StArbiter

I totally agree with Kiran - Aim High is very good but we are looking to consolidate on SIMS and will slowly move over to Profiles in the next few months. Some departments will take a lot of persuadig though....

where did the £10K for SIMS web parts come from ? Are scholaris just offering web parts to add to the SIMS learning gateway ?

@alcinm I see you and Phil are competing for the most comprehensive posting awards ! I thought Capita went down the IMS route some four years ago in the absence of any real guidance from the Deaprtment or Becta. But it was not in isolation. They were in a working group with Granada, Microsoft and Capita that evaluated all the options including SIF and found for VLE integration that IMS was the best solution. All four then started developing to this solution and gave their feedback to Becta. Fronter also contribute deto the standard. It was only much later after this date that Becta announced SIF. All the credible demos I have seen by VLE suppliers on the Becta framework, including Netmedia and Fronter, have a IMS link. IMS is also the method used in our school for working with the SIMS learning platform. I am sure I have seen another research study that showed IMS was far superior to SIF and will try and dig it out - but it's no surprise that Becta found SIF superior. The real important point you make is regarding the cost of SIF per transaction or in fact any cost for SIF implementation. I am not sure where your USA evidence comes from but in speaking to Pearsons who have implemented SIF in the states the cost was horrendous and they feel SIF could be a disaster for UK schools. You appear to work for a small innovative supplier and would do us all a favour if you could find out all the SIF costs and post them here. We already use VLE's from multiple suppliers and keeping them all fed is just about manageable. We really need your help to understand the real cost of SIF.

If using SIMS, log into Supportnet and there are some good examples of reports you can download.

@Muhaimin - I see from your posts you are not a fan of some of our MIS suppliers - is there anyone in particular you would reccomend ?

@Klawd - we signed the NDA and didn't see any particular problem with it - I am worried now as to what you may have seen that we missed - it looked like a bog standard agreement ? Currently we are using both the SDK and IMS to routinely extract the data we need. Neither has any licence cost and support comes from the LA team. We may use the business objects to write data back but just waiting for the new SIMS web parts before going down that route.

not exactly hot news as we knew of this back in July - interesting to see how they might roll out lp+ out to schools and lAs who insist on becta framework accreditation ?

Johny - this sounds good - how does it extract SIMS data and pick up the class / reg group changes ? How much does it cost for a primary ? PS if you elect to watch the thread (or notify me) you will be emailed when there is a response !

Jo - Would be interested to know why your SMT prefer Serco. When our school went through a similar review some years ago it was nearly the opposite view point. We had used SIMS for many years and were going through a difficult move to SIMS .net that impacted on the staff more than the SMT. The staff then had an impressive demonstration from a nearby school that was going so well until the last 2 questions - getting data for some of our key school reports required some bespoke programming, the admission that the demoing school would receive a "reward" if we moved. In the end it was close and we stayed with SIMS possibly due to the excellent support from the local team. Although there are still some challenges I don't think we would change now. Not sure it helps other than to possibly closely question schools recommending other products carefully.

Morstar - Supportnet is available to all SIMS users and is extremely helpful - most peoples second port of call after EduGeek. :oops:

Mike - sounds like a real neat solution. The problem with us techies is that we will want to learn from your success - can you get one of your team to post how this data is extracted to your remote service ?

any chance you can share with us the set up problems experienced - hardware, software or infrastructure ? If software do they relate to Northgate or Fronter ?

I am sure it is Fronter.

Thanks Mark - Lily did just that but was unwilling to give her school details :?:

Hi Lily and wlecome. If you would like to post your school email address I would be more than happy to send you my thoughts of G2.

Did you ever get a copy of the database diagram or any help with interfacing with CMIS ? Do we have to use SIF or are we "allowed" direct conenction to the tables ? I am getting mixed messages.

Phil it's Puccini's Tosca and Edu Geek's Tosa...

Interestingly our local rep said they have n content that is yet compatible with a VLE - Alan what software have they offered you ?

Eejit - I for one am quite pleased to see Capita staff (and other companies such as Bromcom) posting and contributing to this forum and offering their help. More surprisingly I took up their offer of sending an email to @Jon to find I was the first from this forum. Perhaps you should try ? I don't belive these postings are either a hoax or drugs affected, both suggestions are mildly offensive. @Jon please don't be put off and keep posting.

we preferred Easytrace because the system uses Magnetic Stripe, Mifare Proximity Smart Cards or Biometric for the student identification and the suite extends to access control, registration, cashless catering, locker control, follow me print control, photocopier control, active directory synchronisation and they have new modules coming through which include a remote movement management solution. Key selling points for us were EasyTrace is British and run & controlled from Basingstoke The whole suite of solutions is written by them and totally integrated through the SQL central software called Infinity They don’t subcontract anything. Their own engineers do all the onsite work. They have an installed base of over 170 clients Hope that this helps. Tim Baker is the contact at EasyTrace on 01256 479279

According to Vericool the minimum specification is P4-1.7GHz 512 MB Ram Microsoft XP Pro or 2000 OS I have seen a P4-2.8 GHz base units, 512 MB Ram, 40 GB HDD, MS Windows XP for £170 a unit on a bulk buy.

Would love this!! me too - yes please !

Worthingwire - if GP untis are making these allegations why not take it up directly with your local capita account manager or write to phil neal direct ?

Many thanks John - have a good week end.

I didn't know that ! So who does integration with Serco CMIS ?