matt40k

Might want to rethink that - useful as SurveyMonkey is, it shouldn't be used to store\hold\collect sensitive data. There datacentres are in the US and they explicitly forbid you from hold such things - Can I ask for credit card details, SSNs, or other personal information? Email is insecure. Don't email sensitive data. @Marshall_IT - have you asked @Schoolcomms if they could do anything - makes sense as they already have that parent engagement - if only they could also do admissions (future parent engagement )

Yup, you can get free comando ssl certificates if you use cloudflare for dns

Seems very silly, i mean having a radio broadcasting across the room surely is more disruptive then a phone vibrating in your pocket, especially when phones are so cheap vs radios (and they generally get better reception

Seems very silly, i mean having a radio broadcasting across the room surely is more disruptive then a phone vibrating in your pocket, especially when phones are so cheap vs radios (and they generally get better reception

If they know VBE7.dll needs to be a certain version, why didnt they at least add in a check in the installer, oh wait... Never mind

You've got dns problems, you'll have problems when you move to Solus3

Pretty sure using Nova-T4 in "production" is a breach of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 under section 3A

Two comments 1. I heard Nova-T6 was being redeveloped when I started here - back in 2008 - even then it was said with "but don't hold your breath" 2. Even if you do, it'll be many, many, many years before it get wide acceptance, folks were still using Nova-T4 until a few years ago. So if we expect it around the year 2060, we'll have a nice surprise - I just won't be ordering the cake yet from (dammit I forgot his name... see my mind is already shutting down!)

Lets hope it isn't SIMS 8, I might have retired by the time Nova-T8 comes out!! (I'm under 30 if anyone is wondering)

Ahh, so its another thing to buy then! If its part of the license, it isn't advertising and as its still vapourware (ie we can't get at it) - it would be classes as gossip.... so spill the beans. PowerBI connector?

Lookups aren't supported at the moment. Pretty sure SalamanderSoft can do it, assuming you've got a pot of money

Go get a demo from @Schoolcomms like @vikpaw said. Does exactly that and is in use in over 2,000 schools

What's wrong with (work) mobile phones?

It was pretty powerful and an incredible piece of software engineering when it was designed, no-one can deny that but that was, what 2004? Time has moved on and it hasn't, its unloved, under developed. Seriously look at the Microsoft BI stack - SSRS in 2016 is amazing, PowerBI is going strength to strength, every, single, month. Don't waste time developing a new reporting engine (~looks at Discover). Use the reporting tools Microsoft have already developed and spend millions on and are continuing to do so Seriously, look at PowerBI. Oh look you can connect it to your on-prem database, join it to a spreadsheet and other bits of data (it ain't all in SIMS isn't), use natural language to search the data model to create a report, graph, map it, whatever. Think of how much time, money and effort Discover has taken. Now compare that to writing a slick PowerBI connector (https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/developers), how much is PowerBI - FREE. From @CAM point of view, he gets a proper tool and not some propriety tool that no-one in the real-world uses. There is even a FREE EDX course - https://www.edx.org/course/analyzing-visualizing-data-power-bi-microsoft-dat207x

Embedded? That was something else - single file db. Compact is only used for the deployment stuff if I remember correctly.

Not quite sure how scared a person who is willing wear a suicide vests will be by someone revealing there ID - especially as they aren't wearing masks, might just accelerate the plans perhaps. Still they might publish who is behind it all, ie the folks making all the money, like who's buying all that oil - still the Russians apparently know and have told folks, that might be because they want folks to buy Russian Oil. If nothing else, it'll give all the governments someone to blame for all this illegal hacking going on

Depends, logically you'd define your business logic in the most logical place - often this would be, for SIMS, in c# code - that way you can have proper unit tests. OK, there is a tsql unit test framework, but I don't believe this is as mature - I could be wrong, they could heavily use it. I suspect the place where the logic goes depends on the developer and if they are a C# developer or a SQL developer\DBA. Regardless, it does happen on the client and the server, so takeaway advise would be don't just assume you need a beast of server, you also need a beast of workstation. Deadlocks happen, as I understand it, you generally lock the table when its a legacy bit of code or your doing a bulk insert\update\delete (for performance) and then the queue of other sql statement(s) happens which then times out. There is no real fix, hipsters will say NoSQL type dbs like mongodb is the answer, but then you'll get other types of problems As for the setting the recovery model - this is generally frown upon in the SQL world. In corporate land, if your DBA setup your database in Full recovery model, if for a good reason, if your application then decides to abuse its powers and set the recovery model to simple your going to have your DBA looking for blood. Like @jinnantonnixx said it should have 1 job (that it does well) rather then trying to be overly helpful. Ideally Capita should be factoring in time for developers to refactor code, this is where you rewrite code that is already "working" and improve it - so you shouldn't end up with load of Delphi code, some .net 1.0 code, it should all be on .net 4.5 or whatever. If you just look at the number of a individual command-line tools and the various options that they have you'll find loads of inconstancies - archive attendance marks, b2b, command report tool. I know B2B is getting updated, but that's because they're selling LAs (or sold in some cases) the new LA ONE v4 which has a new version of B2B - but the point is, you shouldn't have to create a business case for continuous improvement, especially when you're already on the regular billing model (vs buying a version then rebuying the new version). A lot of stuff like you said could go into SOLUS3, like scheduled reports, maintenance task like reindex jobs, archive attendance marks, health checks (last backup, ldf size...) - you could even build in something for the third parties so you have a single place to manage all those pesky third party apps that KO your system

Mmm... not sure how well this will work. I mean if your line manager is the deputy head, he's prob going to sign you off on everything, but if its the network manager, they are more likely be in a position to correctly grade you. Can't really see how this would be any better then LinkedIn with the skills, other then your paying for it and its something you can add to your CV. Suppose it'll make job descriptions a bit more standard and non-vendor specific... maybe.

Doesnt that write to dms (ie the file system rather then as blobs in the database?) Students photos are blobs though. I remember when we looked at one large db (thats the mdf) we found the audit table was huge, it had entries from 2004 when someone changed there password!! My main beef is that really, for even a 15gb you shouldnt need half the spec servers some folks have. I think really the issue is client size and if capita to a web based product or even split the client up - so you dont have a all singing all dancing client but say a teacher version and a office version, ideally you'd want a primary and a secondary version also. I still remember tracking down a problem at a primary school that was caused by some code that was done for the exams Bah, good luck to all trying to resolve performance problems. Final tip, remember most of the business logic is client side, so its worth throwing 8gb at your desktops in the office

In terms of dbs in general, 9gb is nothing. I still stand by my opinion of the homepage messaging was a stupid idea. If your leaving workstations on 24/7 it'll have problems. Shut down SIMS when your going to leave it for over an hour, not only does it make technical sense, it makes security sense. You also have to remember that parts of sims are still "legacy" code and arent good restoring drop connections, parts of attendance and assessment are the ones that spring to mind. There is no logical reason to leave sims logged in on a workstation 24/7, i hate when folks go oh but it saves 6 secs in the morning. Dont waste support time trying to achieve something that it isnt designed to do and isnt a problem, there are far more important things that need fixing. Changing the school dates? Thats a one time per year thing, that it involves writing at least 2x entries per pupil per day and if you've got lesson monitor, a lot more. Its gonna have a performance impact, its going to lock tables. Pretty sure it has a nice disclaimer too on the instructions. If your doing it more ad-hoc, then all i can think is the saying about poor planning. @minimoo re dpa, yer... They are not the only supplier who is avoid the whole archiving and decommissioning. I suspect everyone is waiting for the first legal case

The IP is in Azure. Why? If its the server is in Azure and the clients are onprem (not sure how good an idea that is) then you need to add a endpoint in azure for the port - assuming your going over the internet and not over a vpn\direct route\whatever its called. Just to check "The has a separate admin and curriculum network but over the same IP range." - you mean you have one IP ranges which both admin and curriculum machines are on - eg admin01 is on 192.168.10.4 and curr-class3-1 is on 192.168.10.5. Its not you have two IP ranges both the same - eg you have admin is on 192.168.10.4 and curr-class3-1 is on 192.168.10.4. EDIT - 137.116.225.204 sends you to http://www.lgfl.net/ - :S is this the LGFL gateway address? Wonder why they have selected US region rather then a EU location :S

Define: Hassle Time I could spend doing more enjoying things. Still, like I said, depends what floats your boat, if installing software keeps you happy, it aint a hassle. PS: Good luck with the old landlord

Couldn't be bothered with email, too much hassle dealing with spam etc. I actually switched the missus off my Office 365 tenant onto Rackspace Email because her phone had problems with ActiveSync. For £1 odd a month it ain't worth the hassle!! Especially when they have a 24/7 free phone support number. Still can't really comment, I write hundreds of lines of code just so I don't have to do 5 mins of manual work

Sister is after a printer for printing labels and leaflets, any recommendations? Haven't printed anything in years let alone looked at buying a printer.

@Oaktech You sure? Returns policy - Tesco - doesn't list phones under the exceptions - just the £10 top-up. Might be worth a try.