I hear on the grapevine that CAPITA will be demonstrating their new concept app at BETT 2010. The new ‘concept app’ launching at BETT this year is SIMS ‘Discover’. The new ‘Discover’ app is designed essentially to make  SIMS data a lot easier to analyse. so you can. You can now manipulate data more visually than ever before – data can be pulled from lists and presented in a range of graphs from bar charts, pie chart, progression lines and Venn diagrams.  

So, for example, you could create a Venn diagram with three circles — pupils with below 75 per cent attendance, pupils with below average attainment, pupils with more than a specified number of behaviour incidents. The intersection of the three creates a group who may require intervention. This group can then become “dynamic user defined” – that’s to say, the software will continue to keep membership of the group up to date as students move in or out of that intersecting field.

Capita have also finally gotten round to looking at their user interface. SIMS by its very nature is a powerful and consequently complicated product. Taking a leaf out of Apple’s book. Capita have employed a UI designer to address the challenge of making SIMS easier to use, yet retaining the powerful functions under the bonnet. At BETT it will show how touch-screen technology and graphics will be able to present the teacher with a highly accessible and multi-functional “dashboard” for the day’s work. There’ll be student data, with realtime alerts, general announcements, quick links to lesson content – lots of information and support on a screen that’s kept uncluttered and attractive with the aid of an advanced graphical interface manipulated by touch and gesture.

Does ‘Discover’ deliver? – well take a look at it when visiting the CAPITA stand at BETT, ask yourself does it allow you to do the things you’ve always wanted to with an MIS easily and quickly?