HCSS Accounting as Replacement for SIMS FMS

[cgaTech]

Anyone moved to HCSS only to regret it? We moved almost 2 years ago and the experience was semi-good to begin with. Unfortunately we are now in a position where we wish we never made the move. Does anyone know why the system is so unreliable?

[glen_j]

We are in the progress of moving to this system starting next year, what problems have you faced?

[cgaTech]

The issues are numerous and there appears to be no logic to when and how they happen. There are some niggles in the reporting aspect which we have reported several times and have since found other users who reported way back and nothing has been done.

 

For example, you can download your orders and requisitions in PDF, however this does not exist in your journals. For every journal you process you have to download to Excel and then format in order to fit a page etc. Now, considering the way auditors work, you need copies of these things in a file when they visit. They still love their paperwork!

 

We have been trying to process bursary payments since yesterday and have not been able to. Yesterday, the system just would not do anything so approving them on the system did not work. Today, we were able to approve them but now cannot submit the BACs run to Natwest PayAway system as HCSS keeps coming up with an error. So yesterday's issues are different to today's. Meanwhile, bursary remains unpaid.

 

You know the way you can view an invoice on FMS and see which BACs run you paid on and which order the invoice is attached to? That doesn't exist on HCSS. You either go to the supplier and view YTD (year to date) in which case the report will come up if you are lucky and if you are unlucky you get a system error, or you run a transaction report, export it to Excel and format to get the information you want.

 

I can go on and on and on, there are just too many issues. I can only say that HCSS is not the solid replacement for FMS it has been flogged as. It comes with its own unique set of problems. In fact, I had to ask them if they had accountants onboard when they were designing the system.

[Koldov]

We have used HCSS for a few years now, however only in conjunction with FMS (the main budgeting is done in HCSS software and then downloaded into FMS).

 

Apparently the Borough has been pushing schools to solely use HCSS and not use FMS at all (did someone say backhander...?). However, we have heard from schools locally that have done this and had no end of problems (all second-hand info from business manager to myself as I don't actually get involved).

 

Unfortunately, since HCSS changed to 'Access Education' we now have to use their 'links' software instead of the HCSS companion (first time this year) it has been nothing but issue after issue:

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/206629-fms-access-education-links-hcss-budget-lgfl-filtering-issue.html

 

Initially I thought it was a filtering issue as the 'links' software works through a web browser (and this is what their support guy said it would be), but it wasn't, it turns out that we had to install the 'links' software on our MIS server (meaning the Business Manager/Bursar has to have access to the server). Also, we needed to install the FMS client on the server to complete the export...

 

It has taken us nearly 2 weeks to get the budget exported (and now we have it appears to have thrown up an error as FMS doesn't like some of the data)!

 

What a crock...

Edited May 22, 2019 by Koldov

[cgaTech]

I wish we had gone your route as it would be easy to just get out of it and return to FMS, but we moved everything lock, stock and barrel to HCSS in one go. :mad:It's been almost 2 years of constant issues. One of the biggest is the security issue which is that the system never logs off! Can you believe that? You click log off, shut down your PC and when you come in the next day and open a browser it just takes you into HCSS Accounting without asking you to log in! It just means that the programme is open for anyone to get in and do whatever with your finances.

 

I've had 2 schools ask in me since March if they should switch and my answer was a categorical NO!

[Koldov]

Luckily, the Business Manager has the same frame of mind as I do - (if it works leave it alone) - there's no need to go changing things that work perfectly well (or even reasonably in the case of FMS), unless you absolutely HAVE to!

 

One of the biggest is the security issue which is that the system never logs off! Can you believe that? You click log off, shut down your PC and when you come in the next day and open a browser it just takes you into HCSS Accounting without asking you to log in! It just means that the programme is open for anyone to get in and do whatever with your finances

 

Is this a browser based software? Possibly some temp file/cookie/browser remembering passwords etc...? If it is, might be best to have those deleted on log off?

[cgaTech]

Yeah, it is. We tried everything. I use Chrome, one of my colleagues uses IE and we both tried. I deleted cookies and cleared history and the problem persists.

[Koldov]

Yeah, it is. We tried everything. I use Chrome, one of my colleagues uses IE and we both tried. I deleted cookies and cleared history and the problem persists.

 

Strange...

 

(using IE) I opened up:

 

http://hcss-web.co.uk/

 

it redirected to some other URL (that must have been using some sort of cached credentials) and as you say I was logged straight in, so I just logged out, cleared all data (selecting everything - don't tick preserve favourites)...

 

 

Now I went in to that same URL and it returned:

 

https://go.education.accessacloud.com/login.aspx?authenticated=false

 

and I am not logged in anymore...

Edited May 22, 2019 by Koldov

[Koldov]

Just tested this with Firefox too...

 

It seems to log-in automatically with cached credentials as it redirects to the URL below, but I'm no good with interpreting what any of it means (I've added the x's instead of the original text):

 

h t t p s ://identity.accessacloud.com/connect/authorize?client_id=access.education&response_type=id_token+code&scope=openid+email+profile+policy+offline_access+access.cloud.platform.users+access.cloud.platform.organisation&redirect_uri=https%xx%xx%xxgo.education.accessacloud.com%2Fidentity%2Fauthenticated.ashx&state=pnxxxxxx%xxxxxx%xxxxxx&nonce=xxxxx%3D&prompt=none&response_mode=form_post&code_challenge=xxxxx_xxxxx_0&code_challenge_method=S256

 

However, asking Firefox to 'forget about this site' seemed to have the desired effect and I am no longer automatically logged-in.

 

I have got many tabs permanently open in Firefox (Edugeek, Outlook, Ebay, Facebook, Youtube account) and have done for months and months - none of them ever ask me to sign-in when I start my computer and open the browser... having said that, I would expect finance software to have some sort of auto-log-out feature...

Edited May 22, 2019 by Koldov

[cgaTech]

Thanks a lot. I'm asking our IT guys to have a look at why this happens. It doesn't happen with any other programmes I use, even if the password is saved, it still brings up the sign in page for you to confirm. HCSS just takes you straight into the programme, which is worrying.

 

Thanks very much.