truebluesteve

I was sent this link by a member of our SLT (I don't read the TES) https://england.magazine.tes.com/editions/edition_edition_edition_5233.england/data/335717/index.html Makes for an interesting read

We use Capita directly and the support is OK - not outstanding though! The price you pay does depend on the number of students you have on role (I believe) and of course the number of modules you have.

Schools Cash Office (Tucasi) has been a complete pain over the last few months and the support has been poor. We seem to be encountering bug after bug in the software since we moved to the latest version. Going to have a look around when I'm at BETT, but there don't seem to be that many good providers out there - ones that haven't been assimilated by ParentPay at least!

Hazelwick School Sims Data Manager This post is a permanent role. 37 hours per week, All year round Salary range (inclusive of Crawley Market Supplement), per annum, depending on skills and experience. The postholder must be available to start at 8.00am (and earlier at certain times of year). We are looking for a person who can •manage all student data within SIMS •carry out and manage exam analysis through the ALPS system and preparation of subsequent reports •coordinate termly assessment data in readiness for analysis •manage the data and information systems interfacing with SIMS •progress ongoing development of SIMS •work with and support the Exams Officer and Exams Administrator This is a busy and varied role, working with all members of the school community. Knowledge of school processes and experience of using SIMS or a similar school’s data management system would be preferable Candidates must have: •excellent technical administration and IT skills, including word and excel •maintaining the accuracy of our data is essential and so candidates must have excellent attention to detail and the ability to communicate with all members of the school community and external agencies •candidates should also be able to work flexible hours, as required •support and training will be provided as necessary •this post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Services check Application Packs are available: online: http://www.hazelwick.org by email: [email protected] Closing Date: 1:00pm on Thursday 3rd November 2016

Is this a bare metal install or an upgrade from another version of Windows?

We've got the Windows 10 field trial and it seems to work very well - we have a number of Surface 4 Tablets that we couldn't build because of the NVMe disks but can now. Can't help with Windows 7 I'm afraid

We have had WSUS issues here recently (with console too) and saw quite a number 13032 event ID's in the event logs of the WSUS server. These can be caused (apparently) by - Unused updates and update revisions Unneeded update files Expired updates There is a cleanup Wizard in the WSUS console that can lean them up if that is the issue. Some instructions - Log on to the server as administrator. Click Start, All Programs, Administrative tools and then Microsoft® Windows® Server Update Services. In the Updates Services tree, expand the server that you want to manage and then click Options. On the Options page, click Server Cleanup Wizard. On the 'Welcome to the Server Cleanup Wizard' page, select all the following options to clean up: Unused updates and update revisions Computers not contacting the server Unneeded update files Expired updates Superseded updates Click Next to start the cleanup process. When the process completes, click Finish. Log on as administrator on the server in which the cleanup wizard was run. Click Start, Run and then type iisreset and click OK.

Asset Management - WASP. We paid for it years ago and have had free upgrades all the way through annd no support costs Printing - Managed Service with Sharp VLE - Moodle (was with Webanywhere but have detached ourselves from them) Its not used very much at all and is likely to be binned completely soon We've used SSD's to extend the life of many of our PC's and will continue to do so as others get older.

Does the WSUS console come back alive after you run an iisreset command from Powershell?

Internet Pay is working fine but there are some errors in its logs. Both Cunninghams (who have now checked the server) and Tusasi say there is an issue but they don't know what it is! Their support was very good when we first started using them about 4 or 5 years ago, but it has gradually got worse.

Whenever I try that nothing happens - simply because they are completely oblivious to all around them!

Thanks for the FasTrak info - I had heard of it but hadn't considered it until now! I completely understand about these companies being busy at the start of the new school year and I wasn't expecting and engineer to call me that day - but 4 days is hopeless IMHO as there was no communication whatsoever. Its incredibly frustrating when the problem is out of your hands and you can't give parents and SLT an answer to when it will be fixed

Morning Since the start of term the link between our Cunninghams Cashless Catering System (Impact) and Schools Cash Office hasn't been working, so that money being added by parents isn't showing on Impact. To get around the problem we've had to allow students a daily overdraft of £5 simply to allow them to have meals and stop chaos ay break and lunchtimes. I suspect we probably have the national debt of Greece by now! To compound the issue the support from both companies has been awful - Cunninghams took 4 days to get to me after I logged the initial support call with them, and there seems to be no sense of urgency to resolve the issue (which is affecting a number of Schools according to Tucasi). We will be looking at different suppliers after this but I get the impression that there aren't many out there and those that do exist aren't very good either! Is anyone else having these issues or that can recommend alternatives?

People become transfixed by blue lights - I am a Special in Sussex and I have nearly been hit by motorists on several occasions at RTC's simply because they were looking at the incident and not the road ahead. As for middle lane drivers - well don't get me started on them!

I'm not familiar with ESET as we use Symantec and I think that it was the network threat protection that was causing the issue. We removed that component which solved the problem and left the anti-virus element in place. If it does seem to be the cause of the problem it would be worth contacting ESET Edit - I should also say that we tried a couple of Microsoft Hotfixes which related to the SMB protocol (I think) which can cause a similar problem on Server 2012. I cant remember the numbers of the hotfixes but a quick Google might help.

Does it ever crash overnight/weekends or only during the day when it is being accessed by users? If it was OK over the summer when I assume there were no users, then maybe there is some lock happening when files are being accessed. We had an issue with a race lock happening and causing shares to freeze and it turned out to be our AV.

Does the server crash at particular times of the day or are there any other patterns to it that you can see. Have you tried turning AV off for a while?

Have you tried speaking to Biostore? I have found them really helpful in the past and they helped me re-install their software on a PC for free when Softlink wanted £400 for about 30 minutes work!

When we had an on-prem Exchange server, I deleted the users in CC4 first and then the mailboxes would be shown as disconnected and get deleted after 30 days. That was useful if you deleted the wrong person!

I recently upgraded DirSync to Azure AD Connect and whilst it seems to be working OK, it seems to be very slow to add new users, and I'm not sure if this is expected behaviour. Previously our students weren't sync'd (AD to 365) but I plan to do this over the summer and as a start I have added the OU containing next terms new Year 7's. The sync has been running with this new OU added for about a week now and its only added half the students in it. What seems to happen is that is does a few (random number between 1 and 9 its seems) and maybe none at all for the next few sync's (set to every 30 mins). I know there are some limitations around the number of objects that can be sync'd at any one time but this seems very slow Any suggestions appreciated!

I recently resurrected the remains of my vinyl collection and bought a couple of bits from eBay - A pair of Mordaunt Short MS20 desktop speakers (about £50) A Pioneer PL400 turntable (about £65) The turntable was in immaculate condition, had a new stylus and the original manual! Be careful with some of the cheaper USB turntables as I've heard some people complain of damage to their records because of a straight tone arm - and the fact there is no anti-skate or weight/balance setting. I can't verify these claims but there were quite a few when I initially looked at them. I have to say I really have enjoyed listening to vinyl again - there's definitely a difference in the richness of the sound compared to streaming audio. Its also great fun browsing the 2nd hand record shops of Brighton! PS - I already had an amp

They were pretty awful to deal with in terms of support, so while I have sympathy with their staff to some extent, I won't mourn this companys passing

Just started playing Uncharted 4...

Hi All Just a quicky... Over the half-term holiday we are replacing all our printers and copiers (hooray!) and also our print management software - its currently Equitrac but we will be using PaperCut MF. With that in mind does any one have any tips or suggestions around the configuration and use of PaperCut? The software has been installed and linked to the OU's in AD that we want, so now its a case of fine tuning it all. Cheers Steve

Two goldfish in a tank... One says to the other 'Do you know how to drive this thing?'