[sims] SIMS 8 Press Release 30th March 2017

[bigdannyb79]

We're splitting timetabling much as has been observed above. Manual timetabling adjustments on a live system - you could actually create a timetable in that if you really wanted to (primaries might actually do that for scheduling literacy, PE etc). Auto-scheduling is a separate area.

 

Nova-T6 can be used for the auto-schedule part but we are re-engineering this too. It is now possible to produce awesome results in HTML5 within the cloud and that is where we're going.

 

thanks Phil this is one area I would be happy to see moved over slowly ! Excited to see what can be done in the cloud but I often have multiple different files simultaneously scheduling to see which gets me the best result and its things like this I dont see being easily implementable in the cloud. I'm sure a solution can be created but I'm just concerned about loss of functionality certainly initially.

[mukz]

My only question to SIMS8 is - Will there be an Audit Trail? so i can check who has changed my students details!

 

Thanks

[jmak]

My only question to SIMS8 is - Will there be an Audit Trail? so i can check who has changed my students details!

 

Thanks

I'd really like to see this too!

[PhilNeal]

Everything is audited!

[vikpaw]

For timetabling, go with a desktop program like Timetabler by Keith Johnson if cloud doesn't take your fancy. Many prefer it over NT6 anyway.

 

I just hope S8 will still support import.

[PhilNeal]

Not sure about many!! However yes you can import from other solutions.

[mukz]

Everything is audited!

 

Brilliant!

 

Would we have access to this? or something we would need to request from Capita?

doesn't really make a difference as long as i can find the person who we need to ahem.

[PhilNeal]

You will have access. Don't think it's visible yet but it is recording.

[mukz]

You will have access. Don't think it's visible yet but it is recording.

 

Ahh even better. i'll upgrade just based on the fact i can audit

[Banjo]

*wonders when a (usable) demo of the primary school version will be available*

 

It's live now you just need a username and password to login. Someone from Capita mentioned the date of 2024 as the death-knell for SIMS7 - I would expect this to move and not be fixed based upon take up of SIMS8.

[Michael]

Brilliant!

 

Would we have access to this? or something we would need to request from Capita?

doesn't really make a difference as long as i can find the person who we need to ahem.

 

Auditing isn't the silver bullet for everything - for that one incident, you could literally have to go through thousands of logs to find the person responsible. Educating users is far more productive rather than just pointing the finger.

[Michael]

It's live now you just need a username and password to login. Someone from Capita mentioned the date of 2024 as the death-knell for SIMS7 - I would expect this to move and not be fixed based upon take up of SIMS8.

 

If that's accurate, how many more versions of SQL/Windows Server would you need to go through and how many physical or virtual servers? Makes my head hurt thinking about the costs alone!

[Green_Eggs_No_Ham]

Educating users is far more productive rather than just pointing the finger.

 

And educating the right user is best of all....personally, I like having an audittrail in the system I use, it gives me peace of mind, especially as staff roles change, new staff come in, and people start doing tasks that they might not have in the past. It's good to be able to check and prove that things are being done properly (or not).

[mukz]

Auditing isn't the silver bullet for everything - for that one incident, you could literally have to go through thousands of logs to find the person responsible. Educating users is far more productive rather than just pointing the finger.

 

I am not in disagreement with you, but sometimes they do not want to be educated until they have been proven to be guilty - believe me, our staff permissions are so locked down just because they do not want to learn.

One user Cut files from the Home Folder to their Thumb Drive and then asked me why we had deleted her work - now lucky we had an audit trail and she looked Silly as she has got the Head involved.

[matt40k]

For those Schools that are on the edge of renewing their hardware kit for example server upgrade, should they carry on and upgrade or should they look at what will be coming in SIMS8?

 

Base decision on facts, not on predictions. You can't hold your breath forever! Renew your kit, or look at other MIS systems if your looking at the "cloud" (vs onprem). Otherwise you'll end up on really old kit and have major problems migrating later on.

[vikpaw]

Auditing isn't the silver bullet for everything - for that one incident, you could literally have to go through thousands of logs to find the person responsible. Educating users is far more productive rather than just pointing the finger.

It depends on how it's implemented. On Engage I can filter by table, date, person, and data ID. It's pretty easy to track down. It's not on by default either, we can activate it on areas we want.

[PhilNeal]

As a cloud service I think this has to be on at all times - as soon as it can be switched off there's a hole in security!!

[vikpaw]

As a cloud service I think this has to be on at all times - as soon as it can be switched off there's a hole in security!!

I wish that thinking was applied to the non-cloud service. I had a few occasions where auditing would have been very handy.

[bigdannyb79]

I wish that thinking was applied to the non-cloud service. I had a few occasions where auditing would have been very handy.

 

AGREED !!! I dont see what difference it makes - a lot of schools have SIMS accessible externally so availability isnt an argument. If you can justify it for 8 I cant believe you can ignore it in 7 etc. . .

[kennysarmy]

Actually they did listen but never got it to work. I think they even contracted it to a 3rd party to have a look at as well. Probably something to do with Sims still having DOS legacy components...

 

But thats actually one of the reasons Sims 8 is looking so good. I too am sick of Solus and all this update rubish, it takes up so much of my time.

 

The cloud is the future, and I can't wait! We will all laugh in a few years about updating clients and "automation errors" hopefully.

 

*Goes off to fix the Exams organizer automation error for the 100th time...

 

automation error - the one SIMS have never been able to re-create?

[Michael]

I am not in disagreement with you, but sometimes they do not want to be educated until they have been proven to be guilty - believe me, our staff permissions are so locked down just because they do not want to learn.

One user Cut files from the Home Folder to their Thumb Drive and then asked me why we had deleted her work - now lucky we had an audit trail and she looked Silly as she has got the Head involved.

 

I agree your example is a good one, but then if we audited absolutely everything, then our jobs would be incredibly boring. Microsoft auditing will not apply to an MIS or vice versa, so it then starts to get rather complicated.

[mukz]

I agree your example is a good one, but then if we audited absolutely everything, then our jobs would be incredibly boring. Microsoft auditing will not apply to an MIS or vice versa, so it then starts to get rather complicated.

 

Again completely agree with you, just jibes me that SIMS 7 never had it. For the amount of information we hold on SIMs, for the most important parts we defo need it.

 

I kid you not, we had a staff member who is now longer with us changed student email addresses because during the data check session thought that our email domain looked wrong.

 

Backup to the rescue - still lost a lessons worth of attendance marks.

[vikpaw]

automation error - the one SIMS have never been able to re-create?

I'm so going to laugh when it crops up in SIMS 8

[pete]

Am I right in thinking I'd be able to point SIMS8 on Azure to our Azure AD tenancy for authentication?

[GAdigital]

I expect SIMS ID might be in the future mix to make that possible.