thomsm86

Indeed, hope other providers are scalable in their solutions to handle the influx of converting customers from SIMS and those already with that MIS don't see degradation of service or other issues with the possibility of some MIS providers total customer base increasing significantly by percent. Hope they have the infrastructure right which SIMS clearly didn't achieve in the past.

Very good point, if Teacher App is good enough (from a tech point of view) to get the job done, then that process can be built on to scale for their NexGen slice(s) to a point where schools don't need certain parts of SIMS7 anymore, a gradual phase out of old SIMS7 functionality. Just like another user said on the forum, how they did it from SIMS Launcher (dbase) to Version 6 and .net (SQL) but without Core Integrator!

Hmmm, is this not how all the 3rd party systems that link with SIMS work? They extract data from SIMS -> Do some activity (better user experience than SIMS -> Put the data back into SIMS which then allows the school admin to do their thing with the data...? Is their approach not the same or am I missing the point? SIMS -> Data extract, do something in say Class Charts | Take Register -> Put the data back in SIMS for CENSUS, reporting, 1st day absence calling. If it's good enough for schools to use all the 3rd parties interacting with SIMS7, why is that not a good approach for ESS to evolve out their NextGen. I am not technical and may be missing a big point here...

I agree, a very good idea, a lot of admin staff I work with love SIMS and have not been that warm to other solutions. As the new solution is phased out in slices, it will be so much easier and less stressful for a school.

Fair enough, point well made. I suppose I am hopeful for the future and see that now they are not part of Capita their horizon is a very different view than before. I know they have been on a massive transformation drive and separation process. They have a lot to prove to the market I suppose and I remember being at BETT when SIMS8 was launched. The new management (I hear Andy Bennett is not longer around?) are being brave and doing things they could not have done under old management at Capita. Is it like pulling a plaster off really quickly, they will feel the pain for a while, but there are some things that simply needed doing?

After a meaningful conversation with my SSU, who has had a conversation with ESS I understand the following: SIMS Connected is NOT their answer to true SaaS cloud MIS or Next Generation SIMS, this is to replace Hosted SIMS and make any school wanting to stay with SIMS7, but have a more reliable browser based connection a better experience. SIMS NextGen slices are starting to deliver from Q1 2022 ESS, now owned by Parent Pay Group are privately owned, not equity backed. They are choosing to invest 10's of millions over the next 3 years to deliver SIMS NextGen Just what I was told, thought I would share... especially the SIMS Connected is their answer to NextGen statement, which is wrong...

We had this a while ago, I remember there being a KB article that helped, so I looked it up: Documentation on the SIMS server (\SIMS\Documentation) appears to be out-of-date and for the wrong release. KB0023208 Link Here...