SIMS Agora
online payments
Helen Browning
Account Manager
The new online payments
solution from SIMS
www.payyourschool.co.uk
Easy way to pay for school items
Helping the whole school community
SIMS Agora… for schools

Secure, integrated online school payments

Seamless automatic integration & updates with SIMS.net

Seamless automatic integration & updates SIMS Dinner Money

School manages bank account administration

Faster payment reconciliation

Allows parents to manage their own login details

Improves security & safeguarding
Processing
over £2.2billion
Education
Over 2 million
payment
Housing
transactions
peryear
month
payments per
Local Government
So What?
Why
Agora?
Making school payments simple
 Easy to use
 Integrated
 Safe ▪ secure ▪ resilient
 Trusted
Microsoft
SIMS Agora automatically shows
Balances
and
payments
each pupil’s dinner money balance
automatically
synchronised
&
Parents can pay online for their child:
updated
between
SIMS Agora
SIMS
Dinner Money
is automatically
updated
Payments made online by parents for
their children through SIMS Agora are
automatically updated in your SIMS Dinner
Money module for the pupil’s account
Any cash or cheque payments entered into
SIMS Dinner Money manually will also show
in the parent’s SIMS Agora account
SIMS Agora payment details include the
payment card type, bill payer name, date,
amount per pupil & payment reference
SIMS Agora update
 Launched at
January 30th 2013
 Early Adopter Scheme (field trials) started
January - April 2013
 Availability update – target SIMS Spring 2013 Release
 Continuing developments through 2013
Agora pricing
 Annual subscription based service
 1 or 3 year options
 Range of training options
 Transaction fees:
o Debit card: 30p per transaction
o Credit card 1.6% per transaction
o No gateway charges
SIMS Agora Pricing – 1 year option
Standard Annual Subscription
One-off Connection &
Configuration fee
Primary / Junior
£395 per year
£200
Secondary / Senior School
£975 per year
£200
Single-site Sales:
LA/Group Sales (min of 20 or more schools committing to purchase Agora in a single purchase/group deal)
Primary / Junior
£295 per year
£200
Secondary / Senior School
£875 per year
£200
Subscriptions will be pro-rated within the year, with all contracts renewing on 1st April.
SIMS Agora Pricing – 3 year option
Annual Subscription
Introductory Offer
orders placed up to 31st August 2013
Standard Annual
Subscription
One-off Connection
& Configuration fee
Single-site Sales:
Primary / Junior
£295 year 1
£395 per year
£200
Secondary / Senior School
£795 year 1
£975 per year
£200
LA/Group Sales (min of 20 or more schools committing to purchase Agora in a single purchase/group deal)
Primary / Junior
£235 year 1
£295 per year
£200
Secondary / Senior School
£635 year 1
£875 per year
£200
Subscriptions will be pro-rated within the year, with all contracts renewing on 1st April.
Prices are for a 3 year contract per school.
All customers paying the introductory price for year 1 will pay standard pricing for years 2 & 3.
Easy parent/guardian account activation
Supporting schools with parent engagement
Agora - Looking ahead
Cashless Catering
DINNER MONEY
InTouch
SLG
FMS
SIMS Agora online payments – what schools using Agora have said…
“Using SIMS Agora has been very easy for our school – it just
works! The setup and training was all very straightforward – just
a few simple steps. After the setup all we had to do was activate
the parent groups. Then we sent out letters with the easy-to-use
guide for our parents that Capita provided – it really was that
easy. We find the system very intuitive to use. SIMS Agora helps
us to keep track of school finances like dinner money payments
and nursery fees. Our parents like the system too and really
appreciate the convenience of being able to make payments
online, whenever and wherever they wish to.
Mrs Jean Robinson, Office Manager, Didsbury CofE Primary
School, Manchester
SIMS Agora online payments – what schools using Agora have said…
As a school business manager, I also like the fact that we only have one single
number to call for support. Whichever SIMS product we need a hand with we
have the single point of contact to help us. This helps us to manage the school
office much more efficiently. Since introducing SIMS Agora we have seen a real
reduction in the amount of money we have to count each week for school meals
and then pay into our school bank account. SIMS Agora is saving us so much
time!”
Mrs Sarah Orley, Finance and Office Manager, Newlands Spring Primary School
Academy Trust, Essex
SIMS Agora online payments – what schools using Agora have said…
Using SIMS Agora provides our school with a cost-effective way to collect parent
payments and reduces the handling of cash and cheques in the school office. This is
saving time us a lot of time spent on counting money and banking administration. The
integration with SIMS Dinner Money is a real plus – parents can access SIMS Agora at
any time to check their child’s balance and quickly make a top-up payment. It also
serves as a record, showing a full list of any payments they have made to the
school. Payments made via SIMS Agora automatically update our SIMS Dinner Money
system, which reduces the amount of time we spend on school meal administration.“
Trudy Taylor, School Business Manager, Oakfield CE Primary School, Isle of Wight
The new online payments solution from SIMS
www.capita-sims.co.uk/onlinepayments
OR Contact Me:
 Helen Browning – Account Manager
 Mobile: 07584 262986
 Email: helen.browning@capita.co.uk