[sims] SIMS into powerBI

[nicholab]

Has anyone come up with a good way of pushing SIMS data into powerBI to analyse and produce key reports for educational stake holders?

[anthonythornton]

Managed to pull data from other sources into Power Bi and working on student level data

[matt40k]

Yes, number of options

- SIMS report, sims report command line > export to sharepoint > into PowerBI (rather hacky)

- Power BI gateway, directly into SQL (rather naughty)

- Assembly (or such) then point Power BI at the API - Assembly (rather APIy)

- Buy a out-of-the-box solution, such as coscole - pretty sure they intro it 2 years ago at BETT

 

 

Might also be worth popping along to BETT as I've heard rumours someone else might be doing something... (No it isn't Capita)

[MrMat]

Old thread but...

 

We're doing a bunch of work with SIMS and Power BI and it's a pretty fantastic resource for very little money. Attendance Dashboards that update automatically overnight with all your Stats, Vulnerable groups etc all available from PC, Tablets etc. Schools are really impressed with it so far.

 

It works out at about £2 per user per month and most schools only require a handful of users (Head, SLT, Attendance Officer)

 

Just us? Or are other really starting to see the benefit?

[matt40k]

Not so many using SIMS however, I know a number of other MIS systems are using PowerBI. Did you see the other thread talking about the next gen of SIMS?

 

"links to dashboard software such as Microsoft Power BI are talked about " - laughable that linking to a decent reporting tool is "being talked about" when they are meant to be developing a fit for purpose modern MIS from scratch.

 

They really are clueless are cant be honest about the flaws in the current product so you cant expect them to produce something better when they have another bash. THey just dont get the modern requirements of an MIS - that is actionable intelligence straight from your MIS. Wish they would go bust - the education sector would be better off within 12 months on many levels.

Edited December 5, 2018 by matt40k

[MrMat]

Not so many using SIMS however, I know a number of other MIS systems are using PowerBI. Did you see the other thread talking about the next gen of SIMS?

 

Yeah I did. It is madness that Power Bi integration is a 'Maybe' with SIMS Primary. They're clearly really struggling with reporting after binning their original, horrendous attempt so why they wouldn't integrate with a reliable, known solution is beyond me.

 

It's also still mad that trying to pull your own data out of SQL is such a minefield.

[matt40k]

That's the whole idea of Assembly! I'm still surprised Capita hasn't started stealing a Power BI Connector!

[simpsonj]

ScoMIS are starting to look into the potential of PowerBI, they showed off an impressive BI project with attendance, behaviour and assessment data all together. Even just inputting a behaviour spreadsheet exported from SIMS can be pretty powerful. Can I ask how people are connecting their SIMS to PowerBI so it updates automatically? That would be incredible useful!

[matt40k]

Have a look at: coscole | KiData. It's been out for years now, I know they previously did some demos at BETT which was pulling "live" data from SIMS. You can also join the SIMS data to data you have on spreadsheets held in Teams \ SharePoint

[GREED]

Have a look at: coscole | KiData. It's been out for years now, I know they previously did some demos at BETT which was pulling "live" data from SIMS. You can also join the SIMS data to data you have on spreadsheets held in Teams \ SharePoint

That would be Groupcall Analytics then...

[matt40k]

That's certainly another option! I hear it gets particularly powerful if you have all the other GroupCall products as the integration is excellent.

[GREED]

Keeping the advertising to a minimum, yes it does Matt but also partners that utilise XOD have the option to contribute into Analytics too which is unique, and we have some big partners that are actively doing this right now. So not just MIS but also things like Safeguarding, Finance, Assessment. More to be disclosed at BETT

[matt40k]

What? GroupCall is going to BETT?!? I thought no-one was going to BETT these days!! (Sorry, digging about the other thread where Capita have said they ain't coming)

[DODICT]

why not just get a decent MIS that natively supports you doing this and actively encourages it as recognises your needs ?

 

If SIMS was easy to deploy, maintain and support and was competitively priced I'd understand the desire to 'make it work' but it isnt.

[CloudGeek]

why not just get a decent MIS that natively supports you doing this and actively encourages it as recognises your needs ?

 

If SIMS was easy to deploy, maintain and support and was competitively priced I'd understand the desire to 'make it work' but it isnt.

 

Well put @DODICT.

 

Trying to make Windows desktop application such as SIMS to work with such cloud native products such as Power BI is like a square peg in a round hole.

 

You need a cloud native MIS - see thread - http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/198578-uses-microsoft-powerbi.html

[Banjo]

Old thread but...

 

We're doing a bunch of work with SIMS and Power BI and it's a pretty fantastic resource for very little money. Attendance Dashboards that update automatically overnight with all your Stats, Vulnerable groups etc all available from PC, Tablets etc. Schools are really impressed with it so far.

 

It works out at about £2 per user per month and most schools only require a handful of users (Head, SLT, Attendance Officer)

 

Just us? Or are other really starting to see the benefit?

 

Sounds interesting > do you have a link to a webpage to view what you have done so far with prices?

 

Thanks

[deshills]

We're in the process of launching Power BI into our schools (we are using this in our MAT already) but because it is integrated into the MIS directly, there is only a requirement to have 1 license per school, so there is a significant saving to be had there!

I think using Power BI in conjunction with your MIS, and better still built in to the MIS, is a potential game changer for the way schools access. present and more importantly, use their data!

[ajp233]

Hello @deshills - what specific licence would a school need to buy if they have created dashboards in PowerBI Desktop and then want to share with colleagues in the school?

[deshills]

Hello @deshills - what specific licence would a school need to buy if they have created dashboards in PowerBI Desktop and then want to share with colleagues in the school?

Hiya, i had to check this as i don't deal with MS side of things!.

Do you have an “Office 365 A5 licence”. If you don't, you can purchase a single Office 365 A5 licence and associate this licence with a service account. This can then be configured to use within the MIS.

I forgot to ask, but assume you need one pro license for the development of the dashboards.

Happy to pass on your details to our IT bods if that helps?

[matt40k]

That's interest @deshills - wouldn't the service account only need a PBI Pro license? It wouldn't need a full Office license surely?

 

What would be good would be if you could upload PBIX file into the MIS and it publishes it via the service account. Be interested to see how they have done the sharing permissions (integrated MIS permissions with Office365 groups), if they are using directquery or import. Also how they have dealt with the shared environment issues.

[deshills]

That's interest @deshills - wouldn't the service account only need a PBI Pro license? It wouldn't need a full Office license surely?

 

What would be good would be if you could upload PBIX file into the MIS and it publishes it via the service account. Be interested to see how they have done the sharing permissions (integrated MIS permissions with Office365 groups), if they are using directquery or import. Also how they have dealt with the shared environment issues.

Hi @matt40k

Licensing isnt my thing, thats the response i got. Happy to exchange emails with our IT guys and yourself, or you could email [email protected] as it was them and our IT that have set this up.

My job is to use the end product only (thankfully!)

[Bromcom-PR]

That's interest @deshills - wouldn't the service account only need a PBI Pro license? It wouldn't need a full Office license surely?

 

Associating one Power BI PRO account is acceptable as well. There are many ways to do to achieve the same thing.

 

Please drop me a PM for further any help.

 

 

What would be good would be if you could upload PBIX file into the MIS and it publishes it via the service account. Be interested to see how they have done the sharing permissions (integrated MIS permissions with Office365 groups), if they are using directquery or import. Also how they have dealt with the shared environment issues.

 

Happy to discuss the above - just drop me a PM to look at the details.

[mariohi]

Capita just released the scripts for Power BI tool:

 

How it works:

https://app.gotowebinar.com/sl/index.html#/9087201215670623243/3912084758074635020

 

Files used in the webinar:

Power BI Solution.pptx Starter documents.7z

 

Session 1 This explains the processes of using the Command Reporter to extract data from SIMS and put the extracted raw data into a given location.

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/7408614197712009985

 

Session 2 This explains the process of taking the raw data and building Power BI reports from it.

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/2266563352506621699

Edited January 18, 2019 by mariohi

[MrMat]

Capita just released the Power BI tool:

 

How it works:

https://app.gotowebinar.com/sl/index.html#/9087201215670623243/3912084758074635020

 

Files used in the webinar:

[ATTACH]51821[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]51822[/ATTACH]

 

Session 1 This explains the processes of using the Command Reporter to extract data from SIMS and put the extracted raw data into a given location.

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/7408614197712009985

 

Session 2 This explains the process of taking the raw data and building Power BI reports from it.

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/2266563352506621699

 

We asked Capita for the PBix file and they advised, Sorry we deleted it...

[matt40k]

Looks like its a thing they want to charge consultancy for.

 

Basically they are using command report tool, scheduling it to run, then using OneDrive to sync.

This is so hateful. For example, OneDrive is designed for individuals, so its using an individuals account, this isn't ideal. You'd be better off setting up the gateway. Still the idea solution would be 1 database or all web based MIS with an API. If this is going to be the official solution, you're going to spend a fair amount of your time maintaining this as their are quite a few bits that could (and will overtime) go wrong.

 

Good luck!