The Commercially Developed SIMS from a Humble Beginning

This chapter gives an outline of general developments in SIS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland over a period of the last twelve years and gives a more detailed description of the current market leader called School Information Management System (SIMS). There have been two quite distinct phases of development of SISs in these parts of the United Kingdom, the demarcation line being drawn at the time of Central Government funding through a variety of Education Support Grants available to Local Education Authorities (LEAs). After a general overview of the historical context of Information Technology in Educational Management (ITEM) in the UK, the detail of the development and current state of SIMS will be described. The authors have a wide experience of the development of SIS, being involved with early developments in their own schools, and then respectively as a university researcher of ITEM and Support Centre Manager for SIMS implementation within one LEA.