Report Assist Installation

[DigitalDan]

I have a problem installing Report Assist

Firstly ive installed Report Assist with no problems many times before with the 2009 CD's I have, but I have a laptop which it will not install on to. I have fully updated the laptop, including all dot net updates. I have full admin rights. I get no errors in the event viewer. I click on setup, nothing happens. Any ideas?

[DigitalDan]

I have found out the following:-

 

Unfortunately report:assist ceased to trade last summer and there will be no further upgrades

 

That will make some of you happy. Doesnt help me out though.

[laserblazer]

Just received a letter from Reportplus 2010. Seems to be the same people, same product under a different name. We will probably go with them. Better the devil you know!

[contink]

Thanks for the heads up about this...

 

TBH I wish this software would just die or be completely rewritten to use some common ruddy sense and some real teachers (of all abilities) as test cases so they can get the import/export functionality right.

 

I wonder if ReportPlus has come about because someone wants to do just that... or am I being too optimistic here?

[ComputingData]

Here is the information I think you may want...?

 

The ReportPlus program uses the already established (and highly rated) 'ElementaryReports' engine, but with a front-end thats very familiar to ReportAssist users. That said, the RA look-a-like frontend has been dragged into the 21st century and it much more like a 'proper' windows program and imho has much nicer graphics.

 

There is none of the original ReportAssist program in ReportPlus (I didn't have [and wouldn't want ] access to the original source code).

 

The program can import your ReportAssist frontpage and subject layout, most of the time it can do this automatically, otherwise you can browse to a teacher 'folder' and double-click the 'turtle.mdb' file.

 

Because it uses the ElementaryReports engine, it's MUCH faster and more 'fluid', it also now has extra 'goodies' like smart cut and paste (it tracks pronouns, even AFTER they have been entered into text), statement history (it tracks statements that have been entered so you get a warning if you try enter the same statement more than once), statement search, optional U3 install, 35000 statements, etc

 

Some of the old ReportAssist 'team' now work at ReportPlus (ReportAssist had a very good support team) so if you need help in moving to the new system from ReportAssist you can be helped by people who know both systems.

 

Hope this helps any questions you may have.

 

-Anthony

Edited March 11, 2010 by ComputingData

[kaphc]

Our school has just purchased ReportPlus and I am in the process of setting it up.

 

The help team are great - I have phoned twice to ask questions, been answered by the person who picks up the phone - so far, so good.

 

Just going to try and import our pupils in from a CSV file now ....

[ComputingData]

If you have any fields in the csv that it doesn't pick up, or you think would be useful for your reports - let me know (via support) and I'll get them put them in.

 

-Anthony

[Samantha]

is smart cut and paste something new? ive never seen anything like it before

[ComputingData]

It's from Elementrary Reports, it's official name is 'PasteAI'. Whole editor constantly keeps track of pronouns from the original source, this way it can convert from one gender to another without making mistakes (as long as the original source was correct!).

 

When possible, it also converts the subject name. So if you clicked on 'Anthony is very good at Art, he is a credit to his class!', then you copy and paste this into Jane's science... You get 'Jane is very good at Science, she is a credit to her class!'.

 

Normally programs like this (and also the original ReportAssist) will only convert pronouns when you copy the statement in direct from the statement bank - not later, when it is in the document. Other programs will try and do best guess attempts (sometimes plain search and replace) to convert from one gender to another once it is in the document - but without pronoun tracking this is prone to errors.

 

Other programs also have problems (if doing a search/replace copy) when changing from 'her' to 'him' or 'his' as this is particularly difficult, eg 'She described her bike.' to 'He described his bike.', they sometimes make it 'He described him bike.', or (if they get that example correct) then will most likely change 'She is a credit to the class, it was an experience teaching her.' to 'He is a credit to the class, it was an experience teaching his.' - his what? lol.

Edited March 15, 2010 by ComputingData

[Samantha]

we had a look at elementery reports and reportassist amongst others a while back and now elementery reports looks like reportplus which looks like reportasist. ummm sorry think im missing something here but when did it all change and who do we go for now???

[ComputingData]

Basically the two packages are almost the same - but they differ in default setup values, the costs and type of support. Another slight difference is that Elementary Reports is licenced per teacher, but ReportPlus is licenced per class. Edited March 28, 2010 by vikpaw
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[kaphc]

If you have any fields in the csv that it doesn't pick up, or you think would be useful for your reports - let me know (via support) and I'll get them put them in.

 

-Anthony

 

Nothing else on the csv files thanks, but it would be good if the install instructions had more information on the expected format of the CSV file, e.g. what fields to include and what to name them etc.

 

Also have noticed a small typo on the "Head Tecaher's Comments"[sic] in the Sections - not sure if this is local to us or not.

 

Hope it's OK for me to pass these minor points on like this, I felt it would be overkill to phone them through!

[ComputingData]

Also have noticed a small typo on the "Head Tecaher's Comments"[sic] in the Sections - not sure if this is local to us or not.

 

I've just done a search through the programs 'source' code, the word 'Tecaher' isn't present, so it must be local to you. Did the ReportPlus office create the custom title for your settings or did it import from ReportAssist like that?

 

If it was the ReportPlus office then you should contact them (with your licencename/password) and they will change it for you, or you can go to "Options > Subjects", click the subject, rename it, then re-upload your settings for the other teachers to re-download and use (note: only the admin user for your licence can upload settings). You should do this BEFORE they start work on the reports - actually for this particular subject it doesn't matter as no-one would have entered anything in this subject yet.

 

If it was imported from ReportAssist like that it must have been like that last year? If not, if you could PM me I'll investigate your old ReportAssist file and see whats going on.

 

The csv file import routine has loads of different column names it looks for. Some schools don't use SIMS and they have different default column names that cannot be user-defined. I'll let them know at the ReportPlus office that there needs to be a resource somewhere (eg a pdf) that explains what column names will work, but to also tell the user to get in touch if they can't change column names in the software they use.

 

Other than that, what do you think of it so far (compared to ReportAssist)?

[ComputingData]

Digital Dan: Back to trying to get your RA 2009 working, are you using a x64 version of windows (xp x64, Vista x64 or 7x64) ? If so it may work if you put it in the (x86) version of program files, I personally couldn't get it to work either - I had to try it through the Windows 7 xp emulator!

 

Also, if you startup the task manager, is RA there? If not try starting it with Task Manager visible - see if it even starts up and for how long.

 

ReportAssist also 'breaks the rules' by writing to files within program files. With modern versions of Windows make sure that the 'user' has read/write access to the ReportAssist folder or it may not work.

 

If you have copied the ReportAssist files from a CD to your hard drive then they will be marked as read only, you should right-click them and untick this. This can sometime also happen when coping from memory sticks to hdd.

 

Hope this helps you out and remember that ReportPlus doesn't have any of these problems!

Edited March 17, 2010 by ComputingData
spelling mistake

[kaphc]

I've just done a search through the programs 'source' code, the word 'Tecaher' isn't present, so it must be local to you. Did the ReportPlus office create the custom title for your settings or did it import from ReportAssist like that?

 

If it was the ReportPlus office then you should contact them (with your licencename/password) and they will change it for you, or you can go to "Options > Subjects", click the subject, rename it, then re-upload your settings for the other teachers to re-download and use (note: only the admin user for your licence can upload settings). You should do this BEFORE they start work on the reports - actually for this particular subject it doesn't matter as no-one would have entered anything in this subject yet.

 

If it was imported from ReportAssist like that it must have been like that last year? If not, if you could PM me I'll investigate your old ReportAssist file and see whats going on.

 

It must have been created like that I think as we definitely didn't import our ReportAssist settings - no probs though, I managed to tweak it and sort it.

 

The csv file import routine has loads of different column names it looks for. Some schools don't use SIMS and they have different default column names that cannot be user-defined. I'll let them know at the ReportPlus office that there needs to be a resource somewhere (eg a pdf) that explains what column names will work, but to also tell the user to get in touch if they can't change column names in the software they use.

 

That sounds good, thank you

 

Other than that, what do you think of it so far (compared to ReportAssist)?

 

Alas I never used ReportAssist as I joined the school this year. If I get any feedback from the teachers though I will let you know.

 

Many thanks for your help

[ComputingData]

kaphc: I've asked at the office for you and they said the csv headings are in the help file that can be downloaded by the program - they are also reproduced in the pdf version thats available in the resources section of the website. Here is a direct link:

http://reportplus.co.uk/downloads/instructions.pdf

 

Look on page 19 (currently it's 19, but this may change with time) of the pdf. It's the section called 'Importing from csv'.

 

Hope this helps.

 

-Anthony

Edited March 19, 2010 by ComputingData
spelling!

[kaphc]

Hi, that's really helpful with the manual, thanks.

 

Incidentally, i couldn't get the help file to download (it was just hanging) but have now tried it again today and it's downloaded fine. The reference to the manual is really good as a backup though.

[ComputingData]

I think they are going to expand both the help and the manual based on feedback over the next couple of weeks.

 

The problem with a help file/manual is gauging the experience of those reading it so you simplify things enough whilst still leaving in details they may need in unusual situations.

[Rachella]

How long did it take you guys to convert reportassist into reportplus? Thing is, I teach at a secondary school and we liked the demo and wondered if you could do one for this coming summer? If that's a big ask, what about next year?

[laserblazer]

I've just started looking at it. I think it's going to depend on how much altering the SLT are going to want done. It doesn't seem to allow drop-down choices fro the teacher's name, grades, achievent level etc. for each subject (unless I got it wrong) and that won't be popular. But for secondary schools, it does go beyond KS2, which ReportAssist didn't do.

[ComputingData]

Rachella: Do you mean you want a secondary school version of the program? If so then please PM me and we can chat about what the requirements you might have for a full secondary school version.

 

LaserBlazer: You can set the teacher per subject, but you're right about the effort/attainment drop downs. I'm sorry, but I wasn't aware of them until recently - they shouldn't be much of a problem so they will be added to the program soon (it's just a matter of making them fit in with everything else and updating the RA import wizard routines). I've tried to make the program as flexible as possible so you can go to up to FE if you like (just no built-in statements above KS2 for the time being).

Edited March 30, 2010 by ComputingData

[laserblazer]

Something I'm struggling with at present is I want to uninstall ReportPlus from the laptop I first put it on. When I run unistall it just copies reportPlus over tye top of the existing one?

[ComputingData]

I'll check out the uninstall. Did you try to uninstall using add/remove programs or the uninstall shortcut?

 

If all else fails, you can delete the ReportPlus folder from program files. But obviously this isn't ideal.

[ComputingData]

Lazerblazer: I've looked at it and your right, it has been fixed in the next update.

[adamantlegs]

Hi computing data. I've been asked to look out for a secondary school report writer. We did use report assist several years ago and the teachers seemed to like it. I think it must have been a trial version as it wasn't too, how do I put it politely, problem free? That's probably the reason they withdrew it. Anyway, as I said, the teachers like the way it looked and worked and looking at your message to rachella it looks like you may be planning something similar. If so, will it be ready for next year?