[sims] SIMS 8 Press Release 30th March 2017

[bigdannyb79]

wow. thats it when its meant to be at trial stage ? Think the dedicated thread might have been overkill for essentially generic marketing waffle about a cloud mis.

[FN-GM]

This type of thing should have been implemented years ago. So late to the party!

[CAM]

It's an HTML5 front end. It already works on Edge. It doesn't rely on any MS products at the front end.

 

So what happens when I write a report and tell it to export to file (RTF or Excel?)?

[FN-GM]

So what happens when I write a report and tell it to export to file (RTF or Excel?)?

 

I assume the same as any other web based program, it will give you the file in the format you asked for.

 

Thanks

[vikpaw]

wow. thats it when its meant to be at trial stage ? Think the dedicated thread might have been overkill for essentially generic marketing waffle about a cloud mis.

 

Big build up....

[CAM]

I assume the same as any other web based program, it will give you the file in the format you asked for.

 

Thanks

 

Which means you will need to call Word or Excel as those are both options in the SIMS reporting system. Likewise, you export to Excel in Assessment Manager and use Word to edit and print Individual Report templates. Office is an MS product and heavily tied in to SIMS, so there would need to be something very different to replicate functionality for back-end office staff such as ourselves without platform lock-in.

 

I would say make a generic call to the OS to launch the default word processor or spreadsheet program, but the areas I mentioned make heavy use of VBA macros to function (alongside any custom templates that have been created by the user utilising VBA).

[FN-GM]

Which means you will need to call Word or Excel as those are both options in the SIMS reporting system. Likewise, you export to Excel in Assessment Manager and use Word to edit and print Individual Report templates. Office is an MS product and heavily tied in to SIMS, so there would need to be something very different to replicate functionality for back-end office staff such as ourselves without platform lock-in.

 

I would say make a generic call to the OS to launch the default word processor or spreadsheet program, but the areas I mentioned make heavy use of VBA macros to function (alongside any custom templates that have been created by the user utilising VBA).

 

It probably won't work like it does now. It will give you the file you want and you download it from the browser and then open that file in whatever program you like.

[zag]

Excited for the Launch but disappointed about the timescales. Are we looking at 2020 then for secondaries?

 

I might be retired by then

 

Excellent work though, but should have been done 3 years ago in my opinion.

[PhilNeal]

@zag - you'll have Options 8 this May and Exam Analysis later this year. Both of these have been designed for dual 7 & 8 use.

 

Three years ago you'd have had SSRS which would have been a bad move!!

[zag]

Here are the screenshots.

 

Looks like someone has gone a bit crazy with the pastel crayons and rounded edges is very 2000's design, but not too bad I guess

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2017 by zag

[vikpaw]

I'm interested to know costs / migration paths, this has a massive impact on anyone buying now, or thinking to leave.

[matt40k]

Three years ago you'd have had SSRS which would have been a bad move!!

 

Think I'd take SSRS over JasperSoft any day SSRS vNext is looking good too.

[Michael]

Not really I disagree - it's simply Capita throwing their hat into the ring. If the school requirements change, that should be the priority. Waiting another 12 months for a product is somewhat limiting your scope. I'd use the opportunity to look at other providers whilst your school make a decision.

 

Schools already do this for a range of procurements... I see no reason why MIS systems should be any different. It's actually really good news for schools, as there's a lot more choice.

 

Although Capita are not going to force schools to upgrade (as per Phil's contribution further up), it's inevitable that Capita will discontinue SIMS/FMS in their current forms at some point. Developers are going to be concentrating more so on the new product offering, rather than old. It's just business sense.

[mjk]

This type of thing should have been implemented years ago. So late to the party!

 

Capita are an MS partner and follow their lead !

[FN-GM]

Capita are an MS partner and follow their lead !

 

Even Microsoft seem to be ahead on this.

[mjk]

Even Microsoft seem to be ahead on this.

lol I'm pretty sure I saw a thread here from eight or ten YEARS ago calling for SIMS to be java/web based. How long has iSAMS been around?

[localzuk]

This type of thing should have been implemented years ago. So late to the party!

Agreed. Capita are very much behind on this. A slow reveal appears to be at odds with the market.

[vikpaw]

...it's inevitable that Capita will discontinue SIMS/FMS in their current forms at some point. Developers are going to be concentrating more so on the new product offering, rather than old. It's just business sense.

They've been trying to kill off legacy SIMS modules for decades.

[matt40k]

They've been trying to kill off legacy SIMS modules for decades.

 

I think they were waiting for the users to retire really

[2ilent8cho]

Here are the screenshots.

 

Looks like someone has gone a bit crazy with the pastel crayons and rounded edges is very 2000's design, but not too bad I guess

 

I was wondering if they were struggling to find a decent GUI designer.

[matt40k]

I was wondering if they were struggling to find a decent GUI designer.

 

GUI is so old, its UX now.

[bigdannyb79]

GUI is so old, its UX now.

They definitely have a GUI designer then !

[TwistedHelixis]

Bring back Sims updates on a floppy disk, I loved those days.

[matt40k]

Bring back Sims updates on a floppy disk, I loved those days.

Think your memories might have become confused over the years; you seem to be forgetting floppy 14 / 17 failing and borking your system up - this is normally when you find out your tapes should have been replace a while ago...

Edited March 30, 2017 by elsiegee40

[Bromcom_Jay]

Not worried...

 

Tactics to try and get users to stay with SIMS as long as possible, thought something big was going to be announced, nope more delaying tactics. I hope when Bromcom announce a new product that is a year in the development they get a sticky here on EduGeek!

 

Jay