We’re delighted that our MIS team have been awarded a contract to support 128 schools in Wales with their MIS provision. Tracy House, Head of Data Management Services shares how the journey started back in 2023 when Arbor introduced her to a gentleman called John Tratnik who works for Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council (RCT).
“John explained that the schools in Wales were about to go through a period of change brought about by the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA). A decision had been made that all local authorities in Wales would review their MIS provision for their schools when the current contract came to an end. John had heard about our work with Arbor and migrating our schools at scale and wanted to find out a little more about how we managed the project and if we could offer any advice to them.
During that first meeting we offered our support and when the time came for them to move MIS a great collaborative relationship was formed. We met every few months following that first meeting to discuss what was happening in the English MIS market and what was happening just over the border in Wales.
John recommended us to his colleagues in Cardiff who reached out to us in December 2024 requesting a meeting to discuss the possibility of supporting their schools whilst they procured a new MIS. When they met, they informed us that support would be required for SIMS and FMS (finance software) and it would be for a period of 12 months, but they required our proposal by the end of that week as a decision needed to be made by the end of term. Our Data Management Services (DMS), Financial Services and Marketing teams worked together to get our proposal produced and sent over to Cardiff by the deadline and we were delighted to be awarded the contract in January 2025 with support starting on 1st April for 128 schools.
John and some of his colleagues reached out to us in February 2025 to see if we could support their 111 schools with SIMS whilst RCT migrated them to Bromcom, this was a given and support for the Rhondda schools started in March 25.
During this time Arbor had introduced us to colleagues in the Vale of Glamorgan who also required assistance when moving MIS. After meeting online and then meeting Sara and Gill in person at BETT, we were awarded the support contract in February with support starting in March 2025. The Vale of Glamorgan are a 53 school local authority which has seen all schools move to Arbor by the end of March 2025.
It's really exciting for the team to be supporting our Welsh colleagues as their MIS and statutory returns are slightly different to those in England. This has added an extra string to our bow.
The relationships we have forged in Wales have not only reaped rewards in support contracts but we will also be adding a Welsh section to our new MIS Framework which we are currently working on. This has been made possible with the help of our Welsh colleagues providing specifications which are relevant to Wales.
John from RCT still continues to spread the good word about HFL to his colleagues in Local Authorities across Wales and we feel that our Welsh journey has only just begun!
All of the above would not be possible without the expertise, credibility and dedication of the DMS Team. Our DMS team are quickly becoming one of the leading support units in the UK with other support teams and Local Authorities seeking advice and support from us.”
If you’d like to speak to Tracy and the team about your LA, school or trust’s requirements, email support@hfleducation.org or call 01438 544466.
