Marshall_IT Posted October 15, 2015 Posted October 15, 2015 Hi All, I've been asked to come up with an electronic method to replace our paper Data Collection Sheets. I know SLG has this part but i'm just wondering (hoping) that there might be another (better) way to do it so that it can also be imported back in to SIMS automatically. Thanks in advance.
Marshall_IT Posted October 15, 2015 Author Posted October 15, 2015 Is this for parents or staff to fill in? For parents to fill in.
GREED Posted October 15, 2015 Posted October 15, 2015 Importing back into the MIS is an interesting job - for one you do not want this to be automated as you will want to verify and sanity check the data before writing back - so you need a holding area to review this... now it is complicated. For the collection of the data (which then exports to an Excel file), have a look at these guys: https://www.parentpaperwork.com/ 1
Marshall_IT Posted October 15, 2015 Author Posted October 15, 2015 Thanks GREED, i love the data collection sheets on SLG, but I hate everything else about it. I basically want to have an alternative that does the exact same thing, as you're describing.
jdoyle Posted October 15, 2015 Posted October 15, 2015 If you use SurveyMonkey at all for surveying parents, staff, students etc.... it can be used as a data collection tool, with the ability to export responses to Excel. It is possible to use the email tracking mechanism to check who has/has not responded to the data request. Used it at my last place for collecting data re Student Work Experience choices for example. Very generic solution so no bells and whistles. Don't know about the mechanism for importing Excel to SIMs.
PhilNeal Posted October 15, 2015 Posted October 15, 2015 What SLG does is provide workflow from data collection sheets into SIMS via an interface that allows you to accept or reject changes from parents.
Marshall_IT Posted October 15, 2015 Author Posted October 15, 2015 What SLG does is provide workflow from data collection sheets into SIMS via an interface that allows you to accept or reject changes from parents. And i REALLY like that. I just don't like SLG and we're finding that is not wiring for most of what we need from it.
Max_Power Posted October 16, 2015 Posted October 16, 2015 We use TASC Insight for some of the data collection. This allows parents to check their details and submit changes as required through the site itself, this generates an alert for the relevant people who can authorise the change.
Marshall_IT Posted October 16, 2015 Author Posted October 16, 2015 We use TASC Insight for some of the data collection. This allows parents to check their details and submit changes as required through the site itself, this generates an alert for the relevant people who can authorise the change. That sounds perfect, does it write back once reviewed?
jenny_urey Posted November 16, 2015 Posted November 16, 2015 That sounds perfect, does it write back once reviewed? It can write back automatically into SIMS ... medical info, telephone/mobile numbers, address etc... however we would recommend that it is checked by Admin and you choose to say 'yes' (tick boxes) if you are happy for that data to write back into SIMS....just in case parents add incorrect data such as '999' for emergency number
CyberNerd Posted November 16, 2015 Posted November 16, 2015 A google form works pretty well, exports as excel/csv
KDMann Posted November 19, 2015 Posted November 19, 2015 (edited) From my experience parents will give fake email addresses (Not sure why) I am creating a form using HTML, CSS & PHP that will look identical to our paper data collection sheet. This will require them to enter their own email address. I will be hosting this data collection sheet on our website but not advertised that it is available so that anyone cannot access it. We will then send a sms/email via Intouch to inform parents of the URL. Once they fill out the data and click sent it will go to [email protected] (Example)... You could give this ago. Only issue with this is it does not feed back into SIMS but it does allow us to review and then copy and paste data into SIMS. Edited November 19, 2015 by KDMann
browolf Posted November 20, 2015 Posted November 20, 2015 The new version of keep kids safe called RS connect Ed has data collection capabilities on its mobile app Dynamic permission forms & data collection
Marshall_IT Posted November 21, 2015 Author Posted November 21, 2015 Thanks for the suggestions everyone. The Key part I was looking for though, was the importing into sims to save manual data entry. 1
matt40k Posted November 23, 2015 Posted November 23, 2015 If you use SurveyMonkey at all for surveying parents, staff, students etc.... it can be used as a data collection tool Might want to rethink that - useful as SurveyMonkey is, it shouldn't be used to store\hold\collect sensitive data. There datacentres are in the US and they explicitly forbid you from hold such things - Can I ask for credit card details, SSNs, or other personal information? Once they fill out the data and click sent it will go to [email protected] (Example)... Email is insecure. Don't email sensitive data. @Marshall_IT - have you asked @Schoolcomms if they could do anything - makes sense as they already have that parent engagement - if only they could also do admissions (future parent engagement ) 1
Schoolcomms Posted November 23, 2015 Posted November 23, 2015 It's on the list as one of the things to do, but it's not easy for a couple of reasons: 1. It's a lot of user interface work, both at the parent and school end 2. There is a lot of data to read from SIMS, and to write to SIMS (imagine there is just one or two fields we don't support that you really want, suddenly the time it saves you is not so great, because you still have to run some other process for just those two data items) 3. Capita charge quite a lot of money (per school) for partners to write back into SIMS so it's harder to make the numbers go round vs other functionality we could do But that's not to say we aren't interested, it just hasn't made it to the top of the list (yet). P.S.: Doing pre-admissions would be even harder! 1
matt40k Posted November 23, 2015 Posted November 23, 2015 Thanks for the speedy reply - I think its an area for improvement, but like you said, its a lot of work. Its good that someone like yourselves are saying it - you've got the "hard" bit done, you've done the paperwork, got the security in place, the business model etc - all the boring bits devs tend to forget. So if you're saying, hey, its a lot of work, just in terms of development, let alone if you want to start from scratch.
vikpaw Posted November 24, 2015 Posted November 24, 2015 The separately chargeable Admissions module has a web form that allows prospective parents to fill out an application. It's a shame this functionality couldn't be used to work for existing parents, and allow you to check and verify their submissions. The issue will always be that you need the user to login and see their data, and then update if necessary, so it's in the realm of portal interface / VLE and SLG is their solution. In which case partners who already cover this area are your best bet, and it looks like TASC is the best option. They also do other funky things so worth considering their whole package.
SouthCoastSaint Posted November 24, 2015 Posted November 24, 2015 Much as I love all things automated and electronic - we have collected our registration forms electronically for the past 3 years (not imported into Sims, that's my job), we produce a mailmerge form - I find the accuracy of what is typed in is really poor compared to handwritten sheets. Easy to spot if they have typed gmial.com but harder to know a mistake in a random email address or phone number. The only improvement is it's typed so no handwriting to decipher.
matt40k Posted November 24, 2015 Posted November 24, 2015 Surely thats a solved problem. I mean this isnt the first ever user form ever is it? You can have business logic to validate user import, to check the format, you have address validation/lookup services, you have a email verification process, ie a link they need to click to validate email address, same can be done with telephone numbers. Categories can be dropdowns rather then freetext boxes
SouthCoastSaint Posted November 24, 2015 Posted November 24, 2015 I picked email address, but it could just as easily be a mobile number, postcode, house number, medical details.. Can't easily validate all that when we collect 4 contacts for most parents, or can we? Just seems to take more time working out what they mean compared to when I used handwritten forms.
matt40k Posted November 24, 2015 Posted November 24, 2015 Again, yes, can validate them all, its all been done. The only one that could be an issue would be the medical, if you did that, you wouldn't allow them edit it, it'll pull direct from NHS - but we're years from that actually happening
Marshall_IT Posted November 24, 2015 Author Posted November 24, 2015 Again, yes, can validate them all, its all been done. The only one that could be an issue would be the medical, if you did that, you wouldn't allow them edit it, it'll pull direct from NHS - but we're years from that actually happening The NHS can't even get that right between themselves!
GREED Posted November 24, 2015 Posted November 24, 2015 Just checking Matt, are you expecting the school to code all of this or to buy into such a solution?
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