East Sussex

We are pleased to announce that we have been awarded full Accreditation from Capita Education Services for the support of SIMS.

This accreditation is valid from 1st January 2006 and runs for two years, at which time we need to be inspected again to ensure that we are still providing a valuable service in comparison with national benchmarks.

As you may be aware we have been working towards this accreditation process for some time and have been undergoing a period of great change with the implementation of the SIMS SQL modules.

We have all been learning new skills and transferring these skills into our training and support programme for the SQL modules including Attendance, SQL System Manager, Assessment Manager 6, Exams Organiser, Performance Analysis and of course SIMS .net for pupil data, reporting, behaviour and SEN.

We have analysed the course evaluation forms for all of the SIMS training courses over the last year and are proud to have achieved an 93% satisfaction score overall.

“The accreditation process was similar to an OfSTED inspection and the Schools ICT Services team had to provide our current documentation as evidence of our policies and procedures for dealing with SIMS and SIMS technical issues.”
Viv Reed

Warrington

“Top of the Class” for school Support Team

The School Support Team is proud to announce that they have once again received accreditation by Capita Education Services for their high levels of support and services provided to Warrington schools.

“Having initially received accreditation two years ago, it is equally, if not more satisfying, to receive re-accreditation. This proves that the high standards achieved in gaining the initial accreditation have not only been maintained but also improved upon.”
Bernie Carson

The accreditation process involves an independent survey of schools together with documentary evidence of the support services that are provided. The responses from schools were excellent and their positive comments and high scores were praised highly by Capita Education Services.

Bernie Carson, ICT Manager for Education and Lifelong Learning, comments upon this success – “The team have worked extremely hard in the past 12 months, seeing huge changes and greatly improving upon the management of information. The excellent working relationship between the team, the LA and schools is a major influence in receiving this recognition.We hope this continues long into the future.”

Capita Education Services presented the School Support Team with their accreditation certificate on February 1st in the distinguished company of the mayor and council chief officers.

The School Support Team are not the only winners, another outcome of the accreditation process was the prize of a digital camera. In a random draw, this was won by Oakwood Primary School.

Bristol

“The process proved to be very beneficial and helped us to focus on Customer Service, identifying areas of strength and weakness in our approach, as a team, with the 180 sites we sustain with helpdesk, training and SIMS consultancy.”
Gary Andrews

Never say, ‘Never is a Good Time’

SIMS Local Support Units had plenty to occupy themselves over the past few months with SIMS .net conversion, project planning and implementation and the ever increasing demands being placed on them to guide schools through the evolving landscape of LA and DfES data requests. So, when in March last year, Tony Jesson from Capita Education Services sent a gentle reminder to me as manager of the Bristol SIMS Local Support Unit that we had committed ourselves to the SIMS Accreditation process the previous December, we were persuaded to take the plunge and ‘go for it’ in the months leading up to the summer holidays.

Not a good time maybe?

Given that the summer term represents, for all schools, a hectic period of work around key stage processes in Assessment Manager and a new approach to end of year procedures in SIMS .net, we feared that the last thing schools would want to do is to engage with a customer satisfaction survey – a key requirement of the accreditation process. But then, when is there a period in the academic year where workloads are not high for schools and LSUs are not seeking either to address new initiatives or are engaging schools by honing their skills through training in the more advanced features of the integrated software platform that we now support? Shouldn’t we delay the accreditation? “November tends to be quieter, Tony”. I was cajoled by my persistent mentor!

As a traded service, we are always conscious of the competitive nature of the IT ‘servicing’ market place and the claims made by some ‘unaccredited’ suppliers to be able to support the range of SIMS products.We are also proud of our independence as an Education IT unit, resisting the drive - which has already succeeded in some local authorities - to centralise all IT services losing, in my view, the discrete understanding that only Education IT teams have of the needs and high expectations of schools in their unique settings. Gaining accreditation as an LSU would strengthen our position and, hopefully, confirm the largely positive responses we have always had from our schools.

It would be an unequivocal affirmation from Capita Education Services, that they too respected and approved of the work we do when offering their software solutions to our schools.

We need not have worried about customer response: there was clearly no voter apathy in Bristol. Some 90% of Secondary schools and well over half of Primaries took the time to answer the 15 minute web-based questionnaire and significant numbers were keen to air their views with free text comments. These were gathered over a two week period in July on Support Net. Steve Smith, the webmaster, managed the logistical side of e-mailing all schools to tell them about the forthcoming survey, which meant that the team under review could concentrate on bringing together the infrastructure document required by Tony covering the team’s key operational features. About two days before the survey was due to conclude, a reminder was sent out to schools who had yet to respond, and members of the Bristol team referred schools to it as well when helpdesk calls came in. It was vital for us that we had a balanced overview of how our schools perceived the service.

Our success in gaining accreditation attracted the attention of the recently appointed Director of Education, Heather Tomlinson, who offered her thanks and appreciation for the work of the SIMS team. Tony Jesson, made the presentation on behalf of Capita Education Services at one of her high profile ‘Director’s briefings’ in September highlighting some of the key findings of the survey. Gary Andrews – October 2005

Bristol’s Four Key Benefits of Accreditation:

1. Offers a managed opportunity for schools to express their views on how well their local team supports them
2. Allows the SIMS team to focus on its key business processes, refining and correcting operations where appropriate and strengthening its cohesion
3. Provides the LSU with a ‘fit for purpose’ approval from Capita Education Services to support and strengthen the team’s market position
4. Raises the profile and recognition of the SIMS team within the LA as a vital support engine for schools as they seek to address the growing data agenda

Guernsey

“With this accredited status, Education’s ICT Team is able to have closer access to the software providers and developers to ensure that Guernsey schools achieve the functional requirements they need.”
Allister Langlois

The Education Department’s ICT Team has been recognised for its quality of service and support by the national provider of Schools Information Management Systems, Capita Education Services.

All schools under the control of the Education Department use the Schools Information Management Systems software, or SIMS, for everything from registering pupils electronically and creating timetables to managing exam entries and assessing the performance of pupils to help improve teaching and learning.

Education has been awarded special accreditation, following Capita’s evaluation of the helpdesk support provided by the ICT Team to schools, the quality of training delivered to staff and the overall implementation of SIMS.

Chairman of the E-Learning Steering Group, Education Board member Allister Langlois, said the accreditation meant that schools could have confidence in the future development and use of the SIMS software.

‘As part of the evaluation carried out by Capita Education Services, schools are asked to complete a questionnaire and Guernsey comes top of more than sixty other Local Education Authorities in terms of how the users rate the SIMS knowledge of the helpdesk staff. Our ICT Team also scores highly in terms of the training delivered and the quality of support provided to schools.

‘The Education Department continues to invest in the provision of ICT facilities across all its schools and services, embedding ICT into all aspects of teaching and learning. This accreditation means that we can continue to offer the best service and support to our schools to help reduce the administration workload of teaching and support staff and enable them to improve standards.’

Hull

Hull City Council's IT Division (LSIT) is delighted to announce that it is one of only 22 local authorities to receive much coveted Capita Education Services SIMS Support Accreditation. Having originally been awarded the title of accredited support provider in December 2003, Learning Services IT have improved on their rating and are now ranked 11th in the list. The accreditation status lasts until December 2007.

Capita Education Services is one of the largest schools information system providers in the country. All Hull schools use Capita Education Services Student Information Systems software (SIMS) and they are asked to grade the support services they receive during a highly intensive monitoring and evaluation process. Only IT departments following strict guidelines and the implementation of stringent quality procedures can qualify for accreditation.

Hull City Council Learning Services IT Team received accreditation on 16th December 2005, following a gruelling, but rewarding evaluation. This investigated the quality of support provided to schools and was used as an opportunity to seek the opinions of the schools themselves.

Elements included in the evaluation exercise were SIMS modules in use and their support, training, service desk, support visits and technical services. Almost two-thirds of primary and secondary schools took part in the online support survey, the results of which were fed directly to the Capita Education Services evaluations team.

The team is very pleased with the extremely positive comments and feedback it received from the schools which took part. The overall evaluation rated the service provided as excellent.

With another successful accreditation reflecting the proven quality of the services and support provided by his team, Paul Stevens, IT Manager said: We have received many positive and encouraging comments which have proved the value of the work we do with schools. This will form the framework of our further development work, which include systems data integration, systems interoperability and electronic communications.

“This accreditation is a ringing endorsement and another step in the right direction in providing high quality support for schools through conscientious and dedicated staff.”

Capita Education Services themselves have requested using LSIT as an exemplar for other authorities stating that the documentation supplied was very well presented with an excellent approach to an integrated service delivery within the LA.

The services include a training programme that is devised with the involvement of the schools to ensure client satisfaction and there is a good knowledge of local issues with a firm and practical understanding of strategic matters. There are clear policies on customer services with clear operational guidelines which have been well defined and documented.

"The accreditation evaluation was an extremely valuable and worthwhile process. It is a profound recognition of the IT Team and the quality of support we provide, assessed by the makers of the software, but more importantly by our customers, the schools.”
Paul Stevens, IT Manager