[sims] Installing Sims to learn with

[talksr]

Hi, I work for a small primary school on a Monday morning and look after their ranger suite.

They have SIMs for their MIS and occasionally, I need to install it to an extra system or add a module. I would really like to get to grips with this more as at the moment, I am using the boroughs help guides to do any work on the system.

I was thinking of installing a dummy set up of sims on one of the old school computers. Does anyone know if this is possible? It would just allow me to get some experience of using the system without trashing a live one.

 

I have also been asked at several job interviews if I have SIMs experience, and although I do, I would like to be much more confident in using it.

 

Thanks

[CAM]

I've done this before and the server software for SIMS will happily run on a desktop machine for testing purposes. You will need to install SQL Server Express, install the SIMS and Document server software using SIMSSETUP.EXE and then use dbattach to restore a backup of your live data. I suggest giving the database a distinct name from your live server to prevent accidents and remember it is subject to the same security policies as the live database as it contains private data (so don't do this on an unencrypted laptop if you don't want your entire school database to be stolen!).

 

There is a test school called Green Abbey but I believe only local authorities are supposed to have that. Ahem...! >.>

 

EDIT - Noticed that you work at a school part-time. DO NOT REMOVE A TEST SIMS INSTALL FROM THE SITE! Caps because it is extra important and very serious misconduct to take data off-site without permission, in fact you will want to check you can use it on-site too.

Edited July 3, 2013 by CAM

[Rawns]

Load it into a VirtualBox VM so that no one else can access it in error.

[talksr]

Hi there, thanks for your posts and help.

No don't worry, I would not be taking it off site and the school are happy for me to experiment and learn provided I don't mess up what they have. I will have a look next week and update this thread if I encounter any problems.

 

Thanks again

[CAM]

Do you have a SupportNet account? Will be worth grabbing one if you haven't as there are a lot of guides for backend administration.