TechSail

Sounds like a shame that the outward facing bits of the product i.e report cards and letters are not up to scratch. Been looking at their website to understand what they can do in more detail, anyone got any comments on its behaviour functionality in relation to others?

Having to use additional software for report cards sounds a bit strange, can you not do everything you need built in? How does Arbor work with formative in a secondary environment, can they calculate summative outcomes from curriculum statements? Can you calculate progress against KS2 results? Does it not negate the need for SISRA? Sorry, so many questions and so little knowledge

With the threat of a new lockdown heading our way, I was wondering the best feature of your MIS that supported you last time. I'm sure we all have those shortcuts that really helped out and made life that little bit smoother, mine was to be able to export and map postcodes from across the MAT so our mini-bus drivers across the schools could be scheduled to be able to deliver resources. I almost felt like I was working for Eddie Stobart Hoping to pick up a few more new tips for next time.

This is the massive benefit of having an MIS that uses the cloud. Not only were Bromcom able to update their system and keep us informed on progress during Wednesday evening, they were able to support directly into my own database yesterday morning. Not sure how I would have coped without this level of support. I wonder how SIMS and other MIS users experiences were with Pearson’s last minute fiasco?

The technical detail in designing your own system, for me, depends on the type of school and size that you are. I was involved in a bespoke college system many years ago. What started as a 3 month project kept growing and finally took 2 years.

When looking at how an MIS can save you money for me it is all about keeping in all under one product. Reducing 3rd party products not only saves money, but there are efficiency savings and reduced risk to dirty data when moving between programmes. Most importantly for me the data is live, no need to have staff spending time moving data backwards and forwards like the bell boy in a hotel whenever pupil information changes. As Covid-19 continues to bite being in the cloud is essential. School leaders need to work when and where they can!

I'm actually shocked that SIMS doesn't do this. Sending MIS reports out directly to multiple students or parents is the bread and butter of other MIS systems.