The team from WhichMIS took a small stand at the recent Schools and Academies Show at the NEC, Birmingham to showcase our MIS procurement services and to offer free advice sessions to any schools/MATs that are considering a change of MIS.
We were busy throughout the show, with numerous attendees visiting our stand to discuss their MIS and ask advice about MIS procurement etc.
Many asked for our opinion on various MIS systems and we had to continually explain that we remain independent and never recommend any one MIS system over another, nor offer opinions on them. Our position is always that it is critical for schools and Trusts to decide what they need from an MIS system based on their own individual requirements and criteria.
It was interesting that we met several delegates who expressed interest in all the churn in MIS that they had heard about and that this was causing them to think about their own MIS. We had to remind them that they should only be thinking about a change to their MIS if they have a genuine reason for doing so and not simply because others were changing.
One attendee in particular stated that they wanted to change their MIS because of a lack of functionality in their current system. When we delved a little deeper, we were able to explain to them that their MIS did, in fact, offer all the functionality that they believed was absent and were able to direct them to their MIS provider’s stand so that they could confirm this for themselves!
We often find that the knowledge of the available functionality within an MIS can become ‘watered down’ as new staff replace previous staff. This happens when the original staff received full training on the MIS and so understood its capabilities well, but when handing over or training new staff they don’t pass on all their knowledge…then, when it is time for that new member of staff to pass on their knowledge, the ‘watering down’ happens again until eventually the MIS is not being used to its fullest potential.
This illustrates how important it is, when considering a change to your MIS, that you have explored your current system properly to clarify if that ‘missing’ functionality has been there all the time but you simply didn’t know it!
Overall, the show seemed to be far busier than last year and we welcomed the numerous visitors to our stand and were pleased to be able to offer them all some free and unbiased advice.
