[sims] Student Profiles editing

[bossman]

Hi Folks,

 

Wonder if anyone can shed some light?

 

We currently having intermittent problems with the above, it started last year but we seemed to get over it, it has now become an issue again whereas the person who is editing the student profiles (Proof reading and making changes) when saving it seems to save but then sometimes not which leaves the staff user frustrated at the lost time.

 

We thought it maybe a memory issue with the workstation so we did a memtest which it passed so then we built a new machine to which we have the same issue,

 

Has anyone come across this issue before, server spec as follows:

 

Built on 2012R2 HyperV cluster

Server 2012R2, 4 Processors, 20GB RAM

SQL 2014

 

Just a little concerned, logged a call with our MIS team who I feel will contact Capita like they did last time and all I got from Capita was to reboot the server.

 

Any help would be welcomed

 

Thanks in advance

[dapaulio]

Can you be sure the person editing is actually saving the record. Have you witness this happening yourself.

 

Despite what the end user claims, I to had various problems with our proof reader and turned out when i shadowed her that she wasn't saving half of them because she was too occupied trying not to miss a spelling mistake.

 

I suggested that she have someone sit over her a junior or someone just as a fresh set of eyes to ensure she kept focused on such a repetitive task.

 

Having said that the only issue we sometimes had was during generation of the profiles they would suddenly stop half way thru. Not crash but stop generating. This I found closing sims and purging the temp and local temp folder on the computer she was working and start generating again resolved the issue.

 

Dont know why it does it but summized it is down to a file lock where the files are generated

[bossman]

@dapaulio

 

I haven't actually watched her as the exams officer has told me that she has watched her and that she sees nothing being done incorrectly so I cannot therefore make it look like I am being told porkies as this would come across as being unprofessional of me. I do of course feel that the person who is doing the proof reading is not fully focused due to the task being arduous and repetitive so I have logged a call with our LA's MIS team to see if they can generate the same problem.

 

I just wondered if anyone else was experiencing the same issues that's all.

 

Thanks

[dapaulio]

I understand exactly your predicament. I have been in this awkward situation many years where I used to tell the end user there is problem when there wasn't just to avoid accusing her of doing it wrong (for some reason they get super defensive when you question the way they do their work). Thankfully I am on the same page with our reports editors where I can banter with her and tell her straight that she is being a numpty so that does have its advantages.

 

in your situation you don't have to be unprofessional. I would explain to her that you have opened a support ticket with capita or whoever your sims support is with and you are waiting for their response however in the meantime would she mind if you shadowed her and see if you can replicate the symptoms. doing this will assist everyone in getting the problem resolved asap.

 

Although in my experience it does sounds very much user related in all the years I have assisted our reports editor I have never had random reports not save, I would never assume that it is user related unless i have evidence to suggest it as it could well be a server/client fault.

 

Witness it yourself happening and you will be in a better position to advise accordingly. It is likely, that if it is user related, you wont be able to replicate the symptoms as the end user will be more focused knowing that you are looking out for any tell tail signs of the fault occurring.

 

Good luck

[dapaulio]

Has anyone come across this issue before, server spec as follows:

 

Built on 2012R2 HyperV cluster

Server 2012R2, 4 Processors, 20GB RAM

SQL 2014

 

 

Just noticed you have sql 2014: are you running sql in compatibility mode as in the past 2014 has been known to have performance issues. I know it doesn't match your symptoms but don't eliminate it as a cause. I am assume this is still capita's solution to those performance symptoms

Edited June 23, 2016 by dapaulio

[bossman]

@dapaulio

 

Yes we running in compatibility mode should have made that a little clearer,

 

Thanks

[Esteban_Child_of_the_Sun]

In the past with these sort of issues I have asked the user if they minded me installing a screen and keyboard/mouse recorder on their computer, saying it will allow for a more detailed analysis of the situation when a particular record doesn't save as we can look back and see if the software was giving any warnings they didn't pick up on at the time. It also allows us to spot user error and can be handy when proving that to the user if they are particularly defensive/dismissive about the issue in the most tactful way possible.

[bossman]

Hi All,

 

Thanks to those peeps who posted, update is that I have spoken to our data manager and he agrees that since we have given access to the profiles to many people they have indeed made a mess of things by using the likes of word to copy and paste comments into the templates which has caused corruption of those templates.

 

How we came to this decision was that as the person proof reading and editing the reports tried to edit 6 reports it came up with an error from word stating that the German and Portuguese proofing tools were not installed, we don't use either of these but someone who does had overwritten the template whilst having proofing set to both these languages at different times, my guess would be the MFL department for want of a better guess.

 

Data manager has told me that the present templates are to be deleted and new templates setup for next years reports with a different approach to how they are managed and who has access.

 

Thanks to those peeps who offered help have a great day

 

Would a MOD close this thread please