[acs] Serco's Facility

[kylewilliamson]

We've had a whole host of problems with Facility over the 3 years we've had it, but no more so than the SIMS mess we moved from.

 

Thier implementation was shocking, but Facility has settled down for us of late. We've just upgraded (earlier today) to the latest and greatest version, and its certianly different. Thier support is not too bad, although when we had SIMS (as a former GM School) we dealt direct with CAPITA, rather than the LEA support unit - but Serco's support generally seems better than CAPITA's did.

 

I expect as we've just upgraded, we'll now exprience a whole host of new and more frustating problems.

 

Kyle

[CheeseDog]

You willl indeed. (started a thread here)

 

Other than early on when CMIS was new the implementation could've been better but most of the time the upgrades go smoothly.

 

However, this new implementation is really bad (2.8 b34) I can't actually believe how bad it is.

 

To put it in a nutshell most of your existing reports now won't work. Including some of facilities own system reports.

 

Non of the finance reports report the correct data.

 

Luckily it seems like it's just the reports that are shafted as the data appears to be fine.

 

I've heard today Birmingham LEA have refused to install it.

 

2 High Schools within our LEA are running school census from a different database at the moment so they can still use the other system.

[limbo]

Birmingham LEA finally issued a release for us yesterday so we could do the upgrade in time to do the SLASC return - but it did come with a document of "known issues"

 

This is the first time Birmingham LEA have issued a release they know to be not quite right and I think it is purely because they have run out of time.

 

We still have data to enter for our students to be able to do the return on Thursday and without the upgrade (which I am just running now!) the fields are not there to fill in.

 

One of the issues is that it drops the history of cdb files out of the file menu so staff have to search for it themselves the first time they go in after the upgrade - I have a feeling this is going to be a busy morning!

[Lee_K_81]

One of the issues is that it drops the history of cdb files out of the file menu so staff have to search for it themselves the first time they go in after the upgrade - I have a feeling this is going to be a busy morning!

 

I'd say you're in the same boat as me.... busy few days! We installed yesterday afternoon, had a few calls instantly from people asking how to get in? Answer, click "file --> open --> then select admin1.cdb". Grrrr, do i have to do everybodies thinking.....

 

Another issue we have found instantly is ePortal. This has had a major face-lift, and not a good one, you may need to log in as an admin user to be able to set while stylesheet it uses. Also something in the code causes some builds of IE to crash during log-on. Not good when you have e-registration and assessment.

 

Not tested the reports yet but if CheeseDog is correct Link2ICT (birmingham LA's IT bods) are going to have a busy few weeks.

[CHR1S]

The problem with CMIS/ePortal is the development! Look at the last update, rush job to enable us to do the census. Before the update we were into weeks of uptime, now we are lucky to keep it up for 30 mins!

[limbo]

The upgrade did not seem too bad this morning, although a few wacky things have come to light.

 

The main one seems to be that Mondays no longer exist on the timetable view.

 

Perhaps Mr Geldof's presence at BETT has something to do with it?!?!?!

[CHR1S]

 

The main one seems to be that Mondays no longer exist on the timetable view.

 

Snap

[Lee_K_81]

The upgrade did not seem too bad this morning, although a few wacky things have come to light.

 

The main one seems to be that Mondays no longer exist on the timetable view.

 

Perhaps Mr Geldof's presence at BETT has something to do with it?!?!?!

 

Is this part of an EU directive for a better work/life balance. A 3 day weekend would be fantastic!

[eduabncs]

 

Not tested the reports yet but if CheeseDog is correct Link2ICT (birmingham LA's IT bods) are going to have a busy few weeks.

 

 

Yah can say that again! As I write this the current number of calls to the Link2ICT service desk is 564. The usual daily amount is around 300 or so calls....!! 8O

[Lee_K_81]

 

Not tested the reports yet but if CheeseDog is correct Link2ICT (birmingham LA's IT bods) are going to have a busy few weeks.

 

 

Yah can say that again! As I write this the current number of calls to the Link2ICT service desk is 564. The usual daily amount is around 300 or so calls....!! 8O

 

Would probably explain why I waited for 15 mins to talk to someone earlier. At least the hold music isn't greensleeves or the entertainer. I ended up with the theme from friends, love shack, amongst others. Was almost disappointed when the call finally got answered!

[CHR1S]

The upgrade did not seem too bad this morning, although a few wacky things have come to light.

 

The main one seems to be that Mondays no longer exist on the timetable view.

 

Perhaps Mr Geldof's presence at BETT has something to do with it?!?!?!

 

To fix the missing Mondays

 

On the workstation using CMIS go to OPTIONS -> TIMETABLING -> DAYS AND TIMES -> and make sure all the days are highlighted and select OK then YES to confirm.

 

This has to be done on EVERY machine

[eduabncs]

Would probably explain why I waited for 15 mins to talk to someone earlier. At least the hold music isn't greensleeves or the entertainer. I ended up with the theme from friends, love shack, amongst others. Was almost disappointed when the call finally got answered!

 

 

LOL...We aim to please! People have been commenting quite positively on the on it actually.

 

With Census required and a late Cmis upgrade at the same time it is very busy. All hands on deck here to answear the phones. Bear with us, you will get through eventually. #-o

[Lee_K_81]

Anybody noticed "Accounts-> Creditors -> Print Authorisation Slips" going t1t5 up? Tell your accounts dept to check that all amounts are included on auth slips before clicking ok to say they are OK!

 

@eduabncs: howzabout a hold queue for your hold queue. Had 2 or three mins of engaged tones before i could even get through to the queue! And does the "all our help desk staff are busy at the moment your call is held in a queue and will be answered shortly" have to be so often? It's ruining love shack!

[tosca925]

Yep, same here the time spent in queue today was horrendous.

[john]

And does the "all our help desk staff are busy at the moment your call is held in a queue and will be answered shortly" have to be so often? It's ruining love shack!

 

I also hate that, they always interrupt a really good song, so its annoying, or you are humming away or singing along to it and then they answer and get really embarrassed!

[limbo]

A collegaue I used to sit opposite in a previous non-education life was once on hold singing along to the hold music, he got that carried way he did not notice when it went onto answerphone until he got the message "recording time has elapsed, please hang up"

 

The company in question happened to be a record company so they probably thought he was after a contract and ignored it!

[Lee_K_81]

Ha, they've now changed the message. Now says

"due to schools census [being shit, thanks a lot serco, you've trebled our daily volume of calls, grrrr], we are experiencing a high volume of calls if you......" blah blah blah..... see website for solutions for common issues. " I read between the lines a bit.

 

I think they need to update the documentation. We've done all the ones in the 6 pages of issues, and now giving them fresh ones!

 

Latest one: "Accounts | Ordering | Orders | Print Order" being blank

[ChrisJ]

"due to schools census [being shit, thanks a lot serco, you've trebled our daily volume of calls, grrrr]

 

That was the first draft...

[Jonno]

... We installed yesterday afternoon, had a few calls instantly from people asking how to get in? Answer, click "file --> open --> then select admin1.cdb"...

 

You can give the admin .exe a filename and it'll open it on launching. So you can make a shortcut to, for example:

\\server\facility\admin\cmisadmin.exe \\server\facility\admin\admin1.cdb

and it'll automagically open admin1.cdb when they double-click the shortcut.

[GeorgeFaux]

I was in a school last monday where they actually had waited an hour and 45 mins to get hold of support. Totally nuts. I used to hate that guitar music but hated the irritating messages more.

 

The best trick is to ask your LEA unofficially if you can have the mobile number of the regional co-ordinator for your area and then ring them when you can't get through. Most of them have a support background.

[aditi]

I am new to serco cmis facility and have worked on sims.net for five years but am supposed to take on this new role from next week in a secondary school in london that involves EXAM/DATA management. m confused and don't know what to expect or do as my first day will be on the day of the exam. I hve no handover period at all and serco is nt being helpful. can someone provide me with some related manuals for these modules?

[john]

How do you mean Serco are not being helpful? All the manuals, training guides etc are all available in the FirstLine Website, which all Serco Schools have access to via registered accounts. Once you start at the school they can get you setup to access this area and you can download the course for Exams, they have a couple of ones for Exams users, but tbh the exams module is very simple to use, even I can use it and I'm not an exams guru at all and haven't done any of the courses.

[aditi]

Well my problem is that I might not have the time to read through these manuals when i join on the gcse maths exam day when more than 500 students will be taking it and the inspector will be behind my back plus the school is expecting an Ofsted that week. More than exams it is the data management part I am worried about as I have never done it on CMIS before. I can do it on excel but the school wants it done on CMIS. I spoke to SERCO about my situation but they want me to join the school and then contact them for support which I might not be in my best interest.

[john]

Your issue sounds like its with the school and your given role. They have appointed you as a Serco expert yet have no experience by what you are saying. The school cannot expect you to pickup the MIS from scratch, they expect you to know the principals of the role though, these are no different in Serco than in SIMS or RM Integris.

 

All the exams work for the exam will be done and if yours starting on the day of an exam I can very much assure you all the MIS work will be long gone by that point!You need to focus on papers on desks, bums on seats and packing the papers up for Parcelforce to collect.

 

The inspector turns up unannounced so how do you know you will have one for exams? If we knew that they were coming we could plan it and have coffee and biscuits and be even more organised!

 

You will still use excel to do parts of your analysis as well as Facility so really you are worrying over nothing.

 

If they have not arranged you to have training or a hand-over that is not your problem really, its like chucking me in a school entirly Mac or Linux based, I'd be lost! I know the conecepts but couldn't do what I do now on them, or like chucking me in a SIMS school and saying there you go enjoy the MIS, run it, support it, train staff, install it etc.... I'd have ideas but no ideas on how to do it with SIMS.

 

The school could have arranged access earlier to the support site, that is for the school to do (I arrange my new staff to gain access when I know who they are) as the support site allows access to licences downloads, support desk etc all of which is why they won't talk to you until your setup and they know who you work for etc... That would imply poor planning by the school your going to work to especially without the handover.

[michael2k6]

Hi there,

The reason we can't set you up as a user before hand are down to the issues John speaks of. The only way you can be registered as a user is for a current user at the school to set you up, so we know who you are and who you work for, etc.

If you have concerns over your start date and your ability to do the job and meet high level of requirements on that day you need to take it up with the school and suggest how they might help you best prepare.

 

Mic @ Serco