Improving educational outcomes with SIMS Connected

Background

Based in Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, City Learning Trust is an ambitious multi-academy trust dedicated to achieving academic excellence and holistic development across its network of schools. Established with a vision to inspire, challenge, and support every student, the Trust emphasises a collaborative approach, integrating innovative teaching practices and community engagement to create a nurturing and stimulating learning environment. 

The Trust’s mission is to deliver outstanding educational experiences and outcomes for all its students. To support this mission, the IT infrastructure plays a critical role, managed centrally by Matt Watson, the IT Director.

“We faced significant challenges with manually performing patches and updates every three months, which was cumbersome and time-consuming. Ensuring that all staff PCs received these updates accurately often required manual intervention, further straining our resources. Additionally, maintaining a robust server infrastructure was a constant effort, as relying on on-premises software meant we were heavily dependent on our own hardware.” Matt explains. 

“There was a need for more streamlined and centralised access to data so our team could monitor each other’s sites and provide support from a central perspective. This need extended to our HR and administrative teams, where aggregating data for Trust-wide reporting was manual and time-intensive.” Matt adds. 

In search of a more efficient and effective solution, the trust decided to move to SIMS Connected.

Seamless transition

The migration to SIMS Connected was a phased approach. 

“We migrated our primary schools first to ensure a smoother learning curve and implementation process. Secondary schools followed six months later.” Matt explains. 

“One of the main benefits of sticking with SIMS and migrating to SIMS Connected was the continuity of our software. With no changes to the interface or data structure, there was minimal staff training required—just log on and access as usual.” Matt continues, “Moving to another provider would have meant extensive training on new systems and processes, which could have been a logistical nightmare.” 

“With SIMS Connected we were able to seamlessly migrate our entire historical data and workflows, making the transition exceptionally smooth and efficient.” - Matt says.

Streamlining IT operations

Patches and updates for SIMS Connected are managed centrally by ESS, reducing the workload on the IT team and eliminating the need for manual updates. Updates are applied globally during off-hours, ensuring minimal disruption. Matt explains: 

“SIMS Connected has been a game-changer for us. With patches and updates now managed centrally and applied globally in the middle of the night, we no longer have to worry about updates and maintenance. This has freed up our time to focus on more strategic initiatives, which is just fantastic from our point of view.” 

“The centralisation of our IT system and streamlined access to data have markedly improved our operational efficiency. Administrative tasks that previously required coordination across multiple sites can now be performed centrally, saving us valuable time.”, Matt says.

Reduced costs

By migrating to a cloud-based system, the reliance on local servers was significantly reduced. This allowed the Trust to extend the lifecycle of existing hardware, deferring costly upgrades, and reducing overall IT expenditure.

By depending less on local servers and thus extending hardware lifecycles, the Trust achieved significant cost savings. This financial flexibility allows for reinvestment in other critical areas of their educational ecosystem. 

The transition to SIMS Connected also included comprehensive data protection impact assessments, ensuring compliance with data security standards. 

“We are very pleased with the robust security features of SIMS Connected, including quicker session timeouts that enhance overall data security.”, Matt says.

Improved staff productivity

SIMS Connected provided HR and administrative staff with seamless access to data across all schools from any location. This facilitated more efficient and timely reporting, improving overall administrative productivity. 

“Now, changes to something like a marksheet for an assessment can be made from one location, removing the need for multiple people to make the same update separately. This has condensed four people’s work down into one, greatly improving efficiency and speed of access to information.” Matt says.

“Our HR team have absolutely loved having SIMS Connected. With a single SIMS ID, they can access all school sites within the Trust from anywhere, eliminating the need for physical visits or multiple logins. Now, they can easily access and pull reports on staff absences and other data 24/7 from any device, greatly enhancing efficiency and accessibility.” Matt adds.

Enhanced central reporting

Post-transition, the focus shifted to using the central reporting and data aggregation capabilities, crucial for Trust-level analytics and decision-making. 

“Having centralised access to all schools’ data has transformed our reporting capabilities. We can now generate comprehensive reports without the need for manual data aggregation.”, Matt explains. 

City Learning Trust also integrated Power BI for advanced Trust-level reporting. Although still in the development phase, this integration promises enhanced data visualisation and analysis capabilities, further empowering the Trust’s leadership with actionable insights.

Overall impact

The migration to SIMS Connected has been a transformative step for City Learning Trust. By addressing key technical challenges and enhancing operational efficiency, the Trust is better positioned to focus on its core mission of delivering high-quality education. The strategic use of cloud-based solutions like SIMS Connected underscores the Trust’s commitment to leveraging technology for educational excellence.