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

[tech-man]

Taken from SupportNet.... damn SIMS.

 

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)

[Quackers]

Please, NO NO NO more SIMS updates EVER. They cause chaos, staff hate them and i get the abuse when PARS takes longer to load to do a register because a SIMS update has to be done first.

 

Evil Evil Software.

[Valentine]

So have they actually fixed anything or are just telling people various workarounds for their blunders?

[joe90bass]

So have they actually fixed anything or are just telling people various workarounds for their blunders?

 

Sounds like workarounds to me

 

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

 

Who know's may be a patch for the patch to follow as well

Edited May 19, 2008 by joe90bass
More info

[tech-man]

We had to apply the may upgrade to sort issues for census last week, now I have database timeouts all over the shop. As a result unhappy staff....

[PhilNeal]

They are fixes not work arounds. Timeouts are not a reported issue so please lodge a case and we can follow it up.

[glensc]

Taken from SupportNet.... damn SIMS.

 

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.

 

Jonathan Wood

Product Manager (Technical and Releases)

 

This advice is intended to fix what exactly?

Surely that should be

Now click the Advanced button and in the Exceptions area of the new Window enter the name of your Document Server

[mulderite]

Damn SIMS updates! I was about to install the May update last night (until they include the functionality to knock off logged on users I can't get any free time on the system until after school) when something drew me to look on EduGeek. Lo and behold the May release is now being re-released to fix problems incurred by installing the update! Thank God I didn't go ahead with the update. So now I'm having to stay back again on Thursday night to do it then.

 

I can't help but get the feeling we are nothing more than beta testers for SIMS throughout the lifecycle of SIMS .net..

[apeo]

Could you not do it remotely? You can still force users off but that may cause problems if there are still users actually using the database. Theres also an option to automate sims updates (i think).

[Jawloms]

They are fixes not work arounds.

 

Surely it would be better if you got it right in the first place! This happens far to often. It's ridiculous!!

 

Stuart

[enjay]

Surely it would be better if you got it right in the first place!

 

But that would involve product testing. Repeat after me, Capita, t-e-s-t-i-n-g. Trouble is, it takes time, and the developers/project managers are no doubt being pressured to release as soon as possible, especially with this release because of the census.

 

Whose stupid fault was it to require the bang up-to-date latest version to complete the census?

[Guest theeldergeek]

Surely it would be better if you got it right in the first place! This happens far to often. It's ridiculous!!

 

Stuart

 

 

EVERY TIME we do a SIMS upgrade, it kills the wireless on Dell 600/610 laptops (which incidentally most of our teaching staff have)

 

Subsequently, what should be a relatively smooth transition turns into a debacle with the ICT team being made to look like we haven't got a clue with teachers queuing at the door to get in and have their laptop "fixed"!

 

Our only workaround is to get the laptops into the office, and hard wire into RJ45 and do the upgrade that way.

 

The next 3 hours is spent trying to track teachers down to return their laptops.

 

I like SIMS, I like its 'features' and functionality, but why do software vendors release such unstable or broken software?

[Guest theeldergeek]

They are fixes not work arounds. Timeouts are not a reported issue so please lodge a case and we can follow it up.

 

Would you be happy to look into the issue as to why all our Dell D600/610's fail to upgrade when connected via wireless?

 

The upgrade starts, and then without warning, the wireless signal disappears to then reconnect a few moments later. Unfortunately, the short time the laptops are without wireless, the upgrade fails.

 

We put aside at least a day to sort our SIMS issues whenever new "upgrades" (read: fixes for broken and/or unstable software) are released and I'm getting pretty sick of it having a heavy enough workload as it is.

 

 

[skunk]

Has anyone installed the May Re-release yet. I am somewhat reluctant to do this until someone else has done the beta testing.

[kmount]

I'm not being burnt twice, so I'm too waiting.

[apeo]

I'm not being burnt twice, so I'm too waiting.

 

Burnt twice?

[PhilNeal]

x2Online - the only thing I can think of is that the upgrade size is causing the network to overload. Please send me your details and I will get it investigated.

[cuke2u]

Hi, I have applied the revised May release however I am still getting the same document server error; "Unable to find a document server. Please check in Tools, System Setup". I also put in the fixes outline in the KB release.

Any clues, this is driving me mad :-(

Chris

[kmount]

Burnt twice?

 

Burnt twice as in I applied the May Release on its date of release, so decided this time to hold off until someone else had done it! - Have done it now though, half term is a perfect opportunity!

[glensc]

Hi, I have applied the revised May release however I am still getting the same document server error; "Unable to find a document server. Please check in Tools, System Setup". I also put in the fixes outline in the KB release.

Any clues, this is driving me mad :-(

Chris

 

I hope you didn't follow it to the letter, as putting in a proxy bypass for the proxy server itself probably won't help much.

 

I did email them a couple of weeks ago to let them know that it probably should be to bypass the proxy server for the Document Management Server but it seems they don't see enough of a problem with leaving incorrect advice up to what has already been a contentious upgrade and secondary patch.

[apeo]

Burnt twice as in I applied the May Release on its date of release, so decided this time to hold off until someone else had done it! - Have done it now though, half term is a perfect opportunity!

 

I didnt think you had to apply the Upgrade again as you've already done it once, thought you just had to apply the patches or workarounds... I'm still holding off on it as i still dont trust it

[HodgeHi]

Is there anyway SimS updates can be done without admin rights on the client side?

 

I am only just starting out in the SIMS world of management and at the moment our clients need admin rights to update each client, which means i have to manually go around each staff machine and log in myself to do the updates?

 

It may be something i have done to make it this way so i am open to any suggestions.

[kmount]

I've done the upgrade (a) as opposed to the several patches/work arounds.

 

HodgeHi, there are ways to allow your client to do the upgrades but I'm not certain of them off the top of my head so I'm sure someone will comment with them. - We don't have the problem here as our staff users hold local admin rights on their PCs.

[HodgeHi]

I don't think admin rights is the way to go with our staff ;-)

 

One can't open a padlock on the laptop trolley even when the Combination is entered already.

[TechMonkey]

WE don't give users admin rights and they can install upgrades. Have to say though, can't remember how we did it. I think it is just permissions on the sims folders. Doesn't simsperm.bat (titter) do this?