SIMS Finance - Inroduction for Partners

Introduction

SIMS Finance is our new financial management product for academies, schools, and colleges and will be rolled out to customers from H2-2018 alongside our FMS 6 product[1].  The new product is offered as a cloud-hosted solution access via a set of supported web browsers.  SIMS Finance is based on an existing product, Integra which is widely in use within the UK public sector. One of the major enhancements is support for multi-company which will allow MATs, Independent Groups, and LAs to have a cross-school implementation controlled centrally but allowing each establishment to manage their own day-to-day finances.  Integra has been significantly customised for the education market with a view to simplicity and assumes day-to-day use without the need for higher-level accountancy skills.

Planned Services for Our Partners

We plan to roll forward similar services to those offered for FMS.

• Consultancy
• Support for SIMS Finance (Development / Usage)
• Access to instances of SIMS Finances (Company in a shared deployment)
• Catalogue Services
• Bespoke services

Pricing will be available shortly in the updated Partner Management Guide.

Opportunities for Partner Integrations

At Launch

We will offer:

• Static Catalogue Support
  • Based on new file formats
  • May be possible to use the same feed as FMS6 (TBC)

We have been working with 3 partners to implement punch out and would want to extend this to support existing partners assuming that they can offer this service.  Please contact us if you wish to engage with Punchout provision[2].

We have started to work on our first static catalogue and again would welcome approaches from existing catalogue providers[3].

Future Opportunities

We are considering the following based on current partner engagements:

• cXML Punchout
  • To web site
  • Order post back
• Invoice / Credit Note Import
  • cXML via http (and /or) ftp
  • eGov 3.09 format via http (and /or) ftp but not necessarily via the current APIs.
•  Content Order / Import
  • eGov 3.09 format via http (and /or) ftp but not necessarily via the current APIs.
• Dynamic Catalogues
  • Supports daily updates from a supplier web site.
• Journal imports
  • General generic journal import from products such as SIMS Fees Billing / SIMS Agora & Partner products.
  • Payroll journal imports
• Budget Planning Import
  • Similar concept to FMS but may be different formats
• Generic exports
  • Chart of accounts
  • Nominal Ledger Actuals 

Please note that no time lines should be assumed on the above; however we would appreciate approaches from partners who are keen to engage with any of the above or who would like to explore other integrations.

Model for Integration

SIMS Finance has a number of integration toolkits which can be used to achieve the above.  The integration toolkits are not intended to be end user tools and will be used by ESS staff to implement ‘features’ for customers.

The hosted nature of the product also means that external call locations need to be white listed on our firewalls to avoid failure; these tasks will be factored in to any integration work needed.  The hosted team will also consider loading with the aim of avoiding say 1000 schools trying to collect invoices from a supplier at the same time.

Please note that there are no ‘Formal APIs’ for SIMS Finance, however many of the required integrations can be achieved using the integration toolkits within the product.

[1] No end of life date has been set for FMS at the time of publication.

[2] Service charges may apply

[3] Service charges may apply