bigdannyb79

I think the key point for me here is, no disrespect, but if you're asking why you should be using it you aint the right person to be looking at it ! I'd say most data leads in a school could see the value in real time info. The battle with all data systems is ensuring you get value from the data you collect and that normally requires an analysis to be produced to then inform future actions. This takes time so where you can have dash boards showing for example attendance hotspots or behavior being able to view them in real time allows that intervention to be more immediate and potentially effective. And with power BI and similar you can present it in a pretty visual format that can be processed and understood by the masses and then also sliced and diced when needed. It allows the analysis piece to become a interactive beast that can support multiple audiences with very little maintenance to update the data. Its by no means a quick pass to success but if you have the people, with the right skills, and the understanding to recognise where it can be applied to enhance your context then it is a big step forward to those of us working with data etc. From struggling with Progresso in its infancy to now working with SIMS I'd take the former any day of the week as it gave you the power to use your data as you saw fit. So its great to see Bromcom and others recognising the power of your MIS is primarily what you can get out of the system not with how familiar your workforce is with putting information in . . . Its definitively the way we need to go but in these relatively early stages in schools the issue is having the staff with the expertise to produce the outputs that don't necessarily already exist as you might require them. I dont like to see NM's dipping into writing reports as its 'complex' - you have an important job to do and I think leading the data systems and functions in a school is another one entirely. But glad 'most' of the MIS market is recognising fully featured access to your data is fundamental to what an MIS should provide.

I find it amazing a single school has a data breach and it makes BBC news and yet a large company introduce an error potentially causing 80% of schools in England to violate their data protection obligations and do little in the way of communicating the severity of the issue and yet they plod on seemingly unaffected and unchallenged. It was introduced in Dec, known about weeks ago, and yet the comms from Capita has amounted to a side note on a sales pitch for Options ? This should have been a phone call to every school to verify they understood the issue and pointed to a fix and steps to remedy issues explained. One of my schools had this issue and the patch was applied to stop it reoccurring but nothing was said about remedying the corruption, we were simply told to reenter the missing addresses. To knowingly leave customers in this situation is absolutely shocking. I wont be waiting to see the 'new' SIMS - I've seen enough of Capita for a lifetime.

Don't know why people are getting all hot and bothered about this. Its capita SIMS - please apply the patch and forget about the problems its caused, all is well, please continue to use your market leading product. And remember to renew indefinitely because this is the only option for you as a school. . . The error and timescales for communication and resolution are laughable but the general attitude to the severity and scale of the issue sums what they think of their customers for me. We've spoken to support about this and was discussed as if its a local issue and patch was applied but no correction has taken place so we have a live and current data protection issue and 'enhanced' capita support told us the patch fixed it. poor just doesn't cover it.

I know progresso is bad but if your using it well you'll feel a crushing bump going back to SIMS. And thats a bump in your wallet and in your ability to gain insight from data you collect in your MIS.

as I said speak to smart - I have unlimited licenses across a 5 site MAT for way less than that . . . SLS is constantly developing along with an new online platform so to continue to get the latest and greatest its reasonable to pay for it. So many schools are not budging off 11.4 or whatever the last perpetual version was and its false economy as your not getting any of the benefit from the development over the last 5+ years.

I'd speak to SMART - it wont cost you that much and they recognize the previous licensing model was counter intuitive so I'd have a word.

Systems can be developed though ?! Albeit in this case your correct its been very limited but not to worry its not like they charge a premium for a stagnant product . . .

wow the argument for charging for useful functionality is healthy competition ?!. Were talking about a simple csv import of student data and at least 3 other MIS systems I've used have this built in without worrying about anti competition. Poor excuse. Its an MIS product - making it easy to get information in from a variety of sources is key to the core functionality.

Though shalt not get your data our of your MIS . . .

Of course mats are accountable that’s kind of a given as they run the schools. My point was more when looking at MIS choice think children and young people not ofsted and accountability. Look at how information can support school improvement and aid student progress and then look at a product that facilitates doing that accross multiple establishments.

Yeah MATs are there here to put policies in place to answer ofsted's questions ?! Errr no. Accountability isnt the real issue at all. Its about young peoples life chances and as a group realising benefits from collaboration and economies of scale. We don't necessarily need to compare schools we just need to identify needs and priorities quickly and easy in each and every school. Commonality is not a requirement but crucial in my eyes but as it aids efficiency and visibility at many levels - its been shown on many occasions OFSTED dont care about consistent systems if the progress and outcomes are strong across the MAT. And back to my first point we care about kids not OFSTED anyway. The biggest thing for MATs from my experience with an MIS is flexibility and scaleability of reporting and Bromcom, ISAMS, Progresso are getting that where as SIMS attempt with school view is frankly laughable. flexibility is key for MATs as they are all different so you need a reporting engine powerful enough to give you whatever you want and quickly apply that accross many sites. The ideal is a reporting tool that can access data across schools so once the data is in its immediately available for aggregation and again certain providers are leading the way in that. There's often worry about familiarity of staff etc but the reason why many MATs are changing to certain suppliers is that is easily remedied with training and support where as struggling to access data across your schools is not so easily remedied . . .

Good to hear ! Too many NM's in schools spend far too much time supporting one single application and I find it frustrating when resilience then becomes the primary discussion point when people talk of MIS choice. If I added the hours NM's spend in large schools trying to get updates out and troublehooting some legacy MIS systems it would be much more of a worry to me than the resilience of my internet feed. The market has stagnated for too long due to a monopoly - lets move on and see how much more effective NM's can be when the extent of supporting an MIS is adding a URL for users to access ! Everyone's a winner.

Agree with MAtt40k. the world relies on the internet now and so not a blocker in any way to a cloud MIS, its just something that needs to be taken care of. Without wanting to offend anyone on here when considering MIS choice an ICT Manager's voice shouldn't be one of the key ones in this discussion unless they play a role in the use of the MIS. They have a valuable contribution in ensuring any technical considerations but the function and impact of the MIS should be considered first then consider its possible implementation and support. You're MIS ultimately provides intelligence to support decision making in your schools and so you need to be considering those decisions and working out how and where the info you can capture in an MIS can support making timely, better informed decisions. With a MAT the key benefits are collaboration and economies of scale. You want your MIS to support those benefits and help you work quickly and effectively across schools and be clear on strengths and weaknesses at school level and collate those to give a consolidated picture. So if you look at what you do now and how that may evolve as a MAT and then look at how the various providers can support those initiatives and systems in a multi school environment. I'd suggest when you start considering it from a MAT perspective and beyond a single school view cloud becomes favorable, not just due to cloud but also how the providers in that space have developed their products. ISAMS and Bromcom have impressed me previously and my only worry with ISAMS, when I last looked in detail, was its relatively new presence in state schools but their development team seem responsive and proficient so I would have expected them to have smoothed off any bumps in transitioning from a primarily independent school base by now. So again sorry if I offended anyone but I wouldn't be considering your fire proofing or internet redundancy in your initial shortlisting but focus on the systems, staffing and initiatives you see running across the MAT and ask how they could be supported by an MIS and ensure you have something that is effective, value for money, sustainable and scaleable. So to simply answer the original question no there is no technical reasons to think this is a bad choice. Get the right product and then explore how it needs to be implemented to ensure its resilient and reliable.

Good old CMIS - all else fails a bit of 'Execute SQL' could get me anything I ever needed ! How progresso got so many things wrong when they had the basis of many good things in CMIS is beyond me. I know they were shafted by the agreement they had with Patni for a while but I concur with above that their 'we know better than you' attitude is the reason why their product still falls so woefully short in some areas years later. Frustrating thing is the influx of customers form AET then got them a hot line to development and ridiculous things like the 'Big Bell' got thrown in overnight when long standing issues sighted by the majority of customers sat on the roadmap for eternity. Rarely heard anything from AET schools - ominous ?

@Davida1992 did you get anywhere with this. Having a look at android devices and durability in a school environment is something not often covered in online reviews !