Sivadam Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 (edited) Thanks for all that info john. It's interesting to see how other systems work. As regards SIMS Upgrades - SOLUS3 makes it far easier and more user friendly! Edited January 5, 2011 by Sivadam
GREED Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Great detailed points made there John. Will echo what Vik said in that AM7 comes mostly empty on startup.
Sivadam Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Great detailed points made there John. Will echo what Vik said in that AM7 comes mostly empty on startup. Ours didn't! We pre-populated it with all the AM6 Data! Though I suppose that, strictly speaking, this did mean it was empty to start with. Can't remember what the process was!
GREED Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Ours didn't! We pre-populated it with all the AM6 Data! Though I suppose that, strictly speaking, this did mean it was empty to start with. Can't remember what the process was! Long and arduous most probably! Having to set everything up from scratch again... eeek!
michael2k6 Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Hi, No, it's not totally web based, the web application is 'ePortal' which John is referring to, and 'Admin' and its modules is the 'office' users' app. It is installed once on the server and a shortcut to it given to the users. So you just do the one install on the server and next time they click the shortcut it's calling the new version. I tend to set this up as a share with the correct permissions, this way when you come to do an upgrade, you can stop the web services, take the share off the program folder, and no one has access. Then when the upgrade is done, just start the services back up and pop the share back on. Mic @ Serco
john Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Thanks to the SIMS users for giving me more info on AM7 and SOLUS, it sounds that since I spoke to a SIMS person and used it that SOLUS has improved, last time I used it I was having laptops coming in daily for .net framework 2 I think back after an upgrade in Summer 08. @Vik, I have dummy data on my netbook and a full Serco install on it for testing code and stuff, if you are interested I will give you a peek at it when at BETT. I am sure you will find things you hate about it over SIMS, but its what and how you make it. I really enjoy it and like it and wouldn't want to change as I can do most things in it now.
vikpaw Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Thanks to the SIMS users for giving me more info on AM7 and SOLUS, it sounds that since I spoke to a SIMS person and used it that SOLUS has improved, last time I used it I was having laptops coming in daily for .net framework 2 I think back after an upgrade in Summer 08. @Vik, I have dummy data on my netbook and a full Serco install on it for testing code and stuff, if you are interested I will give you a peek at it when at BETT. I am sure you will find things you hate about it over SIMS, but its what and how you make it. I really enjoy it and like it and wouldn't want to change as I can do most things in it now. cool john, that might be good, i like the idea of web based and little or no client side upgrading. reminds me of the halcyon days of using Bromcom that was web enabled yonks ago. @sivadam/@greed i don't think we had to do any changeover from am6 to am7, the only things that needed converting were the individual reports templates, everything else just worked as far as i recall. all of course apart from my scripts to speed up creation which all broke when the interface became mingled with the main part of sims, and .net
Little-Miss Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Argh, everytime i see this thread... To answer your question no, no i dont! Feel better now...
GREED Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Argh, everytime i see this thread... To answer your question no, no i dont! Feel better now... Somewhat low maintenance me thinks!
matt40k Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Ok, I think it's pretty much official - we've scared off Entrepreneur! As for the whole touch screen thing: Groupcall Emerge - the powerful yet intuitive iPhone / iPod 'App' which enables schools to have an up-to-the-minute copy of their MIS data instantly and securely available in the palm of their hand Bromcom - Teacher's WebFolderThe last SIMS update required, everyone to be logged out of SIMS, full backup of database to taken. Client workstations updated, (and don't tell me this is automatic.) SIMS workstations updates relies on giving users write permissions to areas of the workstation they shouldn't have. Windows Updates (WSUS) performs these updates in the background independant of the users permissions. SOLUS3. Still you can schedule the database backup, upgrade and the other server bits to run overnight automatically - in fact it's one of the sticky items on SupportNet!! As for the whole too many releases, 3-10 a year is not alot, it needs more!! Not so SOLUS3 is easy to test, but so SIMS is, to quote Localzuk favourite buzz word, Agile. Problems get fixed faster, we get to offer more feedback into the software etc. I guess this won't happen until SIMS goes SaaS, specially if ICT Technician have problems with 3 a year.
Sivadam Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 (edited) Groupcall Emerge - the powerful yet intuitive iPhone / iPod 'App' which enables schools to have an up-to-the-minute copy of their MIS data instantly and securely available in the palm of their hand Bromcom - Teacher's WebFolder. No good to me - I use WP7. Where is the App for the latest platform? Mind you - WP7 does connect to SLG extremly well! SOLUS3. Still you can schedule the database backup...... Received this today as part of an email - apparantly I was missed off the original mailing. We had already resolved the Autumn Upgrade issue by using SOLUS2:- SOLUS3 3.2.74 - now available: There is a known issue with SOLUS3 not being able to upgrade your SIMS system from the original SIMS Summer release straight to the SIMS Autumn release, this is due to SOLUS3 being unable to upgrade through interim releases (such as the from the Summer release, through the Summer Exams Update to the Autumn release). This has been resolved moving forward and SOLUS3.2.74 will correctly handle this from the Autumn release onwards. Edited January 5, 2011 by Sivadam
vikpaw Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 I like the idea of sims emerge but you need groupcall emerge, not sure on cost of that. In response to a tweet someone replied to me the app would cost 99p can't see ppl wanting to pay that on top. Not sure on poster's accuracy. I really like TeachersWebFolder but it had the same weaknesses as sims for us in that it couldn't cope with non-standard days of week and other issues. Left testing in the lurch now.
john Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 In terms of Web Apps for accessing your MIS, the ePortal in Serco has a PDA View that you can licence specifically designer for using on PDAs (think PE staff on the field I believe is its most common use), but I find that standard ePortal works and renders very well on my Windows Phone just using its normal web browser
vikpaw Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 looking at blurb for Emerge, it implied needed either wireless or 3G access. i would hope it can be used offline and then synched once back in wireless range, that would make most sense.
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