michael2k6

Genius.

I used cover for two years before working for Serco, and back in those days, it was no where near what it is now, and I still didn't have any issues with it, other than it not being very friendly (greatly improved now). It has to be said, of the complaints or requests I do get from schools, almost all of whom are using cover, cover is hardly ever mentioned, unless it's to ask about a piece of functionality within it they don't fully understand. Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion, had the network manager had any training on it and tried using it on a day to day basis, or just having a gander? And a little off topic, but why is the network manager doing the cover?! Or was that in a previous post? Mic My opinions are my own and not necessarily the view of my employer or those associate with my employer.

Rob, Sorry to hear you're struggling. I will be in touch outside of this discussion to dicuss how we move forward. Regards Mic @ Serco

Yeh I've PM'd John. I'm trying to establish first what it is that's been deleted. This sounds like a lot of work to get the file / tables back, if the thing thats been deleted only takes a few minutes. Equally it could be a scheduler file in which case Rob we're both talking rubbish when we say restore into a test environment lol. @brickwall53 - we wer're talking about restoring the sql backups or facility backups into a test environment rather than the entire 35gb file as a whole machine.

A BKF? A bdb file comes out of Facility, and yes there's a way you could do that depending on circumstance, or a SQL backup being a BAK or BK yes also, in a different manner. If it's a BKF you'll have to let me know what you've used to back it up - PM me if you want further help. Mic @ Serco

I've got the new shape 2008 mondeo and it's genius. A little old man for my liking but its lovely to drive. I've had the odd issue with it but ford have sorted it out under warranty and not had any big problems. The support online for them is great too. I can't speak for the model before though.

oops just read the rest of the thread. If you get brakes replaced, you should replace the brakes on the same axle - so either front or back - but the bearings just replace them as they go. But if the car's got high mileage or been ragged around and a bearings going the chances might be the others arent far off. A seized brake caliper should be an easy enough fix too, you just have to take it off, whip the pads out (change them if theyre gone from the brake being stuck on - on change on both sides), put another caliper on. Sometimes the pads will of ruined the disc, then you need discs and pads both sides and a new caliper on one, but you're still only looking at a couple of hours labour, it's the parts that are going to cost on that one. And of course bleeding the brakes after the new caliper. Lots of this stuff is easy enough to do with a socket set and a haynes

Jack the back of it up and spin the wheel by hand and see if it makes a noise like it's rubbing - like a whir. if it does its bearings. if the brakes are hot at the back it might be that there's a siezed caliper (if it's a disc brake).

Hi all, Just some brief input. As Phil says regarding Capita, we too (Serco) can transfer data around for you. There is a consultancy charge for this. Data is relatively easy, it's the internal politics you'll have problems with if anything. If the schools are going to be using one database, presumably you'll be using one way of managing behaviour and doing assessments? One team for dealing with attendance, etc? If these are different in both schools at the moment, (take assessments for example) then the data may not be relevant once transfered. And, for example, if you wanted to transfer assessments in, the assessments and exams would have to be created first else there's no where to import the data (or atleast nothing to associate it to). The same principals apply with lots of areas of the software. There is also something to consider around the amount of data you can transfer - if you have a new name and DfES number, and you're legally a new establishment, you are only entitled to have the information relevant to current learners and given to you by the responsible adult. Therefore, importing previous years data isn't possible, and things like assessments over multiple years (such as a key stage) becomes tricky. I think it is things like this that need to be considered initially. Once you have the policies in place to deal with such issues, you can then present the ideal outcome to both Capita and Serco (and indeed any other providers you may be considering), and see which solution works best for you as one new establishment. I can't speak for Phil, but I know certainly in our case we can only really give you a rough idea of what we can and can't achieve and the cost involved without such framework, as James says, one interpretation of an assessment transfer may vary wildly from the next - and there may be additional work to do in prepping for the data to be entered. We've done a fair old amount of these transfers now with schools merging to become academies, and indeed schools merging and just combining resources, so I'm sure we'll be able to give you some input where required. In the mean time if you think I can be of any more use to you, feel free to PM me. Regards Mic @ Serco

Hi, sorry, afraid not. I don't have a lot to do with the Irish market these days, but your account manager should be able to help you further if you're a current customer. If not please visit Serco Learning and make enquiries through our sales team. Regards Mic @ Serco

I'm not nor have I ever been a gamer but it sounds like a good excuse for a bit of a knees up and an edumeeting to me.

Serco Squirrell what now? John what are you on? Cross breeding squirells? What now?

Hi There, Nice to see people taking an interest. John's the man. Mic Sanderson Serco Learning

21/08/2016

I would post this as large letter. No seriously though try this: I've not used it as a service but absolutely trust the owner.

Do not go in a classic mini. This is my only advice.

Thanks John. I can understand the OP too, and what LocalzUK said is correct also. We do have a full testing programme prior to release and I will ensure I look into how we had missed this in an attempt to ever improve our procedures. Thanks John for recognising that whilst there are still some issues, we are constantly imrproving, and have come on leaps and bounds in recent months. We are also always open to suggestions and ideas. I also completely understand this doesn't make the current situation any better for Bart21 and I will see if there is anyway in which I can help on Monday. Regards Mic

Hi all, Just to give some input into this - I'm not sure of the individual case, but just for those who may not understand the OP fully, if this is the case it will only affect those people using our SSO add on which enables you to use AD logins with ePortal. In this case, I believe Nick is saying he's had to go back to the resource passwords way of logging in whilst it is fixed. This will not cause everyone upgrading to 11.1 to have to repopulate their resource passwords - just those using SSO. I'm sorry to hear you've had this problem Nick, i'll see where it's at on Monday for you. Mic @ Serco

Hi all, We have found issues in the past with people running SQL in a virtualised environment. Usually only when the disks are not adequate, to the correct RAID, or overloaded. Unfortunatley, this is all based on opinion, so to be sure, it is usually best not to run SQL on a VM box. Doing so is fine as long as you are confident of your disks. The rest of it is sound. Just to add a bit of recent activity - as of 11.1, and the new hardware spec available, we now fully support 64bit environment, including Windows 2008 R2. Regards Mic @ Serco

Nice. I've never had too much of a problem with them but neighbours step dad is a VM CS engineer so i just tend to bob next door and get him round.

Whenever i've had a courtesy car i've had to get it from enterprise because the garages wouldnt give it to me being under 21. I've looked into it and found out why... I'm on a business contract with enterprise through Arval (i only use them when the company car is in for work), so the age limits don't count. It turns out i'm very lucky - some of the cars i had at 19 - 23 from enterprise are 30+ only :S how ridiculous. That's even on own insurance. Sorry EduTech. Is there anyone you can borrow a car from and insure on a short term basis?

I believe enterprise do as long as you have a rubbish car

Massive overkill john. Complete waste of gum. 2 paper clips and a leaf between them should do it.

Cats / hedgehogs dont use scissors... or hedge trimmers. But that would be one hell of a scary badger. Imagine the size it would need to be to handle a hedge trimmer. F plugs FTW

What srochford and chris_ said is spot on. I often find disk queue is an issue. Is this a physical server or a virtual server? Mic@Serco