Sims Tests before updates
I don't want to be a moaner, I realise that SIMS is a vast and complex system which is trying to do an awful lot of different jobs from one database, but does anyone else think that recently we have seen updates sent out without full pretesting?
May - the update prevents people printing out student timetables because someone failed to put a quote marks around a string variable. The system comes up with an error message about reading "C:\documents". The workaround we are told is to delete the temp entries in the system control panel. I don't know which programs on our system use these variables but schools in general run some of the most heterogeneous collections of software and I'm reluctant to risk finding out which ones break for this the hard way.
May - again - our profiles system crashes for some, not all, classes. This means that we have had to delay reports until we can install the June update.
FMS - The invoice screen demands a different resolution from the rest of the system so our finance staff need new monitors and still complain that they have to fix the settings every time they move in and out of the system.
Now I find myself wondering if some of these updates are being rushed out to meet deadlines of various kinds and as a result there is no full testing regimen in place. When you consider that in order to use SIMs we have had to invest in a new server and upgrade the SQL install, I am having to fight some of our senior team not to switch MIS systems. One or two more such errors and I'll begin to wonder if I'm right to do so.