michael2k6

As suggested in the other 3 threads... If you're panicking enough to post in 4 threads, PM me and we'll have a chat. Mic

As the other two threads suggest....

As i mentioned in the other thread - please speak to the school you're going to join! They can have you setup whenever they like but we can't take a phone call from someone and give them access to all the resources at random, we have to know who you are and who you're working for etc. There are some users on here who may be able to help you with advice etc though. Mic @ Serco

Hi there, The reason we can't set you up as a user before hand are down to the issues John speaks of. The only way you can be registered as a user is for a current user at the school to set you up, so we know who you are and who you work for, etc. If you have concerns over your start date and your ability to do the job and meet high level of requirements on that day you need to take it up with the school and suggest how they might help you best prepare. Mic @ Serco

*passes edu-hobnobs and hides under table*

RIP sir. He was a genius in my eyes, or imaginative and lucky. But whatever it was, he did a fab job of it.

Thanks to replies to far. I'm not going to reply as such as I don't have experience of Facility in a primary school as an end user, or in directly supporting a large number of them - but just so you know Serco are here and happy to help wherever appropriate - hi. If there are any questions you feel I can help with, ask away. Mic Sanderson Operational Support Consultant Serco Learning

I have to say I agree with John. Try and work it into your AUP and then implement it- they won't have a choice then. Or maybe send out a friendly notice suggesting it can be used for personal things but not related to the school. If it is found used for something inapropriate such as (insert list of none exhaustive examples) then the feature will be removed completely. You only need to see it once, then turn it off.

Looks good to me *gets cv out*

Again, seen that on a friends and sorted it with safemode and malware bytes.

I have passed on your concerns. Mic @ Serco

With any company like that i think it depends who you get at the time. There simply aren't enough good mechanics that genuinly care enough to go around. To put things into perspective, 3 occasions with the AA... Once i emptied the mini of fuel under the bonnet somewhere. Back in the day when i was 17, knew nothing. He dismantled the carb and cleaned the float out at the side of the road, put it all back together, recommended a carb refurb and suggested the kind of places that might do it, roughly what i should be paying so as not to get ripped off, and put a few quid of fuel in. Then followed me the 3 miles home to make sure it didnt get clogged up again. He also checked all the way along the fuel line to look for a filter and recommended i fitted one. Another one was where i was waiting for a beavertail with a focus with no bearing, and a guy was calling at the services with anothe rcar on a beavertail (no passengers). They can fit two cars on each truck that size. When he pulled in near me i assumed he was coming for me so i went and had a word. He cancelled the other which was an hour away and went 30 miles out near the end of his shift to drop my car off at Ford for me and take me home, to save me waiting for the other one. Top bloke. (That was cylinder head gasket) Another one was when i had a problem a couple of miles away from home one night. I limped home, got them out. They put it on a beavertail, took it to Ford. We left it outside and posted the keys with a note, and a voicemail telling them what the story was (company car anyway). He then took me to an airport for a 24hour car rental jobby and put me in one. They wouldnt give me one without the paper licence and my company insurnace. AA bloke found the details for my insurance company (work) and got their 24 hour hour helpline to fax me one over directly to the hire place. I absolutely cannot fault them, when i've used them on work or personal policies. There have been other occasions too.

Thanks for letting me know and sorry for the delay. I will see if there's anything i can do on Monday. Mic

Hi, As you say, i've since posting found out we called you back on Friday, if i can be of any further help please give me a shout (as long as i'm not breaking any edugeek rules). Mic

Sorry to hear we've not met your expectations. I endeavour to encourage its correction as soon as possible. Mic @ Serco

Hi all, Thanks for the continued input. Skyw0rca, what you say is correct (all of it). Cheers. John too. Banjo - You're right in what you say - technically, cmisadmin.exe will only use 4gb of RAM as it's a 32bit app, but the point i'm trying to make (as repeated by skyw0rca) is that isn't relevant - the BM module is a bitlet used by ePortal (web app). cmisadmin.exe is the c++ app. As it's running as a shortcut on the client, the app is running on the client not the server (as you suggest). I've seen a few times the workstations (or indeed the network) being the bottleneck with a performance issue with cmisadmin.exe, but in this instance it would not be effected, as we're refering to ePortal. P.S - splitting up the services is ok as another method of resolution, but it becomes difficult to support. You have to be very confident of a high spec network between the servers with the services on and confident with splitting these up (as the upgrade process does not cater for this automatically). Thanks again all Mic @ Serco

Hi all, @scholarpack, sister_annex, 7andY 8gb of RAM can be utilised by a 32bit machine using enterprise edition of windows 2003 or 2008. This is stated on the part of the spec relating to this amount of RAM that the support O/S edition is enterprise. There is also an option to run it on a 64bit machine, but a cavaet as a full testing cycle hasnt yet been completed on 64bit. There is one difference in the configuration of IIS which support are aware of. You have to use PAE in the O/S and AWE in SQL, and you have to be a little careful in your execution because RAM used in AWE cannot be switched out to the paging file. I wrote the majority of the hardware spec, any specific questions, please do feel free to PM me, or start a spec questionning thread, i'm happy to help @banjo - Thanks for your input as always, it's always nice to see people contributing. cmisadmin.exe will never use any amount of RAM, unless you have it open on the server, as it's run on the clients. I'm not sure if you're a user of our software or you were just making the assumption it ran on the server as a 32bit exe, in which case you'd be spot on. @richh - you make a good point. This isn't the usual service i've experienced myself from support when working in a school, and i'm sure many customers will (and do) testify this isn't usually the case. @7andY - I'm sorry to hear you're having problems. If the issues are performance related i can understand support requesting this. It may be that they are performance related, but not in an obvious way, or maybe there's a communication breakdown somewhere. Please explain your issue, either here in the open where other users may be able to help, or PM me with the details, i'm happy to spend some of my own time talking to you about it. I can atleast add another perspective, and if it isn't performance related i will check it out with the support team. It also seems that the support team didn't explain fully why the 8gb of RAM was necessary and that it would be registered under the correct O/S, i'll make sure that i communicate this to the team to give a better understanding. I hope that the people posting in this thread will see this as a proactive response and that this will reduce some of the frustration. Also, (i realise this wasn't the original intention of the post, or 7andY) please be careful with comments which may be seen to defame a company or the advice provided by a company, in a public forum (regards any company). I understand everyone needs to vent, i do it myself as much as anyone else, but that is what 'behind the red door' is for, where only registered users are permitted. Please try and keep the posts to constructive criticism or helpful advice. There is no room for this kind of conversation in this area of the public forum. I believe this post has cleared up the issues listed (except the original post, which hopefully i will hear about soon) and so i'm happy for it to stay in this section of the forum and not be moved. I cannot and will not speak for my employers, however, who may request it moving or removing if it is seen. Regards Mic Sanderson Technical Engineer Serco Learning My posts are my own and do not represent the views and opinions of my employer or any of my employers associates.

P.S - by 'largely a tea man' -i mean that in both senses - By large, i drink tea, over coffee. I am also quite large.

I'm largely a tea man. A very good friend of mine introduced me to green tea, and lemon and ginger. I never did agree with the lemon and ginger, i find there something slightly completely wrong about it, but the green tea, i'm hooked. But i will drink coffee from time to time. Maybe 1 cup a week. Tea, in the office i'm on about 3 / 4 cups a day (1 day a week on ave. ) and at home, i stick to diet coke, squash and fruit juices. And i tend to make some awesome smoothies.

If you take this job you have to realise that it's going to be your life for that 6 months. But also bear in mind that after that 6 months to a year of getting the experience, if you put in the work and effort you'll get the promotions and hopefully jobs nearer home. Also bear in mind when you've got your feet under the table all you need is someone who could do with a bit of extra cash with a spare room and a laid back attitude, you might be able to find a way of going down on a monday, stopping through the week, and coming back on Friday, for the same amount of money, or less than travelling all the time? I can tell you from experience that you'll think... but i'm away from home so much - look at it this way - if you travel so much in the week, you'll probably end up so knackered that you dontknow where you are and you'll spend a fair amount of time at the weekend recovering. If you stop away, you can stay awake, really throw yourself at the job and make sure you get all the experience you can, and atleast when you are at home, you'll be awake. Also, in terms of travelling, have you taken into account tyres, services, depreciation of car due to high miles, etc? All of this should NOT be under estimated (been there done that paid the price). I hope you find a good solution. If i can help any more post back or PM me. Mic

I know someone who applied and was offered it, but i'm not sure if he's taken it. If he has any reservations, it's based on it being in London and him already being on that pay in the midlands, and other jobs he's capable of achieving in London are around the 40 - 45k mark. I considered it myself, but again, that kind of wage isn't worth me living in London. If you want someone that experienced who can take something like this and hit the ground running, with the correct amount of experience, and you want them in London, there's a good chance you'll have to make the top of the bracket the bottom of it and up the top end by 5k. I know i wouldn't be moving to London under any circumstances for less than 45k. But then that's too much for this role... rock and a hard place. My Posts are my own and do not represent the views of my employers and / or their associates.

I see you liked my suggestion Mr Box.

Lady in Red.

Hi there, Frog are partners of ours and so will have access to the API as soon as it is available, just as they do now. We're discussing changes with the partners at the moment, but as long as they develop against the new API which i believe Frog have every intention of doing (as will any other partner) it will be fully integrated as usual. Mic @ Serco

What John said - thanks John. Try the local system account. I've seen people using 2008 R2 (R2 is 64bit only) and doc store without a problem, so i'm sorry that doesn't answer your question, but perhaps it helps. I'll have a look at a 2008 when I get chance and post back to let you know. Anyone else, don't be shy! Mic @ Serco