chris-bromcom

Hi, I have been reading your threads and it’s interesting to point out that with some products you can buy into just parental reporting or just teacher access from home? whereas ask yourself if your school is just interested in providing teacher access then why would you want to have to purchase other features bundled in if you not going to use them? There are many alternatives out there from many suppliers, some of which are already pointed out on here, of course many of which are cheaper than SLG! Worth pointing out as one person has already spoken about it is that Bromcom MCAS and Teachers Webfolder is not reliant on SharePoint as it is a true application, so technically easier to install and use.

Hi Jenny, Thanks for your input but was wondering and by looking at your website it seems that you only interface with Capita Sims.net, how about other MIS systems on the market like Serco or RM to name a few? I’m also interested in how parents view the schools data? I could not see a login for parents from your website so assume it would be a login attached to a schools website? Does the school or college have to be using PARS software for attendance or behaviour to enable parent or carers to view this type of information? Many Thanks Chris

Hi Bossman, Thanks for your reply, I think what we are trying to address is an inexpensive solution which does not require bulky impractical devices for PE Teachers. From what I hear the latest figures are about £10k for Capita Webparts which is very expensive for just taking registers off site, then you also need to factor in dongle costs. I recommend that you look at Bromcom's solution which is M-register, this solution simply uses a smart enabled WM5 Mobile phone with a registration tool installed to record and send data back in REAL TIME. M-Register is very secure, requiring a teacher to login to registration software and then the teacher has the ability to view registration data only.. Meaning that security is not compromised. Also with M-register you can take a register anywhere in the world with a Mobile Phone Signal. Please take a look at Bromcom Computers Plc | Management Information Systems for Schools & Colleges or visit us at BETT 2009 Stand E20 for a live Demo

Hi Sippo, I understand that you are looking for a solution for your PE Staff taking registers off site at a leisure centre in Swindon. I used to live in Ash Brake north of Swindon and from my dealing with schools around the area, it seems that Swindon Council are very reluctant to allow schools to have direct access to other establishments like the Link Centre, this is due to the tight security policy that the council adheres to. There is a solution called M-Register by Bromcom which allows staff to take registers on smart phones running WM5, this is done using a simple interface which calls down a register from your MIS system over GPRS mobile phone coverage. Once completed this is then sent back in REAL TIME to your MIS system, the benefit here is that you don’t need to have any VPN or ports opened on council firewalls to use M-Register as it works via GPRS, meaning you can take a register anywhere with a signal. The other key aspect is that M-register will work along side your current MIS / Registration system. Please take a look at Bromcom Computers Plc | Management Information Systems for Schools & Colleges or visit us at BETT 2009 stand E20 As I used to live in Swindon can I ask from what school are your enquiring from as I have good relations with a number of schools in the area.

Hello everyone, I have been reading into your threads and it seems some of you are looking for a solutions to meet the DCSF 2010 requirement for Parental Access. Has anyone looked at www.MyChildAtSchool.com which is a solution Bromcom Developed back in 2000? MyChildAtSchool is a portal for parents that enables them to view their child's performance at school in real-time via a web browser. The facility allows the child's attendance, grades and behaviour to all be accessed whenever the parent/carer wants. As well as pupil performance data, the portal also provides general information about school, such as the school calendar and any important announcements. MyChildAtSchool is able to link in with Sims.net and other MIS suppliers, without the need to be using any of Bromcom’s products in your School. For more information please logon to the Bromcom Website at Bromcom Computers Plc | Management Information Systems for Schools & Colleges Thanks Chris

Sorry I meant emphasize... Well spotted

Gatt, Thanks for your input... it is interesting that you say your school was using Bromcom with the Grey Transmitters - Did you know that technology is over 15 years old? Thinks have moved on and more and more schools use our Winfolder product for registration in and out of the school. I have done some research about sims.net mobile but as far as I can see this does not give you the ability to call up registers in REAL TIME from outside your school network which is the point we are trying to emphasize about Fire Register information being up to date. How would a PE Teacher based at a leisure centre all afternoon be able to mark attendance and have it sent back real time? Sims.Net Mobile 3? No..... this is a quote from the Capita Website which states "SIMS Mobile Registration is an exciting new software option which gives you the freedom to take attendance electronically from anywhere in or around your school using a Pocket PC."... Note you are confined to anywhere in or around your school..... Whereas M-Register is truly mobile and teacher friendly solution for REAL TIME communication anywhere in the world... I have been told the M-Register Link on the Bromcom.com Website is working now... Thanks Chris

Hi thanks for your reply, You make a very valid point but now Windows Mobile 6 does not include Remote Desktop and think of the data Costs for that type of setup. Also can you imagine the size of the window... it would be impractical for teacher to use and have said previously the data costs would be high for such a solution you put forward. M-Register uses a Pocket PDA / Smart phone software for registration which has been designed to fit nicely on a PDA / Mobile Phone Screen. With regards to data security, smart phones carry allot less information about student data than a laptop connected with a gprs data card to your school network. M-Register only shows registration details i.e. Students name only, compared to being logged into your MIS system on a laptop which can show address, other personal sensitive information. Some of you have enquired about costs so feel free to email me your details and ill arrange for some price guides to be sent your way. Thanks Chris [email protected]

Hi Mcshammer_dj, I have had a look round and see you and others are right in reporting that our link is broken. don’t worry I have reported this to our webmaster and they are looking into the problem (Iv been told it should be working again tomorrow morning) but in the meantime please use the link below which will give you what you was hopping from the Bromcom website. http://www.bromcom.com/case_study/pdf/mRegister_CaseStudy%20(Brampton%20Manor).pdf SchoolITLackey, In reply to your question about direct read/write into the sims.net database, we would need to install a small piece of software on a gateway computer (an office PC but a dedicated machine would be better) which will give use the ability to interact via the 3rd party agreement with Capita. Yes any data changes would be REAL TIME without the need to have the Bromcom Attendance solution installed. The only platform restrictions are Windows Mobile 5 / 6 on a Smartphone device, which your school / college can provide from any Mobile phone operator.

Hi SchoolITLackey, Thanks for your recent post about Mobile registration. First of all it seems there is some confusion about the M-Register Product, M-Register can be used as a stand alone solution which can interact with Sims.net as well as other MIS supplies out there and has been very successful in many schools around the UK. Bromcom is a Technical partner with Capita who supply sims.net; therefore we have the knowledge and expertise to read/write data to the Sims.net database via our 3rd part agreement. I am surprised that you think M-Register is a costly solution as you do not need to take out the full Bromcom Package as M-Register can be used on its own; along side your current MIS provider. If you think of the cost for 3G Data cards, Laptops, terminal services licensing. it equates to allot of money and not very cost effective, also the amount of time it would take to logon would mean valuable teaching time disappearing. Whereas M-Register is just the cost of software and Mobile phone. In my option far more secure as teachers can only access the register they call, not other information about students which could get into the wrong hands. You cannot put a price on Data Security as it should be a schools No.1 priority. You have said you will be looking around during BETT 09, please come along to the Bromcom Stand where we will be happy to show you all the benefits’ it can bring to you school.

Thanks for your input Mcshammer_dj, It is interesting that you make this comment as I have come across many local authorities who will not allow terminal services access to school servers from outside its own WAN. Also you have the added cost of supplying 3G Data cards and a bulky laptop for the teacher to use. Would you not agree that a Mobile phone is far a better solution? I also take the direction that giving access to Terminal services from outside your school, say down the leisure centre would mean having allot of personal data being accessed outside your secure network environment. If a teacher leaves a laptop connected to a Terminal services session whilst logged in to sims.net, that poses a big security risk and let’s say this laptop got stolen from the leisure centre changing rooms. That person who has now got it has access to all the student records for addresses, SEN, Phone Numbers amongst other personal information. Also you have to remember that it would take a considerable amount of time to logon to the laptop, start up the 3g Data Service, login to the terminal server and them into sims.net. You have to do all this even before you have taken a register, can you imagine a teacher wanting to do that in front of a waiting class? What a waste of time. Why take that risk, after all teachers just want to be able to take a register and nothing else. I still say that M-Register is the most versatile, secure and user friendly software on the market. What’s more it can download a register in less than 20 secs! Thanks Chris

I have been reading your threads and felt the need to explain a bit more about Bromcom's Solution for the registration of pupils by P.E. Staff or for the purpose of offsite learning i.e. Leisure centre. It seems you are all looking for a simple solution to allow P.E. Teachers to take a register without having to be confined to working on a PC or laptop in an office away from the class. You may also want to be able to mark attendance for students who are on a school trip and without network access to your school network this would be imposable for most companies to give you the tools to provide REAL TIME attendance data to your MIS system. This is where Bromcom's M-Register comes into its own by giving schools and colleges the ability to record REAL TIME attendance data to their MIS System whether it be Bromcom, Sims.Net or others. Firstly teachers would have a Smart Phone or PDA device which has a registration Product installed (some of you may know Winfolder) and then the teacher logs in with their credentials and calls up the days timetable. By simply clicking on a Register / Period they can download the class register and send it back to the MIS System. We can do this by a simple interface which allows a Smart Phone or PDA device with GPRS to retrieve a register for marking. The teacher would then mark the register and return it via the same way it was delivered, all over a mobile phone network. Of course if you have a wireless 802 device, you can have the added benefit of duel connection back to your MIS system, in school via your wireless network and GPRS when outside your school network. M-Register software is the only solution that allows you to send registration data via a Smartphone / PDA anywhere in the world with a mobile phone signal REAL TIME! You are not confined to having to remember to input a register at the end of a lesson or worry about fire drill data being up to date as M-Register provides REAL TIME communication between your MIS System and the teacher. If you want any further information please see the Bromcom Website or come and see us at BETT 09 for a live demonstartion (Stand E20) Please feel free to ask any questions and I will reply as quickly as I can ... Thanks Chris