Simpson Associates announces a series of breakfast and half day seminars covering Microsoft SharePoint 2010.  The 'Insight into SharePoint 2010' series is focused on giving you an introduction to Microsoft SharePoint with a particular emphasis on the Business Intelligence components available.  Simpson Associates are very excited about the upcoming release of the next version of SharePoint and are already working with the product to ensure that our clients are able to maximise their investment in this technology.  These events are being held in York, Birmingham and London, further details can be found here.

Simpson Associates' announce their second PLR win of the year. The client is a leading clothing manufacturer in the Midlands.

The government has confirmed that the budget for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is to be slashed by £915M over three years, reports the Times Higher Education, 4^th January 2010.

Paul Marshall, the Chief Executive of the 1994 Group of Smaller Research Universities, has said that these cuts would place an 'enormous burden' on the on-going review of Higher Education funding and student finances.

Sir David Watson, Professor of Higher Education at The University of London, said that the impact of this 'at a detailed level,' is that there will be even greater competition for smaller pots of funding available through HEFCE, which will impact all Universities.

Once again, the emphasis is on efficiency and savings and those organisations who can demonstrate University-wide audit ability and control of finances, student choice and student support will be better candidates for continued HEFCE support. Higher Education Institutions will be under even more pressure to deliver transparent and coherent information and to demonstrate well managed financial control.

To find out how we are working with Universities to provide solutions that can contribute to the central management of student resources, financial management and information management and transparency, contact us today on 01904 234523.

To review this article on line click here www.timeshighereducation.co.uk.

Congratulations to Cameron Knight who is the winner of our annual Customer Services satisfaction survey.  Cameron is the winner of the iPod Touch.  We received seventy entries from the survey and will be implementing new aspects to our service as we seek to continually improve during the course of 2010.  Thank you to everyone who entered into the survey.

Simpson Associates has won a new contract to be the support providing partner for a well known insurance provider who were seeking a support providing partner for their IBM Cognos environment.  Simpson Associates is pleased to have been successful in winning a three year agreement and looks forward to developing this relationship.

Simpson Associates announce their first PLR win of the new decade. The new contract is with a manufacturer based in Scotland. 

Research published recently shows 4 UK Uni's have a place in the World University Rankings 2009, however resulting commentary highlights the 'gap' in University-wide information, which fails to fully express academic excellence. The survey which delivers these rankings, combines scientific and economic factors, but does not deliver a full illustration of an Institutions overall performance, or any validated student feedback or experience. Read more about our student planning and performance solutions here.

The Times newspaper on Tuesday 1st December contained a very informative Business Intelligence supplement, if you missed it then it is available here.

One of the articles discussed Microsoft's next generation of Business Intelligence and what will be released with Office 2010, SharePoint 2010 and SQL Server 2008R2.  Microsoft  is also extending its "managed self service" offering with a product called PowerPivot.  PowerPivot is an add-in for Excel that allows large amounts of structured and unstructured data to be easily analysed within Excel and shared via SharePoint. 

Simpson Associates has been working this these products over the last couple of months,  if you would like to understand more about how these products will deliver benefits to your organisation please contact us.

 

The priorities for Universities were identified as being financial sustainability and improved communication(s) between organisational stakeholders, sponsors and central Management Information (MI) Teams.

"Internal customer expectations will be high, as we aim to generate sufficient resources to meet all the costs required to deliver services into the future." Derek Barton, Quaestor & Factor, The University of St. Andrews.

This year's annual UCISA conference was hosted by The University of St. Andrews and the keynote speaker was Derek Barton, Quaestor & Factor (Financial Controller and Head of Estates). With worldwide economic losses approaching >£2.3trillion during this recession, Derek stated that:

"No wonder the UK economy is feeling the pinch, imagine that we have lost Oracle and Microsoft combined and then times that by eight, then we are getting somewhere near to the level of losses that we have been hit with in the UK. With this much money to recover and given the priority to provide basic resources across all sectors, Universities are likely to be a low priority in government terms. This will lead to tougher competition for investment from the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE), when data quality and the management of information become key."

The focus of the UCISA event was Information Management. Derek concluded that the area where a University Systems Group can add maximum value in these tough economic times, is in improved communication and business liaison between University stakeholders and internal delivery teams. This will ensure that new investments in terms of Information Management meet the needs of the business users, which in turn align to a central information strategy.

Simpson Associates offers a unique service in support of this direction. Our Solutions Architects 'bridge the gap' between stakeholders, users and delivery teams  and have been deployed successfully at universities including: Cambridge University, the University of Nottingham, Sheffield Hallam University and London South Bank University.

As a result of these engagements, stakeholders were 'engaged' and involved in the development process, their needs represented by us being involved. The result in every case was a successful project delivery, which met the technical, commercial and organisational needs of these establishments, as well as many satisfied users.

To read more about the services we offer click here, or to speak to us directly about how we can work with your Higher Education establishment, contact us.

From the 20th to the 21st of November, Giles Horwood and Dave Kerby attended the SQL Bits Goes West SQL Conference.

"This was a great event that allowed us to build upon the beta testing that we have been doing for the next versions of SQL Server, SharePoint and Office. We were able to see a number of demonstrations of SQL 2008 R2, the new PowerPivot functionality and the new Master Data Management features."

SQL Server 2008 R2, Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 have many new features that can contribute towards Business Intelligence becoming pervasive across an organisation. For example, with the introduction of PowerPivot, users will be able to analyse millions or even tens of millions of records within Excel or over the Web, at speed.  All the additional features mean that, by means of upgrades, users will be able to capitalise on investments made in Microsoft SQL Server, Office and SharePoint.

As a business, we are continuing to work with beta software to ensure that when this software is released in the first half of 2010, we have the detailed knowledge to assist clients adopt these new technologies.

To understand how Simpson Associates can assist you in maximising your investment in Microsoft SQL Server today, and with the new releases planned for next year, contact us.