Rebelgirl

Bromcom has both a Parent Portal (MCAS - which we use) and a Student Portal (which we don't use at the moment). MCAS can do Attendance/Behaviour/Assessment/Timetables/Reports etc. Our parents prefer MCAS to SLG for it's ease of use. I'm sure the Student Portal does Homework/Quizzes etc. - give them a ring, I'm sure they can demonstrate it.

We have the same problem with no solution yet. Damn upgrades!!!

On our own server. Our Primaries are on the cloud

We made the decision to move from Sims to Bromcom this time two years ago. We spent the summer holidays moving accross and were ready to start with the new system in the September (including downloading our Exam results to the new MIS). We didn't run any training for Teachers WebFolder - it is so intuative; if you can't use it you shouldn't be a teacher!!! The MIS side was a little more complicated to get to grips with - I'd been using SIMS for 15+ years. Two years on we are still glad we moved. I'm not saying it's all been plain sailing - we've had our moments. What's good about it is I know my Helpdesk engineer by name - if I have a problem we can talk it through. He can log into my system instantly to sort out problems - none of this "put the DB on a CD and send it to Bedford". The upgrades are done by them while I sleep too (that's what got my vote) and as it is web based none of this running round to PC's making sure they have upgraded. Our parents prefer MCAS (MyChildAtSchool) too - always a benefit. Several of our feeder Primaries have moved accross this year too and so far all seems well.

I don't have any experience with the Bromcom Parent site so can't really comment but I doubt its any worse than SLG. Can I "big-up" Bromcom's "My Child At School". Our parents love it, they much prefer it to SLG!!!

Nope. Evidently Edugeek don't take one word answers so I'll elaborate - no we don't!!!

We use SAP - it has no connection to the MIS.

We are an academy and are using Bromcom - works for us. We use a finance package that is completely separate though from a different supplier.

We use most of the modules in the Bromcom MIS. Nothing is perfect but what we like is that when you ring them or post on Supportnet, you know who you are dealing with. If there is a problem they dial in straight away and look at it with you. None of this sending a file to Head Office and waiting three weeks for an answer. If you make a Change Request, the engineers/developers talk it through with you and if it's rejected then they explain why. If it's accepted they get it into the build when they can. No waiting 18 months and finding not enough people have voted for it and they have decided against it. It's all web based and they do the upgrades. I can log in from work, home or a beach in Bermuda (not that I would want to) and see exactly the same screen - no software to instal. At the moment the MIS bit doesn't work in Firefox. I believe you can use some of the bits on an iPad but don't quote me. Our parents prefer their Parent Portal and teachers like their day to day front end. They like it that they can see instantly if they have missed a register. They are smaller than some of the big players but that means we know most of the staff by name (and they know us!), they visit when we need them or if we want to discuss future developments. Room for improvement? Yes, but at least they are listening.

So, for those less "in touch" - The LA buys the Sims licences for schools in its area. School A becomes Academy A. As Academy A they have to buy their own licence. The LA now has a licence that isn't being used. Do they a) throw it in the bin cause it was bought for School A that doesn't exist anymore b) sell it back to Capita c) re-use it when new School Z comes to them to for support. If a) why can't they sell it on to Academy A. Sorry if that seems like a simplistic senario. Answers on a postcard.