SovietRussia Posted November 19, 2015 Posted November 19, 2015 Hi, Why is SIMS reporting engine so limited - limited in the sense that I want to find some specific data we input into SIMS but can't get it out. They should produce a SQL Reporting Engine to allow for flexibility. [/RANT]
LosOjos Posted November 19, 2015 Posted November 19, 2015 What is it you're trying to extract? It can be quite limiting in terms of what you can produce straight from SIMS, won't argue with that, but I'm yet to find anything I can't extract one way or another... (without SQL)
PhilNeal Posted November 19, 2015 Posted November 19, 2015 It's pretty powerful - you can get almost anything out.
vikpaw Posted November 19, 2015 Posted November 19, 2015 With my new system Double First Engage - I can do exactly what you want. Extract pretty much any data that has been put in. It even has a nice wizard which will link to an Access like view of tables linking together. [/GLOAT] It was always a frustration for us to not be able to easily extract information, particularly when we had to use UDFs to get it there in the first place. What's more frustrating is the limit to data that is accessible via the Individual Reports.
SovietRussia Posted November 19, 2015 Author Posted November 19, 2015 I'm wanting to get cover out programmatically and not using methods already suggested on EduGeek which is pressing buttons.
CAM Posted November 19, 2015 Posted November 19, 2015 It's pretty powerful - you can get almost anything out. No sorry, it's not powerful at all. Not until I can write SQL scripts to get at my data instead of a limiting reporting engine and a template system that is best described as flaky and unintuitive at best, utterly broken at worst. Unfortunately the SIMS database is best described as a convoluted and tangled mess and until that is sorted out, SQL will be impossible to implement. At least not with Capita's permission....
matt40k Posted November 19, 2015 Posted November 19, 2015 It's pretty powerful - you can get almost anything out. It was pretty powerful and an incredible piece of software engineering when it was designed, no-one can deny that but that was, what 2004? Time has moved on and it hasn't, its unloved, under developed. Seriously look at the Microsoft BI stack - SSRS in 2016 is amazing, PowerBI is going strength to strength, every, single, month. Don't waste time developing a new reporting engine (~looks at Discover). Use the reporting tools Microsoft have already developed and spend millions on and are continuing to do so Seriously, look at PowerBI. Oh look you can connect it to your on-prem database, join it to a spreadsheet and other bits of data (it ain't all in SIMS isn't), use natural language to search the data model to create a report, graph, map it, whatever. Think of how much time, money and effort Discover has taken. Now compare that to writing a slick PowerBI connector (https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/developers), how much is PowerBI - FREE. From @CAM point of view, he gets a proper tool and not some propriety tool that no-one in the real-world uses. There is even a FREE EDX course - https://www.edx.org/course/analyzing-visualizing-data-power-bi-microsoft-dat207x 2
vikpaw Posted November 19, 2015 Posted November 19, 2015 +1 I must concur with my esteemed colleague @ Matt40,001
bobsmith Posted November 20, 2015 Posted November 20, 2015 and trying hard not to harp on about Facility CMIS (which I no longer use!) but reporting in SIMS feels so amazingly slow (well it doesn't just feel slow, 9 hours quoted in a thread today to output 300 student reports????). People will quote the number of table joins that you may be using to get out all the data, but if you wrote the exact same functionality using SQL directly it would take seconds only (from experience of doing this on my CMIS databases). Even then printing a year group's worth of dynamically coloured subject reports with loads of graphics embedded took no more than a short cigarette break with CMIS. The most progress is made by standing on the shoulders of giants, if microsoft or any other player builds something that you can use then incorporating that makes a bundle of sense. I've grown to love some of the things SIMS can do, but it just looks and feels so 90s! And why is every slightly clever thing we attempt to do a workaround?
PhilNeal Posted November 20, 2015 Posted November 20, 2015 Unfortunately, I cannot use these forums to talk about future plans as it will be classified as advertising! I can say we won't be developing our own report generator in future.
matt40k Posted November 20, 2015 Posted November 20, 2015 Unfortunately, I cannot use these forums to talk about future plans as it will be classified as advertising! I can say we won't be developing our own report generator in future. Ahh, so its another thing to buy then! If its part of the license, it isn't advertising and as its still vapourware (ie we can't get at it) - it would be classes as gossip.... so spill the beans. PowerBI connector?
CAM Posted November 20, 2015 Posted November 20, 2015 Something off the shelf? SQL-friendly I hope! Good time for feedback on the current engine?
SimonCygnetIT Posted November 20, 2015 Posted November 20, 2015 I'm assuming that Phil is talking about SIMS 8. As it's browser based I would assume that it would need a new report engine for that to work on.. which from what Phil has said sounds like it will be a third party product and not designed in house.
matt40k Posted November 20, 2015 Posted November 20, 2015 I'm assuming that Phil is talking about SIMS 8 Lets hope it isn't SIMS 8, I might have retired by the time Nova-T8 comes out!! (I'm under 30 if anyone is wondering)
PhilNeal Posted November 20, 2015 Posted November 20, 2015 @matt40k - I doubt if you will have retired for two reasons: The retirement age will be 75 by the time you get there We may well redevelop Nova-T sooner than you expect!
matt40k Posted November 20, 2015 Posted November 20, 2015 We may well redevelop Nova-T sooner than you expect! Two comments 1. I heard Nova-T6 was being redeveloped when I started here - back in 2008 - even then it was said with "but don't hold your breath" 2. Even if you do, it'll be many, many, many years before it get wide acceptance, folks were still using Nova-T4 until a few years ago. So if we expect it around the year 2060, we'll have a nice surprise - I just won't be ordering the cake yet from (dammit I forgot his name... see my mind is already shutting down!)
SimonCygnetIT Posted November 20, 2015 Posted November 20, 2015 Two comments 1. I heard Nova-T6 was being redeveloped when I started here - back in 2008 - even then it was said with "but don't hold your breath" 2. Even if you do, it'll be many, many, many years before it get wide acceptance, folks were still using Nova-T4 until a few years ago. So if we expect it around the year 2060, we'll have a nice surprise - I just won't be ordering the cake yet from (dammit I forgot his name... see my mind is already shutting down!) Some people still use NOVA-T4 for certain bits now
matt40k Posted November 20, 2015 Posted November 20, 2015 Pretty sure using Nova-T4 in "production" is a breach of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 under section 3A
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