GREED

I assume you mean permissions within SIMS, Domain Admin is a Windows type role (do not give them domain admin rights, usually this is reserved for the absolute top dog in IT to do anything and everything!) School Administrator would probably suit?

Sorry that part was in reply to Vik, I know there are no computers in the playground.... As in the whole point of a solution is it needs to be mobile, so needs to be far removed from any static device. I situation of syncing to a static device at the end of the lesson or day is my suggested errr suggestion. Emerge may not do that though

This all seems very long winded to avoid using wireless. Interested to know the reason why. If you have the app on mac/pc doesn't that make the mobile element pointless?

The parents evening system is actually another company that they have tapped into.

The key point with Emerge is you can delay uploading all content to the server until you are back within a wifi zone, so you don't HAVE to have a contract at all. You could do it on a ipod touch? Edit: I just missed the post where it says 'no wireless'... I wonder if Emerge would download via a hardline once back in the office?

I didn't know half of that (the latter half of that list) @vikpaw how awesome

Nice one Tony Thanks for sharing

I direct you to the sponsors of this forum, and my signature (I do love our sponsorship!)... Aspen MIS is a cloud-based, fully integrated MIS and Learning Platform (if that interests you too) that contains all the features you would typically expect in an MIS, built on a future-proof platform that is incredibly flexible but robust. Aspen has a proven world-wide track record serving 1000s of schools and millions of students daily. Would be happy to speak to you more about having a look at the product or finding out more. To ensure I stay slightly balanced... there are other guys out there if not SIMS... I suggest you check out the sticky posts on this forum to find out more about them and what is going on with each right now.

+1 for matt's solution in the link.

Seems to be the common theme, I spoke to a school just today explaining their disappointment with the whole situation... fortunately they are not yet at the stage of having Progresso, but were very close to it.

I'm gonna stick up for SchoolComms a little here (mostly as one of the developers is a good mate of mine but also my experiences of this), there as so many individual scenarios that everyone is going to have with sending out messages to parents, particularly split families. The way it is done now ensures that messages get out to prime parents who are split, at the expense of sending many to those who are not. Not an ideal scenario, but we altered the priorities listings in SIMS to make better use of the system. We used priorities 1,2,3 etc etc as codes rather than true priority orders, and staff fully understood the meaning, and this gave us loads of flexibility with sending our mailings from Schoolcomms. So for example, if dad has an email, mum doesn't, set priority of mum 2 (Note, I am using this as an example before the barrage of criticism comes my way!) You may well find others have similar shortcomings. This is a limitation of the connection to SIMS, as SIMS would need to pump though a family identifier with the contacts it sends through.

It will be specific for SIMS customers.

It was a gift for local authorities IMO, to say 'well if you were still with us we would have helped' with a smug grin like your mother does. Seemed to be blaming that lack of relationship more than anything else. Wonder how much that stance will improve a failing relationship between a school and an LA

Advice from BESA posted in response: BESA statement: Leasing advice for schools - British Educational Suppliers Association

Just going back a few, I too laughed at the 'not connecting to Internet' laptop... Made me LOL good and proper... Tithe untrained eye the BBC have blamed this too on the suppliers... I am sure every technician on edugeek threw something at their TVs at that moment! Although I think i did blame the supplier back in the day!

Another example of BBC sensationalising... I'm not being funny, but would anyone have done the same deal, put up with the same pushy sales if they were buying a computer at home? Same door to door sales techniques employed for years. I'm not saying these guys shouldn't be strung up by their tiny p...... well, you know... but surely common sense would have come in at some point before signing over such huge figures?

How very considerate of you @matt40k lol We might keep ours in the cloud, but anyone anywhere can get at them tehehe

Even as a response to a direct question, each supplier simply states their own MIS? I don't know why I am even saying this... Doesn't affect me! Lol

Utilising my power as forum sponsor (again!), Aspen MIS is a big contender for the list you have started. A cloud based, all in one solution at is proven world-wide. As Vik states, it doesn't have an FMS type module built in (yet) but we do operate with the likes of Sage for this purpose. There is another thread running here regarding our Aspen conference this Friday where we are putting on a special demonstration session for those who want to see e product and know a little bit more about it. If you are interested in attending, it is being held in Birmingham at 1pm, PM me if interested (or of course if you want a one to one later on!) @vikpaw pearson in the UK is E1 still isn't it? @JohnCondon it would be nice to think that, that was certainly the intention... The truth is not quite so clear cut. What it is however is a concise list of the big players in our market

Great concise response Vik. Talk to everyone and see who ticks the most boxes. It not just about what everyone is using is the best anymore, but what fits your own individual needs, and if cloud is one of your priorities, then that narrows the field a little. @JohnCondon I think it is acceptable to respond saying you are a supplier of MIS if the direct question as been asked.

Recently Follett announced the Aspen Forum UK conference to all customers and associates. We have had such a huge interest both in the conference and the product that we have decided to open part of the conference up to prospective schools interested in knowing more about Aspen MIS, giving the opportunity to network with current and new schools using Aspen MIS, find out the migration story and successes, and talk to the foremost experts inside and outside of Follett about the next big MIS to enter the market. This is an afternoon session (a break off from the main day) being held in Birmingham on Friday 28th September. We literally now have a few spaces only (so first come first serve!) for schools who may want to have a demonstration of Aspen MIS and talk to experts and existing users. This is the first UK Aspen conference and so 'was' limited to just customers and a select few industry experts, but with the huge interest (and issues with competitors naming no names!) we have extended to a group demo session. Any and all interest must go through me, please PM me or send me an email (on my profile) to get details of when and where. Regards Graham

As far as I remember, the software is so easy it doesn't require much training! I know there is the additional multi-user licence cost.

I was a long time user of their room booking system software in a previous role, it was really good and easy to use.

Is it useable? At the very least can you access the data, is it correct?

It's on the list of things to finish tweaking Ian, although we are using Groupcall Xporter now for customers to extract data and interact with 3rd party applications (of which many do these days!)