ParentPay MISSync

[KarlLelliott]

Afternoon all.

 

Quick question if I may.

Our schools have been using the MISSync tool to sync between ParentPay & SIMS for the last couple of years, but the way it has been set up seems a bit backward to me.

 

None of the schools admin staff have the MISSync installed, instaed one of the IT Team decided it was best to install the tool on a server, and then not to let any of the school staff access it, insted, they have to log a call, and get a tech do it for them.

 

To me, this is just a complete over reaction, or even an ego boost, why shouldn't the end user be capable of doing this?

 

What happens when they log a call? Well, depending on how busy the main tech team are, it can be a couple of days before the sync is run.

 

 

So my question is, do you let the schools admin staff manage their own sync's?

If so, how many problems do you get with this? Obviously none of our school staff will have seen MISSync, so is it intuative for them?

 

I just want to see the end user be able to run a sync when they need to, and not be beholdant on a tech team that doesn't need to be involved.

 

I look forward to hearing your opinions.

 

Thanks,

Karl

[mitchell1981]

We have this but only on one server. It's a horrible bit of software that constantly locks up the machine and freezes whenever it is doing anything so I wouldn't want many people to use it.

 

The student sync is fully automated though so no need to run manually at all. Perhaps this needs setting up on your system? Once it is set up it runs as a Scheduled Task on the server. Ours runs once a day.

 

The staff sync is a manual task (not sure why), but unless you have staff starting and leaving every day there doesn't seem to be much need to give multiple users access.

 

I would have a look and check you have the Scheduled task configured for the student sync as this might solve the problem.

[3s-gtech]

Same as above. We only have it on a server (TPC), as due to using SIMS Connected it won’t work on another workstation anyway.

 

Students automatically sync. Staff don’t. Pre-intake students are also done manually.

 

It is buggy, slow and freezes.

[KarlLelliott]

We have this but only on one server. It's a horrible bit of software that constantly locks up the machine and freezes whenever it is doing anything so I wouldn't want many people to use it.

 

The student sync is fully automated though so no need to run manually at all. Perhaps this needs setting up on your system? Once it is set up it runs as a Scheduled Task on the server. Ours runs once a day.

 

The staff sync is a manual task (not sure why), but unless you have staff starting and leaving every day there doesn't seem to be much need to give multiple users access.

 

I would have a look and check you have the Scheduled task configured for the student sync as this might solve the problem.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'll have a look on the server in the morning. I have a feeling that there is no scheduled tasks running, as that would stop our users logging the calls.

 

If I were to look at giving the client to a user on their desktop, it would only be for the one admin user per site (we have 27 seperate sites who have to log calls when they need a sync running).

 

Just about finished for the day, so I'll do more investigating tomorrow

Edited September 5, 2024 by KarlLelliott

[ITGuyNW]

We have this but only on one server. It's a horrible bit of software that constantly locks up the machine and freezes whenever it is doing anything so I wouldn't want many people to use it.

 

The student sync is fully automated though so no need to run manually at all. Perhaps this needs setting up on your system? Once it is set up it runs as a Scheduled Task on the server. Ours runs once a day.

 

The staff sync is a manual task (not sure why), but unless you have staff starting and leaving every day there doesn't seem to be much need to give multiple users access.

 

I would have a look and check you have the Scheduled task configured for the student sync as this might solve the problem.

 

 

Pretty much this

[willtech]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'll have a look on the server in the morning. I have a feeling that there is no scheduled tasks running, as that would stop our users logging the calls.

 

If I were to look at giving the client to a user on their desktop, it would only be for the one admin user per site (we have 27 seperate sites who have to log calls when they need a sync running).

 

Just about finished for the day, so I'll do more investigating tomorrow

 

If you need the setup guide to do pupil auto uploading via scheduled task its here: https://support.parentpaygroup.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4410412727185-SIMS-Local-Setting-up-a-scheduled-task-to-upload-pupil-records-from-SIMS-into-ParentPay

[coolhands]

I have it set up as scheduled task, at 6am and something like 5pm each day. I and one admin staff also have the MISSync on our desktop so we can manually do it if necessary plus we add staff of course (which can only be done manually)

[Lebowski]

How do you have your schedule task set up? I've tried setting it up as per their documentation, in the history on task scheduler it is running the task but nothing is uploading.

 

Tried emailing parent pay but to call them useless would be a compliment.

Edited November 6, 2024 by Lebowski

[mitchell1981]

Ours is set to run the following command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\ParentPay\MISSync.exe"

 

With the arguments: /sims /quiet

 

Set to run weather or not a user is signed in, and with highest privileges.

[ajp233]

Install it on the admin machines so they can initiate a sync whenever required. You've got to trust people to be capable of doing the job they were employed for.....

[bobsmith]

Bromcom has an API they use - so we can just go to the parentpay website and it's force synced.

 

Back when I did SIMS I'm pretty sure their tech team helped us get to the point of having the scheduled task do the heavy lifting - with only staff updates needed on missync - which can be installed locally without too much fuss.

Put a file exception rule to allow missync.exe in program files to run and you're golden.

[Lebowski]

Ours is set to run the following command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\ParentPay\MISSync.exe"

 

With the arguments: /sims /quiet

 

Set to run weather or not a user is signed in, and with highest privileges.

That's exactly what their documentation says/what I've done!

Task scheduler says it's running though nothing gets uploaded. If I run "C:\Program Files (x86)\ParentPay\MISSync.exe" /sims in command prompt it just loads opens MIS Sync

[Edu-IT]

Is anyone able to access the ParentPay support site since they've moved to Service-Now and in a position to provide me with the setup file? I've been trying to gain access for 7 days and I'm running out of time to switch. Any help would be really appreciated! I am happy to verify I am a ParentPay customer to anyone who can send me the file.

[coolhands]

19 hours ago, Edu-IT said:

Is anyone able to access the ParentPay support site since they've moved to Service-Now and in a position to provide me with the setup file? I've been trying to gain access for 7 days and I'm running out of time to switch. Any help would be really appreciated! I am happy to verify I am a ParentPay customer to anyone who can send me the file.

 

as per I posted on the other thread, the below might help (as their sites are such a confusing mess)

 

For future ref there seems to be similar, but not all accessible, portals below. many help pages or links you come across go to the dud sites:

 

https://help.parentpaygroup.com/csm I can access this one and submit tickets (they are ignored though)

https://support.parentpaygroup.com/ (just shows nothing and says 'security constraints prevent access to required page')

https://customer.support-ess.com/ lots of help pages direct here, but can't access says 'User name or password invalid'

https://parentpaygroup.zendesk.com/ (at least I can see my old tickets here, thank god)

 

 

[MYK-IT]

Our Finance Team are having same problems attempting to obtain support (like @Edu-IT) and as @coolhands mentioned, no idea of the correct method of accessing support!

 

Ultimately, our Finance Team just want to add a visitor/other.... When we had SIMS, we used MIS:Sync and used the (ridiculous) process of manually adding first name, last name, and 2 random values to then re-upload back to ParentPay etc.

 

As the sync process is now via an API (Arbor) I 'assumed' that MIS:Sync would no longer be needed, and something as simple as adding a visitor account would be as easy as doing so via the ParentPay web-portal... but no, been advised we have to use MIS:Sync!!! To literally enter first name, last name, visitor, visitor001 - or something similar!

 

Now need to obtain MIS:Sync software and required credentials... 😞

[Edu-IT]

I’ve been sent the direct link to download it now. Only took about a week. Let me know if you need it.

[mavhc]

I'm getting "The 'Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0' provider is not registered on the local machine." when trying to import an updated spreadsheet of staff, got Office 365 64bit installed, anyone know what I need to install to fix it?

[StephenPink]

2 hours ago, mavhc said:

I'm getting "The 'Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0' provider is not registered on the local machine." when trying to import an updated spreadsheet of staff, got Office 365 64bit installed, anyone know what I need to install to fix it?

From memory - the import wizard is only 32-bit, so requires 32-bit Office. Feel like there's another workaround but can't remember... something about if you have full SQL Server there's a different import wizard?

[mavhc]

I can't even manually upload a staff spreadsheet, just get "Import data was not read successfully. Please attempt the upload again."

[Jobos]

On 15/05/2025 at 20:36, Edu-IT said:

I’ve been sent the direct link to download it now. Only took about a week. Let me know if you need it.

 

Is that the link to download SchoolComms? If so yes please, I've asked Parentpay but still waiting for a response.

[Edu-IT]

No, it's for the ParentPay MISSync tool.

[Jobos]

2 minutes ago, Edu-IT said:

No, it's for the ParentPay MISSync tool.

Yes that's the one I mean, it syncs SIMS to ParentPay.

[mavhc]

After waiting for 20 mins on the phone to ParentPay they sent me a xls instead of xlsx file and that worked