Banjo

Take a maintained Nursery school for example, they might only have 1 qualified teacher (the HT) and the rest of the staff will be HLTAs etc and a very stretched budget. They still need an MIS, but your asking an overworked HT whose primary role is education and not business, to navigate the pitfalls of a procurement process. Sometimes flying under the radar is the best policy.

Maybe add a section on 'litigation' to your MIS procurement specification document

When I worked within MIS support, Capita charged the LA £15k a year to support their product. Other providers, didn't charge the LA and were happy to provide training for free on their product and would transfer existing schools to the LA outside of their geographical area to start them off.

You wont need all of these as your installers will make some of them, but these are the folders that I used. Usually these were the D: drive with the OS on C: IF NOT EXIST %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\ MD %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS IF NOT EXIST %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups MD %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups IF NOT EXIST %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups\Installs MD %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups\Installs IF NOT EXIST %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups\Installs\Auto MD %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups\Installs\Auto IF NOT EXIST "%DRIVE%\Program Files (x86)\SIMS" MD "%DRIVE%\Program Files (x86)\SIMS" IF NOT EXIST "%DRIVE%\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SIMS .net" MD "%DRIVE%\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SIMS .net" IF NOT EXIST %DRIVE%\DOCSTORAGE MD %DRIVE%\DOCSTORAGE IF NOT EXIST %DRIVE%\DOCSTORAGE\BACKUP MD %DRIVE%\DOCSTORAGE\BACKUP IF NOT EXIST %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups\Upgrades MD %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups\Upgrades IF NOT EXIST %DRIVE%\Sharedini MD %DRIVE%\Sharedini IF NOT EXIST %DRIVE%\Shared\Repository MD %DRIVE%\Shared\Repository IF NOT EXIST %DRIVE%\Shared\MIS_Transfer_Folder MD %DRIVE%\Shared\MIS_Transfer_Folder Code to make the Sims.ini on the C: drive, windows folder. IF EXIST "C:\windows\sims.ini.old" DEL "C:\windows\sims.ini.old" IF EXIST "C:\windows\sims.ini" REN "C:\windows\sims.ini" "sims.ini.old" ECHO [setup] > "C:\Windows\sims.ini" ECHO SIMSDirectory=%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS >> "C:\Windows\sims.ini" ECHO SIMSSetupsDirectory=%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups >> "C:\Windows\sims.ini" ECHO SIMSDotNetDirectory=%Drive%\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SIMS .net >> "C:\Windows\sims.ini" ECHO SIMSSQLAppsDirectory=%Drive%\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.SIMS2016\MSSQL\BINN >> "C:\Windows\sims.ini" ECHO Folder=SIMS Applications >> "C:\Windows\sims.ini" ECHO FinanceDirectory=%Drive%\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\FMSSQL >> "C:\Windows\sims.ini" TYPE C:\Windows\sims.ini

You will still use the SA account and whatever password you put in here to logon and manage the instance /SAPWD="PASSWORD" This (/ADDCURRENTUSERASSQLADMIN=True) just adds the local admin account (the account you install under) as administrator as well.

Always use an instance. I used to use the code below to install SQL from a script . You can use this in a bat file. Change the variable ("%DRIVE%) to your drive letter and setup.exe and set the 'password' and your good to go. You will need to install the Mgr Studio after to manage the instance. "%DRIVE%\SQL2016\SQL2016\setup.exe" /q /ACTION=INSTALL /INSTANCENAME=SIMS2016 /INSTANCEDIR="%DRIVE%\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server" /FEATURES=SQLENGINE,REPLICATION,CONN,BC /SQLSVCACCOUNT="SYSTEM" /SQLSVCSTARTUPTYPE=AUTOMATIC /SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS="BUILTIN\ADMINISTRATORS" /AGTSVCACCOUNT="NT AUTHORITY\Network Service" /SECURITYMODE="SQL" /SAPWD="PASSWORD" /ADDCURRENTUSERASSQLADMIN=True /TCPENABLED=1 /NPENABLED=1 /UpdateEnabled /IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS

But you can indeed do that, the same as in the criminal courts senior managers can be held liable for corporate manslaughter. What should have happened in this case in that this should have been referred to the DfE. They should have written to the MAT with a threat of terminating their funding agreement unless they were assured of secure L&M from the CEO/board. The trustees would then have moved to remove and replace the CEO and his leadership senior team. Those culpable then take responsibility for the MATs actions and the MAT has a new direction.

MAT Leaders shouldn't break the law, but in any civilised society, the punishment has to fit the crime. A bullet fee is a financial charge levied on the family of executed prisoners. Bullet fees have been levied in the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as in the People's Republic of China, and Nazi Germany on the families of executed prisoners.

I'm not sure that is an appropriate analogy. The leaders of the MAT won't be fined or be getting 3 points on their license's. In your scenario the courts will sending the bailiffs to the speeders house to confiscate the the speeders children's Ipads/laptops/calculators/books and other learning materials as punishment for their parents deeds. In affect, the courts have punished the children who attend schools in that MAT and what are they guilty of? This isn't a business and the children aren't customers, its a public service and people forget that.

Maybe this is BC's new business model. Similar to those patent trolls who sue everyone in the hope of easy money. Think about the students in those schools who have just lost 2 mil in resources or 1-2-1 support for vulnerable learners. You can't lose that amount of money from schools budgets without having a direct impact on students education or mental wellbeing. Shame on you BC!

Using the same process. Once the updated files have been copied to the server and unzipped, then using scripting will install or update them. We used to take a clean server, copy the install files to it, run a script and 30 mins later have SQL, SIMS and Disco installed and working from 'SIMS-2013-Summer-2-Installable' and then automatically updating to the latest version. Dbupgrade can be scripted to run at any time you just have to provide it with credentials.

something like this that can be scheduled at any time for the Apps REM ------ Upgrades SIMS to Latest Version --------- REM ------- Installs SIMS APPLICATIONS ----- %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups\SIMSApplicationSetup.exe /S {QuietMode} [sIMSDirectory]="%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups" REM ----------------------- Wait Time -------------------------- ping 127.0.0.1 -n 10> nul REM ------- Installs SIMS AMPARK ----- %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups\SIMSAMPARKSetup.exe /S {QuietMode}[sIMSDirectory]="%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups" [sIMSDotNetDirectory]="%DRIVE%\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SIMS .net" REM ----------------------- Wait Time -------------------------- ping 127.0.0.1 -n 10> nul REM ------- Installs SIMS Manuals ----- %DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups\SIMSManualSetup.exe /S {QuietMode}[sIMSDirectory]="%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups" REM ----------------------- Wait Time -------------------------- ping 127.0.0.1 -n 10> nul REM -- SIMS Load ---- IF EXIST "%DRIVE%\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SIMS .net\SIMSLoad.exe" "%DRIVE%\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SIMS .net\SIMSLoad.exe" REM ----------------------- Wait Time -------------------------- ping 127.0.0.1 -n 20> nul

You can run a script to create the Sims and Connect ini such as the one I used to use below. If you have the time and patience you can write a script to install a complete new install of sims including Doc Server and Discover or update sims/discover on servers or workstations at the push of a button IF EXIST "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini.old" DEL "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini.old" IF EXIST "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini" REN "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini" "connect.ini.old" ECHO [sIMSConnection] > "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini" ECHO ServerName=%computername%\SIMS2016 >> "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini" ECHO DatabaseName=SIMS >> "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini" TYPE "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini

I've read and marked many 15 year old's work. This isn't it ! My guess, a disgruntled ex Capita employee...

You can break the infrastructure package down and install the items individually, that's what I did and it works better than running the 'capita' packages. This was for new server installs though not workstations. You can also create an installer script for the whole of SIMS including Doc Store and Discover. REM --- Installs MSXML MSI ----- SET MSXML_CHECK=0 IF EXIST "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\msxml4.dll" ( SET MSXML_CHECK=1 ) IF %MSXML_CHECK%==1 GOTO SKIPMSMXL msiexec /i %DRIVE%\shared\sims\Setups\Installs\SIMS-2013-Summer-2-Installable-7153x\Tools\msxml.msi /qn :SKIPMSMXL

SOLD > ParentPay

I'd use one VM for the lot and you can use a multi connect.ini to connect to each one from a drop down list. If you are penny pinching you can use SQL Express and Win 10 rather than spending money on enterprise licenses.

ESS also cover Capita One which has the market share in LAs. Our LA pays in the region of £150k a year in AM. They have other revenue streams as well as SIMS.

That file wasn't meant for you. Please delete it. LA's use ATF for school places and 2 or 3 other files extensions to move data between co-coordinating admission LA's. You have one of these files.

If this is for historical purposes only and it's not being used regularly, I'd VM the old server into an image and drop that on a network-share, then you can run it off a laptop/desktop when/if required. If you have paid for the licence for SQL then you wont have to pay again, the same for the SIMS licences.

Reboot before the update, then reboot after. You can run them from a script or cmd prompt. "D:\SQLServer2014-KB4491539-x64.exe" /quiet /IAcceptSQLServerLicenseTerms /Action=PATCH /AllInstances

I've been told that SIMS8 is fully up and running in around 20 schools nationwide with no other MIS being used in parallel. Logging onto our SIMS8 test account you can see the development and changes over time. There is still work to be done, and yes it is very late, but that was to be expected if not condoned.

Who says Capita's is made up

Well, if your an academy you will have purchased a SIMS/FMS license. The payments you make are for annual maintenance on the license. If you stop paying you can still use SIMS/FMS. What you wont get is updates for SIMS/FMS which to be honest you don't really need to continue to use just FMS. You should also look to get support just for FMS elsewhere as it will be cheaper than buying the Full SIMS/FMS package from Capita.

Goes here in Exams. With SIMS/SEN you could include these fields in Teaching Methods or Specialised Resources