nomad

Does anyone know when Phoenix Gold will no longer be supported? I have heard that census transfers will not be supported in 2009?

Phil going back to your previous post - I find I cannot agree at all with your sentiments on SIF! You complain that the SIF UK data model is not yet fully defined - but it wouldn't be - its work in progress. How can we introduce a new standard without any discussion or work? You say that the agent development costs and infrastructure costs must be financed - of course they must be - but it looks like you've been asking your plumber for an estimate. You think that primary to secondary transfer will not be dealt with by SIF, but surely SIF is ideally placed to do this kind of transfer. I would think that the process would be less fraught with difficulties using SIF than it is now. I agree with olcinm about whether the DCSF /BECTA will mandate SIF early this year - where can I place my bets that it will happen? How can there be anonymous requests for data in SIF? The parties to the SIF arrangement agree in advance to exchange data and it is not open to any Tom Dick or Harry to turn up and request data. There is nothing in principle why SIF cannot ensure auhtenticated and secure exchange of data!

benIT - You said "We recently has a goverment audit team in school for a week solid, looking at the finest detail of school operations - finance, Disaster recovery plan etc, they were very thorough (we heard same stories from other schools in the area). My question is why would such a audit not reveal the single network being a problem? " Would this audit be an OFSTED inspection or something like the Financial Managaement Standard in Schools (FMSIS) audit which would be looking at compliance with DCSF accounting standards? If it is then no surprise that they would not look at the single network problem.

When I meet people from other schools some of them think that their SIMS software is supplied free by the LA. Not my understanding at all - the LA allocates funds to our school so that we can choose which MIS software to buy and also gives us funds to maintain it. Are some schools out there not getting the whole story??