Sivadam

I ain't! LOL!

Creese may be out but Sivadam is back in! Now back from (part)day out with drandaughter so could not support Creese earlier! localzuk, I think that you are just the right person to start and attend Capita SIMS Software meetings, UAT Meetings and Field Trials. You obviously know exactly what is wrong with Capita and SIMS and SupportNet. You would be invaluable in pointing out what was wrong. And maybe you would be very surprised when Capita Staff actually listened to your well reasoned arguments. All the SIMS problems would obviously then be solved in no time at all ........... I'll no doubt see you at some of those meetings and we could share a drink or two (coffee of course!)! All this started from a post that was not easy to find solutions to because SupportNet is no good? Ok. Go to Solution Search, Type in the phrase 'Reason 0' obviously ensuring you are looking for a SIMS.net solution. The KB I referred to jumps up and hits you in the face. Nowt could be easier than that! 30 seconds work maybe? Yes Ok! - I know that then you have to work through all the Options on the KB - but shouldn't a knowledgable Technical SIMS user know all that anyway?

That is an old chesnut! Many issues are found during testing and are resolved before general release. That is the point of using real schools and LAs and real data! However, If Capita waited for every single bit of a new product to work everytime, with every single school in the country that uses SIMS, then no progress would take place at all. And how could they ever know that something doesn't work for a few schools anyway? Those that attend Field Trials and other Trials of new software have to agree that the new product is fit for purpose for first release. That does not mean that the testers are 100% happy. Indeed, many Enhancement and Change Requests may be made by the testers and it is hoped that these would be implemented asap after the intial release. They often appear in the CR Section of Support before most schools have had chance to see or use the software! As an example I was involved in the Testing of the new NovaT type Timetable Printing a couple of months ago (and the new List Reports before that). I have been a NovaT user since it's DOS days and have been a massive supporter of NT4 reporting - hence my presence at the meetings. In the new Summer Release you will not find a Year Timetable Report. It was there in the testing phase and, presumably, it worked on Capita's Test data. My timetable, however, has Bands, Sub-bands and Sub-sub-bands and this report could not cope with this level of complexity! The Team now have a copy of my Curriculum Plan for that particular year but I guess it will take a great deal of work to edit the code to deliver this report effectively. The Testing team recommended that this particular report should not be included in the Summer Release because, no doubt, other schools could have the same issue. The Reps from LA Support Desks were particularly keen that this report was not included, as they would have had to deal with the consequences when schools found out that it did not work for them. There was, however, no doubt that the product should be released. Hopefully, a Polishing Project will appear next year so that all the NT4 type reporting issues can be finally resolved (including those that are still in the Pupil List reports etc) before the death of NT4 Reporting. I will certainly be fighting hard for this - they can't kill NT4 until the issues are sorted! So you guys from Support Desks may want to remember that one - I may have saved you a lot of grief from your schools! Teejay, The original Timetable Print option has been left in the release because Capita know that many schools may need/want to use this for this year, until they become familiar with the new reports - and, as I say, there are still issues that some of us are not happy about. I think that the old Routine is due to disappear with the Autumn Upgrade.

The change requests are analysed and are discussed at the Software Consultation Meetings that the SIMS Product Managers hold each year. These are advertised on Supportnet and Users can apply to attend these meetings. Whether a CR is actioned will depend on how well it is supported (the meeting looks mainly at those that are well supported!) and if it fits in with the project improvement plans for the following year. Capitaes have a budget for this which is obviously not bottomless and so not all areas can be improved at the same time! It will also depend on how complicated it is to act on a CR. If a well supported CR cannot be actioned that particular year then there is usually an explanation given as to why it has not been approved. If you have not attended a Software Consultation meeting then you may find it enlightening!

We have been running the Summer Release since it was first released. No issues with it apart from re-introducing the familiar conflicting marks issue. It didn't even break the Capita Hosted SLG! We are supposed to wait for that upgrade first, which was the weekend afterwards, but nothing was affected! I needed the Summer Release for various reasons as soon as it was available though I did want to check what had finally made the release in terms of the new Timetable Reports. Obviously, a number of the issues we found at the testing did not get fixed.

Point taken. You are right on that one! But even I get frustrated with the responses that I get here when I do respond in a reasonable manner. I hereby apologise to all readers that I have upset by adding one extra question mark to a single line post! That error is, indeed, unforgivable and I hereby retract that second question mark on the grounds that it MAY be misleading!

That is one of problems with these forums. My posts (and all posts actually) need to be read as they stand. Nobody should extrapolate them to mean something that is not relevant to the actual words on the page. To infer that I was 'rebuking or scolding angrily at length' is totally preposterous! It actually reads that I was 'taking it for granted' that the KB was read and that is because it is so easy to find this KB on SupportNet.

It is an assumption! Not a beration (if there is such a word)! as·sump·tion (ə sump′s̸hən) noun Religion the taking up of a person into heaven R.C.Ch. the taking up of the body and soul of the Virgin Mary into heaven after her death a church festival on Aug. 15 celebrating this [*]the act of assuming; a taking upon oneself, taking over, or taking for granted [*]anything taken for granted; supposition [*]presumption be·rate (bĭ-rātˈ) transitive verb berated be·rat·ed, berating be·rat·ing, be·rates To rebuke or scold angrily and at length.

I hope that comment was not directed to me as I have never 'berated' anybody for not using SupportNet - just advising them that maybe they ought to and expressing astonishment that some SIMS users have 'never heard of it' or 'never use it'. My 'berating' has been against the innapropriate (my opinion) comments that this site has always allowed the past and should not be doing. Now that I am challenging such statements I am getting moderated and criticism myself, when nothing is done about the original statement that I (and others I may add!) object to. Not that I am particularly concerned at this as I am a big boy now and can stand on my own two feet and, hopefully, this will eventually lead to a better site in the long run! No amount of personal criticisms will stop me challenging these innapropriate statements. I have left the site once and stayed away for quite a while but many users here contacted me and said that I ought to return and so... hey presto.... the 'bad penny' reappeared. I was very surprised about, and greatful for, the amount of support I did receive!

Because you get an answer to simple problems very easily! The boxes are a means of focusing in directly to the area of the Software that you are querying. A general enquiry would throw up many different references that are not releavnt! And to confirm to one that the issue you have is a REAL fault with the Software and not just one's own ignorance of the issue - just as in the Cases that I log with Supportnet Case Log. (Which are many - especially after an Upgrade - Yes SIMS ain't perfect but tell me a MIS that is due to the constraints and timescales imposed by DfE etc?)

One wonders how one can criticise something that one does not use ..............

I assume that you said your piece when they actually ran the consultation re. SupportNet? Maybe that is exactly what they wanted to hear .......... And anybody using these Forums now ought to know about SupportNet. Else the allegations that 'I bring it up too much' cannot be right! Maybe I should mention it more so that they do find out!

Which is exactly why they consulted users on how they want it to change. The following thread was posted at the time! Supportnet 2.0 Online Consultation SURVEY (26262) I wonder how many users here have responded .........

Thanks Matt. Every single SIMS user has an automatic right to join SupportNet. I cannot really understand anybody who has to manage/maintain SIMS who does not register and just uses other less specific sites to try and find answers to SIMS issues - especially when it is not a real fault with the Software or is just user error. Why on earth would anybody even consider using Google, Edugeek or any other Help Desk without first of all consulting SupportNet? Very Strange!!!!

Good! That is precisely why I started contributing in the first place. I was totally disgusted with the threads I had been reading for a considerable time and thought it was time to try and do something about it! Up to the last couple of weeks I thought that I was starting to have the desired effect! People who I may have annoyed or alientated may well just be the ones that needed targeting. If I have upset others then I once again apologise - something I have done many times on here (not that I remember many others reciprocating!). The more discerning of users will understand completely where I am coming from! And I bet you have not been upsetting people in eductaion for as long as I have! And, believe it not, I have mellowed a great deal in old age!

I disagree totally. Users should be 'educated' into posting their issues without unjustifiably knocking a product through what may be insufficient knowlege, or for any other reason. All that does is annoy, and probably alienate, the very people that may be able to supply a positive answer! I certainly know that it is not the best way to illicit my help! The actual product is immaterial!

Thank you. And yes I do! I will support anybody who I think has a genuine issue and will even represent their views when I see Capitaes Staff - and some users around the country could tesify to that. However - just knocking the Product, in what I regard as an inappropriate manner, will initiate similar responses that you have witnessed lately! If the original post that started all this was about the Software then I may have been able to help more - especially via the official support mechanism! (I would still have contradicted one statement, however.) Whilst I understand some of the Technical side I do not attempt to help with this as it is not my forte and I have a colleague who is excellent in this field! Hence, we make a good Team!

Yes. Excellent Support. Then again I am always methodical with my Case Logging on SupportNet - explaining the issue fully, the KBs I have tried and any workrounds that I have created to resolve the issue before I log it! A sympathetic ear when I complain that something is wrong! And Yes! They do listen! Invites to UAT Testing. Don't blame me though if something gets thro' that you do not like - I do my best to help ensure the functionality is at an optimum. Particiaption in Field Trials. Currently, SOLUS3 Part B - and another 'biggie' next term! Appreciation by Capitaes Product Managers and other Senior Staff at Capitaes. Respect by many users of SIMS around the country - via SupportNet, Emails, Phone calls and Visits! ....and probably many more that I cannot think of at the moment, but all of which produce more work for me, much of which I do in my own unpaid time, but which help to make our System the efficient system that I think it is! If you think I gain anything 'monetary' or any 'Freebies' then think again. It actually costs me money because I do not even claim from the school for expenses to travel down to Bedford! Yes! I am MAD - both by name and by nature! (But I am also one of the 'Old school'!)

Hmm............ Yet another different thread that needs responding to..... And no reference whatsoever to users that were 'rude' to me - seems like a very, very biased thread indeed! And 'rude' would not appear to have been used according to the definition as used in the Oxford English Dictionary! Or, if it is, then all instances of 'rudeness' should have been highlighted - not just my own! There will be a response but I will totally ignore it now! I have said my piece! However, maybe some of you silent readers maybe ought to start contributing in the way I have done (and will continue to do until I receive a 'ban') - after merely 'listening' to some of the topics posted here for a considerable number of years.

Guess who originated from a Nova DOS grounding! And when Nova became windows based SIMS was still working in DOS. Now there really were issues then! As for Testing - maybe some of you should volunteer! Would you reject a new Software Innovation because some of it does not work to your satisfaction? Or would you approve it on the grounds that it does something that was not in the functionality before and hope that your ERs or CRs were approved later? Sorry for the extra post - I am responding to one that was already on the system before my previous one.

Isn't it strange how words can be twisted? I was simply responding to a question that was posed before that response that you refer to. How can you extrapolate that answer to this new question? It simply has no relevance! I will also leave this thread now. Then nobody can be rude back to me and I won't be rude to anybody else. Apologies to anybody that is upset about my comments - which always endevour to correct the misinformation which has suddenly started re-appearing in these Forums. I thought it had died down a little. But .... it obviously hasn't. If anybody else wants my help then they know where I can be found! I know that my help is well apprecaited by most!

That would obviously depend on the type of requests. Any Helpdesk that is requiring users to log calls (when it is extremely simple to look them up on SupportNet Solution Search, or use a basic knowledge of how SIMS works) then very, very many in one day. If it is a real issue with the Software then the Case may not be solved for Years. I have just had a Case Resolved that was opened in May 2008 re. B2B Personnel! I am cheating really as the problem was related to the import into the LA One System. The export form SIMS has worked since we were first involved in the Pilot of this way back before May 2008!

I've said my piece. This could go on for ever. So, I'll withdraw from this thread - unless of course somebody posts something that I simply have to respond to! 'Naive' I may be but there are very many SIMS users around the country who value my 'opinions' very highly! But...... enough said now on this topic......!

But my opinion is based on hard facts - SIMS is not 'worst program ever'. Which is the statement that I have been objecting to throughout this thread and which I will come back to every single time that anybody criticises my responses! It is also a very long time since a SIMS Upgrade broke a SIMS Installation - we are talking 'years'! If it had been a general issue then it would have been on SupportNet a long time by now - and in extreme cases the Upgrade would have been withdrawn, patched and re-issued!

Some Support Desks often give out information that is not helpful. You can solve many issues before you have to register a Case with Support as the vast majority of the 'issues' have already been solved previously! (or were not, in fact, issues - just a lack of knowledge in the use of the software) The previous manager of the SupportNet Site was very keen for users to utilise the SupportNet Features. And why would a SupportDesk want extra work when finding some solutions is so simple? One wonders if these easy solutions are required so that the Support Desks statistics look better...... (ooerr....! I'll get some stick for that one!) And this is not intended to upset SupportDesks as, I assume, the vast majority are extremely efficient. Indeed I meet a few Support Desk personnel very regulalrly at UAT and they are extremely knowledgable individuals!