Moving to Lesson Monitor from Bromcom - Process

[SteveB]

Right guys, i think this is just to satisfy myself.

 

Am in the process of migrating a school from Bromcom to Lesson Monitor. They wanted to use the two systems side by side for a while, with a couple of tutors using LM and the rest staying with BC.

 

The problems i foresaw was that Bromcom would overwrite the AM/PM marks with nulls (for those reg groups taken via LM) as the ALL the statutory marks are copied back via Bromis.

 

Thus, we are suggesting that couple of people run with BOTH systems for a period to make sure settings and process is working.

 

Is there a way to only send back a portion of the statutory marks to sims?

 

Is this how you guys have managed to roll it out?

 

Any tips greatly appreciated as i'm popping into the school friday and i want to be sure of the best process in my head.

 

steve

[matt40k]

Are you using Bromcom's grey pads?

[SteveB]

Is that Winfolder? I don't work at the school we are a support unit, but i don't support BromCom.

[vikpaw]

I don't think you can stop BRODIS from sending all the data back.

Give Bromcom a ring, if you support the school, then you can log a request on their behalf, and though they will no doubt be gutted the school is leaving, they have great tech support and will possibly be able to code some exceptions for the school. I guess you could just eliminate a whole year group from the send...

Bromcom is a very flexible system and school based modifications are often possible and damned handy.

[SteveB]

Great advice. I will suggest this on Friday

 

Steve

[matt40k]

Basically it went grey folder, winfolder - windows application rather then a grey folder (basic pda), then web application.

 

As far as I remember, Bromcoms interface with SIMS - BRODIS, goes straight into SQL, so it'll override the marks. I would say talk to Bromcom, say what's happening, they might, yer it'll be fine, personally, I would do a SIMS backup before BRODIS starts.

 

I think I remeber someone saying, we'll stop them sync'ing then Bromcom will do a final import once Bromcom was dropped and the poor attendance lady would have to have basically, add them together (fun) whilst they "co-run". Personally, drop Bromcom and run to SIMS.

[SteveB]

Basically it went grey folder, winfolder - windows application rather then a grey folder (basic pda), then web application.

 

As far as I remember, Bromcoms interface with SIMS - BRODIS, goes straight into SQL, so it'll override the marks. I would say talk to Bromcom, say what's happening, they might, yer it'll be fine, personally, I would do a SIMS backup before BRODIS starts.

 

I think I remeber someone saying, we'll stop them sync'ing then Bromcom will do a final import once Bromcom was dropped and the poor attendance lady would have to have basically, add them together (fun) whilst they "co-run". Personally, drop Bromcom and run to SIMS.

 

erm, Matt, i think you have the wrong end of the stick. School currently uses Bromcom and are moving to SIMS LM.

 

Still, cheers for the input. Always handy having opinions on other pieces of software.

[matt40k]

erm, Matt, i think you have the wrong end of the stick. School currently uses Bromcom and are moving to SIMS LM.

 

Still, cheers for the input. Always handy having opinions on other pieces of software.

 

My understand was that you wanted to run both together for a while.

 

Basically , I think, the LM marks will be overwritten by bromcoms blank marks, I base this on the fact Bromcom goes straight to SQL rather then though Capita's Business Objects. Therefore either don't let them "sync" anymore, or backup SIMS before doing so.

 

Hope that makes more sense.

[vikpaw]

Great advice. I will suggest this on Friday

Steve

 

Steve, there are a few Bromcom staff who are members of the forum so perhaps you could get in touch with them or just ring them up direct so you've already got a Head's Up of whats possible on friday.

JohnCondon is one member i don't know the names of the others but perhaps he can help.

 

020 8695 8090 for customer care, i think our support number in the south was 020 8695 8055 but what is south and north is debatable. i think north is the same with 8077 on the end.

[Bromcom_John]

Hi Steve,

Sorry that the school are shifting over but happy to help.

The proposed "Side by side" trial you've suggested should work fine.

As long as the school doesn't continue to enter attendance into the classes that are to be taken by the trial users it won't overwrite anything.

Essentially the logic works that if theres no mark to transfer then it won't transfer a mark.

 

The untaken register will remain in its default state on the eSchool database and the attendance transfer process won't detect any changed marks so won't transfer anything.

 

Hope that helps.

[Bromcom_John]

Basically , I think, the LM marks will be overwritten by bromcoms blank marks, I base this on the fact Bromcom goes straight to SQL rather then though Capita's Business Objects.

 

Wrong Matt

We have to use Capita's business Objects the same as everyone else. We don't go straight to SQL (as much as I sometimes wish we could!).

[matt40k]

Wrong Matt

We have to use Capita's business Objects the same as everyone else. We don't go straight to SQL (as much as I sometimes wish we could!).

 

Should how often I use Bromcom! When did you move over? I assume BRODIS auto-updates?

 

(I still remember getting the latest version of WinFolder on CD and having to manually upgrade the workstations - pre-MSI and pre-Web based)

[Bromcom_John]

Should how often I use Bromcom! When did you move over? I assume BRODIS auto-updates?

 

(I still remember getting the latest version of WinFolder on CD and having to manually upgrade the workstations - pre-MSI and pre-Web based)

 

BroDIS from its earliest incarnations has had to communicate with SIMS SQL via the Business Objects.

The last one that was able to write back to the databases direct would be going back to SIMS DBF!

 

Ah the good old days

[matt40k]

The last one that was able to write back to the databases direct would be going back to SIMS DBF!

 

Ah the good old days

 

Mmm... Half with you.

 

Plus

no .net errors, low hardware requirements, nice DOS System Manager, nice "flat" db, can use that cool 9" green screen

 

minus

An arse to use, lanid, old hat, "flat" db, floppy disc upgrades, can't use that shinny new 64bit server

[SteveB]

Hi Steve,

Sorry that the school are shifting over but happy to help.

The proposed "Side by side" trial you've suggested should work fine.

As long as the school doesn't continue to enter attendance into the classes that are to be taken by the trial users it won't overwrite anything.

Essentially the logic works that if theres no mark to transfer then it won't transfer a mark.

 

The untaken register will remain in its default state on the eSchool database and the attendance transfer process won't detect any changed marks so won't transfer anything.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Hi John

 

Thanks for your input. So in laymans, the trial Tutors do Registration and Lesson Marks in SIMS and the rest of the school use Bromcom. as there is no Registration Mark for the Reg groups in Bromcom for these trial Registrations, is should not overwrite them with blanks / No attendance.

 

Do i understand correctly?

[Bromcom_John]

Correct.

The only thing you risk is if your admin staff regularly put in manual attendance or if your system is set to update registration marks automatically from periods.

The first can be dealt with via a polite conversation with the aforementioned staff.

The second can, if its in use, be switched off. Only the school can tell you if they are using that option.

[SteveB]

if the bromcom system is set to update registration marks automatically from periods, if there is no period mark entered (because the tutor is using Lesson Monitor) does it write back a no mark for Registation and copy it back to SIMS?