Timetabling issues with 16-bit Capita Software

[Taunton81]

Hi All

 

My problems with SIMS.net seem to be on going at the moment. I was wondering if anyone had the same issues as we have:

 

We run Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 and we are currently migrating all our systems over to x64 to improve performance etc.

 

At the moment, all is going well for most applications; however we have hit a brick wall when it comes to SIMS.net.

 

The core part of SIMS.net is working fine; however timetabling is a complete mess. We have to use Nova-T 4 to print off a whole school timetable. This software is still 16-bit!! Obviously this will not run in a x64 environment. Capita 2 years ago said that we would not need to use Nova-T 4 after about 18 months; however they now say this has been changed to September 2009!!! The only reason we still have to use Nova-T 4 is to print off this one report.

 

We are also having issues with printing pupil timetables and bulk timetables within the main SIMS.net application. Apparently it uses a program called TTPRINT.EXE - however we have found out that this too is not x64 compatible. This has meant that I still have to run a 32-bit Citrix server for a few people to be able to run these tools.

 

I can't understand why Capita aren’t doing anything to support x64. They appear to be burring their head in the sand. If you ever phone the helpdesk the only thing they say is that don't support it and 'have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling SIMS'?

 

I have no problems with any other application on our systems, yet SIMS is consuming more and more of my time at the moment. For a system that is meant to help with school management it does nothing to help with IT management, other than give them a headache!

 

Sorry if this appears to be a rant, however it’s just starting to become a farce with the number of updates we have to carry out on SIMS.net

 

To put it in perspective, we are still using MENTOR (SIMS predecessor) for School fees and it works fine on x64, we have no issues with it what so ever.

 

Tom

[mcloum]

Nova-T 6 is out isnt it? Isnt this a 32bit app?

[Chris1974]

I am using T6, but still export to T4 just to print - the layout is much more friendly for people to read / schedule their own teams. Just starting to get my head around it all.

[Taunton81]

Yeah, we have T-6 as well, everything is done in that, except for printing off the timetable which as to be done in T-4.

 

All very odd!

[BKGarry]

There is a timetable printing option under Reports in SIMS .net, you have to make sure your accademic year,

 

you should be syncing to T4 through SQL anyways.

 

Hope this helps