Help/FAQs
About SIMS
What is "SIMS"? Why have you used a fancy acronym to describe a simple school website?
SIMS is the EASIEST way for you to create your school's website. With SIMS you can quickly, and easily get your school information, newsletters, calendar dates, photographs, P&C information and staff Intranet online. We like to brag that it is as easy as editing a word file.
SIMS stands for School Information Management System and we call it this because SIMS is more than just a school website. It allows ALL STAFF (and potentially students) to play their part in updating the school's website so that the responsibility does not just fall onto the computer coordinator. Similarly, it gives teachers the opportunity to control their part of the website, even if they have very little technical knowledge.
How fast can you get my school online?
Really fast. Once you provide us with the basic information for your school we can have your website up and running in under a day, from there we will get you logged into the system and show you how to start adding information to the website.
How do I sign up for SIMS?
You can visit our Sign Up page or email team@fastlearners.com.au, but probably the best way is to give us a call on 1300-1-LEARN (which translates to 1300153276), we can give you a run-down of just how valuable SIMS can be for your school, and we'll even set up your website for free (and make it look great), just to show you what this powerful system is capable of.
DET Questions
Are SIMS websites DET compliant?
Yes. We have worked very hard to follow the DET guidelines for school website development and all SIMS websites pass the DET website checklist.
Can I use my DET web address?
Yes, once we set up your website we can transfer your official web address and use it for your website.
Can I use a different URL/Domain Name
Yes we can register a domain name for you, you can even use both your DET domain name and one you register yourself, this is what Maitland Grossmann High does with www.mghs.com.au to make it easier for parents and community to remember the website.
Training and Staff Development for SIMS
Do you offer Training for this system?
I'm glad you asked because this is our specialty. We host Staff Development days for up to 10 staff at a time in our Newtown office. We're also happy to come to your school to run the day to save you money (especially if you are in the bush or outside of the Sydney area and travel/accommodation is a problem).
Our training days involve taking you through the basics of how to use the system, how to get documents online, how to add calendar and news events to the website, how to add photo galleries, how to link to other websites and how to get your school's website to show up in the search engines.
We've found so far that even teachers who "don't even know how to turn it on" can learn the basics of the system in only 2 or 3 hours and we generally spend the rest of the training working on getting heaps of content onto the website! We encourage you to bring plenty of documents, photos and other material to the training days so we can get it online on the day!
Is the training free?
This is the one thing we do have to charge for from the start, however our rates are cheap and comparable to other Staff Development Days. To find out what our Staff Development Days are like, please see our Case Study on MGHS.
Security, Backup, Export, etc
Is our data backed up in case of an emergency?
Yes we make backups of our software and databases every few hours during the day, so if you lose some of your data or one of our systems explodes, we will usually be able to restore your website within an hour. We also securely backup your data off-site and off-shore to make extra certain there is no risk of losing data. I know so many teachers who have lost documents they have worked on for hours or days, and will not allow this to happen on our system!
Is SIMS reliable, secure and confidential? Is our data safe? Where is the website hosted?
We have a fast and reliable connection and powerful servers with redundant power, etc. Your data is behind multiple security doors and we employ modern security techniques to protect your data. The website hosted at our Newtown offices at Level 1, 277 King St Newtown. Please note that we also offer the option of hosting the website from within your own school, to make your access super-fast, and so you can control the computer yourself.
Can we export our website if we don't want to use SIMS any more?
Yes we will be happy to give you access to all your webpages and data, we will even help you set up a new, alternative website to avoid any inconvenience.
Fees & Payment Structure
Why do you charge a yearly fee?
We do this so that we can provide you with free phone support any time you need it and also so we can continually update the system and implement any feature requests you might have.
If I cancel, will I lose my website?
No of course not, we think the most fair thing to do if you cancel is to give you a full copy of your website as it was on the day you cancelled and help you set it up on an alternate host. The only thing you will miss out on is system updates and telephone support.
Do you offer cheaper rates for smaller schools?
Yes of course, we base your yearly rate on expected usage of the system in terms of number of students and teachers, and the number of system features you require or desire. So if you're school is just in a paddock, we'll charge you next to nothing and still give you the same level of friendly support. And if you're a huge school we'll make sure that you get enormous value out of the system, and still pay a price which is fair.
Can I cancel at any time?
Absolutely! There are no contracts. If you cancel we will refund the current month's fee and as explained earlier we'll help you set up an alternative website for no charge. If you are cancelling because you are totally unhappy with the system and haven't benefited from it, we'll refund everything you've ever paid us (excluding training).
How do I cancel?
Just give us a call on 1300 1 LEARN or email team@fastlearners.com.au