Bruce Miller
'builds on your current investment in SIMS by working on current school data'
I think I have to quote directly from Eddie Bleasdale's talk at the recent conference: "You have not invested anything in IT. You have spent a lot of money and it won't come back." That said, we should try to turn some of the money that they have spent into an investment in our more sustainable system, by avoiding data input etc. One person that I spoke to already has experience in accessing the SQL database of a proprietary system. I should email them to ask for any tips that they have. Then again, we need to be careful not to require users to have a particular proprietary system and copying their database schema would probably have copyright problems. I quite agree that a component-based web system is probably the easiest way to nudge the juggernaut into a layby. I guess this is not the best list to discuss it, though. -- MJR http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ IM: slef@jabber.at This is my home web site. This for Jabber Messaging. How's my writing? Let me know via any of my contact details.