Getting the best out of your supplier relationships
Taking the plunge Across the country, millions of pounds have been misspent by LAs and individual schools buying Learning Platforms that will not offer them the full range of functionality needed to meet government guidelines. Alan Cowley, recognised as the country’s foremost independent authority on Learning Platforms, tells us how School Business Managers can save their school vast sums of money
I
within your school responsible for signing off large contracts, you need to have all the facts at your fingertips. So what’s the problem?
you need to access the school’s management information system (MIS) via the internet. It could be that your school decides to go it alone, you could be part
You can’t say that you haven’t been warned; Just4SBMs looked at this nearly two years ago in an article I wrote about the advantages of Online Reporting. This time we feel that the situation is so serious that we need to tackle it head-on. As the person
In order to facilitate Online Reporting, schools need a Learning Platform. The definition of what a Learning Platform is has changed over the last two years. Today, it’s recognised as being a piece of software that incorporates both of the functions that used to be found in a virtual learning environment (VLE) and an eportal, the secure platform that
In order to facilitate Online Reporting, schools need a Learning Platform
f I had just 1% of the money that had been misspent by schools and Local Authorities on Learning Platforms over the last three years, neither I nor my children would ever have to work again.
14
just4SBMs n ISSUE 22 SUMMER 2010
L E A R N I N G P L AT F O R M S
If your staff can’t write into the MIS from home... then you cannot claim that the systems are fully interoperable
Illustration: Alec Tear
of a cluster within your LA or you could have the Local Education Partnership pulling the strings. Either way, you need to be wary – particularly if the deal is being completed by someone else. In order to fulfil Becta’s guidelines for online reporting, your system should give teachers the opportunity, if they so wish, to write their reports from home. In order to do this your Learning Platform must have the capacity for teachers to write directly into your school’s MIS via the internet (it can’t be done on a memory stick as this would be a breach of safeguarding regulations). I’m afraid that you just can’t take it for granted that all Learning Platforms will allow you to do this – in spite of what your supplier may tell you. I’ve come across some pretty despicable sales tactics from some suppliers and their ploys are changing all the time. I’m not saying that they’ll tell you lies, but some of them have certainly been challenged regarding the accuracy of what they may tell you. The word that they like to play with is ‘interoperability’. Interoperability is simply the capacity for one thing to work with another – in this case your MIS software to work with your Learning Platform software. You may well be told by a member of the sales team from Company A that their Learning Platform will allow your staff to read the data on the school’s MIS ( bought from
Company B), securely from home. That is almost certainly true. But although there is certainly a degree of interoperability, if your staff can’t write into the MIS from home (as they have to do when they’re writing reports) then you cannot claim that the systems are fully interoperable. You may be told that the ‘write function’ will be sorted due to the Schools’ Interoperability Framework (SIF). This is an agreement that is under discussion and negotiation, the end result of which could be that all Learning Platforms would work seamlessly with all MIS systems, regardless of the suppliers. This would allow schools to choose which products they buy based on
just4SBMs n ISSUE 22 SUMMER 2010
preference rather than necessity. Such an agreement would then ensure that all Learning Platforms could provide the write function, enabling teachers to write into the MIS from home. But SIF is not yet up and running and more importantly, some of the key players haven’t decided that they think it’s a good idea to join the club, citing concerns about safeguarding and security. Do not rely on the promise of SIF – it’s a great idea but it hasn’t happened yet and if it ever does it’s unlikely to happen before well after the adoption dates for online reporting for both secondary school and primary schools. There are newer lines that I’ve come across from the sales teams, such as:
15 3
L E A R N I N G P L AT F O R M S
‘The Information Management Strategy (IMS) takes care of Interoperability.’ This sounds convincing and to a degree is correct. The IMS was established some years ago by the different MIS suppliers to resolve the issue of exchanging data between schools for the Common Transfer Files (CTF). The agreement allows schools to send the pre-agreed information required in the CTF from the MIS in one school to the MIS in another regardless of who the supplier for that system is. It has absolutely no relevance for the exchange of information between any MIS and a Learning Platform which requires a totally different set of functions. The latest sales pitch I’ve encountered is: ‘What you’ve got to remember is that online reporting is really about parental engagement and not teachers’ work/life balance’. I have to contain myself at such moments – I’m recognised as one of the country’s foremost authorities on parental engagement (in fact you can buy my course Parental Engagement: Climate Changer from the publishers of this magazine) and, as I was seconded to Becta to lead the national introduction of online reporting in secondary schools, I know precisely what the intention of online reporting is. I also know that it won’t happen at all if teachers are faced with an even greater burden and not permitted the benefit of being able to determine their own work/ life balance – this was one of the key intentions when all of the professional associations agreed so readily to this initiative. Online Reporting should offer teachers the choice of when and where they choose to complete their grades and comments. It is not an option.
There should always be doubt in your mind when buying expensive systems for a school or cluster of schools All in all, the shenanigans reflect the frustration of some Learning Platform providers to compete on an equal footing with the longestablished MIS providers and the desire of those long-established MIS providers to protect their market share. There should always be doubt in your mind when buying expensive systems for a school or cluster of schools. Put that doubt to the test; take no one’s word for it without checking. Here are three simple ways of ensuring that, when you take the plunge, you can do so with some confidence: 1. Before you buy, ask prospective Learning Platform suppliers for the names of at least three contacts at different schools that use their product and the same MIS as you so that you can visit them and see the system in operation for yourself. 2. Insist on a clause being created, agreed and signed within the contract that says if the Learning Platform does not allow teachers to write directly into your school’s MIS via the internet from home ( as promised), the contract will be considered broken by the supplier. 3. Develop a relationship with
16
just4SBMs n ISSUE 22 SUMMER 2010
your MIS supplier and ask them to confirm in writing that their product will allow the Learning Platform in question to write directly into it using the internet without any additional purchases. And if it’s too late… If you’re one of those unlucky schools for whom a Learning Platform has already been purchased and found to not have the full range of interoperability, all is not lost. But sadly, more money will be required to set things right. Ask your tech team to look into the provision of an ISA server and above all, learn from the experience. Alan Cowley is available for consultancy on this issue through Tribal. Please contact the office on 0117 3115276.
Half price DVD from Tribal If you enjoyed this article (and the articles on Parental Communication and Community Cohesion which follow), you may be interested in a DVD training course presented by Alan. ‘Climate Changer: effective strategies to engage parents’ provides step by step tips, PowerPoint presentations and extensive support materials for use in your school. The DVD normally retails at £174.90+vat, but is currently half price in our summer sale. For further information, please visit https://shop.tribalgroup.co.uk/ Latest-Offers.html