matt40k

Might be worth getting someone like David Pott in to see if folks could use SIMS better. I suspect you've either got a lot of strong characters who can do some amazing work and SIMS is letting them down and you'll need to "buy in" another product and just accept that SIMS will have just the summary (at best) or you've got alot of silo'ing going on with people trying to build an empire.

Sigh...OK, I'll bite. So you write a SQL query against SIMS database. Let's ignore the fact you've bypassed the suppliers security (rightly or wrongly its only at the application level and you can't change that), you pulled the data for attendance for every pupil for the last 10 years, you've then pull in the status of the pupil at regular intervals - for example pupil premium, parents at same address, disabilities, no of address changes, blah blah blah, along with the all the static info like gender. Fine. Problem, only Capita hasn't indexed the query as it isn't something they've designed the database to handle. So the query takes an age, it and you forgot to put nolock in your query. You've just locked the database for writes.Comparing SIMS to a bank is like comparing the entire USA to a little village in england with a population of less then 1,000. SIMS is designed to run on SQL 2012 Express. That means it uses NONE of the enterprise features, none of the standard features, none of the 2014 or 2016 features. Banks run on Oracle, Teradata etc, that are designed for high concurrently. SQL Express is designed for a concurrently of what, 5. As for the PK:FK, you're assuming they actually use them and aren't relying on the application. OMG, seriously. Your recommending someone uploads their SIMS database to a total stranger in the "cloud" so they can poke around it? PS: It costs £5 per month to build a warehouse and they're doing all the hard work - Assembly

Isn't that what headphones are for haha! Seriously though worth checking out AMD processors as they do get a reduction on core licensing, so you only need 9 core licenses for 12 AMD Cores (well 10 because you can only buy in packs of 2). We all know Intel are better, but are 9x Intel cores better then 12x AMD cores?

If only that included 12x core licenses for SQL Server standard

Well what do you call it when you reply to a nearly 7 year old post? Lol! Suspect Smoothwall will come up with the goods (assuming its not something silly like Capita service just being down). Going slightly off topic - has anyone ever wondered why addresses is so broken? The Office of National Statistics did a excellent post that explains some of the complex bits - https://blog.ons.digital/2014/08/20/ons-api-understanding-geography/

Thread zombie or what! Have you checked to see if your configured to connect to your LA rather then Capita?

On eUKHost, you can manage name servers, if the name servers aren't eUKHost, you can't update the dns settings. Options are: - get logged onto 1and1 so you can - switch DNS over to CloudFlare (and hope their wizzy tool picks up all the existing dns records) - which has loads of benefits and is free. Long term might be switch to someone like Mythic-Beasts - they offer free letsencrypt ssl certificate (that auto renew), do invoices and generally awesome people

SQL Agent is disabled (by default) in SQL Server Express as its not licensed. If you start it, it will just stop. You need SQL Server Standard (or higher) to use the SQL Agent. Most schools will just use Windows Schedule task to schedule a backup.

Sounds like you've not used SOLUS3 to deploy. Would guess you've installed the SIMS .net client, not created a connect.ini file, then the application has created one but not been able to create it in c:\program files (x86)\sims\sims .net then shoved it in the VirtualStore and its got into a bit a of a twist with RDS way of handling VirtualStore. Should just be a question of setting it to install mode, clearing out the user profiles (and thus the virtualstores) then manually copying the connect.ini to the c:\program files (x86)\sims\sims .net then returning to execution mode. You'll also want to clear up any mess you've made as well (such as duplicating the SIMS .net client in C:\Program Files\SIMS\sims .net for example). Just a thought anyway.

Check the release notes first - if S3 includes improvements to deployments then it might be worth doing that first otherwise you won't get the benefits!

Fixing S2S will help with that. Reviewing practices will also help - things like, not having an address or contact details is just ridiculous. I get the argument that you don't need them to teach, but if your legally responsible for children you should have them in your MIS. Other then that it'll come down to what BI solution they put on top of it and provide to schools and how they relate KPI\alerts to money \ public data. Still by they time they get to BI element well all be retired

Are you implying their POC will have problems when they start turning it into a real-world application @PhilNeal and they might have to keep some of those old legacy features like manually checking a set times of the year, kind like a census?!?

I believe @salamanderSoft was doing integration between a payroll\HR system and the MIS. So provisions staff in SIMS etc when they appear on the payroll - which is the important one (folks don't work for free after all!!). Like @Banjo and @elsiegee40 you'll need it in your MIS regardless how you do it. If you can't push it in, it might be worth pull it out from your MIS the slapping it into payroll \ HR. Still like @Ephelyon has said, if you're looking at replacing your Finance system, you might as well look at your MIS - especially as SIMS, as you know, is a pig to interface with. It's alright say you could write something, but it just takes one simple mistake and your in a world of pain (just ask Serco about that!). Realistic, you might just have to except the data duplication\manual bits as a fact of life as the cost would be too prohibit with your limitation. @PhilNeal - do you know any LA that have ONE + B2B personnel that have interlinked it with their backend payroll?

Finance and HR are two separate things @localzuk. SWF comes from your HR system and if your new MAT HR system doesn't do SWF then that a pretty major fail. I do know some helpful folks who might be able to help...

Might have been me being a twonk - saw MSI and hit report - then re-read 30 secs later and went, pleb, its MST. Sorry if it was me - this is why I do frequent releases and have undo options\backup options

This made my day. I could point out that even Microsoft don't create MSI for alot of their own software, that the WiX installer, aka the preferred way to create MSI installers is actually a open source side project, but you'll get even me ranting about MSI usage. Seriously though, I don't wanna work with software where it takes 4 months to fix a simple mistake. The main reason they have to recall a release is because people can't cope with apply this, then that, then this. Anyway, SaaS for the win

Still thinking of that the relic that is SIMSApplicationSetup.exe as the installer. It should be left in the past along with floppy installation discs. SIMS\FMS should be nothing more then modules that get downloaded to the client based on subscription (license). The SIMS client shouldn't be a single package\module either. For starts you should had a core module (a headless version) and a UI module. Why do you need to do a full client install on a server, you might the SIMS core for third party stuff like GroupCall, but you should never run the SIMS client on the server (beyond maybe one-off debugging). SIMS should be getting updated daily. If you want to waste time updating packages, fine. Personally I'd rather package it once, then effectively, tick the auto-update because there are more interesting things in life then updating SIMS! Yes, Capita should really have created a MSI, but that technology is now long in the tooth, its 17 years since Microsoft introduce MSI deployments, move on and let it go. You can argue this point until your blue in the face, but the fact is the biggest pain in desktop application development is folks not updating. Its why Apple created the App Store and basically forces app updates on you. It's why the cloud is more popular then web based - because they control the environment so they can auto-update.

@AliG @Arthur - code should be in version control - uses GitHub gist - https://gist.github.com/ @Michael - Your missing the point still. The SOLUS3 agent IS the SIMS \ FMS installer, it IS an MSI. Once the SOLUS3 agent is installed, you no longer care how Capita actually put the darn program on, so long as it works. They could have a 7z with a single dll that it copies over the top, it really doesn't matter so long as it works, its like AV definitions. The only reason why the .exe (wise) installer still exists is because some folks still leave in caves and clone machines. @nick3young - Sorry mate, not touched this for years and years - I'd prob have to spend a day looking for the old call then check it was still up-to-date. It was either a MST (like @Arthur has posted) or a startup script depending on the scenario.

??? That's exactly how it works :S - The Agent is msi, you deploy that via SOLUS UI\SCCM\GPO\manually, then you define what the machine is within SOLUS3 UI then it pushes out the programs\modules\components whatever you want to call them. If it isn't finance machine, it won't get FMS for example. Can't 100% remember how to do it exactly - I know its a lot easier now because Capita fixed it that if the client doesn't have a GUID, it deploys it.

Irony. Well lets hope it doesn't blow back in their face like I predict.

I would be seeking legal advice if I was the LA in question. You can't reallocate the license to an Academy or a LA school outside of your LA, do they actually have a new school being built? Otherwise is a really nasty move. If they allocate it to an Academy, Capita will get a lot of refund requests. The license was original purchase for that particular school - schools are named on the Capita bill. The school has still stated they require it, so it would be theft - don't even go down the path of fully using it, some schools just use it for census! If they get away with selling it to them, then it'll be original price minus depreciation, so what, £1. This would then also open them up to their procurement practices - ie have they been re-tendering etc. I really don't get why an LA would act like this? Its not going to achieve cost savings and its just going to back fire. I get its an arse if your a Capita house and schools move away, but you just write up your MIS requirements document, state it must meet all the standard stuff, then add on must interface with your central systems (ie B2B Open) - then add a clause that failure will result in a fine to cover manually loading the data etc. Every other MIS supplier whos worth more then 1p will then work with your back end - oddly because they want future business and schools don't like extra bills. The "saving" wouldn't even cover the PR bill if they went to the newspapers, let alone any legal costs. Really seems a like stupid idea which hasn't been thought out and most likely completely back fire and cause alot of damage all for a few hundred quid.

@Banjo - It'll be unwise for an LA to restrict a school access to data because they want to save a few pounds reusing an old license. It's not just a question of the LA looking up the data for them, its all the legal stuff that's wrapped around it - like verify that person is authorised to see and isn't just Joe Public and responding within the correct time frame. It'll just take 1 failure to annihilate that licensing saving. If the managing director at Capita SIMS has publicly said there is "no requirement to pay anything to us", I wouldn't be paying a penny for something that isn't going to be used.

Stupid question, they know you've moved to another MIS? Worth asking them to confirm what its for. My gut would be to not pay it, you don't need to pay to access historic data.

You own the SIMS license, it is a site license. The software is "yours". You pay maintenance for upgrades and support. If you don't want support or upgrades then don't pay for maintenance (which sounds like what your after). If you've become an Academy then you have to re-license as the license is owned by the Local Authority. If you become an Academy and you don't go with SIMS (so don't re-license), then your Local Authority who does have a license could give you something - without maintenance and no Capita fees. How they do that is up to them. Personally I'd go for you provide a machine, LA provides software - nothing in the Capita license about ownership of the device and limitations. Ideally build a Windows VM for it as the time will come when you need to upgrade the hardware and its easier to move a VM to new hardware then it is a physical machine when you have no support\updates. Bottom line, no Capita charges for historic access.

Edge is safer! Nothing works with it!