[SIMS] SIMS .net Autumn Release pulled

[Jawloms]

What a shocker - An Aumtumn release that's been withdrawn. Doesn't this happen every year?

*** SIMS 2011 Autumn Release - Please Read
Following reports on the forums of issues with pastoral structures following upgrades to the SIMS 2011 Autumn release, we have taken the precautionary measure of temporarily withdrawing the Release whilst we investigate the issue.

We will update you when we have more information.


We apologise for any inconvenience that this issue might cause. Please feel free to email me (Jonathan.wood@capita.co.uk) if you want to discuss this further.

Regards,

Jonathan Wood

SIMS Product Manager (Technical and Releases)

[timbo343]

When did you read this. Have you got a source?

Tim

[Jawloms]

*** SIMS 2011 Autumn Release - Please Read
Following reports on the forums of issues with pastoral structures following upgrades to the SIMS 2011 Autumn release, we have taken the precautionary measure of temporarily withdrawing the Release whilst we investigate the issue.

We will update you when we have more information.


We apologise for any inconvenience that this issue might cause. Please feel free to email me (Jonathan.wood@capita.co.uk) if you want to discuss this further.

Regards,

Jonathan Wood

SIMS Product Manager (Technical and Releases)

That is a Copy and Paste from SupportNet.

[TheScarfedOne]

Thats the 2nd issue with the Autumn update now. Its been released once already because of a mistake with the Census stuff. @PhilNeal - whats going on?

[Steve21]

When did you read this. Have you got a source?

Tim

Aye, Was asked to double check it with Capita themselves by NM, and it's confirmed by helpdesk too, It's taken offline!

Steve

[TheScarfedOne]

@Jawloms - please include the SupportNet Article ref when posting

[Jawloms]

@TheScarfedOne - It doesn't have an article ref, it's in the "News" section. I assumed the fact it was signed "Regards, Jonathan Wood SIMS Product Manager (Technical and Releases)" would be enough for people to realise it was genuine and not just something I'd heard.

[PhilNeal]

At present we are trying to establish who has been affected; it certainly doesn't seem to have affected everyone as so far we only have 3 cases and 1000 schools have taken the release. The problem shows up not being able to see registration groups. Needless to say we are doing everything we can to rectify the issue and very much regret the inconvenience that will have been caused.

[TheScarfedOne]

Thanks @PhilNeal - always good to get news from the horses mouth!

[matt40k]

@Jawloms - bet you wondered why you bothered

[enjay]

Amusingly, our Account Manager phoned me earlier this week and asked if I'd installed the Autumn update yet. I gave him a bit of an ear-bashing about how Capita haven't earned the confidence for me to install updates until they've been in the wild for at least a month; he sounded rather startled and quickly changed the subject. Seems like I wasn't so out of line :-)

[zag]

I was telling one of our SMT people yesterday why I haven't installed the latest release due to Capita always pulling the release. Low and behold I read this.

I really do think the software is too complicated to ever get a bug free update though.

[Sivadam]

This highlights the problem that Capita has in testing the releases! If I had been at UAT for this release then my dataset would not have picked up any issue! We have upgraded with no problem at all and the fact that the Census fileset was missing is a minor irritance. It only took a couple of seconds to import it!

Releases are tested extensively but there are now 22,000 schools using SIMS and they all use SIMS in a unique manner! That is SIMS strength - you can tailor it to the needs of the school. The fact that only 3 schools are affected, out of the 1,000 or so who have taken it, highlights how problematic testing can be! In my opinion Capita now do very well with their UAT. And if you disagree then you can always volunteer to join the scheme and become a UAT Associate school.

[enjay]

If only 3/1000 schools are affected, perhaps pulling the software was an over-reaction. Perhaps it could be left up but with a warning that xyz function doesn't work, and schools can then make a decision themselves on whether or not to proceed.

[matt40k]

If only 3/1000 schools are affected, perhaps pulling the software was an over-reaction. Perhaps it could be left up but with a warning that xyz function doesn't work, and schools can then make a decision themselves on whether or not to proceed.

Not sure it's that simple, but I do think it's a bit extreme. Personally I wouldn't have re-released because of that census issue, so at least we wouldn't end up with autumn 11 re-re-release!!