[sims] Export Live Data from SIMS to Excel

[robslack]

Hi,

 

We would like to be able to extract live data from sims into excel so we can then further analyse it. Would this be possible using SQL? as anyone done this?

[notalot]

Hi, Yes this is technically possible but without some serious time to invest you'll regret accessing the database directly.

 

The database for sims is expansive and poorly documented (from my experience).

 

My previous trust did this extensively to create a data warehouse and as long as you don't write anything to the database it wont effect your support (we had it in writing from ESS before it moved).

 

The question is why do you need live data rather than "Semi Live" data, Command reporter whilst also can be a pain is less of a problem than accessing the database as it will run Sims Reports and they can be outputted to local locations without issue. You can then run it as a scheduled task. Just take care when doing this as we get to this time of year the reports can cause Sims to lock up for a while whilst it runs especially when your working with Attendance or Behaviour data.

[bobsmith]

Look at posts by David Potts - he's got some great instructions (and courses) on how to use command reporter to export data that you can then link up to powerbi for analysis.

 

Though we only ran the reports overnight as this was sufficient for "live data" - though if you really want to you could pull attendance during the day if you're prepared to take the performance hit.

 

Since going to bromcom this isn't an issue as it has multiple methods for extracting live data natively.