PhilNeal

SOLUS3 is on general release from spring around mid/late March.

Yes it was our mistake and obviously we are sorry it happened. We do have to fly blind with exam board results as they haven't got test data. We are hopeful that they will supply it in the future.

There is a reconcilation for parents option - i.e. if they have multiple log ons they can combine them. This works across schools too for LA hosted solutions.

So I think this team do a pretty good job! Please contact me directly if you feel that you have been let down and I will investigate. (I'm at BETT this week though so won't be immediate on a response)

Are you mentioned?

OK a dumb suggestion on my part then! Thanks.

Sivadam could you extend a timetable by a period before and after school and use these "extra periods" to create optional classes i.e. extra curricular activities?

It sounds to me as if you are being quoted for time to install SIMS on 21 machines. To be frank 2 days seems excessive and with SOLUS3 you can do it from an office at city hall.

It's unlikely to be resolved through moving to SQL 2008. If you haven't done so please log a case.

I barely understand it though

For those that are interested! Part of the functionality in DBAttach is the ability to backup the Document Management Server - to do this it uses dll's compiled as part of the main SIMS .net 'solution' - this means that for SIMS, every time we rebuild Pulsar.exe (SIMS .net) we also have to rebuild the DBAttach.exe to maintain version compatibility and strong naming conventions. In a typical release FMS by its nature requires far fewer physical compilations of the source code before its ready to go (as its just one project rather than several or tens delivering) For example Builds SIMS FMS DBAttach in SIMS installer DBAttach in FMS installer 1 7.136.001 6.136.001 7.136.001 7.136.001 2 7.136.002 7.136.002 3 7.136.003 6.136.003 7.136.003 7.136.003 4 7.136.004 7.136.004 5 7.136.005 7.136.005 So if after 5 builds we shipped both SIMS and FMS (last built at build #3) then the version of DBAttach.exe shipped with FMS is going to be physically different version - but because its delivered to a different location it doesn't matter (so they won't overwrite each other) and the strong naming of the exe and dll remain consistent. In this situation they will be identical versions of the source, just different builds.

Registration in classrooms will save your school an enormous amount of time and allow your office staff to do more useful things. Interestingly schools also say that children see attending as much more important!

There are two aspects to Dinner Money. The office retain responsibility for dealing with the money. Teachers when they mark the register can switch to another tab that records what the children want to eat - its all filled in by default so all teachers have to do is make individual changes.

The other thing to look at are the tracking grids; these are very popular with teachers. My advice would be to visit a school that is using AM well don't try to work it all out on your own as there are some very powerful tools that require a full understanding before you go up blind alleys. AM can be used simplistically but then you loose the whole point of it!

Zag - no PM or email from you?

Zag - sorry you've had problems. If I can help with sorting them out then please PM me although I'm out tomorrow so email would be better. The following is a comment from another school: Chris I hope this isn't against the rules of EduGeek but I wanted to try to get some balance.

I wouldn't make too many assumptions along those lines. Anyone that is using their MIS as an MIS will require a huge amount more than a CTF transfer.

Possibly a user defined field. I'll check.

Bulk loading of profiles to the document management system has been available for years. What is new is bulk loading profiles to SLG for parental access.

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.

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).

ADPS does a lot more than a CSV dump.ADPS.PPT

Darryl, my email address is [email protected]. If I can show the experts what analysis is being undertaken it may be I can assist.

I don't really understand what you are trying to do. If you mail me the analysis that your managers are doing I may be able to help.

I repeat, this is a field trial; we have a period of optimisation work before release and the requirement will almost certainly come down. Say what you like about our coders but I have absolute respect for the Discover team, I know them all well and what they are producing is 1st class. I've shown the software to ASCL groups and they have all been very excited and indeed our field trial was over subscribed by a factor of 3. It would be nice if you could remember that our staff are real people trying to produce products that will make a difference rather than dismissing their efforts before you have even seen them.