There comes a time where your SIMS database has something wrong with it, that will ultimately require a custom patch to fix the problem. Traditionally once Capita request your data, you would have sent it on a CD/DVD or uploaded the files to their FTP server. However there has never been any requirement to Encrypt the data before sending it.
Backups are one of the most important things that you always make sure is on the priority list to check, even more so now that all of the SIMS data lives in a single database file. Of course we are all used to verifying our backups and running regular test restores, although since the migration from the MS SQL 2000 server engine to the MS SQL 2005 engine, running a test restore and attaching the SIMS .net database seems to be impossible.
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Creating an MSI to deploy SIMS .net is quite time consuming, so in an effort to reduce the demands upon my time. I set about designing an MSI that didn’t have to be updated 3 times a year. The end result is a downloadable MSI package that can be used by schools for deploying SIMS on there RM Community Connect Networks and ordinary Windows Active Directory based networks. In the past, every time a new SIMS common platform was introduced a new MSI needed to be created, tested and then released, not an easy task when there are demands on the latest release being installed in schools. This has usually resulted in burning the midnight oils to get a package to a school for the following day.