Delete SIMS Profiles 7 session

[GoldenWonder]

I'm new to SIMS and have had Profiles 7 dumped on me with no training so be gentle

 

I've set up templates and comment banks and generated a test profile for a student to make sure everything works OK. I now can't delete this session because I've generated profiles against it, even though its only one kid and I've removed the comments placed against them,

 

I've spoken to a few people who say thats just the way SIMS works (pretty poor bit of software in my experiences so far) but it seems rather inflexible - what happens if you make a mistake in the future, there'll be sessions all over the place!

 

Anyone managed to remove a session before?

[Jeremy69]

No we have not deleted any sessions but once they are finished with they are marked as closed and the browse of sessions is set by default to active so you need never see them unless you want to. We have currently got 72 closed sessions!

[PhilNeal]

Goldenwonder, please get some training! SIMS is very powerful and hugely flexible but you need to understand how it works!!

[Sylv3r]

Profiles 7 is a bit of a monster - you really do need some training for it. When the technician here who was in charge of school reports / profiles left here I picked up the reigns without any training. I got by, but struggled to understand the software at first with no knowledge of it and only the manual to hand.

 

The biggest thing you need to remember is, make sure everything is right before you make the session active - once it is, you can't make any changes again to that session.

[Sivadam]

Sorry but that last statement is not strictly true. Yes, you should ensure everything is set up correctly in the first place. But there are one or two tweeks that you can do after a Session is active. Profiles 7 is a very good and powerful package and can be used to produce excellent reports. But without proper training I can see that you could have massive pronlems. You need to understand how it links to courses and how Groups and Classes are linked to those courses. It is no good complaing about a piece of software if you do not know how to use it correctly. Edited March 9, 2009 by Sivadam

[GoldenWonder]

I would hardly call profiles is powerful piece of software! Its a basic mail merge system linked to the SIMS database. The facr you can't delete a session that has no reports open on it shows it hasn't been written correctly.

 

I used to be a developer and worked on several MIS systems and my perspective is that Profiles is a half-cocked attempt. It works but has very poor management of the reporting sessions.

 

We currently use Aim High which is a much better designed system. Alas, SMT are pushing the SIMS route whether I like it or not!

[Sivadam]

Good for them! A Leadership team that seems to know the correct way to go!

I assume that there are better individual packages available but the benefits gained from a fully integrated system are a major plus. SIMS fulfills that criteria and is getting better and better as time passes (despite the pressure that DCSF changes impose, often at extremely short notice).

Edited March 9, 2009 by Sivadam

[GoldenWonder]

An integrated system is a good idea, but the default choice of SIMS isn't necessarily the right way to go.

 

SIMS popularity stems from the fact it was pretty much the only system available years back and its been steadily patched up and cobbled together along the way.

 

From a evaluation of Sercos facility its clear that was a better designed system from day one.

 

Still, not too concerned. BSF will force us all to use the same stuff anyway.

[Sivadam]

We have a number of staff here who are totally delighted that they have got away from schools that use other MIS's that you refer to. Now they get access to whatever they want, in the way they want it, virtually immediately they request it, thanks to a fully integrated SIMS System.

[ngregory]

I'm new to SIMS and have had Profiles 7 dumped on me with no training so be gentle

 

I've set up templates and comment banks and generated a test profile for a student to make sure everything works OK. I now can't delete this session because I've generated profiles against it, even though its only one kid and I've removed the comments placed against them,

 

I've spoken to a few people who say thats just the way SIMS works (pretty poor bit of software in my experiences so far) but it seems rather inflexible - what happens if you make a mistake in the future, there'll be sessions all over the place!

 

Anyone managed to remove a session before?

 

The reason for this is that it is attached to a Student record any time you generate a profile the profile is attached to the pupil record in the document store. This actually come up in a meeting that I attended this week with capita and it is being looked at. But the closest you can get to deleting is making the session inactive. Profiles is very interlinked with assesment.

 

I would echo what Phil Neal has suggested that you either get yourself on some specfic training or find a Sims consultant that can work with your school to help devolpe better use of Sims as it is amazing how much sims is interlinked.

[EduTech]

Our Data Manager is currently looking at profile's, and its a beast!

 

What we have done is took a copy of our SIMSSERVER and Virtualised it for him and what he is doing is using that to get the hang of it and at least if he makes any problems its not on a live setup. once he knows exactly how it all works he will then do the work on a LIVE setup.

 

So i suppose if you can, i would play on a test copy of sims

 

James.