A management information system (MIS) outage at a major supplier has left schools unable to pay suppliers, run after-school clubs and respond to safeguarding concerns. Leaders say the problems with the Bromcom system have also left them without access to timetables and prevented them from completing everyday tasks within working hours 鈥 with one MAT boss calling the situation a 鈥渃ar crash鈥. The company has apologised for the start-of-term issues, but admitted it is unsure how many schools have been hit. 鈥Simply not acceptable鈥 A shows the incident impacted the company鈥檚 MIS cloud between September 4 and 9. Two days were hit by 鈥100 per cent severe degradation鈥, with the system 鈥渄egraded鈥 for more than nine hours on two others. The system was also listed as being offline for periods – but Bromcom stressed the system has “remained online” over the “four working days”. The page shows the MIS cloud has been 鈥100 per cent operational鈥 since Wednesday. Sharples School in Bolton sent parents its formal complaint letter to Bromcom. The letter said 鈥減oor and unreliable鈥 service was having a 鈥渕ajor impact on the day-to-day running鈥 of the secondary. The school鈥檚 ability to 鈥渞espond to safeguarding concerns logged on the system鈥 was also impacted. 鈥淎s you will appreciate鈥 we rely heavily on Bromcom for these functions, and not being to access the system is simply not acceptable.鈥 A boss at a trust whose schools were also impacted called the situation a 鈥渃ar crash鈥. Pupils and staff were unable to access timetables online and were unable to print hard copies. Meanwhile, one headteacher said staff were working early in the morning and into the evenings to rectify issues. An ‘annual’ problem Their school also decided to postpone after-school clubs, as parents were unable to book slots online. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 been able to pay suppliers or raise the right invoices. We鈥檝e had suppliers on our backs. It鈥檚 more the reputational damage 鈥 it reflects badly on us.鈥 A senior trust leader elsewhere said attendance teams had suffered the 鈥渟ingle biggest hit鈥. The chain was uncertain who was absent 鈥渦ntil much later in the day and we’re having to tally which children have hit thresholds for home visits鈥. The trust was also unable to contact parents to notify them their child had a medical incident. 鈥淭he bigger worry [is] this is becoming an annual problem as we faced the same chaotic issue this time last year. It鈥檚 just not good enough.鈥 Staff have added scores of posts to Reddit and EduGeek pages, with some sharing images of the error messages they received when trying to use the system. 鈥We鈥re sorry鈥 Simon Walters, Bromcom鈥檚 chief operating officer, stressed that the platform was 鈥渘ow stable鈥, but the company continued to 鈥渃losely monitor鈥 the situation. 鈥淲e sincerely apologise for the disruption,鈥 he said. 鈥淪afeguarding is hugely important to us, and we deeply regret the strain this issue has placed on the affected school staff, pupils and the wider community, specifically at the start of the academic year.鈥 A notification sent to schools last Thursday said one of Bromcom鈥檚 鈥渟ervers developed a serious fault鈥, which caused some 鈥渋nstability鈥. The company would not say why the outage happened, but added that it was 鈥渨orking on a full root-cause analysis鈥 and would tell customers and stakeholders its findings 鈥渨ithin the next seven days to both restore confidence in the platform and to ensure it doesn鈥檛 happen again鈥. The cause was 鈥渄ifferent鈥 to the issues at the start of last year, even though 鈥渢he disruption/impact is similar鈥. Market shift in MIS world The emergence of cloud-based suppliers such as Bromcom has led to big changes in the MIS world, estimated to be worth about 拢200 million. Bromcom鈥檚 market share has risen to 16 per cent, analysis by the blog suggests, with accounts for 2024 showing the company鈥檚 turnover soared 50 per cent to 拢32 million. Net profit also rose 75 per cent up to 拢3 million. Nick Finnemore, a consultant who used to work for SIMS, another supplier, said schools were now so reliant on these systems that 鈥渨hen they do go down it has a massive impact鈥. 鈥淪chools need to be aware that anything can happen with software. For the high-risk, important processes, they should make sure they have a way continuing to do [them] without relying on the MIS solely.鈥