I screamed about SIMs in a good or bad way.. that opinion still matters in the eye of the Governors/SLT.... Its very important to note that "cost effective" isn't always the best solution. If the school manipulated the numbers - how did Bromcom find out? If Bromcom believes the numbers got the changed - again, why do they suspect this? what evidence have they got?... Now for a company taking legal action at a school for not choosing them.... would I be afraid of adding them to our tender list?.........

Downloaded it last night, not sure how it will help but.. lets see... Not sure I care much about 'privacy' considering I have an iPhone with endless amount of apps including a Twitter/Facebook account which I've had for years and years...

I know a lot of schools that have been putting things together all last minute. Some not long ago got things up and running. Home learning - call it whatever you will. Really should have been sorted out years ago when more and more parents/kids got devices. Wi-fi alone has become like an arm to kids and even to a lot of adults. Still nice to see those that claimed it was a waste of time now have these systems in place.

Agreed. A simple thing to add from their end, the only think I would say is pester them to add it. If enough schools do it.. maybe just maybe.. they will. When other systems that cost around the same are already doing this.. it does frustrate the school. Considering how much it costs to print and post..

Are you seeking any additional IT staff? Your story I've heard far more from the private sector, in fact the majority of IT people I know have all left education and I really am the only one left. Even in education if you have the respect etc, it doesn't pay the bills and leadership (especially Academies) can pay staff more if they choose to do so. Unless there are valid reasons for objections by the directors/governors. At the end of the day the teachers are going to protect teachers. We just get told to shut up and get on with it and stop whining. Meanwhile the same teachers moan about their working environment, pay and generally everything.