What is happening?
Education Software Solutions (ESS), the providers of SIMS software, will be ceasing support and testing SQL 2014 after the Summer 2024 SIMS release, and supporting only SQL 2016 SP3 and SQL 2019. This means that by the start of June 2024, all schools must have placed their order to upgrade their local version of SQL to ensure they are able to continue to use SIMS.
What does this mean for my school?
All schools subscribing to the SIMS Software and Administration Systems Support service currently have a local installation of Microsoft SQL server. This is either SQL express (typically P2P/Windows 10 devices) or SQL standard (typically Windows Server SIMS servers). Versions in the field include SQL 2014, SQL 2016 and a very small number of SQL 2019. Therefore, by summer 2024, all schools on SQL 2014 must have upgraded their local version of SQL to ensure they are able to continue to use SIMS. If your SIMS databases are using Microsoft SQL version SQL 2014, then you will need to upgrade to Microsoft SQL 2019.
How we can help
Lancashire County Council Education Digital Services can provide schools with the required upgrade to SQL. All schools subscribing to the SIMS Software and Administration Systems Support (Managed SIMS) Service option must have their upgrade performed by Education Digital Services.
This upgrade can be performed either by:
- Migrating SIMS to a new SIMS server with SQL 2019
- Upgrade of existing SIMS server to SQL 2019
Get in touch
We are now taking orders to complete upgrades. If you require a new server, please request a quote by emailing educationdigitalservices@lancashire.gov.uk.
All schools on SQL 2014 will be contacted by our team regarding an upgrade.