Friday, November 23, 2012

BC Liberal Fiscal Fail: Education Computer Program

More brilliant fiscal management by BC Liberals. People who have more energy than this intrepid writer should investigate where the money trail leads, because I can virtually guarantee it that the corporation who got the bid to create this software had lobbyists and put money into BC Liberal party coffers. 

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Inadequacies confirmed; BCeSIS to be dropped
Janet Steffenhagen, September 19, 2011, Vancouver Sun.


BCeSIS, the BC electronic Student Information System, cost of $16 million to develop and about $11 million a year to operate and maintain, says a story in Monday’s Sun. In addition, the province paid $6.6 million in incentives to the 56 of 60 school districts willing to use the software.

 Last year, in response to complaints, the Education Ministry hired Gartner Inc. to conduct an independent review to determine whether BCeSIS was worth saving. In a Sept. 12 report, the company said it’s time for a change.
“BCeSIS, as currently deployed, is not meeting the business, technical or operational needs of BC and is not a viable future alternative,” Gartner concludes. “Within the current marketplace there exist multiple vendors that would be better able to support the direction of BC and be able to provide the technical architecture necessary to achieve its objectives and goals.”
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Updated: Ministry of Education corrects Minister's comments over BCeSIS
VANCOUVER/CKNW (AM980)
Shane Woodford | Email news tips to shane.woodford@corusent.com
11/21/2012

The Ministry of Education is clarifying comments made by the Minister over replacing the troubled provincial student enrollment software called BCeSIS.

Education Minister Don McRae had said the contract wouldn't go to tender until this spring.

But the ministry says the request for proposal will actually be issued in a couple of weeks. The Ministry is also updating the cost of the software putting it at $81.3 million as of the end of 2013.

McRae says he is looking for a BCeSIS replacement that is a little cheaper.

"The world is changing and so is technology so I think we are at a place where we can actually get a program that will have better access for teachers and allow, when students go from one district to another, that there information flows with them seamlessly. But right now what we really want to do is use our stakeholder groups whether it is a teacher, a principal, can they give us feedback as to what would make a great program for them."
McRae says new software will be phased in by September 2014.

"Starting the transition period and it will be by 2015 it should be on province wide usage."
When asked if school districts would still have to pay into the new software, like they do with BCeSIS, McRae says "I am not going to guess where we are going to involve going forward what I do want to know is if there is mistakes in the new program or are there things the districts have a real concern about that they are sharing that information with the ministry that we make sure that we get the best possible program out there."

The province decided to scrap BCeSIS after a 2011 review determined the software was falling short of meeting the needs of educators.

The problem plagued software crashed province wide causing widespread frustrations in the beginning of the 2010 school year.

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