JRA

Maybe Capita could do it.

Ooohh. OOOOoooooohhhHHH! Now that'd be nice. Quite like the quote at the start too: I'm guessing the "surveillance state" don't pass around as many little brown envelopes...

We've just done census, I'm putting off the rest until staff get a chance to get some training in:

Quick PSA - notified another round of redirects (migrating functionality from SIMS to the web-based SIMS NG) in Admin Console > SIMS 7 Redirects. Slightly happier at least these are at the moment options and timeframes rather than enforced moves, and with a decent bit of notice too. So fair play to them on that front. If like us you're not ready for some/all of those might be a time to check that section out. And keep half an eye on it now and again. Looking at getting training in place for key staff and managing the feeling of lingering dread around the upheaval that's coming... but I am grateful for the softening of the approach around this and the chance we have to actually manage this transition.

I've not had much of a hand in ours (using SIMS NG for it this time) but there have been some issues on and off I've been hearing. I don't know if it's anything horrifying however our team are pretty good at contacting our support provider and working through things with them. SSO is a different story - put their Entra link in well in advance of the deadline and just getting error messages when people try and log in. Raised a ticket with our support provider, will see what they recommend but assuming they're still waiting for ParentPay as another ticket that needed them to action still hasn't happened. Still standing by what I said; encouraged by the approach of their support representative who did genuinely want to help and had a very reassuring outlook on things, but that's only one aspect of a company and product with a fair bit going wrong. Monday will mark two weeks of waiting for a reply from my account manager on a set of links we were promised, for example. Before too long will have to report back to leadership about current affairs. Set against a backdrop of "they're forcing us to change to SIMS NG and so everyone has to re-learn large aspects of their jobs because this company we're paying thousands to is making us" it's not exactly looking awesome. Still, if and as and when we begin the MIS tender process every participant will have a fair and equal crack at the business.

We had, at various points: - An "art gallery" (just a powerpoint) of student artwork set in little frames that rotated. - A few snips and school statement from our website. - Menu occasionally. - School council statements/key issues/projects. - Exciting things coming up this term. - The day before a school holiday it'd just swap out for a little animated thing with "Have a super break! Students return on Monday Xth of %month%" and I'd put a little sprig of holly on it or some snowfall and a winter scene or Santa or something. If it was summer.

Have had a very encouraging chat with someone from ParentPay technical support today, in conference with our support provider. Conversation around roadmaps and movement from SIMS > NG and, whilst there is a move to be made, there's an awareness a battle for hearts and minds needs to run concurrently with progress - which needs to look more like a helping hand than a steamroller. I have only vagueness around some things (because to be honest I was happy to have a genuine conversation with a genuine person and was not fishing for deadlines to hold him to) but it is my understanding that: - Comms will improve/increase around shifting functionality from SIMS to SIMS NG. - Their own telemetry within SIMS that reports back to them shows them what elements of SIMS are being used and how frequently, and they're factoring this in to conversations on what gets shut off. As in, if nobody's using SIMS for attendance for example and everyone's using NG then that aspect can be looked at for retiring. - Unhappiness around upheaval will be passed on up the chain, because there is actually an element of that organisation that cares about happy customers rather than enforced and clumsily-handled change. Got a glimpse of that for the first time today. Take from that what you will if it's any use at all, but thought I'd share my thoughts at least.

Cheers - would do but has to be 17". At least. Or they'll turn around and beat me with it! There's a few models I've found that fit the bill but it's the warranty issue with running our own image I'm not having much luck clarifying with anyone. Could try making some calls (and will do if it gets into next week) but if we've got any tame/nice suppliers on the forum I thought I'd pitch it here and see.

Head's laptop has this habit of eating batteries and the last one was the last straw. I've only been buying refurbs for the last century and not even sure where to go really for all the following! Hopefully someone out there has some idea where I'd find the laptop of my dreams: - Must be brand new. No refurbs at all. - Screen must be at least 17", the bigger the better. - Hopefully has the letters "HP" on it. - Must image nicely/pxe boot. - Warranty can't be tied to OS (see above) and must have some sort of warranty with the less quibble the better. - W11 compatible (hopefully they all are at this point!) - Performance has to be as decent as I can get. Minimum 16gb RAM but honestly if an upgrade option to 32gb I'd like it. - I'm going to wince over £1k. But I think we're all wincing at RAM prices anyway so I am prepared to wince. Post up here or inbox me or tell me I'm dreaming! Thanks all.

Well thank you for the clarification. And honestly the technical support teams answering the calls for this have my sympathy. I think things are about to get a bit wild. EDIT - Just an edit here to ask something. For those schools who have issues now in SIMS NG completing the census, and who have had the SIMS NG redirect forced to be permanent from Home > Admin Console > Redirects, have you released them from this?

For all its faults no we're not getting that issue here in Next Gen.

You're joking me, right? You're absolutely joking me. NO company would be THIS comprehensively useless as to pull a stunt like that. (...are you joking or is that, like, really happening???)

Unless you've done the opt-outs in the NG redirects page you'll start to see lots of things migrate to SIMS NG now. However these are only temporary measures and will be forced eventually. Our account manager at ParentPay informed me "weeks" when I asked about timelines and extensions. I understand this to be a graduated move though (as in, not all schools at once) so might be different for yours if you're opening the redirects page and see them all pending (or if you've been in there and already put them off.)

They're hobbling SIMS and forcing us.

Yeah deeply wishing we weren't in the situation of being forced into a dying company's incomplete pet-project web portal, but here we are. But who knows? Maybe NG will be the very bestest of the best online MIS-es and everything will be rosy. And if we find ourselves looking at greener grass on the other side of the proverbial fence, a scrupulously fair tender process will begin where everybody will have an equal chance to bid for the project.