RM Integris Renewal for Barnet Schools 2013

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1 RM Integris Renewal for Barnet Schools 2013 Dear Headteacher IMPORTANT CHANGES WITH INTEGRIS G2 and RM FINANCE SUPPORT We would like to outline the options that are available for your Integris G2 and RM Finance renewals from 1 st April After much internal discussion we have decided that the best option for us and schools in Barnet who wish to continue using RM Integris and RM Finance is for RM to provide schools with direct support. This will enable schools to continue to take advantage of RM Integris and RM Finance backed by the high quality support skills of RM Education. This change will enable us to monitor and manage the level of service that is being provided to Barnet schools and ensure that you receive the high quality support you require for our products. This information pack is to help you understand the options available to you. If you wish to discuss further please contact Brian Barrowman, bbarrowman@rm.com

2 CONTENTS Benefits of Integris G2 for your school Page 3 Options Available Page 4 FAQ Integris G2 Page 5 FAQ RM Finance Page 7 Order form and Pricing-3 Year order Integris G2 Page 8 Order form and Pricing-1 Year order Integris G2 Page 9 Order form and Pricing-1 Year order RM Finance Page 10 Service Level Agreement (SLA) Page 11 Technical Support Contact Details Page 15 2 P a g e

3 BENEFITS OF INTEGRIS G2 FOR YOUR SCHOOL - Users only require a web browser to access the system. - Increases access within the school to a much wider audience - instantaneously - Full system access from anywhere with internet access - Assessment recording, report writing, etc. are all tasks no longer restricted to school time or location. - Immediate software upgrades are applied on the school s behalf - All school data is backed up securely every night. - Overheads associated with managing MIS are removed from the school - Minimises on-going hardware investment within the school - Low total cost of ownership - The highest security protocols (as used by Internet banks) ensure only users with the appropriate privileges can access data. - Unlimited User Licence so all your staff can access the system at no extra charges - No training, data migration or licencing charges associated with changing to a different system We have developed Integris G2 so that the following functionality is now included as standard. - Pupil Database - Assessment Records - Reporting to Parents - Staff Records - Pupil Behaviour Recording and Analysis - Pupil Attendance - School Census - School Workforce Census - Pupil Tracking and Assessment Analysis - Early Years - SEN Register - Key Stage Reporting Analysis - Key Stage Reporting to Parents - Mobile Access via ipad and smartphones 3 P a g e

4 OPTION 1- Integris G2 -Three Year Software, Maintenance, Upgrades and Hosting This option provides: - 3 year licence for Integris G2-3 years maintenance & software upgrades - 3 years hosting - First line telephone support - Fixed Price 3 year commitment / payable annually - Covers the period 1 st April st March 2016 (all prices exclude VAT). OPTION 2-Integris G2 -One Year Software, Maintenance, Upgrades and Hosting This option provides: - 1 year licence for Integris G2-1 years maintenance & upgrades - 1 years hosting - First line telephone support - Covers the period 1 st April st March 2014 (all prices exclude VAT). OPTION 3-RM Finance-One Year Software, Maintenance, Upgrades and Hosting This option provides: - 1 year licence for RM Finance - 1 years maintenance & upgrades - First line telephone support - Covers the period 1 st April st March 2014 (all prices exclude VAT). 4 P a g e

5 FAQ Integris G2 Integris G2 is currently hosted by Barnet Council if I m hosted by RM what are the implications for my school? In particular does this add to my workload, how smooth would it be and what s involved in the process? What s the timescales? Implications for your school will be minimal. There would be a change in URL for your school to access Integris but other than that there would be no other changes to the way you work. Once you have instructed us to host your Integris G2 system then the process is as follows. We will contact you to arrange a convenient time to complete the move to the RM hosted servers which would be some time before Friday March 29 th. As part of the move you will be requested to not use the system after 4pm on that day (though the system can still be accessed for Read Only purposes) Your system will be available from 8am on the next working day after your agreed move date. We will send you an detailing your new URL and instructions on how to create a new shortcut on your desktop and a link in your browser favourites. You will need to inform all users of Integris G2 at your school that they need to carry out a similar exercise. That s it! If you have any queries you can simply call our help desk. 5 P a g e

6 If I chose Option 1 (Three year order) do I have to pay for all three years in advance? No an invoice will be raised on an annual basis to cover the period 1 st April -31 st March. If I choose option1 but don t want to renew after the first year what happens? Option 1 is a 3 Year commitment so you would have to pay the charges for years 2 and 3. (In exceptional circumstances such as when a school closes/merges with another school we would not raise an invoice for future years.) If you only wish to place an order for 1 year then Option 2 is available. Can I buy Hosting and Software upgrades without any support option? No our support service is included as part of our software upgrade service All the pricing options are based on Pupil banding how is that calculated? Banding is based on Full Time Equivalent (FTE) number of pupils at your school as per the January census return. (It includes pupils of non-statutory age) Do I have to buy a new licence if my school moves to Academy status? No your existing licence is transferrable at no extra cost. Is support and licencing for Integris G2 only available from RM directly and are there any other options available? As at 1 st April 2013 this is the only option for Barnet schools. Having developed the software and having a fully trained and dedicated support team specifically for our product we feel we are ideally suited to provide an excellent level of support service. If a school has an alternative suggestion in the future we are we are happy to discuss other options. There are other School MIS providers in the market, how can I be sure I m getting good value for money if I renew? We have put our pricing together to represent excellent value for money but we appreciate some schools may wish to take this opportunity to review other options. When reviewing other options schools should consider that Integris G2 includes all the functionality listed on page 2 as standard (i.e. at no additional cost to the school). It has an unlimited user licence, also at no extra charge, allowing additional staff to access the system anywhere within the school or remotely (including home). It should also be noted that a change of system is likely to incur your school with substantial transition costs. The largest of which is likely to be the retraining of school staff to use a different MIS. (This will vary on how much functionality you currently use and how many staff 6 P a g e

7 need training.) There are also likely to be additional hardware costs in relation to buying a school based server. With data migration there is likely to be a cost in transferring data to another system beyond basic CTF information. Outside of the statutory CTF standard, if you have data which is important to your school then you would need to ensure that the alternative MIS has the ability to store the same information as Integris G2 and that existing data can be retained and imported. What are the main differences between the services provided by RM and those which were provided by Barnet Council? Please refer to the Integris G2 Service Level Agreement document for details on what is included. In summary, the Direct School SLA covers these key aspects of support: Software Licences Software upgrades during the year Access to our support desk and Help guides which are available on line. As outlined in the SLA, support is included on the range of functionality included within Integris G2 which includes the Administration, Attendance, Assessment, School Census and School Workforce Census modules. If a school wishes to use an additional module (e.g. Reporting to Parents), then they need to have received training on that module before telephone support is available. 7 P a g e

8 FAQ RM Finance What are the main differences between the services provided by RM and those which were provided by Barnet Council? Our service provides software upgrades and support in using RM Finance. How will the bursarial services I currently take from Barnet Council be affected? A school can continue with bursarial services from Barnet Council. If there is a query which relates to RM Finance then Barnet Council (on a schools behalf) can contact our support desk. Will the version of RM Finance I receive include the existing Barnet specific suite of Reports? Yes this will be provided as standard If I become an Academy school can I continue to use RM Finance? RM Finance is Cash based Accounts system and the requirements for Academy schools require a double entry system. This means that RM Finance does not meet the accounting requirements of Academy schools. We do have an offering Integris Accounts which is a double entry system and includes reports as required for Academy school returns 8 P a g e

9 Option 1 3 Year order with 1 st line support from RM commencing 1 st April Please Fax to Order Entry or oeadminfax@rm.com by 22 nd March (RM Management Solutions Sales Channel) Please find below my order for Integris G2 and Hosting (NB Please type or complete information in CAPITALS and provide a response to all the questions below, ensuring you tick the correct box relating to the number of pupils at your school. This will ensure that your order is processed correctly. Thanks for your help with this) I hereby authorise RM to access and transfer my Integris G2 data currently being stored on servers hosted and managed by Barnet Council to the secure RM data centre so that it is available by 1 st April 2013 on the secure RM data centre. Name of School Post Code Tel No address Signature (Please Print Name) Position Purchase Order reference (if required) School Size (Full time Equivalent) Annual Licencing, Maintenance and Upgrades. (Ex VAT) Please tick as appropriate CRD 1 st April each year starting April 2013 Part No (Internal use only) Less than 100 pupils 995 1YW Pupils YW Pupils YW plus pupils YW-592 Annual Hosting 495 1ME-457 Please note: Option 1 is for a 3 Year order. Renewal invoices will be automatically generated on the 1 st April each year for the above amount. (These prices are guaranteed for the 3 year period.) 9 P a g e

10 Option2 1 Year order with 1 st line support from RM commencing 1 st April Please Fax to Order Entry or oeadminfax@rm.com by 22 nd March (RM Management Solutions Sales Channel) Please find below my One Year order for Integris G2 and Hosting (NB Please type or complete information in CAPITALS and provide a response to all the questions below, ensuring you tick the correct box relating to the number of pupils at your school. This will ensure that your order is processed correctly. Thanks for your help with this) I hereby authorise RM to access and transfer my Integris G2 data currently being stored on servers hosted and managed by Barnet Council to the secure RM data centre so that it is available by 1 st April 2013 on the secure RM data centre. Name of School Post Code Tel No address Signature (Please Print Name) Position Purchase Order reference (if required) School Size (Full time Equivalent) Annual Licencing, Maintenance and Upgrades. (Ex VAT) Please tick as appropriate CRD 1 st April 2013 Part No (Internal use only) Less than 100 pupils 995 1YW Pupils YW Pupils YW plus pupils YW-592 Annual Hosting 495 1ME-457 Please note this pricing will increase by a minimum of the retail price index. 10 P a g e

11 Option 3 1 Year order RM Finance with 1 st line support direct with RM commencing 1 st April Please Fax to Order Entry or oeadminfax@rm.com by 31 st March (RM Management Solutions Sales Channel) Please find below my order for RM Finance. (NB Please type or complete information in CAPITALS and provide a response to all the questions below. This will ensure that your order is processed correctly. Thanks for your help with this) Name of School Post Code Tel No address Signature (Please Print Name) Position Purchase Order reference (if required) Description RM Finance- Barnet version Annual Licencing, Maintenance and Upgrades. (Ex VAT) Required CRD 1 st April 2013 Part No (Internal use only) 665 1Z P a g e

12 Service Level Agreement The support service is provided to assist you, the customer, in achieving your management information requirements through the use of our software. This document sets out our commitment to you in providing this service, detailing its scope and the internal mechanisms and systems that underpin it. Summary Accessibility The Support Service is open 8:30am 5:00pm Monday to Friday Customers may contact us via telephone, or on line Provision We provide 1 st line support services to all directly supported schools We offer technical advice and assistance on all functional areas of Integris G2 Valid links to 3 rd party software are also supported on a reasonable endeavours basis Procedures We aim to respond to customer queries within the same working day All calls are assigned a unique reference number for tracking purposes We are registered under the data protection act and are fully aware of the responsibility surrounding use, confidentiality and non-disclosure of data We take every precaution to protect our systems and those of our customers from virus contamination Customer Responsibility Customers should undertake the recommended product training programme Be able to describe the exact nature of any problem or query detected Fully document any reported error/system messages RM Integris G2 and RM Finance are provided subject to RMs standard terms and conditions and the RM Integris EULA and Terms and Conditions available at all times at 12 P a g e

13 Accessibility We offer comprehensive technical support on the use of the Integris G2 product range through the working hours of 8:30am 5:00pm Monday to Friday except public holidays and the inclusive period between Christmas and New Year. Within these hours of service our team of Support Consultants are available to answer your queries via telephone, or via our on line call logging system. We will always aim to respond by your preferred method of communication. For all queries encountered outside of our operating hours we would recommend that these be escalated to us via . We will then respond to them as a priority at the start of the next business day. Location The support service provides remote technical assistance to all customers in possession of a valid support agreement. An annual support agreement entitles the customer to contact the Support team during that period using any of the aforementioned communication methods. We offer first line support to all directly supported schools. The technologies used in the development of Integris G2 offer the Support team extended remote services, significantly reducing the need for consultants to diagnose queries on site and thus, keeping resolution times to a minimum. In the unlikely event that a site visit is necessary, this would be agreed at the discretion of RM and in consultation with the customer. Provision The support department at RM is an established team of product specialists. The operational duties of the team and the progression of customer queries is the overall responsibility of the Senior Support Consultant. These responsibilities include the allocation and progression of calls, monitoring of outstanding queries, deployment of staff for 1 st line support/investigative duties as well as providing technical leadership and direction to the team. The Integris G2 product suite brings together the many facets of management information into one overall solution at both school and LEA level. For every functional area the RM Support Team offers technical advice and assistance in the following key areas: 13 P a g e

14 Parameter set-up/applying global pupil changes Valid data import mechanisms Routine operational queries e.g. daily, by term and annual school events Compilation of standard reports Completing statutory returns Production of electronic output files We are always looking to promote and extend valid links with third-party software where they offer leading-edge features to complement our own. An example of this would be the Microsoft Office suite where we provide dynamic links to Word and Excel for mail merging letters and labels and for the creation of graphs and charts. The RM Support Team will also offer technical advice and assistance surrounding these links, on a reasonable endeavours basis. A prerequisite for this element of our service is that the customer be competent in the use of these third-party products and that they are already installed and set up correctly. Direct support on the use of these products outside of any RM link will not be provided. Customer Responsibility It is anticipated that customers using any module within the Integrs G2 product suite will also undertake the recommended training programme. The support service is, therefore, designed to supplement customer training and not be seen as a replacement for it. Due to the demands placed on the support service, telephone training cannot be provided. First Response Our aim is to respond to all queries within the same working day, either with a resolution, an agreed next step or an acknowledgement of the query together with the investigating engineer and the call reference number. During peak periods of service, our response times may extend into the next working day for queries received after 14:00hrs. The significant majority of support queries are resolved on the initial call, but inevitably there will be cases where particular questions have not been encountered before and further investigation is required. In such circumstances, our commitment to the user is always to keep them informed of progress and to agree a time scale, if further investigative work is to be carried out. Unless otherwise stated, the maximum investigation time between these customer contact points is five working days. Process All incoming/outgoing calls and s are recorded on our internal systems against the customer site and assigned a unique call reference number. This number may be supplied 14 P a g e

15 to the customer upon request and can be used to check the progress of calls as well and to record supplementary information that may aid in the resolution. Any call received that requires further investigation or additional contact with the customer is left unresolved on our database and the Senior Support Consultant reviews the status of all such calls on a daily basis. On occasions, and at the discretion of RM, access to a customer s data set may be requested for further investigative or corrective work. Our aim is to complete all data investigations/corrections within five working days from the mutually agreed start date. Should there be a requirement for the investigation to extend beyond this timeframe this will again be communicated to the customer. At the time of the initial request, the customer will be advised as to whether they are free to continue recording information on their live file. Where it is agreed that RM will carry out an amendment to the file, any data recorded by the customer during the interim period may be lost. In all cases, remote access to the live customer database is secured only by prior arrangement with the customer and by mutual consent. Data Protection RM respect the sensitivity of all submitted data and are registered under the data protection act (registration number: Z ). In terms of data protection legislation, all pupil information recorded on our Integris G2 software suite is regarded as 'sensitive pupil data' and we therefore give the following undertakings: Access to the data is restricted to only those RM Support Consultants who need to see it for the purpose of the investigative/corrective work All RM Support Consultants are fully aware of their responsibilities surrounding use, confidentiality and non-disclosure of the data Once the investigative/corrective work is complete, any data copied to support systems is securely removed and any accompanying media destroyed. As part of this undertaking we also ensure that the copy data cannot be restored in any way. Virus Protection Whilst the propagation of viruses and worms is outside of RM s control, we make every effort to protect our systems and those of our customers. RM currently has a corporate agreement for the provision of anti-virus software across all of its divisions and includes remote workers. Monthly upgrades are distributed automatically to all RM workstations and servers. Any special upgrades required for 15 P a g e

16 protection against newly identified viruses are distributed as soon as they become available. All forms of electronic distribution media are protected from contamination and checks are carried out on a regular basis to ensure that automatic upgrades to the software have been implemented. No forms of electronic distribution media (floppy disks or CDs) are reused. Internal Systems We maintain a list of valid product enhancements, as requested by customers, which is analysed by product management and prioritised at regular customer forums/user group meetings to form the scope of future product releases. The RM Support Team should be seen as the first point of contact for customers to request and validate such enhancements. Additional Services In addition to the support provided through our team of product consultants, we also have an extensive array of product fact sheets available on-line, in the form of a web-delivered knowledge library, which can be accessed at your convenience. These materials are pitched at both operator and system administrator level, which may be supplied to assist in the resolution of your queries. Technical Support Contact Details Opening hours Monday to Friday 8:30am 5:00pm Telephone on line sms.support@rm.com To submit ideas and enhancement requests for Integris G2 and to vote on other people s ideas or requests please visit 16 P a g e