The one about training (Arbor), training (BT Cloud Voice) and a whole bunch of training (Judicium).
If you wonder where the Panda picture comes from… https://www.amivitale.com/photo-story/panda-love-the-secret-lives-of-pandas/
The end of SIMS
I didn’t think the day would come when I would write about saying goodbye to SIMS, but today is the day! According to Wikipedia, SIMS started in 1984.
It became a market leader and stayed that way for a long, long time.
So why change now?
Last year, Capita sold its education branch and the support we were getting from ESS SIMS became non-existent. Last Winter, Cantium (our third-party support for SIMS) had to concede we were not the only one experiencing major issues and that everyone was moving away from SIMS to Arbor. Arbor was by no means the only MIS on the market or one of the oldest competitors of SIMS (like Bromcom), but what they were now offering ticked all the boxes for schools.
SIMS remained complacent for years and had not cared much about Research and Development, so they were not ready for what was coming… With support degrading, the number of bugs increasing, the lack of GDPR compliance, and years of frustration, customers were ready to part with SIMS. As customers started leaving in droves, ESS SIMS decided to lock current customers to a three year contract instead of one. This did not go well either (https://schoolsweek.co.uk/400-schools-sign-up-to-take-collective-action-against-sims/), so they eventually gave schools a 6 months grace to see if they wanted to stay.
And here we are… about to leave SIMS for Arbor, finally moving to a cloud-based system that you will be able to access from anywhere and from any device (also say goodbye to workstation updates!), a modern MIS that will unify multiple solutions long term, simpler to navigate with quicker access to the stats you need…
What’s next?
Migration takes 16 weeks and has already started. A lot of third-party components that used to communicate with SIMS will also need to be migrated to Arbor.
This is important to understand that this is the biggest change the school has ever experienced. Moving to Outlook (then to Office 365 later) affected everyone but, this time around, the amount of data and third parties we are dealing with and the number of roles requiring different type of training make this project a much more complicated undertaking. Sam is arranging training for everyone right now, so keep an eye in your email for these.
BT Cloud Voice
This year is also the year when our phone system went digital!
This is something that had been in the works for a few years. Our phone system was ancient, we knew BT was moving to all digital by 2025 (https://business.bt.com/insights/digital-transformation/uk-pstn-switch-off/) and we wanted a system that could be more flexible (app on phone…). Sadly, it didn’t happen before the COVID lockdowns, but now it has.
By now, all of you have been upgraded and some of you (who are working from home for example) are using the app to make calls from the school.
Training is available should you require it for various modules (the phones themselves, the call recording, the app…).
If you want some training or to get the app to make calls from anywhere. just contact IT.
Training with Judicium
Judicium, our Data Protection Officer (DPO), provides training on various topics that are assigned to Staff to either comply with the law (Health and Safety training, GDPR Training…) or to provide guidance (Stress management advices, lone working guidance, cyber security…).
If you do not have access to this yet, then get in touch with either the HR Officer. We will get you set up and assign you the required modules for your role.
Some of these trainings are compulsory, so if you just joined, please make sure you get access as soon as possible!
