NeilF Posted July 2, 2014 Posted July 2, 2014 As a result of a school merger and changing to an academy we are to be given the 'opportunity' of starting with a new, clean SIMS database and filling it with data from the School Merge utility. Does anyone have any experience of this process and are there any gotchas that we should be looking for? We've already been told to try to align our lookups, but I just wondered whether there was anything else that others have fallen foul of. If anyone has been through this, what timescale are we looking at for the re-creation of a working assessment system and did you plan in any rationalisation of the aspects/grade sets/templates or just import everything? Thanks in advance.
matt40k Posted July 2, 2014 Posted July 2, 2014 Good luck. I would have thought you'd just CTF import the students and do everything else from scratch and just not bothered with the merge tool.
creese Posted July 2, 2014 Posted July 2, 2014 Am I missing something? Why merge a clean database with an existing one? surely you will end up with a copy of the database, and a few £££s lighter for the School Merge Utility.
NeilF Posted July 3, 2014 Author Posted July 3, 2014 (edited) Yes, that was an earlier conversation, but the merge utility was the chosen option. I am merely the data monkey. The merge is being done on two schools, the resultant merged database is what is being ported to the clean build. Edited July 3, 2014 by NeilF
woody Posted July 3, 2014 Posted July 3, 2014 I presume they want to keep as much history as possible that won't be in the CTF but it sounds like a horrible job. Prepare for the worst (psychological trauma, migraines and nightmares) and then if it is any better than expected, you won't feel too bad....
PhilNeal Posted July 3, 2014 Posted July 3, 2014 It depends entirely on how much data you wish to preserve. CTF is clean but limited if you've been a power user.
NeilF Posted July 3, 2014 Author Posted July 3, 2014 Woody: Yes, the idea is to get all students, teachers, contacts and agencies plus SEN and medical details then build on this. We then have to either import templates - which apparently have to be cloned if we wish to make changes, or, start creating all assessment templates from scratch. The schools databases will be sent to Capita when we break up about the 24th July, there is a 2 week turnaround for the merge and I have been informed that it will be completely unacceptable that there should not be a fully working assessment and reporting system in place at the start of the new school year in September. Hope for the best but plan for the worst - any data jobs in Lancs anyone?
creese Posted July 3, 2014 Posted July 3, 2014 The schools databases will be sent to Capita when we break up about the 24th July, there is a 2 week turnaround for the merge and I have been informed that it will be completely unacceptable that there should not be a fully working assessment and reporting system in place at the start of the new school year in September. Hope for the best but plan for the worst - any data jobs in Lancs anyone? Sounds like you are doing the right thing. You will need to be absolutely clear which data you want migrated. 1
matt40k Posted July 3, 2014 Posted July 3, 2014 If Capita are doing it, then brill. You don't have to worry about merging the data the right way for starters. They are very good a detailing what they will and will not do. Like @creese has said, be very, very clear what data you want migrated. Very clear. 1
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now