ParentPay, having acquired ESS in August 2021, is budgeting to invest £40 million into SIMS and FMS over the next three years, to make them even better solutions for education professionals. We believe that SIMS, the first and broadest MIS, backed by this commitment, is best placed to support you into the future.
Improving outcomes for students remains the goal for the next generation of SIMS. We also recognise that time is a precious commodity, and that ease of use must have a higher priority. We will focus our development and enhancement work on this basis; building on SIMS’ industry-leading feature set and user support network.
Our ‘Next Gen’ project encapsulates the investment we are making to transform how schools and school groups use MIS and redefine how they leverage their data.
We will deliver the latest features and experiences to future-proof school MIS strategy. Delivering the future of school MIS without the risks, costs and disruptions usually associated with changing MIS.
SIMS was designed by its users, and we are committed to evolving SIMS with the needs of local authorities, schools, academies and trusts. Virtually every teaching and school administration professional understands SIMS, and it is supported by an unrivalled community of experts.
The components of ‘Next Gen’ will be deployed as pure cloud-based applications and will sit alongside existing SIMS features, giving users the opportunity to move across at their own pace.
Schools will begin to enjoy the first ‘Next Gen’ feature sets from early 2022.
Over the coming months, we'll communicate more about our vision, roadmap and the functionalities that our customers will have access to. You can register your interest in helping shape the future of SIMS using the link below. We'll then be in touch when we have a pilot coming up that matches your interests.
We are embracing the latest technology to enable 'anywhere, anytime' access to school MIS. We have developed and are currently deploying, a browser-based version of SIMS, dubbed ‘SIMS Connected’.
SIMS Connected allows anytime anywhere access to the current version of SIMS and will also benefit from SIMS Next Gen upgrades. SIMS Connected delivers enhanced browser-based access to all existing SIMS features, giving even more schools a cost effective and performant alternative to SIMS on premise.
We are starting a pilot for our multi-academy reporting tools for several academies using SIMS Connected and we will be able to roll this feature out to academies in 2022 once the pilot is successfully concluded.
Over the coming months, we'll communicate more about our vision, roadmap and the functionalities that our customers will have access to. You can register your interest in helping shape the future of SIMS using the link below. We'll then be in touch when we have a pilot coming up that matches your interests.
SIMS schools are already benefitting from the leading MIS. Feature rich and available on premise or in the cloud.
SIMS was designed by its users, and we are committed to evolving SIMS with the needs of local authorities, schools, academies and trusts. Virtually every teaching and school administration professional understands SIMS, and it is supported by an unrivalled community of experts.
ParentPay, having acquired ESS in August 2021, is budgeting to invest £40 million into SIMS and FMS over the next three years, to make them even better solutions for education professionals. We believe that SIMS, the first and broadest MIS, backed by this commitment, is best placed to support you into the future.
As our investment in the future of school MIS begins, SIMS is destined to continuously deliver improved capabilities and value to customers.
We strongly believe that embracing the latest technology and future-proofing the schools' MIS strategy, doesn't have to come with the risks, costs and disruption usually associated with a change of MIS. Rather than a painful migration, schools want:
-
Timely and seamless delivery of incremental features as well as improved user experiences.
-
An MIS that retains the breadth and depth of functionality they enjoy every day, whether accessing it in school or at home.
-
Continued secure access to historic data, and the tools to leverage that data, wherever that data is stored, should be given, not a bonus.
-
Uninterrupted access to a choice of partner applications.
This is exactly what our Next Gen Project will deliver - all the benefits of the leading MIS, future proofed - without the risks and costs of a disruptive wholesale migration.
The components of Next Gen will be deployed as pure cloud-based applications and will sit alongside existing SIMS features, giving users the opportunity to move across at their own pace.
Schools will begin to enjoy the first ‘Next Gen’ feature sets from early 2022.
Over the coming months, we'll communicate more about our vision, roadmap and the functionalities that our customers will have access to. You can register your interest in helping shape the future of SIMS using the link below. We'll then be in touch when we have a pilot coming up that matches your interests.
The Annual Entitlement Portal is an online tool for schools who already contract directly with ESS for Annual Entitlement.
On the Portal, schools confirm their pupil on roll data, view their quote and accept the new contract terms.
The Portal has been open since 9 November 2022 and schools have until 1 February 2022 to complete the process.
If your school contracts directly with ESS for Annual Entitlement you will have received an invite the Portal.
If you have a direct contract with ESS and have not received an invite to the Portal please email Annual.Entitlement@educationsoftwaresolutions.co.uk
No. There is no legal requirement for schools to engage in a public procurement exercise if they want to accept our revised terms, unless the total value of their three year Annual Entitlement contract with ESS exceeds the £189,330 World Trade Organisation Global Procurement Agreement limit. Less than half a dozen ESS customers fall into this camp.
If you would like to discuss your quote, please use the Portal to contact us and a member of the team will be in touch.
No. We are aware that on 19 November, 2021, the Department of Education responded to a number of queries received from schools about proposed changes to contracts for their MIS Systems.
In a further response to the questions received, the Department of Education has advised that schools should proceed in connection with the proposed contracts as they ordinarily would when procuring any contract.
Our legal advisers have informed us that whilst the Departments officers are entitled to their opinions concerning schools’ procurement processes, they are unaware of any statutory powers held by the Department in this regard.
The Annual Entitlement Portal is an online tool for schools who already contract directly with ESS for Annual Entitlement.
On the Portal, schools confirm their pupil on roll data, view their quote and accept the new contract terms.
The Portal has been open since 9 November 2022 and schools have until 1 February 2022 to complete the process.
If your school contracts directly with ESS for Annual Entitlement you will have received an invite the Portal.
If you have a direct contract with ESS and have not received an invite to the Portal please email Annual.Entitlement@educationsoftwaresolutions.co.uk
If your school contracts directly with ESS for Annual Entitlement you will have received an invite the Portal.
If you have a direct contract with ESS and have not received an invite to the Portal please email Annual.Entitlement@educationsoftwaresolutions.co.uk
On the Portal schools confirm their pupil on roll data, view their quote and accept the new contract terms. The Portal has been open since 9 November 9 2022 and schools have until 1 February 2022 to complete the process.
Cancellation requests must be received in writing to Annual.Entitlement@educationsoftwaresolutions.co.uk by 31 December 2021. This is 90 days prior to the existing contract end date of 1 April 2022.
If your school would like to discuss their quote, please use the Portal to contact ESS and a member of the team will be in touch.
Cancellation requests must be received in writing to Annual.Entitlement@educationsoftwaresolutions.co.uk by 31 December 2021. This is 90 days prior to the existing contract end date of 1 April 2022.
Local Authority maintained schools covered by Local Authority Annual Entitlement contracts currently do not have a direct contract with ESS.
There are exceptions, if a Local Authority maintained school has received an invitation to the Portal then it is because they already procure some services directly from ESS.
Each Local Authority is different and we are working closely with them to ensure maintained schools have the appropriate direct contracts in place to enable access to SIMS Next Gen features.
Don’t worry if the process of contracting directly may be new to you. It will be an easy process and you will receive communication with all the information you need, includes routes to ensure ESS and your Local Authority can answer your questions in a timely manner.
On the Portal we highlight the Important Changes in the new contract on the Scrollwrap acceptance screen.
The main change we are making to our Annual Entitlement contracts is to define the renewal term as three years.
Other changes include:
-
Consolidating multiple different contracts that were being used across the ESS business into a single set of definitions and terms that can be used for nearly all ESS modules;
-
Adding terms to allow the rollout of SIMS next generation cloud-based features and functions for all schools. Some data may be processed in the cloud, so we have included new terms to explain what that data is and how we are permitted to treat it; for more details refer to Annex 1, Schedule A – Data Protection. Wherever you share or receive data detailed provisions are required by law per the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”).
-
To reflect our merger with ParentPay Group and to enable us to provide some third-party cloud services, we will be permitted to process some data outside of the EEA [Note: this is intended to cover circumstances where Denial of Service attacks require us to reroute traffic outside the EEA, and to allow ParentPay Group developers and third line support personnel outside of the UK to work on anonymised customer data].
-
To provide census information (excluding personally identifiable data) using SIMS Next Generation, we need your permission to release this information to relevant government authorities (e.g. in England the DfE, in Wales the Welsh Assembly etc.).
-
Explicitly allowing digital and web acceptance of contracts and variations.
-
An increase in the notice period required for ESS to change terms before renewals.
We are making the change to three year terms for a number of reasons.
-
Fewer than five percent of schools change their MIS each year, with the average school keeping the same MIS for over 20 years. Changes of MIS supplier are infrequent, with many schools and local authorities having purchased perpetual MIS licences and entered into long term contracts for MIS support.
-
Thousands of the schools using SIMS do so under long term deals with terms of between three and ten years. Many of these contracts have been in place for decades, reflecting the fact that long term commitments have been a feature of the UK MIS market for many years, and pre-date ParentPay’s ownership of ESS / SIMS.
-
Much of the UK education technology sector works on longer term contracts, with three year deals being the norm. We believe that 3-year term contracts are proportionate in a market that is founded on long term customer supplier relationships.
-
Three year contracts provide customers with surety of pricing and supply and allow suppliers to take a longer term view on product investment, with consequential benefits for customers old and new.
-
ESS’s principal competitors use longer term contracts, with either three year terms or a one year initial term with five year renewals thereafter. Given that no-one moves to a new MIS for one year, this is equivalent to a six year initial term with a 5-year renewal.
-
ParentPay’s acquisition of ESS completed in August 2021. As part of our planned transformation of ESS, we have budgeted to invest £40 million into improving SIMS and FMS over the next three years, to make them even better solutions for education professionals. Moving to three year terms allows us to fund this level of investment.
If you would like to discuss your quote, please use the Portal to contact us and a member of the team will be in touch.
No school will automatically move onto a three-year contract. This is the only contract that we are offering for the core SIMS and FMS products, but no school is obliged to accept it.
Cancellation requests must be received in writing to Annual.Entitlement@educationsoftwaresolutions.co.uk by 31 December 2021. This is 90 days prior to the existing contract end date of 1 April 2022.
If the Portal process is not completed by 1 February 2022, a new three year term contract will be generated for existing products, along with an invoice for the first year of this term. If you have not already accepted the new contract via the Portal, you can do so by paying the invoice.
If you would like to discuss your quote, please use the Portal to contact us and a member of the team will be in touch.
If a school is currently in a multi-year contract which continues beyond 31 March 2022, you will have been offered the choice whether to sign a new three year term contract using our revised terms or continue with their existing contract.
If a school chooses not to move onto a new three year contract from 31 March 2022 then they will be offered a new three year contract from the end of their current contract term.
If a school wishes to access SIMS Next Gen features before the end of the term of their current contract, they will have to contract with them separately for these features since their current contracts do not include the necessary Data Protection Act 2018 / GDPR terms that would allow us to copy their data to the cloud.
For schools who currently contract with ESS directly for Annual Entitlement we are changing the contract through a variation in terms. The new terms are essentially the same as the old terms, but with the key variation that the renewal term is now specified as three years whereas before it was set out in the contract summary and was generally one year.
The new terms also bring together into a single contract, terms previously included in separate contracts for various different SIMS / FMS modules.
The revised contract enables schools to use all of the next generation of cloud-based core SIMS features and functions that we develop over the next three year (“SIMS Next Gen”) for the nominal sum of £1 per annum. SIMS Next Gen will work side by side with SIMS, sharing the same data, in a similar way to SIMS modules such as InTouch or Teacher App.
If you would like to discuss your quote, please use the Portal to contact us and a member of the team will be in touch or email Annual.Entitlement@educationsoftwaresolutions.co.uk