Serco 09.2 - Out now on maxportal

[john]

Ok, a heads up, the new Serco release, 09.2 is now on Maxportal Logon to it as normal, and then select Release 09.2 in the left hand menu and you can then access the downloads.

I am sure the Serco email will arrive at some point in the morning, but for those wanting a head start on the release notes etc its all there for the taking

John

[TYO]

Hi,

anyone using the latest version of facility that was realeased on friday?

any problems?

thanks,

[TYO]

opps just realised i doubled posted. have you done the upgrade? any problems? I'm trying to avoid upgrades for aslong as possible!

[coquet636]

Yeah... installed it last night....... and finally started to use it at 11........

admin installed fine and worked from the off...

BUT

Eportal......

on first install and run it didnt populate the eportal web files correctly so reinstalled and the files populated.... then it wouldnt populate the logins so restarted the services a few times... then eportal had random errors so after a call i was informed i couldnt let it keep my settings as the new version has too many changes so had to then put on a fresh install of eportal and re populate with my settings i wanted....

looks quite good now its up and running and seems.... to be ok.....

[TYO]

sounds like a typical serco release. i hate having to always edit the XML files to get our old settings back.

thanks for your help.

[coquet636]

No bother...

[john]

Yup I've done it, nothing major, someone stuffed up the colour scheme in Admin so its got "highlights" (maybe there trying to make it young and trendy ) But it did my eyes in and another persons so I have whinged and Serco gave me 2 options, one is turn the PCs colour scheme to Win 95 esq or disable advanced themes do-da on the shortcut (forgot it correct name) that makes the window back into old style. Other than that its been fine. our Cover manager loves the new quick print button in the Cover system, the new House Billet is a great start, and a bug fix means I can now calculate attendance in my reports

[john]

on first install and run it didnt populate the eportal web files correctly so reinstalled and the files populated.... then it wouldnt populate the logins so restarted the services a few times... then eportal had random errors so after a call i was informed i couldnt let it keep my settings as the new version has too many changes so had to then put on a fresh install of eportal and re populate with my settings i wanted....

looks quite good now its up and running and seems.... to be ok.....

Least you got told that when I did it on Friday and spoke to them I got oh sorry about that try a full re-install thus spent my Saturday night / Sunday monring (I couldn't sleep) re-doing all my XML, as you said not that much fun but never mind.

I have been advised, and will try this next upgrade, stop services, upgrade admin as normal etc. Ensure services are disabled and killed off, then reboot the Server BEFORE installing Eportal, the services being disabled will ensure it won't start, then upgrade and the chance of a failed upgrade are greatly reduced.

[Edu-IT]

Good to hear this MIS also suffers from upgrade problems. As a user of another popular MIS, which suffers upgrade problems too, it makes me feel reassured that I'm not missing out on a hassle free system.

[mitchell1981]

We've had some serious problems with reports since the upgrade. We've reported it to Serco and they confirmed that at least one other school had the same problem.

Basically any report with graphics on (photos, logos etc..) will not print properly. Random stuff will be missing from the report. Strangely, the reports will always print preview ok, but not actually print.

It's caused us lots of problems as we rely heavily on reports and most include a logo.

Anyone else got this problem so far?

[Tallwood_6]

Indeed this seems to be a common problem, having run the upgrade on a test machine and found the reports are messed up we've decided to wait until a fix is in place.

[john]

We've had some serious problems with reports since the upgrade. We've reported it to Serco and they confirmed that at least one other school had the same problem.

Basically any report with graphics on (photos, logos etc..) will not print properly. Random stuff will be missing from the report. Strangely, the reports will always print preview ok, but not actually print.

It's caused us lots of problems as we rely heavily on reports and most include a logo.

Anyone else got this problem so far?

Oh FFS!!! Thats why my logos dropped off my proof of Y13 Reports and copy of Refernce statements today AARGHHGGHGHG!!!! Yes I've got that but thought it was me clicking the wrong button on the logos again!! Gah!!!! They fix the attendance calculation in the Reports (couldn't do maths in the last release without it locking up and crashing!!) oh well tomorrow mornings job moan about that.

Anyone else on here want to get onto the Beta team at Serco to show them how to Beta test the software? For me if it looks wrong its a bug, and I would test by printing some reports, doing cover, exam mods / entries etc simple day to day tasks that are common, seems these are forgotten at times

[TYO]

The testing never seems complete with any serco release, but were always under pressue to install the latest version due to the school census and now the SWF. With end of term reports this month I plan to put this off for aslong as possible!

This is one of the reasons our school is considering SIMS but im sure they have simliar problems.

[gaz350]

Thanks for the heads up on the reports!

[TYO]

for those not on the serco firstline mailing list this is an email just been sent regarding the upgrade:

Following the release of V09.2 a number of customers have reported problems with reports and cover with this latest Facility release. To minimise the impact on our users these have now been rectified and are being tested by our developers.
We will be releasing an update for Facility on w/c 7th December to address the following problems:
Reports containing images not printing correctly,
System report individual attendance for a date range displaying incorrect figures where Y codes have been recorded.
Cover events incorrectly showing as covered by absence where no class group/teaching group absence has been recorded.
CTF attendance tags in the wrong order in the CTF file output.
Confirmation will be sent to schools when testing has been completed and the release will then be made available on firstline for download.
We would advise schools who have not upgraded to 09.2 and need to print reports to send home to parents not to install the current release and await the update next week.
For schools remaining on 09.1 please be aware that you will still be able to prepare your students' data for the January 2010 Census without upgrading you will however need to upgrade to generate the census return and work through any errors.
Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience this may cause.
Serco Learning