matt40k

SalamanderSoft would be the ideal solution, that'll basically sync the two systems. Poor man's approach would be add the students email addresses into SIMS .net then create class lists with student email addresses then somehow turn that into something that can be imported into your email system to create distribution lists. You can use my tool to get the students email address into SIMS if they're not already - SIMS Bulk Import - Home - I'm sure someone can help you with the other bits if you say what email system your using.

Where you getting the data from out of interest - could always do with more public data sources

What is it they say about counting chickens haha!!! I'm sure your track record will continue and no one will leave, only your numbers will increase by then. I think it's good that you haven't published anything - I suspect it might get you into a sticky situation if you did.

Figures won't be available till Dec. Guess it'll be a nice xmas present for you guys - so what you getting us lot?

Haha, haven't got the time, that's my current problem!!! I just need to sit down for a evening and finish it. I don't think I'll do any analysis, just data model it and publish it as a public data set. I'll let you lot draw the conclusions from the data. I'm sure we'll see a lot of spin on the data too!

Blame those pesky MS Power BI demos for inspiring me!!

I don't think it would be simple, the rpi that is. First, lets assume the company(ies) has been approved by DfE, LA, loads of security folks and everyone is happy, even I'm happy. OK, so they ship the rpi to you, now you need to plug it in, give it a static ip, configure the ip, errr... how? Oh you need a keyboard and a mouse, so you're assuming you have a spare keyboard and mouse (ok secondary school defo, primary, maybe not), then you need a hdmi monitor or at least a dvi and adapter, things start to come unstuck now. Then for a secondary school, its defo not going to be able to crunch that data so it's going to use the cloud, fair enough, but now we need configure the proxy (then we run into proxy issues). Not even before we look at the extra dev time to actually build it on linux - not impossible but defo harder. My point is, it's a sales gimmick, the practical solution is to give you a bit of software to install. Personally, from a LA perspective, I'd like that software to exist and do it's job REALLY well. I mean can you image when it comes to MIS revaluation, bosh the software on, pool a list of MIS systems, get the schools to filter the list down, do the checks like security, then point the software at the one they want to evaluate. If it was really good, and I mean really good, you could keep the two sync'd, so you could have some classes using one system and others using another. So yes, really would like something like that to exist - demo with actual data would be awesome, but it doesn't, you get stuck doing eval on demo data which of course is going to work then you spend mega bucks getting your data migrated only for bits to get dropped of. Be interested to see how many people migrate to a system, then back a few years later because of such decides and the cost of doing so.

Quick!!! Get on the phone to the EduSolicitor to get that trademarked before they use it!! I would say why, why, why would you use a rpi, but clearly it's working as a marketing gimmick (at least on @vikpaw) and who am I to deny a company dishing out free rpi

I believe @GREED has requested previous years data, I'm submitting a FOI for latest numbers at the end of the month. I've also asked if they can make it a data set so you can just get at it rather then someone having to request it. I've been working on combining with other data sources - such as ICT expenditure, geo location (so you can overlay it onto the map), performance data and social data. Idea is you'll be able to connect Excel\PowerBI to the data and do your own analysis, such as finding out what other schools of your "type" are selecting and rather than schools in your local area. Yes, defo be interesting, have spoke to @GREED about it a lot, I mean it's ok saying you can migrate from x to y system, but when you've got a tool that you install with a few clicks then leave running for few hours later, you've loaded another MIS and it's ready to go. That will be the day we'll see a lot more changes in the MIS market.

Seriously? Could be something else, FMS is well known for having weird errors, but collation errors can be nasty. Worth a call to your LA\Capita. FMS isn't one of those systems that you can get away with date issues. Make sure you update the post once you've got it resolved.

Guessing you've got a new server. Contact your LA\Capita. MS-SQL Server been installed wrong.

Hahaha, @Schoolcomms climbed mount 40k pretty easily. I think sharing core beliefs help. Capita keeps climbing it only to fail flat on their face moments later. I should do a some like the food hygiene ratings so at least companies would have something to show for the pain I inflict

Thanks @vikpaw. @GREED - HAHA!! You'll be one of very few who could I could honestly say has earnt it and has yet to lose the right.

Mate just emailed me @GREED, recommended I started selling "I survived Matt40k" t-shirts lol! @vikpaw or someone could you move this topic to "Cloud Services" so it's clear this isn't about "MIS systems" and isn't a sales pitch.

I know it's odd isn't it @pwainewright, that in a sector where anyone can submit a FOI and get the actual price paid, suppliers become very crypt when talking about prices. I know even looking at about hundreds of schools MIS costs, I can't figure out how the supplier came to that price. For me, a really good example of how "cloud" could save money is this this article - CatN | Migrating the Department for Transport website to WordPress - ok it's bias, they've picked the worse offender for starters, but if the DfT phoned them up, they could actually get that solution for that that price. Clear, open pricing should be the way forward. How dirty do you feel @GREED?

Just thinking about this, would this be better in the "Cloud services" area rather then "MIS Systems" just so it is clear this isn't about MIS systems directly but different types of "Cloud". Just thinking a clean "break" might help future discussion so we don't end up keep going back to same discussion of comparing apples and pears. Perhaps if everyone agrees a nice, lovely mod would move this topic? Unfortunately in the realms of MIS systems I fear this isn't a good place to discuss - the fact of the matter is final bill cost is the bottom line. Prime example, Norfolk primary requirement was a cloud MIS system, they picked SIMS. Much as it disgust me that such a thing happened, SIMS is clearly not designed for the cloud, I have to admire Capita for pulling it off.

Surely it wouldn't be professional for @PhilNeal to publicly post regarding this? I mean I'm not sure how he can provide objective feedback when your asking him to sign a NDA? When myself and Graham didn't? Bizarre. Also, I know keep banging on about it like a broken record, but could you please post publicly about your security auditing you have in place specially regarding your cloud application, this is now the 3rd time I've publicly asked. Maybe it's just me being young but surely a cloud application that shares resources between users, I personally, would kinda think it would be important to be externally audited by a professional security firm to confirm it is actually secure and doesn't have lot of security holes that could let some anonymous hacker access the sensitive data. Just saying, if we're talking about SaaS vs SoSaaS vs Locally hosted - security should be high on the list, like no1. Anyway just my 2p, and what do I know anyway.

I agree my initial post ripping into the costs was a bit hastily, however I still question the figures. I just don't want people thinking that they save tons then when you drill down to it, the cost savings isn't that much. The only person who wins then is the consultant you got in and you know my feels about THOSE consultants that we don't speak of! If you quote figures, then it needs to be hard facts that are iron clad. Thus my comment about actually making the final cost public as that is the bottom line and that's all that matters. I think I might get a lottery ticket now

No comment I've asked for unbiased test. I think @GREED will agree this isn't the case. I apologies, I stand correct. I was eager to get try out my new graphic card so I was skim reading. However I still thing this is an over estimate. First post yes, then Phil sent us waaay off topic and it's barely stayed neutral, pwainewright post was probably the only neutral posts we've had!! You've basically turned it into a marketing post! You've not since posted anything factual since the first post other then sales nonsense, I am quite frankly surprised the mods have deleted\locked this thread!! If you really want to public hard facts that WILL get Bromcom into more school. Don't bother with this rubbish figures and "tests". Get Bromcom on the G-Cloud CloudStore then when LAs\Schools get the large Capita bill, they can, for themselves, look at what other schools are actually paying. PS: Free tip, you've completely missed my point about your security - I've publicly stated your shared resources COULD be insecure and leaking data. If I did this with SIMS, I'd have @PhilNeal banging on about pen testing for the next 4 posts and a phone call asking if I have found any. Anyway I've wasted enough time of my personal arguing with you about "SaaS and SoSaaS", especially when we all agreed SaaS is better then SoSaaS :S All the best

I wouldn't bother @PhilNeal. If it was worth while, they'd publish it publicly. First, thanks @Bromcom-PR for the kindly sharing the document with me and offering access to Bromcom to replicate the tests. I think we got a bit muddled up about the objective of this topic, as I understand it we all agree - A web based MIS system written from the ground up to be cloud optimized, like Bromcom, is better at running as a hosted service rather then a traditional client\server application, like SIMS .net. I would be pretty sure we'll all 100% on this, even @PhilNeal is with us on this point. So great, why are we using SIMS again? Now we go down hill it what I like to refer to as a Bromcom special - simply put, over selling. So let's start with - http://www.bromcom.com/press/pdf/130112_Press.pdf - MY issue, is your statements like: The crux of how you got this number is you ran SIMS on RDS, done a few things the look at resource manager and noted the memory used. My issue is if say I was Cambridgeshire LA and I put in a request to change SIMS for Bromcom, I can't use this as a bases of cost saves. It's laughable. You're comparing apples to oranges. There is no talk about what the requires are on the end-client are because I've yet to find a web browser that doesn't eat RAM. There is no talk about Disc IO, I mean I could allocate SIMS 20MB, I'm sure I could get it working in that and most importantly no actual response times of how long stuff takes to actually perform, I mean it could take 10 mins to save a single attendance far as I know! OK, let's put that to the side for now and move on, lets say it's all correct. Massive savings, any Bromcom quote should look like Capita quote only with the decimal point in a place that makes bursars everywhere happy. So lets go back to the PDF above: "Legacy desktop – locally hosted £1,500 per primary" Sorry, that's £300,000 for a 300 pupil primary?! Seriously? Just on admin side? Really? So let's say that's 15 classrooms of 20 students, say another 3 office staff, bursar, head teachers, so 20 machines, SIMS is, say £1k, let's throw on a few addons, so that's say another £3k. Say another £10k for a server - so that's £34k, oh let's slap some Capita consultant on top, what's that these days? £1k a day? Hell lets have 14 days - so that £48k, still another £252k to spend! Hey how much is SLG these days? At this point I'm starting to question Bromcom alot more. Now they offered me access to Bromcom, by access they mean over Go-To-Meeting type thing or by visiting and using a laptop. So I can't actually compare like for like or do any actual real testing - ie point a monitoring system at it then run over a long period of time on identical hardware. It's all right playing the Cloud card, but us tax payers end up paying for the resources when you boil down to it. I'm basically not bothering to test it unless I can get both systems on my own hardware. It's not worth my time running a bias test scenario and it certainly isn't worth public money. It then makes me wonder why they wouldn't want to reveal the application? I mean I'm happy to sign a NDA. Which then makes thing, has it been PEN tested? Amazing how a bit of over selling with some over optimistic "facts" has turned me from a lover to a hater lol. (PEN testing is penetration testing, there are different types, the type I am referring to is application penetration testing. Whilst other testing and standards refer to how you patch, handle data, secure your firewall and blah blah blah, application pen testing is where a security expert inspects the application and basically tries to hack in. They don't care if what they find causes your project to over run or break. The idea is your security is only good as your weakest point. A really good case of this not occurring is Tesco's - Troy Hunt: The Tesco hack – here’s how it (probably) happened)

Ah cool beans, good luck. Forms is one of those things that should be really simple yet whenever it comes up, at least people I know anyway, normally make that sound a car mechanical makes when you ask for a price for a big repair job. Normally we end up using survey monkey lol!

I'd say you can't do it. Pretty sure you can do this in the MIS then assign different weighting. I often hear about people pushing IT for a solution when the problem is people not actually following existing processes in place. People like passing the blame. I know a few cases of reports having to have extremely complex logic to report all the required data simply because the ruddy form wasn't completely correctly. Sometimes saying no is the best solution then creating another system for them not to fill in.

Yup. Gutted about that. Don't get me wrong, far from perfect, but it's defo something new. One can only hope.

@Bromcom-PR - I look forward to your nice public report... hint hint. @PhillipHamlyn - Think bigger.

@PhillipHamlyn the biggest benefit of cloud is the "big data" idea. Yet no-one has yet mastered it in the MIS market.