The problems of administering a School, even a small school, have not been well addressed by writers of software in the Acorn world. Even those of us teaching in Acorn schools are often forced to use PC packages. At last this situation has a remedy, even if only for Primary/Junior Schools.
PIMS or Primary Information Management System from Longman Logotron is the first management system available for the Acorn range of computers for use in schools.
PIMS is actually a difficult package to review in the normal sense. One usually gains a good impression of a package at an early stage of using it Ö often by comparison with another package. In this case, there is no other similar package on the Acorn platform. Comparisons with DOS/Windows packages are fruitless Ö if you are using them you are probably stuck with them.
Any administration package has a steep curve of usability. This is only partially related to its ease of use. Any changeover will tend to be gradual, and there will be certain aspects of any package, for example Inventory, that you may decide not to use immediately, if at all.
One area by which any administration software will tend to stand or fall, will be in relation to pupil and staff records. Other aspects, such as accounts, are more problematic.
Data input
As you would expect, the pupil/staff aspects are dealt with via a database-like function. This is written in Longman Logotronæs S-Base. Pupil and staff records are at the heart of PRIME (PIMS Rapid Information Management Environment).
The pupil data contains all that one would expect and require in a Primary/Junior school. This is entered into a card for each pupil and a number of fields have the fast entry method, whereby a menu appears and the user makes an appropriate choice.
An example is the Doctor field Ö most pupils would live locally and have a Doctor from a Group Practice. You simply enter the names of the doctors and, by using <menu>, their names appear. One single click and their names are entered on the individualæs card.
Data output
This certainly eases data entry, but it is data output, not entry, which is critical in any such software. After all, you may initially only be using the software to produce better looking lists. Anything else you can do may be a nice spin-off, but is not as crucial as a well presented, up-to-date class list.
Here PIMS really comes into its own. There are four pre-defined methods of displaying the data on screen and these, combined with careful searching and sorting, give access to a wide variety of paper outputs. As with any such software, the ability to customise is useful Ö but you probably wonæt need to change it immediately. Only when you realise the true potential of the package as it stands, does this ability become useful. The Report Designer enables a whole range of different reports to be designed, and should certainly assist on Form 7 Day.
One PIMS trainer I spoke to said that, depending on the school, this level of true functionality only becomes apparent to some schools a year after installation of the software.
Documentation and support
This brings us to another very important point about PIMS. The software is well supported by a very good manual Ö but a manual is often a last resort. After all, the whole point of PIMS is that it is being presented on a RISCáOS desktop Ö it should therefore be naturally easy to use.
In the case of PIMS, however, the manual is not the last resort. PIMS is not sold as just a software package, but as part of a bundle, which includes training and support. Without these it is useless. The training and support exist not because PIMS is difficult to use Ö it is not Ö but because, without these, productivity will not increase. If productivity did not increase, you would have to ask questions as to why you were computerising the administration in the first place. In fact, productivity would plummet, simply because you were running two systems in parallel.
Some might consider that talk of productivity was out of place in a primary school context. If so, they are probably well out of touch with modern educational developments. Resource management becomes more critical in smaller organisations, not less.
Accounts
The accounting part of PIMS consists of an Accounts module, a Budgeting module, a Purchasing module, an Inventory module and a Petty Cash module.
The copy of PIMS I was reviewing was the PIMS Evaluation Pack consisting of the full manual and disks which only contain a subset of the full package. None of the accounting modules were available, and I am always reluctant to pass comment or judgment on any software based only on what the manual says it should do.
Perhaps, to be fair to PIMS, it would be best to say that if the accounting software performs only half as well as the pupil/staff modules, it is an excellent overall package.
Try before you buy?
As PIMS does consist of a total solution to Primary/Junior school management, Longman provide alternative methods of ÉTry before you buyæ. I have already mentioned the PIMS Evaluation Package, and another solution is the Dealer Demonstration Package. Obviously, this involves an Acorn Dealer who is accredited by Longman who will demonstrate the entire package before a school commits itself.
In fact, I would advise against the Evaluation Pack Ö its scope is too limited to give a fair idea of what the total package is likely to be capable of achieving.
Equipment
PIMS will run on any RISCáOS computer equipped with a hard disc, but I would always recommend using the most powerful machine available. For most primary schools, an A5000 or A4000 would suffice, if it has at least 4Mb of RAM, but a RiscáPC would be a more sensible option for new users.
Overall
I have very few reservations about this major package. One slight gripe is that, although the manual is excellent and the package relatively straightforward, I like on-line help. Perhaps I have been spoilt by the excellent on-line help which accompanies most Windows programs, but I really prefer it to manuals.
The purchase of PIMS should not be considered as a one-time purchase. Indeed, there would be major disadvantages if this were the case. To be of any use, an administration package must be able to respond to change Ö both from the user, and changes caused by external agencies, such as the Department for Education or the Local Education Authority.
Longman are constantly updating PIMS in response to both factors for change. Any school which had particular requirements could probably be accommodated, owing to the inherent flexibility of PIMS and the S-Base language in which it is written.
Indeed, there are already major changes underway. For this reason, any purchaser would wish to always have the latest version and, for this reason, is really purchasing a rolling licence which entitles them to this level of user support.
Conclusion
Any Primary/Junior School even considering the introduction of computers into its administration should consider this package. This advice applies whatever other systems are currently in use Ö it costs nothing to look and evaluate. Data can be imported and exported, and the data is not locked into one platform.
Talk to your local Acorn Education Dealer before committing yourself to any other administration system Ö PIMS will offer you an Acorn alternative.áuá
