Dr_Zeux

Just had an update - apparently a fix will be applied around 10th May....

Totally agree with you! This is something I reported to my CSM back in Sept/Oct 2022 - I can't believe you can't simply print a 2-week timetable for a student from the student record, so it comes out on 1-page! You would have thought this is the most simple/basic process for a MIS.... You have to go to 'Run reports' and go through the painstaking method of picking future weeks (otherwise you'll miss off any updated timetable changes, and/or Inset days/bank holidays, etc) and previewing, which is currently taking ages to load... Again, there is a 'development' request for this (https://ideas.bromcomcloud.com/ideas/BRCM-I-2326), that's been ongoing for at least 2 years, it has over 100 votes and is weirdly under the category 'Future consideration'. There are other similar ideas linked to this, so it should be merged and in fact the overall total is more like 200+ votes. Give us huge faith around development ideas! https://ideas.bromcomcloud.com/ideas/BRCM-I-2524 - has 99 votes and is almost the same idea as the idea above. And idea: BRCM-I-2989 which had 5 votes and was rejected, and idea BRCM-I-1682 which had 9 votes back in Sept 2021 (also rejected), and BRCM-I-3073, had 21 votes. They should all be merged/linked as its the same idea! But, strangely, the last 3 ideas can no longer be found....??? Is that because Bromcom rejected them, and deleted the ideas, and effectively we've lost the votes?

Hi Steve. No, there's been no updates from Bromcom on my helpdesk ticket for slow performance to reports - but that's normal. I've got a case about 7 months old, and still ongoing! Helpdesk tell me, after they finally resolved another case that was 6 months old, and I quote, "I can only apologize again for the delay on this case. Unfortunately we accumulated a very large backlog since the September period until now and we did not manage to get back on all of them in time." They apologised, then suggested that if I wanted to provide feedback, feel free to do so via [email protected]. I replied and said there's no point, Customer care do not respond to emails, or perhaps it's just me as i've made 3 complaints this year about their poor service. Darren @Bromcom is fully aware of this as well - i've forwarded him the complaint emails. Cover - yes, we've struggled with this since day 1, good luck with that! A few schools have been complaining about this one on the Bromcom 'ideas portal'. It's an idea that's been suggested almost 3 years ago. Apparently, the idea is 'planned' (from April 2023), but we have no way of knowing when this will actually be released into the product, as it's been a year since this was last updated by Bromcom. I voted for it back in Sept 2022, as soon I as realised the product wasn't able to simply print off cover class lists for all supply staff at once - being in the same boat as you, and used to the system of being able to print them off previously in Sims. Here's the idea: https://ideas.bromcomcloud.com/ideas/BRCM-I-499

I haven't been using Bromcom much this morning, but having just tested a few reports, yes, they are very slow! I'm also getting error messages after waiting for a minute, saying it's 'loading'... I'm just trying to run simple timetable reports. When I logged this previously with Bromcom, at the end of March (CAS-333869-N1T7V7), i think a software fix was required and this hasn't yet been applied so i think most customers are probably still affected!

We've moved away from Sims, but we're still using FMS. When we were using Sims, it used to be £2809, the following year it was £3075 (no longer using Sims) and this year it's £3281 - so I would say it's going up every year, almost in line with inflation and other indexes...

To all schools using Bromcom, I'd like to get some quick feedback on their services to get a general idea on how they're performing. Just a quick 1-10 on the following categories (1 being the worst and very dissatisfied and 10 being the best and they're performing really well). 1. Customercare 2. Helpdesk (resolution to tickets in a timely fashion) 3. General communication to inform you of any issues, slow performance or downtime with their system (incl. status update page) 4. Rollout of updates 5. Development ideas Please respond and leave a number next to each, or N/A if it doesn't apply to you. Many thanks for your participation!

Hi Darren Already done this yesterday! Same issues today... How's my complaints coming along Darren??? No one from Bromcom has responded to any of my communication, including you, when I emailed you directly as you requested... If Customercare don't respond, and you don't have a CSM, who are you supposed to liaise with - please let me know?

Ok, good to know other schools are also experiencing this as well - so the reports are having performance issues!

We've been experiencing extremely slow reports in the last week or so - many reports take ages to run, Exams timetables don't even finish running, they simply time out! Any other schools with the same problem?

Hi Darren. Your message is very timely indeed - and thank you for reaching out! It's been a week since my email complaint to Customer care, and I've heard nothing in response. Please do chase up! This is certainly one area where I feel Bromcom is NOT performing at all well. Though, I'm happy to be proved wrong, as I'm hearing you are investing in staff and boosting your teams. However, i've had a number of complaints ongoing since September 2023 to date, and they have not been satisfactorily dealt with and resolved. I, along with our 3 x other consortium schools no longer have a CSM - this person left at the end of October and since which, we have not been assigned a new CSM??? Which makes dealing with issues quite difficult. Customer care, have not responded to my last 2 emails! I also have a number of open cases - 1 of which is 4 months old!!! And I can't seem to get someone on helpdesk (who shall rename nameless for the moment) to assist with this helpdesk ticket - and without a CSM, who am I supposed to escalate this to??? Especially when Customer care (not sure I feel this name is representative) don't respond.... Hoping you're able to assist more successfully than I have been able to... Kind regards

I'm with you on this! Only time will tell...

Same - that's what the Sales guy told us when it was demo'd to us!

Yes, this is definitely one of the things that frustrates me - I try to be positive about the system, and time after time, the bugs/crashes and outages begin to drain you! Not only that, we don't even have a CSM anymore - he left 3 months ago, we weren't even informed he left (found out through a bounce back email), and still haven't been informed of their replacement!

I think the same, before a QR release, and there are further bugs/glitches with the software after 'another' release...

I suspect loads - storage capacity to 10GB builds up very quickly when you start uploading Assessment reports, and not much else...

Feel free to feed that back to Customer care, they're already dealing with a number of my complaints...

Oh, is that per year, per GB? They are partnered with Microsoft... Here's their pricing for extra storage: The default storage limit for a secondary or all through school is 10GB. Additional storage can be purchased by emailing [email protected]. The prices for the academic year are below: Additional DMS pricing: DMS Storage prices

Yes, as soon as you go above 10GB for storage, Bromcom will charge you - assessment reports take up a lot of space!

You have made the right decision, as they've taken on so many new schools and now signed a deal to take on NI Education Authority (another 1,100 schools), they really behind with scaling up their staffing (which includes development), so we're constantly faced with software glitches/bugs/outages... And I don't even have a CSM I can feed back to, or escalate anything!

Totally agree!

The problems we've had, lack of support, and constant bugs/glitches in Bromcom - i'd gladly go back to Sims!

You definitely have had a different experience to us, and I wonder if you're working with the every day issues in Bromcom?? The app was a nightmare up until recently, when the onboarding process changed... All parental invitations were so cumbersome and schools have had to support this process. Timetabling has not been fun at all. Are you supporting users and DMs, or acting as a DM through your LA?

Thank you Darren - if I don't hear back from Customer care very soon (re: my official complaint email), I will indeed get back to you to see if you can help. One of our biggest issues currently is that we don't have a CSM, he left around 3 months ago, we have not even had the courtesy of being informed by Bromcom - for our 4 schools (Consortium). I had guessed he left when the emails to him simply bounced back and it said the 'user no longer exists'. Moreover, who is the replacement - again, would be nice to be informed who this person is, and not have to chase this up 3 months after the last CSM left! Who am I supposed to liaise with at Bromcom, if we don't have a CSM?

We don't even have a CSM, so you're lucky!

I wish I had the luxury of being involved in the consultation process as you did! You are 100% correct, and the migration and training has been mammoth, and still ongoing a year and a half later! I have quite a few bugbears about Bromcom, but probably best to keep my opinions to myself. You have made the right decision!