[sims] Sims Connected

[mitchell1981]

Hi All,

 

Anyone know anything about Sims Connected?

 

We are currently on Hosted Sims. We needed some more licences, but we've been told to hold off, as we are apparently about to move to 'Sims Connected'. All I can find is a small piece in a blog, about a web based version of Sims.

 

Does anyone know any more about Sims Connected, or what it will do?

 

This has all come via our Finance Officer. I've ask to speak to our ESS account manager to clarify what is going on, but not heard yet.

 

Thanks.

[ThatBoringBloke]

Connected is Hosted SIMS rebranded.

Same Platform, Same way to sign in (SIMS ID), just a Rebrand.

[Steve21]

From my understanding connected was the "new" hosted, aka the HTML5 RDS wrapper, rather than the old RemoteApp version, but still not real cloud etc

 

Steve

[NickBryson]

From my understanding connected was the "new" hosted, aka the HTML5 RDS wrapper, rather than the old RemoteApp version, but still not real cloud etc

 

Steve

 

I agree. A HTML 5 replacement for remote desktop which offers an enhanced user experience for customers.

For partners it has same 3rd party connector model (TPC) but ESS are working on improvements to enhance TPC performance.

[supportman]

Its just remote access to Sims via the Web. No different really just a bit slower!

[meakjoe]

If you want to be really cheeky, just go to the web address endpoint that the RDP file connects to and append /webclient to the address to reach the HTML5 page, which I assume is what they're going to be moving to? Remote Desktop Web Client (sims.co.uk)

[paulkerton]

Sims Connected. It's the hosted SIMS you have now but you'll be able to access it through an HTML5 RDP client rather than something installed on your machine, being offered to all schools from Q1 2022.

 

Of course it's Q2 starting tomorrow, so once again SIMS has sold a promise they once again haven't delivered on.

[Edu-IT]

Sims Connected. It's the hosted SIMS you have now but you'll be able to access it through an HTML5 RDP client rather than something installed on your machine, being offered to all schools from Q1 2022.

 

Of course it's Q2 starting tomorrow, so once again SIMS has sold a promise they once again haven't delivered on.

It does work, if you follow the steps somebody posted above to append the URL.

[paulkerton]

It does work, if you follow the steps somebody posted above to append the URL.

Yes, but there is a big difference between it being rolled out and someone finding a trick to find the HTML 5 client.

Also we could go around in circles on this, but it's clearly just the Windows client. It's hardly truly "web based"

[mitchell1981]

Thanks for the info. Still not heard from account manager!

 

Seems that appended URL thing no longer works. Wonder if they spotted this thread!

[Edu-IT]

Thanks for the info. Still not heard from account manager!

 

Seems that appended URL thing no longer works. Wonder if they spotted this thread!

Yes I noticed the same. I wonder why? It was actually quite useful.

[robyholmes]

Yes I noticed the same. I wonder why? It was actually quite useful.

Because they want to charge you extra for it?

[paulkerton]

Because thats the new product, and its not ready yet.

[Edu-IT]

Because thats the new product, and its not ready yet.

Like most of the releases… [emoji23]

[coping123]

SIMS Connected

 

A School I support seem to determined to make the move to this.

 

Anyone got any experience of migrating and using this? Anything I should be making the school aware of, issue wise, something tells me it is not going to be all sing and dancing as they expect!

[3s-gtech]

Nothing yet, but we will be making the move in September (or that’s the plan, but it has already moved back a year since first mooted).

 

I’ll feed back. Worried about our TPCs and existing MIS integration via commandreporter.

[Edu-IT]

Yes we are using SIMS Connected. It’s just a HTML5 interface.

[mitchell1981]

We have now made the move to Sims Connected. I should point out that absolutely no information about what it was, was provided by ESS before we moved. We were just told it was better for licencing purposes.

 

It is basically just Sims opening in the web browser rather that RDP.

 

Advantages:

 

- One log in instead of two

- Seem to be less problems with passwords going wrong / out of sync

- No longer have to manage licence numbers

 

Disadvantages:

 

- Printing is a bit weird. You print to a special printer which then forwards the print to you actual physical printer. Usually works, but we've had some complications with printer settings, double sided etc..

- File management is awkward. Files are saved to a Web Files mapped drive, which syncs to the users 'Downloads' folder. The problem is, sometimes the Web Files drive just isn't there.

 

Usually when there are problems getting the users to sign out and back in fixes it, but with the missing Web Files mapped drive, we've occasionally had to contact support to fix it.

 

Command Reporter continues to run on the VPN based server, so is not affected.

[coping123]

We have now made the move to Sims Connected. I should point out that absolutely no information about what it was, was provided by ESS before we moved. We were just told it was better for licencing purposes.

 

It is basically just Sims opening in the web browser rather that RDP.

 

Advantages:

 

- One log in instead of two

- Seem to be less problems with passwords going wrong / out of sync

- No longer have to manage licence numbers

 

Disadvantages:

 

- Printing is a bit weird. You print to a special printer which then forwards the print to you actual physical printer. Usually works, but we've had some complications with printer settings, double sided etc..

- File management is awkward. Files are saved to a Web Files mapped drive, which syncs to the users 'Downloads' folder. The problem is, sometimes the Web Files drive just isn't there.

 

Usually when there are problems getting the users to sign out and back in fixes it, but with the missing Web Files mapped drive, we've occasionally had to contact support to fix it.

 

Command Reporter continues to run on the VPN based server, so is not affected.

 

Thank you for that. That has been really helpful.

 

You are correct in that the ESS provide very little information.

 

The context behind our move to SIMS Connected is we wish to move to the Cloud, or should I say "serverless" and there is a complete no go from SLT with moving our SIMS to Arbor/Bromcom etc.

 

Would you say with something like SIMS Connected can provide, would aid in this? Do you still require a server onsite? Currently our data is hosted on a SAN for it, would we still require this? Or do they host the data, services etc?

 

Aswell as that, how are things such Groupcall, Wonde, AIMHigh etc managed with this move to SIMS Connected?

Edited July 4, 2022 by coping123

[3s-gtech]

If you have a beasty onsite SIMS server, you won't need anything like the power of that any more - you won't need an SQL license either. You'll need a server that does the TPCs (Wonde etc) through the VPN and any scheduled reports, but it shouldn't need any great amount of storage or processing capability.

[mitchell1981]

The whole thing runs from the cloud (ESS), and all the data is in the cloud, expect for (as you mentioned), the server that connects to third party services. For us this is a VM running a local copy of Sims (the application, not the database) that connects via a VPN to ESS. You can install anything you like on this server, and it works just like an standard old fashioned install of Sims.

 

I see no reason why it wouldn't be possible to run this server in Azure, or similar, and therefore not require a local server. Maybe ESS will even host this for you, but I've not asked.

[paulkerton]

The context behind our move to SIMS Connected is we wish to move to the Cloud, or should I say "serverless" and there is a complete no go from SLT with moving our SIMS to Arbor/Bromcom etc.

Why is it a complete no go?

 

That's a bit like saying I want to move to an electric vehicle, but I don't want batteries, I want a combustion engine powering the electric motors

[ITGURU]

I already offer remote SIMS access through html5 webclient for our schools. Nothing new there just behind with the times as always, considering when you do a new server install its donkey years old and then apply the latest update!

Rather have my data local than hosted , wonder what their infrastructure is like - one security issue and all schools out!

[3s-gtech]

I already offer remote SIMS access through html5 webclient for our schools. Nothing new there just behind with the times as always, considering when you do a new server install its donkey years old and then apply the latest update!

Rather have my data local than hosted , wonder what their infrastructure is like - one security issue and all schools out!

 

From what I remember, the infrastructure is mostly based on some old bits of bacon held together with wire coathangers, with some 5400rpm drives gruesomely shoved into the mess. Running Server 2012 R2.

 

It’s not fast, especially after a holiday.

[HereIGoAgain2601]

We are in the process of moving back from sims connected to on premise. Moved in September and most of our 9 secondaries couldn’t use sims properly for weeks. It’s settled down now but we do from time to time get issues where half the staff can’t logon to the 2012 R2 box. It can take days for them to fix anything when it goes wrong and the helpdesk is dire.