[sims] Office 2010 compatibility?

[zag]

I guess the real answer to this problem is for Capita to rely less on Microsoft office.

[enjay]

Phil Neal stated somewhere that they don't work with RC software as it is liable to change

 

I would agree with that for Beta releases, but not the RC.

[vikpaw]

Whatever excuses there are, we have been discussing this for 8 months so there should have been some kind of escalation surely. Not heard anything, even to say 'we're pulling out all the stops to get you guys working' - they might have pulled all the stops out, but we just don't know.

[PhilNeal]

I don't think this is a matter for escalation as I believe that we have made a very clear statement that Office 2010 is not supported and will not work until we complete re-engineering and testing. This isn't a minor task. The planned and published date for support of 2010 is spring 2011 (March).

[localzuk]

I don't think this is a matter for escalation as I believe that we have made a very clear statement that Office 2010 is not supported and will not work until we complete re-engineering and testing. This isn't a minor task. The planned and published date for support of 2010 is spring 2011 (March).

 

Can you see how making your customers wait over a year from the RC date is a bit disappointing though? You're forcing the hands of your customers by taking so much time over it, and we don't like it.

[PhilNeal]

Yes I can see that some people will be disappointed as they want to be able to use the latest versions. Today I had to ask for my new shiny laptop to be loaded with Office 2007 because our Outlook mail plug in for archieved mail doesn't work with 2010.

 

Equally I know that if we dropped support for earlier versions of Office others would be outraged that we've forced them to invest in new MS technology. Every version that we support increases our test matrix and the time it takes to bring out new versions of our software. We have to weave statutory changes, exam changes, bug fixes, new features and technology changes and get it right. We have to get a balance and that will disappoint at either end of the spectrum.

[enjay]

Every version that we support increases our test matrix and the time it takes to bring out new versions of our software.

Absolutely fair comment. My response would be to ask why Capita are not committing that time to the task though? Are they under-staffed or simply unwilling to eat into their profits to employ more people and provide a better service?

[GeneralDreedle]

Even although I have this problem I think Capita are spot on on their release schedule here. Only the foolish adopt MS products in their year of release so Spring 2011 seems reasonable to me. For us in school XP plus Office 2003 was a mature and stable platform. I've seen platforms and applications come and go since Windows 286 and WordStar. IMHO Office 2010 is just Fire and Motion from the marketeers - all the features thrown up in your face like Mr T's jewelery, but when you eventually find what you want it's the same grey dialog as 10 years ago.

 

I'd also endorse SIMS using Office automation for reporting. I've spent several years using CMIS Facility's arcane report codes: dozens of rows of punctuation edited in a small text box with no syntax checking or error handling. It's flexible but tragically it is also obviously Betamax. Harnessing the power of MS Word is a good decision.

 

The consensus here seems to be that reversion to Office 2007 is the only solution for us. would that be all users or just those writing merge reports/letters?

[zag]

Its not spot on. Its a year late in being supported. Microsoft do Release candidates so partners can get ready for launch date. Capita simply didn't bother doing it or have some strange policy of not doing it.

 

Whats worse, we still have to wait another 3 months!

 

Office 2010 is virtually identical to 2007 so I really don't see why it takes 40 weeks+ to get round to setting up a test environment.

 

Drives me mad, its the single biggest problem I have in school right now. All the office girls are back on office 2007 due to Sims but when they move computers to 2010 their outlook profile is corrupted.

 

I just got this email from a lady at capita support today about a problem from one of our staff who hasn't been downgraded:

 

Following our telephone conversation, unfortunately we cannot support word 2010 until the spring release as the compatibility has not been tested as yet.

 

So they haven't even started testing??? Grrrr....

 

EDIT: Ok I read phils response again and it seams they have started testing. But a whole year?? Oh and just for the record we are a Microsoft sponsored school so we've had Office 2010 for a long time, hence my frustration.

Edited December 3, 2010 by zag

[vikpaw]

I'd like to see customers more involved in the process of development Not just some arbitrary process. If there had been a need for an update to support Vista a quick straw poll of schools would have ascertained "don't bother" but with Win 7 and Office 2010 we're all much keener to use it and have taken it up much sooner than other new releases. That's not been taking into account. IMO.

[DrCheese]

I totally understand the business reasons why Capita don't support it yet, but as I said in my first post they would not get away with waiting so long if there was actual competition in the market.

Myself, I'm not fussed given that we are sticking with 2007 for the moment.

[ZeroHour]

Office 2010 is virtually identical to 2007 so I really don't see why it takes 40 weeks+ to get round to setting up a test environment.

 

No sadly it is actually quite a lot different API wise and MS removed certain features that only really applied to those who integrate it with software and those parts will need recoding. Behind the scenes, for software devs there are quite a few changes tbh.

[vikpaw]

We started out with SIMS this year and had Office 2010 and Windows 7 to contend with too. We've already had funnies in anything that uses Word automation. Late Letters don't get up the right list of events. Now, after struggling uphill all term and finally rushing to knock up some student reports using Assessment/ Individual Reports it just crashes SIMS all the time. So you guys are telling me that

a) Windows 2010 wasn't supported until the Autumn release so I was probably doomed from the start.

b) Office 2010 is still not supported and has known incompatibilities (Is it adopted in Autumn release - I can see no reference in Release Notes?). So I'm still indefinitely stuffed.

Is there any way round to get some reports out for kids?

 

I had thought that late letters was a problem because some users reported it didn't work and when i tried it also gave errors. however i've found some workstations where it does work. i managed to run a late letters report as a domain admin account and as a normal account on two workstations. one of these workstations is also able to run a photo report that i designed based on the default rtf report. usually i get an "Error: object not found" error during the processing in Word stage, but this one user on a particular PC can run it fine. The built-in administrator account can also run it fine, so i'm still investigating possible permissions issues and issues with having a local profile as opposed to roaming.

 

It might pay dividends to test with admin account or different profiles/permissions. Your mileage may vary but things here are a little borked for some users.

[zag]

Just seen the Spring Beta has been released with....

 

OFFICE 2010 support!!!

 

Only 273 days after I created this thread

[Mr.Ben]

But without Office 2003 Support - I've been informed that Capita will only support the last 2 versions of Office....

[localzuk]

But without Office 2003 Support - I've been informed that Capita will only support the last 2 versions of Office....

 

This makes me nervous... Any documented proof of this?

[zag]

I'm pretty sure office 2003 will be supported for a while yet for all you dinosaurs

[resin1]

Ah - nows that interesting. Does this mean that exported marksheets from AM7 will no longer be type XML Spreadsheet 2003 and templates for individual reports will no longer be limited to pre - 2007 formatting restrictions?

 

Sorry to those who are still on Office 2003, but if the above is correct, that's wonderful news as far as I'm concerned :-)

[vikpaw]

Surely we're looking at a situation where existing templates and reports may no longer function. That is pretty scary.

Any comment Phil? Or someone with a heads up?

[enjay]

Response from our account manager at Capita:

In regards to you enquiry, SIMS will be supporting office 2003 in the spring release and we have no plans to remove this functionality at any point in the future. I will do my best to keep you updated with any changes I hear in regards to this issue.

[vikpaw]

Response from our account manager at Capita:

I'd love to say my mind was at ease, but we know that the response from helpdesk can be inconsistent, it certainly was with regards to server OS compatibility.

You'd think that any changes that needed to be made would be backwards compatible with the older versions of office, at least for quite a while, until primaries catch up.

[enjay]

This isn't a response from the script-readers on the helpdesk, it is from our account manager.

[GREED]

Here is a plain and simple question for everyone: Will you move to Office 20xx onward from 2003, and if so when? This is not a bash any anyone/any reason because I completely understand the reason why (compatibility etc) but 2003 being 7 year old software, will stalwarts ever move to the newer versions?

 

PS This is generally, not specifically because of compatibility with SIMS.

[enjay]

This particularly "stalwart" will move when he can afford to either re-license or take out a Schools Agreement - right now, other more pressing demands are taking budgets.

[GREED]

This particularly "stalwart" will move when he can afford to either re-license or take out a Schools Agreement - right now, other more pressing demands are taking budgets.

 

I am honestly interested in opinions on this, both positive and negative.