[sims] Sims May Release

[enjay]

We are a high school with a sixth form and we have been told to do this as our census which is due today would not work as is the case for most on this post.

 

I still cannot believe that Capita are putting out new and essential releases on such a short timescale - they really do need to be taken outside and shot! I wonder if the reason they don't bother acting on the grief this causes their customers is that they're confident that the cost involved in moving MIS means that schools will instead just continue to bend over and take it?

 

It makes we glad we don't have to do the census - I can sit here quite happily running the February release (which I only installed because Capita stopped supporting the August 07 release). I might put the May one on in the summer holidays.

[webman]

They can do what they want, they have a monopoly.

[GrumbleDook]

I have to be honest and say that we don't often have faults.

 

We haven't had to restore from a botched upgrade in a good 3 years and if we do have a fault it is a single module (usually exams or attendance).

 

This one is a cracker though ...

[bossman]

Would that be a "Jacob's" one by any chance Tony?

[apeo]

I still cannot believe that Capita are putting out new and essential releases on such a short timescale - they really do need to be taken outside and shot! I wonder if the reason they don't bother acting on the grief this causes their customers is that they're confident that the cost involved in moving MIS means that schools will instead just continue to bend over and take it?

 

It makes we glad we don't have to do the census - I can sit here quite happily running the February release (which I only installed because Capita stopped supporting the August 07 release). I might put the May one on in the summer holidays.

 

The release was due out earlier but they had to release it later because they needed more time... i mean who's really all that surprised that it came out later given that they have promised so many things to come out in may. Its just annoying that the upgrade was a must for the Census and if it wasnt that so many ppl complaining there wouldnt have been a patch. You would think that they would have worked on the patch first and delayed the Main Upgrade if need be. Did they really think ppl would be happy about being forced to do a Main Upgrade.

[new-2-this]

Can anyone confirm that the script devised by penfold works? I have tried it and am still unable to print! (Whole SEN dept. are moaning at me ). The domain is correct and if I change the temp variables manually all works fine.

 

If i run the script I get the error!

[penfold_99]

Can anyone confirm that the script devised by penfold works? I have tried it and am still unable to print! (Whole SEN dept. are moaning at me ). The domain is correct and if I change the temp variables manually all works fine.

 

If i run the script I get the error!

 

Hi

 

What error are you getting?

Have you inserted your domain name? Its the NETBIOS domain not the DNS domain.

The script need to be run as the user on there work station.

[ICTNUT]

I have to be honest and say that we don't often have faults.

 

We haven't had to restore from a botched upgrade in a good 3 years and if we do have a fault it is a single module (usually exams or attendance).

 

This one is a cracker though ...

 

I agree I have not had to "Rollback" in a long while it is just a case of small things stop working but as a whole product its ok.

 

They can do what they want, they have a monopoly.

 

Thats the issue exactly and for this reason they do as they wish....

[PhilNeal]

Firstly, I'm sorry that you have all had problems.

 

Frankly we could have produced a patch for the potential census issue rather than force those of you with Sixth Forms to take such a large upgrade before a census. We will learn that lesson.

 

The problems with spaces in directory names is down to .net1 vs .net2 and although we did realise this we made a bad judgement call on how many people it would affect.

 

Full details of the 7 issues in the May release are on SupportNet and a re-release will be available on Wednesday. Anything that doesn't need a full release has been issed as patches and are available on SOLUS after your support unit authorises them.

[GrumbleDook]

Thanks for the comment Phil.

 

One problem that has been mentioned was the short time frame that local support teams may have had with testing the updates before it was rolled out to schools. Some of us rely on the local team (LA or otherwise) to help spot possible flaws in the patches, or come up with workarounds, or instructions for workarounds.

 

I am sure that the local teams are also expressing this in their own way too.

 

I do appreciate that sometimes these problems just have to be ridden ... but is there any chance that upgrades can be released in adequate time before major reports to Govt have to be run? Perhaps a rethink of when the major releases so it gives at least a month and a half, if not two months?

[Gatt]

updated our SIMS server to the May Release yesterday (yes i know it wa a Saturday!!)

All went well until I tried to get the Patch 1189 - would download from our LEA server..

[kingswood]

Thanks for the comment Phil.

 

One problem that has been mentioned was the short time frame that local support teams may have had with testing the updates before it was rolled out to schools. Some of us rely on the local team (LA or otherwise) to help spot possible flaws in the patches, or come up with workarounds, or instructions for workarounds.

 

I am sure that the local teams are also expressing this in their own way too.

 

I do appreciate that sometimes these problems just have to be ridden ... but is there any chance that upgrades can be released in adequate time before major reports to Govt have to be run? Perhaps a rethink of when the major releases so it gives at least a month and a half, if not two months?

 

I second Tony's comments. We can handle most SIMS update issues (and to some extent expect them- it's a massive project), but what we didn't appreciate this time around was the fact that we *had* to apply the full update rather than patches to get the census off. It makes for major heart-ache during a critical time of the year (exams) and people aren't happy.

 

Paul

[PhilNeal]

The biggest mistake that we made was in not recognising the need for a patch to sort out the potential census issue that we had found. A patch isn't always possible but in this case it was and should have been created as an option. When we did realise and create a patch it was after our message to support teams had gone out.

 

The May release is a major upgrade to the infrastructure i.e. moving to .net2 and was bound to have some issues in view of the number of user permutations there are. Forcing an upgrade of this nature to solve a relatively minor occurance of the census problem was misjudged.

 

The team is working through the weekend to ensure we get things sorted by Wednesday.

[kingswood]

The biggest mistake that we made was in not recognising the need for a patch to sort out the potential census issue that we had found. A patch isn't always possible but in this case it was and should have been created as an option. When we did realise and create a patch it was after our message to support teams had gone out.

 

The May release is a major upgrade to the infrastructure i.e. moving to .net2 and was bound to have some issues in view of the number of user permutations there are. Forcing an upgrade of this nature to solve a relatively minor occurance of the census problem was misjudged.

 

The team is working through the weekend to ensure we get things sorted by Wednesday.

 

Thanks for the update.

 

Like I said- it's a massive project and there are bound to be issues. I don't envy your position

 

Thanks for all the hard work you are putting in so that this gets sorted!

 

Paul

[apeo]

updated our SIMS server to the May Release yesterday (yes i know it wa a Saturday!!)

All went well until I tried to get the Patch 1189 - would download from our LEA server..

 

Do most/all of my updates out of working hours, often on weekends aswell but i do it remotely.

 

@Phil: Thanks for your responses, appreciate someone from capita on the forum helping out and relaying whats said here to capita (atleast thats what i think you do ;-)).

[Gatt]

Took 10 hour to do it for some reason

[Heebeejeebee]

The biggest mistake that we made was in not recognising the need for a patch to sort out the potential census issue that we had found. A patch isn't always possible but in this case it was and should have been created as an option. When we did realise and create a patch it was after our message to support teams had gone out.

 

The May release is a major upgrade to the infrastructure i.e. moving to .net2 and was bound to have some issues in view of the number of user permutations there are. Forcing an upgrade of this nature to solve a relatively minor occurance of the census problem was misjudged.

 

The team is working through the weekend to ensure we get things sorted by Wednesday.

 

Just to clarify.

 

Do I have to run round all my workstations that use SIMS and change the temp variable or is this addressed in the re-release?

 

HBJB

[kmount]

I would hope its addressed.

[Gatt]

Any more on this - is it just TT's that are affected with the "C:\Documents" bug?

[penfold_99]

Capita are re-releasing the May upgrade to with fixes for all major issues.

We received an email to this effect.

 

Dear School,

 

Please read the notes on the May Re-release from Capita below, if you have already applied the May release and are experiencing any of the problems below please re-run SOLUS after Close of Business on Wednesday the 21st May:

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

SIMS 2008 May Re-Release. 21/05/08

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

Due to the issues that some customers have reported with the May Release, we are planning on re-releasing it. This will be made available by Close of Business on Wednesday the 21st May and will consist of a re-built application and a consolidated Patch containing all of the issues already patched below.

 

Local Authorities will be licensed for the new consolidated patch alongside the release so that they can authorise it to their schools at the same time as the May re-release. This is so that the patch will automatically be run as part of the upgrade process so only one process will need to be run.

 

Below is an up to date list of issues that will be resolved with this re-release.

 

1) Unable to print timetables in SIMS .net after applying the May release.

 

The error "C:\Documents not found" occurs when trying to print the timetable. This occurs if the local environment variable setting for the Temp path is set to include a space - for instance 'My Documents'.

 

In order to resolve this please change the environment variable for the TMP path to a directory that does not include a space - for instance C:\Windows\Temp.

 

Please refer to KB79768 for further details.

 

2) The Document Management Server does not work for some users after applying the May Release.

 

When using SIMS .net with a non-Microsoft authenticating proxy server or a Microsoft proxy server with a user account in a different domain you may encounter problems accessing your document management server.

 

To correct this problem open Internet Explorer and go to the Connections tab. Click the LAN Settings button and in the Window that appears ensure the the “Bypass proxy server for local addresses” button is checked. Now click the Advanced button and in the Exceptions area of the new Window enter the name of your proxy server. Entries should be separated with a semi-colon. On restarting SIMS .net you should now be able to access your document management server.

 

Please refer to KB79774 for further details.

 

3) All documents that were uploaded before May and were set as Read Only are now marked as Private.

 

This will prevent all users from seeing them unless they are the original uploader of the document.

 

Please refer to KB79861 for further details.

 

4) In Exams Organiser an "Invalid Variant" error appears when making submissions.

 

In order to resolve this, the school details need to be changed, saved, changed back and re-saved. In order to resolve this please go to SIMS .net | Focus | School Details and amend something temporarily such as adding an extra character to the end of the school name, save, delete the extra character and save again.

 

A combined patch (11889) has been produced to resolve this and is available via SOLUS if you need a resolution in advance.

 

Please refer to KB79740 for further details.

 

5) We have found that the May release causes split classes to no longer show for both teachers in Profiles list entry view.

 

One teacher can therefore no longer see their previously written comments or write new comments. No data is being lost.

 

A combined patch (11889) has been produced to resolve this and is available via SOLUS if you need a resolution in advance.

 

Please refer to KB79842 for further details.

 

This News item will be updated when more information becomes available.

 

Please note the FMS release is unaffected and has no reported issues.

 

Jonathan Wood

Product Manager (Technical and Releases)

[apeo]

Thats whats been stated on SupportNet too.

[Gatt]

So the "C:\Documents" error is now a "Feature" is it

[kmount]

Seriously stupid omission marketed as a feature sure.

[gaz350]

i do feel for you sims schools.

 

/start smugness

 

upgraded cmis thursday, beat my record of 34mins!

managed to do a backup, windows updates x3 servers(app, database,eportal), install cmis, let it do its database checks/upgrade, install eportal, install eportal patch, defrag 3 servers. reboot servers all in 27mins.

 

all went well and i probably wont have to look at the servers again till next patch tuesday!

 

i think cutting out the coffee making helped speed things up, although i am sure i could slip that back in a better time in the process.

 

/end smugness

 

of course it wasn't always like this!

[Heebeejeebee]

So the "C:\Documents" error is now a "Feature" is it

 

Below is an up to date list of issues that will be resolved with this re-release.

 

1) Unable to print timetables in SIMS .net after applying the May release.

 

Let's hope not. If it is then it's just another thing I have to remember to setup when I create images.

 

HBJB