DODICT

SIMS migration efforts aren't as good as Arbor or Bromcom either as their development in that area is as rapid as their general development - And they seem to have a head in sand attitude to recognising their customers are leaving in droves ! So going via SIMS would be more work I would think and you would end up with probably less options to get data in. I cant imagine SIMs sales have much incoming so probably redecorating the lounge rather than sat by the phone ! Didnt see anything of edgen at BETT so cant see youre alone in finding it lacking . . .

I imagine it will be some more graft than normal - they are such a small player so don't think any of the main players have a full migration for edgen. But worth checking as aware due to SIMS actions they are looking at wonde as a route to get some data migrated but also do have spreadsheets to augment that or indeed do a full manual migration. I really wouldn't go SIMS - next gen is a horrible mess and imagine you would be stumping for 3 years too. Both below par products but you probably get better value for money and performance from edgen !!

I had some interesting conversations with Veracross who are looking to build a UK presence and looks a decent fully featured product - they have a decent footprint in US and Aus - I have looked and heard a lot about ISAMs and seems far from ideal so might be well worth a look. From what users tell me about ISAMs I wouldnt be looking to adopt it but appreciate there hasnt been a lot of choice.

September launch is definitely overrated IMHO - anything you communicate pre summer is forgotten so I'd prefer an Easter go live and get them onboard in that period before the summer with less other competing priorities.

Not sure I see the value in MIS suppliers trying to be active in Edugeek now - now they have their own communities etc I'd just consolidate. Arbor sponsored this forum once but stepped away and sure there are plenty of issues and complaints but they sent directly to Arbor. And definitely know there are lots of idea requests that get submitted but simply aren't public like Bromcom's are - I think the expectation that 'I want it so it should be developed' is a bit naive. Just look at any software companies ideas page and you will have very popular requests sat untouched at the top of the list for years. There are so many considerations for a roadmap and wide ranging priorities to consider but obviously communication of what is being developed and why is a key piece to make users aware why x and y aren't being done. Ask any Arbor user about assessment setup or permissions and they will have a whole list of improvements to offer but its a big piece of work to re-do those elements and minimise impact to current use.

https://support.arbor-education.com/hc/en-us/articles/203792002-Creating-Initial-Account-Balances Does also suggest as I said that with an integration with cashless its expected to sync.

If you use cashless system they will sync but if not you just have to do a bulk entry process - its a bit mind numbing but not the end of the world, there is a dedicated screen to enter this and could prob use the new tables feature to copy and paste the values into the window.

if this is for on prem its going to have pretty limited appeal though right as ESS pushing everyone down the connected route ? I do think time could be better spent adopting better solutions that trying to augment SIMS in house but don't want to derail the thread !

But the direction of travel is clear to see and if you went to SAAS and saw what was to show for SIMS Next Gen you must be mad or heavily resistant to change to want to continue to use that product. Its playing catch up in a horrible hybrid way with its "Cloud Slices" but at a pace that means its actually losing ground on its rivals.

Strange - I tally their figures for Arbor and Bromcom but SIMS seems out ?

BringmoreData - who I trust and its well documented by many that while sims have signed some schools (god knows why) but have had a continual net loss for some time - that scomis analysis has them gaining schools last autumn too which didnt happen or if it did SIMS themselves weren't aware !!

Don't think that data is right SIMS did not gain schools in Autumn from what I can see - only 9586 SIMS records in the latest FOI request ?

Snowflake is not a great a solution for google / looker as no native connector that's fit for purpose but works well with Power BI. Arbors connector is simply comprehensive access to all your MIS data (well most of it) easily in Power BI - its via snowflake but you don't need to do anything to have access to your data. But you know you have connectivity via a robust scalable data source. You can then go for full custom data warehouse and you then have your own snowflake instance but again with MIS data already avaiable within that. You can then bring in data as you see fit - you can drag and drop files in it web UI in its simplest form which is useful for things that don't have an api. Because it a data warehouse it is efficient to run and wouldn't cost much for one off imports etc - Arbor has some fair use allowance built in but its great value for money and you simply couldn't do it yourself for less. As Sefton says connecting to the connector is really easy as a native connector in Power BI and then just some credentials etc - but obviously building your dashboards can be a hours work or a life time depending on the need and requirements ! I would recommend downloading Arbors Template PBIT file as while the dashboards aren't that helpful they have setup many of the relationships and created some key measures for CORE data so you can be creating visuals in minutes rather than having to work on your data model etc. Its certainly a great starting point if you are relatively new to the Power BI game . . .

Arbor is making money as has been for a while and you have to remember along with bromcom this is through a period of growth and lots of new customers coming on board. Many company’s lose money in those easily days of customers as you have to front load effort and resources to get them onboard. also have to consider the deals they have had to do to offset costs of overlapping contracts to combat sims 3 year deals etc. when the market settles down I think you’ll find both arbor and bromcom are doing well with prices as they are. What you will find is some of the heavily discounted tender responses getting adjusted closer to list pricing when contracts come round for renewal.

They are well worth a look and they have over 100 signed schools now so got over the tricky period of growth. They have some great features from what I’ve seen - the only elements I haven’t explored are the mat management and reporting. They were certainly in the top 3 of MIS I looked at the school and academies show today !!