SIMS.Net & Timetable planning

[Ravening_Wolf]

A quick question for you SIMS gurus:

I seem to remember a missive from Capita last academic year advising that timetable planning must be done using Nova-T4/6 in future and that third-party software (such as GP Unctis (sp?)) is no longer supported for this procedure. Is this true or is my memory deceiving me?

Thanks in advance.

[paul]

It all depends how the third party system interacts with the DB. If you are still on T4 it won't work on T6. Though you still have T4 this should not be used for amending the timetable or writing back to the SIMS SQL DB, T6 communicates solely to SIMS then T4 reads from SIMS for modules such as cover.

[bossman]

If i am not mistaken structure can be built in T4 and then imported into T6 and then edited and exported back into T4 and then SQL update ran which uploads the new timetable data into SQL. Never used any other third party timetabling software so could not advise on this.

Capita has plans to go totally T6 but there are too many other ties with other parts of Sims structure at the moment (slowly slowly catchy monkey).

[Ravening_Wolf]

But no one can remember a specific memo from Capita forbidding the use of third party software? I had a look at capitaes.co.uk but that site is completely useless :@

[PhilNeal]

We would not have issued a statement such as the one you suggest but I am unaware of any other supplier that has written an interface to the SQL database.

BTW CapitaES.CO.UK is a marketing web site - users should use http://support.capitaes.co.uk :!:

[Ravening_Wolf]

So is GP Untis supported or not?

[StArbiter]

So is GP Untis supported or not?

I know that Keith Johnson Timetabler works with SIMS .net. I suspect it's up to GP Untis to do the interface work - the information is available if GP Untis wish. How many schools use this product - I have never heard of it before.

There is a lot of useful information on interfacing on the partners page of Capitaes.co.uk.

[Ravening_Wolf]

Sorry to keep on but the question is not "will it work" but "should the software be installed or should the member of staff responsible be forced to use Nova-T4/6"?

[StArbiter]

Nova is proven to work. If you install the Untis software there can't be any guarantee the timetables will make it into SIMS. I know what my school would do. :idea:

[PhilNeal]

The situation with GP Untis is that they are not a partner. What this means is that they will need to take responsibility for the injection of the data into SIMS SQL. With Partners, Capita accepts some responsibility in trying to fix issues that occur.

[Ravening_Wolf]

Considering the member of staff involved managed to screw up the timetable last year, I am very, very reluctant to allow for the potential of this happening again. Especially as IT got the blame for a procedural error :@

[bossman]

Ravening_Wolf:
i would go with T4-6 and have done with it. Tell the timetabler that due to the changes in Sims no other third party timetable software is supported end of story. Do you want to give yourself headaches with third party timetable software?

[worthingwire]

The situation with GP Untis is that they are not a partner. What this means is that they will need to take responsibility for the injection of the data into SIMS SQL. With Partners, Capita accepts some responsibility in trying to fix issues that occur.

Yet the bloke I deal with at gp-untis suggests that Capita are blocking any attempt by them to enable an interface with SIMS. I am dismayed by this, as I have found untis by far the easiest timetabling software to use, and yet it now looks like I'll be forced to do the whole thing again in NOVA-T.

[StArbiter]

Worthingwire - if GP untis are making these allegations why not take it up directly with your local capita account manager or write to phil neal direct ?

[Keith-Johnson]

"Keith Johnson TimeTabler" is a Capita partner,
and has been for a few years.

You can export the completed timetable from TimeTabler into SIMS .net,
using exactly the same import wizard [currmatch.exe] that T6 uses.

There is full step-by-step documentation on how to do the export from TimeTabler.

You can see Users' Comments on this at:
Users' Comments and Testimonials about TimeTabler

Users' Comments and Testimonials about TimeTabler