[sims] ALPS Data Collection Software Problems on SIMS 7.159

[CAM]

I'm having problems with the ALPS Data Collection Software (ADCS) Target Setting on SIMS 7.159. Anyone else finding that it isn't importing students correctly? It will import my Y13 students with a list of AS Levels that they took last year, but not my current Y12's that started in September. When I attempt to import the data manually it says the two XML files produced in SIMS (alps_ExamResults and alps_CourseReport) are missing the Exam Level field even though they have no blanks when opened in Excel.

 

I'm having to send the export to support for investigation who say another school has reported this issue on 7.159 but no schools on the previous version have encountered it.

 

Out of interest, is anyone running the ADCS program on a previous version of SIMS able to tell me the header for the Exam Level field? I have a feeling they might be different...

[LosOjos]

If you're just using it for target setting, save yourself the hassle and calculate the targets yourself using ALPS' measures (there are XML files in the program folder showing the mapping of KS4 APS to ALPS grade). That's what I've ended up doing in the past, enabled me to export a marksheet, drop in the IF statement to do the conversion and upload straight back in to SIMS.

[CAM]

Do I have to export the exam grades to manually get APS?

[LosOjos]

Yeah you would have to if you're doing it GCSE only (that's what ALPS does), I do that anyway as part of my analysis so it's quicker that way for me.

 

You could run a 'Full' PI report, filter and delete all non-GCSE's then do a Pivot on the remaining to get your GCSE APS per student quickly though.

[CAM]

The techies at ALPS went one step better and assembled a targets file for me from the data I submitted. Shall give it a try later.

[CAM]

The file sent by support works. Doesn't resolve the issue but I have targets! Good stuff from AlkemyGold.

[Alps]

Thanks for your comments. We released an update of the ADCS on Friday 12 September that fixes this SIMS Target Setting import issue. Just download the latest version 3.0 from our website.

 

Thank you for your patience.

 

The Alps Team