MIS Systems Thread, Restricting access to SIMS in Technical; Is it possible to set up group access within SIMS so that, staff (ie. class teachers) can only access certain ...
Is it possible to set up group access within SIMS so that, staff (ie. class teachers) can only access certain functions/areas. I think this is possible in terms of restricting access to certain modules but I think I may need to go further than that.
What I want to be able to do is have staff log in and add details (time, date, content, etc) of telephone and face-to-face discussions that they have had with parents. Currently this is done by one person (Deputy Head/SENCO) who receives details from staff and then imputs that info into the SEN area/module. What I'd like is for staff to be able to do this directly themselves without having access to anything else.
I'm effectively thinking aloud on this at the moment without being able to investigate within SIMS as I'm off at the moment! Any thoughts?
You can create custom groups within System Manager in SIMS and assign the permissions you require within a module. So for example GroupA can view student records, while GroupB can edit them as well.
Sadly, there's no easy way to copy Class Teacher permissions to Class Teacher Test for example.
I suggest you do create a separate group, with settings identical to Class Teacher as a base though. I'm not sure how upgrades handle changes to the permisions of SIMS default groups and I would be leery of altering them.
If you are going to play around with permissions I suggest that you download the SIMS.net Permissions spreadsheet which is on the Sims.net Capita SupportNet site. This gives you the exact permissions of Class Teacher which might make things a bit easier!!
Last edited by kiran; 25th January 2008 at 09:12 PM.
Sadly, there's no easy way to copy Class Teacher permissions to Class Teacher Test for example.
actually, you can sort of clone groups, and then edit them. unless something has changed since the last update. it's actually the easiest way to setup a custom group. the spreadsheet is also very handy to know what is already allowed.
the way i do it is to create a new group in system manager by clicking on the plus, make sure you fill in all the details and notes about what you are trying to do which is useful for anyone else that wants to use it later on. then under the permissions tab you can add a role, this is like just cloning one of the other pre-existing groups. i think the idea is to create merged groups so you could set one up for your data manager and your data analyst with all roles applied, so you just add new staff to that one group rather than all the individual ones.
the roles available are all the same as the existing groups, so you just pick the role that contains the permission you want to apply, then you can manually edit the permissions within the tree and remove extra things that have been given. failing that, you can jus add individual permissions but it's rarely that simple!
the problem is actually translating the permission given to what it actually does. and updates inevitable cause huge issues.
recently i found that with the user defined groups area, someone who previously had permission to edit and delete group memberships couldn't save their changes. they were part of the assessment co-ordinators group, they could add members and wouldn't be able to save. however, they could remove a member and the save button became active. herein lies the problem, it's been logged to capita, or so my local support team tells me, but that sort of issue, is a pain, even though i have already found the work around.
i made a group that allows nova read access only, so if i wanted someone to have access to nova then i just add them in there, because i could never figure out which groups a person needed to be in to get to use nova. so now there is a group with just the run and read nova application permissions.
also, when there was a huge issue with staff not being able to view other staff members' timetables i had to make a group that allowed read access to the next of kin details. yes it's bad, but we needed the workaround. nobody notices the extra rights, but it allowed people to run the timetables report without being thrown out of sims. to actually discover which permission was at the root of the problem, because capita hadn't sorted it out yet, i had to clone a group with higher permission, and then slowly delete one set of permissions at a time, then log in and try it. it's slow but do-able.
it's ridiculous how the permission structure works, passively a member of teaching staff needs loads of permissions to access other data, then i guess they just mask off the extra details so they don't actually see it.
without being able to investigate within SIMS as I'm off at the moment! Any thoughts?
since you're off, i've made a video of the process. not to say my method is correct, but it should do the trick, though there must be a more efficient process out there.
not being patronising with the contents but just need to test this format out as i'm using flash videos for internal support but this is more convenient as it's made into an application that runs the video rather than embedded in a web page. i don't know if you still need flash player installed to run it, i'm assuming you do.
it's not ace and there's some bits missing, but you get the general idea.
Last edited by vikpaw; 28th January 2008 at 03:02 AM.
Reason: additional remarks
6 Thanks to vikpaw:
djones (28th January 2008), Edu-IT (28th January 2008), GrumbleDook (28th January 2008), plock (28th January 2008), Ric_ (28th January 2008), sahmeepee (28th January 2008)
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Originally Posted by pete 
