Sivadam

I just tried uploading the v7.124 NovaSatSetup .exe file and .signature file but received a security error message. I could try emailing it to you? My email address is freely available via SupportNet.

Because it sits separately from SIMS, I would have thought you could use v7.124. Nowt to lose by trying. Then again ......... I am the software user guy - not the technical expert. What I do know is that I don't often update my Satellite Nova at home - and I am the timetabler. I have never had any issues!

Look what is on SupportNet, posted by Phil Neal:- Allegations made in the press by Bromcom Please find below the statement that Capita issued to the press in response to journalist’s enquires about a press statement issued by Bromcom. Capita Children's Services has already, through its solicitors, robustly rebutted the unfounded allegations made by Bromcom. We have served the education market for a number of years and grown our business through supplying innovative products to meet the changing needs of the market, maintaining good client relationships and working successfully with other suppliers.

I had very similar problems before I could Provision Parents for SLG. I have physically trawled though most of our contacts. The issue of siblings not being linked is very often linked to duplicate contacts. This was my first starting point. Moving Linked Pupils to just one of the duplicate Parental Contacts and then deleting the Unlinked parent restores sibling links in SIMS. Most Duplicate Contacts arrive, not through errors by our admin staff, but via CTF or ATF imports. If the source data has the names of the contacts in a different format to what the school has, then issues of duplicate contacts can occur. When CTFs etc etc come in from different MIS Systems to the one that you are using then this is often also an issue. Sorry, I can't think of an easy way to solve this but to help you it is possible to run reports from SIMS to identify where duplicate contacts exist. The standard Report for this in SIMS is via Focus, Contact, Duplicate Contact Check. But you can clone this and, as with all other Reports, edit it to your own design. Incidently, If you have Parents who are also members of staff at the school, then I bet you have 2 instances of this person in SIMS. This is also incorrect and the two instances need rationalising. Provisioning both parents and staff for SLG produces two different log-ins which SLG cannot consolidate, as SIMS has no idea that the two are connected in any way. I assume that your learning Platform will have the same issue.

I will thank you publicly as well as privately. Contrary to what anybody thinks, I am not upset and will not worry about it in the slightest. The skin is far too thick nowadays anyway. I will just carry on doing my best to ensure that fair play prevails! And the amount of support I have been getting has been phenonemal. To think, when I first started contributing, I thought I was a lone voice in the wilderness ............! I certainly ain't any more..... whether I was then or not!

I agree, sparkeh. But I will NOT put up with anybody connected with running Edugeek besmirching my good name in public, so I will respond every time to any posts from these people. If they comment in public then so will I! That is my right! There is only one way to silence me on this and that will reflect more on the Edugeek 'staff' (for want of a better word) than on me! My reputation is unsullied where it really counts!

I think it is pretty evident why I have kept it alive if you have been following the thread of the argument. I have just responded to the contributors (whoever they are) in exactly the same way that I have been addressed - whether it has been via a PM or via the public forums. As for being one that kicks up a fuss - Yes Please! - but only for a just cause. I have been doing that in education for over 40 years and will continue to do so whenever necessary. It has never been necessary on SupportNet, where my contrubution is much valued! One wonders why it was so necessary here ....... Sorry if you have had enough of me - but in fairness nobody has to read this thread if they do not want to. I would again like to thank all those that have sent me their support both privately and publicly. And I would also like to apologise to the ONE contributor who sent me a PM that was not very supportive. I will refrain from repeating what he said - I just sent him a response saying 'Thank You!' It seems that, at the very least, there has been an acknowledgement that the closing of the other thread was done inadvertedly, but I have received no apology for this - either publicly or privately. This is contrary to the actions I had previously taken. In both these threads I did offer my apologies to anybody who I may have offended. The reason I was given that the other thread was moderated and then moved remains unacceptable to me. The point I initially made was perfectly valid. In truth, it may be that the Moderators etc. may also have thought it was valid but, obviously, would not admit to that on here now. It has certainly been quiet on that front for the past 2 days! Despite this I am willing to let it lie but I will respond if I have to. It is now a point of principle.

I did that Vic and received no response from you - just the attack in the public forum as a direct response to the private message! And now it's home time again!

I ain't gonna stop you, ittech. I do reserve the right to argue the point re. specificic issues tho'!

Well that is one way of doing things! Have a go at a member in Public and then get upset when than member defends himself, again in Public. Then have another go back in public and close the Topic to prevent that member re-responding. Democracy indeed! You cannot have it both ways, Vic! And please do not mislead others, who are not aware of the original issue(s)! I would have re-responded with a PM if you had had the decency to post directly to me instead of ignoring my PM. Instead, you continued to denigrate my name in a Public Forum and so I had no option but to do the same by defending myself in the same Forum. Nor do I need your suggestions as to what I should or should not do on these Forums. I am not some stray waif that needs your advice to tell me what to do. I am my own man and have been around a very, very long time. You accept me as I am or not at all! I just thought that you all might like to know I have had some lovely emails from SupportNet colleagues who, like me in the past, just read the Forums on here. The support they have given me for trying to correct the mis-information that is sometimes posted here has been extremely gratifying! I thank you all publicly! Have you also noticed that there are fewer people trashing ANY MIS at the moment? Maybe some good will come of this - for the benefit of all users! Vic, my respect for you has dropped even more! It's a good job my real worth is appreciated elsewhere! I do not think you realise the depth of feeling that I am expressing and which is also shared by others! Again - Topic over - unless I have to respond again!

Then I am afraid that you run the risk of parts of SLG not working. I concur with your frustrations. I am as keen as anybody to get the fixes in a new Upgrade at the earliest possible moment. If you have read my many Posts re. August Upgrade and NON-EDI Results in Exams, on SupportNet, you will understand my frustrations. In the event I did get the SIMS Upgrade in time to sort this before GCSE Results day - and very welcome it was too! On this occasion I think I did upgrade SIMS a couple of days before SLG - on the grounds that there would be few users needing SLG. (My ancient memory may well be mis-leading me on this one tho'!) At least I only have to wait a few days (maybe a week) for Capita Hosted SLG to be upgraded. I dare not risk irate Staff not being able to do their Assessments, Profiles Reports etc. using SLG as a result not following the correct guidelines. And it would be a bit embarassing if a parent rang up because SLG is not working correctly - as a result of my incompetency!

I thank you for those very kind words. I am glad I am making a difference. I would assume that this has been because of the way I have approached this. If others are now thinking twice before they post 'issues' then this has all been well worth it! I agree with much of what you say - but I would also like to point out that Capita make requests every year, via SupportNet, for Users to attend their Software Consultation meetings when CRs are discussed. I would have thought that those Users with particular issues/concerns would have been the first to volunteer. There are obviously limits to the numbers that can attend these meetings but this is the Forum where such issues can be raised! How many contributors here have actually volunteered for a Software Consultation Meeting and been turned down? Relatively few I would suggest! Of course Capita's Support System is not perfect - tell me one that is. Getting so many people to sing exactly the identical words from an identical hymn sheet would be impossible. It is the task of all of us to help each other - and that is exactly what I try to do! And quite successfully I may add! However, I think you have missed the point I was making in the first place - which is why my Posts were 'Moderated'. Others cannot see this now and so are making assumptions on what I have said after I was admonished, and not on what the original issue was! As far as I am concerned this is now finished - unless somebody else personally attacks me. In which case I reserve the right to come back to them - as I keep doing right now!

I also whole-heartedly endorse this product. It's link into SIMS First Day Absence is a joy to behold!

As am I ............

Sorry Graham, There was no need for Vic to publicly criticise me again directly in a Forum. How can I ignore that? He could just as easily have pm'd me again!

It is standard procedure not to Upgrade SIMS until AFTER SLG is upgraded. This information is always available on SupportNet, in the Release Notes and, certainly in our case, on the Email we receive that always precedes any Upgrade. I would have assumed that all schools supported by LAs would also receive this information via their heldesks as well. SLG usually supports the previous 2 or 3 Versions of SIMS. The reciprocal of this is not true and this is made clear in the documentation.

That is fine Vic - as long as you address the other problem that I referred to and which you have moderated off of my posts so that others cannot see what the fuss was about! Maybe you can enlighten them! Also, please advise others that making a statement that SIMS 'WILL NOT' do something will illicit a similar response to those I normally post, if it is an untrue statement. As with SupportNet, if contributors ask HOW to do something then they will most likely get a positive answer - and I will probably be one of those making that positive answer! I have been accused of waging a crusade. If that is how people want to view it then fine! If somebody is extremely negative about something that they have no understanding of then I will correct them. If you want to remove me from Edugeek because of this then so be it! In my humble opinion these forums will be the poorer as a result! As I have said many times - my many posts on SupportNet are testamy to how positive and helpful I can be. As a regular contributor to SupportNet yourself you know this. I had great respect for you before this but I must admit to that respect now being a little tarnished! I make a brilliant ally but I am capable of being the most formidable enemy you will ever meet!

You know me Dan - I say it as I see it. And, despite my age, my eyes are still pretty good! My brain is still as logical and analytical as ever. My tongue (and in this case my keyboard) is also as sharp as ever. And to the rest of you guys - thank you for your support! If I disappear from here then you will all know the reason. I can't change my spots at this age so I would just like to say, should it come to it, that it has been great discussing MIS issues with the majority of you and I will see all you SIMS experts on SupportNet as usual!

As far as I can make out it was for stating the truth! Somebody was obviously offended by this! I don't change much in my old age! I have always said it as I see it and I see no reason for changing now! I won't be around that much longer (though I keep saying that!).

Blade! Blade! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !!!! NO WAY !!!!!! (Though I do wish they could finish second in every competition!) Edu-It, Thank you so much for those kind words. No bad language will ever be posted here by me. The blunt, bald truth maybe - but that often hurts some people, I am afraid. It would be interesting if my moderated comments were re-posted so that others can make their minds up. I will refrain from doing that. Incidently I have told the administrator what I think and mentioned a little about the context that my comments were made in - which he could have known nothing about and I will ellucidate no further! Anyway - time to shut up for a while - it's home time! Yippeee! I wonder if I will still have access later tonight...... Then again I will be in sunny Doncaster trying to cheer on that other source of my support! Yes - that just about sums me up!

No problem teejay I didn't think for a moment that it was you. You have flagged up a genuine concern and from a source that would seem to have been genuine. I am just glad that I have the connections to be able check the rumour quickly. As of this moment none of my contacts has got back to me to say that they have any issues. Pete, No problem - I'll try and modify how I say things - tho' those that know me will appreciate how hard that has been for the past nth decades! In Yorkshire, for me, I am afraid a spade will always be a ............. errrrrr ............... 'spade'!

It seems that my apology thread for offending users has now been moved from MIS to General. So I feel I must repeat that apology again here else there was no point in tendering that apology as it was aimed at the users in the MIS Forums! See 'Slapped Wrist'

I did mention where the rumour originated!

Thanks Graham for those kind words. I know that you will be sorely missed from the Forums when move on to your next appointment. Your input has also been very valuable and appreciated by many. I will continue to speak out for what is right. Nobody in Education has ever been able to silence me. My worst trait is that I always say it as it is and don't hide behind 'policies' etc. If the Forums cannot accept that then I suppose at some stage I will get banned, but that will be because I have not told the truth, as I see it! As for defending the soccer team - they better perform tonight or else maybe I may well be contacting their Product Manager!

Point taken. However, the quicker something is refuted or solved then the less panic it will cause c.f. the post re SLG and SQL Server 2008. And a quick query rather than a moan will, no doubt, illicit a more positive response! We all have much to learn. If this is just a place to moan then maybe I should go away. But then would others fill the breech? They did not seem to before! And Yes! - I admit to being a fan. At least what I am supporting is better than my local soccer team, which I also support! As for the 'boy' bit - there is no way that could be true! And 'raging' - I ceased to do that many, many years ago!