Hosted SIMS down?

[bobsmith]

 

any other schools getting this?

[rossibIT]

Yes at two sites, plus Smoothwall blocking it due to 'Socket error' 

 

Regards
Ross

[SIMS_Customer_Support]

Hi @bobsmith 

 

We are aware that there has been a brief disconnection of services, our services are now recovering.

 

Kind Regards

Sally 

 

 

 

[bobsmith]

back in now.

 

not helpful in the middle of the census

[SIMS_Customer_Support]

14 minutes ago, rossibIT said:

Yes at two sites, plus Smoothwall blocking it due to 'Socket error' 

 

Regards
Ross

 

14 minutes ago, rossibIT said:

Yes at two sites, plus Smoothwall blocking it due to 'Socket error' 

 

Regards
Ross

Hi @rossibIT 

We are aware that there has been a brief disconnection of services, our services are now recovering.

 

Kind Regards

Sally 

[frogwoman]

Keeps happening though doesn't it.

35 minutes ago, SIMS_Customer_Support said:

 

Hi @rossibIT 

We are aware that there has been a brief disconnection of services, our services are now recovering.

 

Kind Regards

Sally 

 

 

Where is the page that tells you the services status,  I seem to be getting an error on the bookmark I saved?

[SIMS_Customer_Support]

1 hour ago, frogwoman said:

Keeps happening though doesn't it.

 

 

Where is the page that tells you the services status,  I seem to be getting an error on the bookmark I saved?

Hi @frogwoman https://ppgsl.service-now.com/csm 

 

Thanks

[bobsmith]

what's funny/sad is that there is no outage or service degradation reported when it was down....

 

100% uptime the entire week on every single service!

[frogwoman]

22 hours ago, SIMS_Customer_Support said:

Hi @frogwoman https://ppgsl.service-now.com/csm 

 

Thanks

thanks - but as @bobsmith said, not representing accurate information!  a little honesty goes a long way. 

 

So what is the process for getting information when there is an issue out to end users?  Do we all have to log a call and wait fingers crossed for an answer, whilst hiding in our offices as our end users are shouting Safeguarding issue through the keyhole?

 

 

[SIMS_Customer_Support]

34 minutes ago, frogwoman said:

thanks - but as @bobsmith said, not representing accurate information!  a little honesty goes a long way. 

 

So what is the process for getting information when there is an issue out to end users?  Do we all have to log a call and wait fingers crossed for an answer, whilst hiding in our offices as our end users are shouting Safeguarding issue through the keyhole?

 

 

Hi @frogwoman @bobsmith For any outages we will post an announcement on the portal, the IVRs will also be updated. On this occasion our technical team resolved the incident before we could alter the IVRs or post the announcement. 

 

Best wishes
Sally 

[TooOld4This]

On 17/10/2025 at 11:43, SIMS_Customer_Support said:

Hi @frogwoman @bobsmith For any outages we will post an announcement on the portal, the IVRs will also be updated. On this occasion our technical team resolved the incident before we could alter the IVRs or post the announcement. 

 

Best wishes
Sally 

In that case why wasn't anything posted on the IVRs when there was clearly a fault with Next Gen the other week when there had t be a global fix rolled out by the support engineers? That took several days to be resolved and left a lot of schools frustrated.

[bobsmith]

Anyone else getting this error this morning?

 

I've confirmed it with another school I know - but a sample of 2 isn't all that big.

 

[rossibIT]

Will add another 2 schools to that count. Same error. 

Regards

Ross

[gaz350b]

add another 3. extremely slow when it does load. started around 8.30 this morning.

[bobsmith]

03/11/2025 09:15:10 GMT - Harvey Edwards^{Additional comments}

Good morning,

We are aware of an issue impacting SIMS Connected this morning that is resulting in degraded performance and login problems for users.

This issue is under investigation as a high priority, and your case has been linked to a Major Case record for this problem. Further updates will be provided via the case when available.

We apologise for the disruption.

Kind regards,
SIMS Support

[frogwoman]

Is it schools broadband again.....

[rossibIT]

We are aware of an issue impacting SIMS Connected this morning that is resulting in degraded performance and login problems for users.

 

This issue is under investigation as a high priority, and your case has been linked to a Major Case record for this problem. Further updates will be provided via the case when available.

 

We apologise for the disruption.

 

Just got this from SIMS via SchoolsICT.

 

Ross

[gaz350b]

There was system maintenance over the weekend my guess is resources aren't spooling up fast enough to meet demand as schools return.

[SIMS_Customer_Support]

@bobsmith@gaz350b@rossibIT 

 

Good morning,

We are aware of an issue impacting SIMS Connected this morning that is resulting in degraded performance and login problems for users.

Please be assured this issue is under investigation as a high priority. 

We apologise for any inconvenience. 

Kind regards,
Sally

[lmgtfy]

23 hours ago, SIMS_Customer_Support said:

@bobsmith@gaz350b@rossibIT 

 

Good morning,

We are aware of an issue impacting SIMS Connected this morning that is resulting in degraded performance and login problems for users.

Please be assured this issue is under investigation as a high priority. 

We apologise for any inconvenience. 

Kind regards,
Sally

Thanks, Sally @SIMS_Customer_Support

 

Is there any reason why the system status page is so rarely updated? We’ve noticed that unless an issue lasts for at least an hour, it often isn’t mentioned at all. For example, the outage that lasted several hours yesterday isn’t reflected on today’s status page, which currently shows a green tick for the entire day.

 

Since moving to SIMS Connected earlier this year, we’ve experienced frequent periods of unavailability. Many teachers have stopped reporting these incidents altogether, as it’s become such a regular occurrence.

 

I understand that ESS has taken on more customers recently due to Scomis etc, but are there any plans in place to improve reliability?

 

As SIMS is our primary system for statutory attendance, these repeated outages are already a safeguarding concern — staff are unable to complete registers promptly, which directly affects our ability to monitor pupil attendance and welfare in real time.

 

I look forward to your reply.

Edited November 4, 2025 by lmgtfy

[CHiLL]

We are having issues accessing SIMS Connected again today at two separate sites.

[frogwoman]

yup us too....   

[lmgtfy]

Yes, same again, no updates again, and they wonder why their market share has plummeted 🤦‍♀️

[DaveJ2717uk]

same here. same as yesterday that they supposedly fixed.....

[SIMS_Customer_Support]

@CHiLL @frogwoman @lmgtfy @DaveJ2717uk 

 

Good morning,

We are aware of an issue impacting SIMS Connected this morning that is resulting in degraded performance and login problems for users.

Please be assured this issue is under investigation as a high priority. 

We apologise for any inconvenience. 

Kind regards,
Sally