paulkerton

So, in the definitions section of the contract what do they define as "annual charging period" So, assuming your contract starts on the 1st April, this is how I read it - but I can't stress enough SEEK LEGAL ADVICE NOT UNSOLICITED IT GEEK FORUM ADVICE! So at the beginning of December 2022, they can look at the Consumer Price Index for November 2022 and see that inflation is at 4%. So they can charge 2.5% + 4.0% increase for Year 2 of your deal. They will let you know their final decision by 1st January 2023. Which seems to contradict the next bit below... They can revise the charges 120 days before the end of your intial agreement or your renewal agreement, and they will need to let you know by the 1st of December. This reading it again means they can't change the 2.5% + CPIH arrangement until the end of the 3 Year Term as it specifically says "initial agreement or your renewal agreement" If they change the 2.5% + CPIH part of the contract, they will let you know on renewal by December 1st, and you have till December 31st to say no thanks. Which realistically means you have 2 and a half weeks. They really should be shifting their agreement dates so they don't land in the middle of when schools are shut for 2 weeks.

OK. I'm intrigued. Love the games, so I'm looking here at what we might have to hand. Halsey, what looks like a giant Covenant ship (Edit: OMG it's High Charity - that looks ridiculously good!), Makee, Soren-066, I'm assuming a young John, Miranda Keyes, some truly stunning effects work and the Chief looking spot on. Makee will be the most controversial character, but Charlie Murphy is ridiculously talented, so hopefully she will get people on side. Excited to see what comes along. Notice we've actually yet to see a Halo ring in any form??

If it is unfair to teachers, I'm looking forward to HLTAs being paid full time for 195 days a year on-site and having their pension benefits match those of teachers... ... oh wait.

Well that's the thing. Apparently the argument here is that this isn't a renewal, its a brand new contract so you do not have to cancel. But, if you do not contact them, they're still going to invoice you for something that will automatically cancel because its not a renewal. I would still, regardless, take my time to notify them of intention to quit before December 31st. If the assumption is that its a brand new contract and requires consent of the customer as it is not a renewal they shouldn't be invoicing you at all unless they hear an affirmative agreement from you. Also, if what they are saying is true, you should being going through a due dilligence process of checking out the other solutions available, shouldn't you?

"Currently experiencing slow speed issues with Netsweeper" just had come through. One day they will admit that going back to 20th Century technology in the 21st Century has been a disaster. One day.

We've now been getting "Are you a robot?" alerts for 2 and a half weeks and we're told "It will go on its own within 24 hours" 408 hours and counting...

That depends on the staff. My job is almost entire desk based work, and where it isn't I am available on Google Meet to talk to people and guide them through any issues that they might have. Which considering where Plan B is anyway, I'd be using Meet for meetings in the room next door right now! Today has been password resets, working on websites, working on people's issues with not knowing how to use spreadsheets, handling a sudden resignation and where that data for that person lives... all of it could be done remotely. Data team, HR, some of the IT staff, Finance staff, most of the reception staff - all of them could work from home to reduce contact at this point - perhaps rotate people in and out if needs be.

Everyone here has read those clauses differently, so I would definitely get the school's retained legal teams to read that and determine what they're actually saying with those clauses.

So they've upset Schools, LAs, Academy chains, Support Organisations... Basically they've decided to go for a scorched Earth policy

Well I have sent it to HR here so let's see what they say!

So if I opt not to notify ESS/SIMS at all, then my contract will automatically expire on 31st March 2022?

Well, HR have had the "So what happens in Plan B next week for staff that worked from home the last time we had to" email. Be interesting to see if they insist on us coming in this time around. I was told that "it was unfair that teachers had to but office staff didn't" so, if I get that response I will ask them about pension parity with the teachers, and whether all staff will be paid full-time like teachers and not pro-rata like HLTAs and see how that goes down for "fairness".

Yes. Contractually you have to give them 90 days notice. If you don't give them that, it renews. So cancel before the 31st if you're exploring your options and then you can go back to them if you need to. Don't, whatever you do, rely on the idea that they will honour your wish to leave inside the 90 day period.

Search for Chromebooks with "world facing cameras" or look into the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 or Lenovo 10e Chromebook Tablet.

As I said many pages ago, the backfire irony of them trying to force 3 year terms on them and ending up with so many schools furious and ready to move cannot be lost here. Delicious irony.

LFTs are generally more accurate than people might think, especially the one made by Acon. A lot of the time, the issues with LFTs is that its easy to not do them properly at home.

I bet you've got teachers out there with resources saying that we have 9 planets still. Flash animations included!

Our understanding changes all the time though. As it's "Macromedia Flash" that site is at least 16 years old - I bet a lot of our understanding has changed in that time.

Yes. The ownership is different, but the management is the same. Also, ParentPay, Schoolcomms and CyPad haven't developed in any way in many years, so...

Which shows how old the teaching resources are!

It is the one of very few significant education suppliers in the UK that isn’t private equity owned. Excuse me? So who are Montagu and how much do they own of ParentPay exactly? Shady, shady, shady.

We had a request for Flash last week too. They've had 5 years. 5 YEARS.

So we're going to ignore EduLink, ParentPay's own tools, text messaging services, payment solutions all having to be bolted on. Familarity is not a reason to keep using a tool. If that was the case Spotify wouldn't exist because cassettes were familiar to the majority. Because your competitiors are at an advantage already, and don't need to plough that kind of money in to catch up to create a modern MIS that isn't trapped by 30 years of legacy I call myself a younger David Gandy, but that doesn't mean it's true. Yes, which is why SIMS churn rate is so high these days. After all, Capita sold off ESS because of long term viability problems. As foar functionality now and as it is likely to be in the future... one would assume exactly the same as it is now with no real changes based on the previous 7 years of promises of change not being delivered. Let's see the SIMS "Next Gen" roadmap... Belief is an acceptance that something is true without evidence. I guess we're going with the inifinte monkeys and infinite copies of Photoshop approach to UX. If ParentPay's UX is anything to go by then this isn't going to go well either. ParentPay is horribly difficult to work with. The whole clarity for the future email does seem very desperate on their behalf. They've clearly upset a lot of people and people are deciding to look elsewhere.

SIMS Connected is just an HTML5 client for Remote Desktop - meaning you're still trying to use a Windows XP designed interface on a touch screen 10" tablet, or a 6" phone. What a wonderful, inaccessible, uninclusive UX that is going to be. Oh the fun of trying to tap one element and hitting three at the same time. They just do not get it, do they?

Would love to get mine, but it seems they've announced something no one was prepared for and it'll be at least another 6 days before the 3 month window is opened. Which is great, but as of the end of the week I'm over 6 months and yet to be invited as I'm not 40 yet. Incompetence abound.