Congratulations to Jonathan Endersby of Msys, who has won a Kindle for entering our annual Services Survey!  We received lots of entries and, as always, will be analysing the results to ensure that we continue to offer the best possible service to our customers over the coming years.  Thank you to everyone who entered. 

Our latest Case Study describes how the time it takes Costcutter to build their sales cube was reduced from 18 hours to only 35 minutes, using Microsoft SQL Server R2, Analysis & Reporting Services, Excel 2010 and Simpson Associates Information Services! This means that the cube can be refreshed more regularly and that changes can be made more reliably; the business now has the information it needs, when it needs it.  In the words of Francis Barton, Head of IT:

"Simpson Associates were determined to find the right solution for us. They helped us consider all technical options, but more fundamentally, helped us to solve a business problem."

BOARD International, the global provider of Business Intelligence (BI) and Corporate Performance Management (CPM) software, has announced a strategic partnership agreement with Simpson Associates, specialists in delivering and supporting Business applications throughout the UK.  

This agreement extends the global network of BOARD Business Partners as well as supporting Simpson Associates' objective to provide their customers with solutions for better business understanding, more effective decision-taking and improved financial performance to drive competitive advantage.

BOARD's single integrated approach to BI and CPM supports Simpson Associates objectives by delivering business critical information quickly and easily, integrating the processes of budgeting, planning, forecasting, with reporting, analysis, dashboarding and scorecarding all in one system.

Mark White, Services Director and Head of Business Strategy at Simpson Associates says: "Our company's growth is driven by our ability to understand our customers' Performance Management requirements, to advise them as to the available options and then to design, manage and deliver applications that can deliver real business benefits. We believe that BOARD is a market leading product that deserves to be at the forefront of our customers' thinking."

 "I am delighted to be collaborating with Simpson Associates," adds Dominic Policella, Managing Director of BOARD UK. "This strategic partnership between Simpson Associates and BOARD will allow us to continue to deliver compelling BI and CPM solutions into the UK market and to build on the tremendous business value that BOARD brings to clients worldwide".

To read the Press Release in full, click here.

IBM Cognos 10 is set to be launched on the 25th October 2010. 

Signup and watch the live launch here.

Can't wait till then watch the introduction video here.

Simpson Associates have been working with IBM Cognos and one of our UK customers on the Cognos 10 beta program over the last 6 months thus we have a unique ability to help you understand the benefits of Cognos 10.

In the words of one of our clients: "I wish we had met Simpson Associates six months earlier - it would have saved us a lot of time. We are delighted with the service that Simpson Associates has given to us. They even delivered a series of standard documents and procedures to really kick-start the engagement."

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.

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.

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 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.

Simpson Associates have won two new contracts to be the support providing partners.These customers were both supported by other IBM Cognos partners and were looking for faster response times and more pro-active preventative support and education