[sims] SIMS - email?

[Damian]

TimH, that sounds great - please could we have a copy?

[robins]

I have Schoolcomms integrated with SIMS so its possible to send real emails and texts - if a little cumbersome. However they've just sent me a link to their beta web version which is a bit nicer than the app but I await to see whether it will be functionally better or just aesthetic. The big advantage is Schoolcomms picks up all members of groups, eg Reg, club, subject, admissions, staff, home language, etc.

Capita say they have some level of integration with Exchange in the pipline. Hopefully this will create a more dynamic way to keep distribution lists of SIMS contacts inc groups of contacts up to date. Hopefully this will allow SIMS functions like missing register report to break out to real email. Hopefully this will link NT6 timetables to populate teacher calendars etc.

In the mean time exporting a report of contacts emails from SIMS into Outlook is handy.

[Sivadam]

And a massive Plus with Schoolcomms is it's direct link into First Day Absence!

[Top_Cat]

If you select Class Teacher from the drop-down list you will see all the teachers of classes associated with that student.

 

(Should have asked me first, Andy! - only joking, it's an interesting thread and very relevant)

 

I agree that emailing would be preferable. SchoolComms is imminent here and may be a future solution to that one.

 

Terry

[MattMitchell]

If you select Class Teacher from the drop-down list you will see all the teachers of classes associated with that student.

 

(Should have asked me first, Andy! - only joking, it's an interesting thread and very relevant)

 

I agree that emailing would be preferable. SchoolComms is imminent here and may be a future solution to that one.

 

Terry

 

I'm only seeing 3-5 teachers per student on this feature - our LA tells me the design is to show teachers that student has *today*, not all of their teachers.

 

Is it working differently for you then? Which SIMS build and database build do you have there?

 

Matt

[PhilNeal]

It seems that we implemented "all teachers today" which is useful but the easier to implement "all teachers" hasn't been done yet. I await a delivery date for this.

[MattMitchell]

I did wonder why someone went the extra mile to do the harder implementation...

 

It would be good to have both - maybe described as "Student's Teachers" and "Student's Teachers Today" or similar.

[Top_Cat]

Matt

 

V7.124, Build 28, Database Build 3.61.615.

 

You're quite right, it is only teachers today. I think that's the point of the system: getting an urgent message to teachers of a particular student. You will have seen Phil Neal's post. I agree that 'All Class Teachers' would have a wider use.

 

Terry

[MattMitchell]

Same versions as us, Top_Cat - at least I know everything's working at our end then!

[fawkers]

Hello Everyone

 

I think that one thing we would like to see in our school is that messages are e-mailed to staff since there not always in sims. I did some digging on support net and the only thing I can find is this change request (http://support.capitaes.co.uk/ChangeRequest/DetailChangeRequest.aspx?Status=Vote&Score=2&id=%c3%98%c3%99%c3%92%c3%9b%c3%a8%c3%a4%c3%95%c3%9d%c3%a8%c3%9c%c3%95) #0904-507084

 

Do you think this would be a good idea for your schools?

 

.Adam

[GREED]

I remember this topic and might even have been me who logged that request!

 

It is a good idea, and while I know Capita don't want SIMS to be turned into an emailing system, their links with Schoolcomms which is an ideal next step for this, would be perfect.

[fawkers]

Does anyone use school comms? Do you find them good value for money?

[GREED]

We have for the past 3 years, they are brilliant both as company and product.

 

Software is very easy to use, it importantly pulls through all forms of grouping from SIMS (forms, years, classes, UDGs, houses etc) and allows you to quickly email individual students, parents of, or staff members (as long as the information is in SIMS), and/or groups of these. Takes seconds.

 

Costs depend on number of students, and if you want just one user or multiple users (as in accounts to simultaniously send messages). Either way is good value for money.

[vikpaw]

Does anyone use school comms? Do you find them good value for money?

 

We use them, and it's a great service, good value, and exceptionally handy.

the absence part links in so that when a parent replies it updates sims automagically which is cool.

 

i've just tested the web based beta version and despite being a bit cartoon like in appearance again it's really good but you can't do management tasks on it yet. I've found it works quicker than the desktop application and we are connecting from Saudi!

 

The only thing i would say, and it's true of any system, the effectiveness is only as good as the data you provide. We have had big problems with data and are only just fixing them. Now that we have cleaned up our contacts' details - email and mobiles, the system works extremely well.

[GREED]

We tested that early last week too Vik, it is a great advancement for the normal user I think.

 

PS How do you get on with it in Saudi? with numbers and the likes?

[vikpaw]

no probs. just need to make sure mobiles have the dialling code prefixed. bit odd though as we have a 3 digit code and schoolcomms changes the formatting into having 2 and then the rest of the number. not other problems really, apart from the caveats with how data is stored in SIMS mentioned in other threads. i.e. can only have ONE 'main' email per contact, regardless of the fact that SIMS lets you have a main home, main work, main other etc.

[TimH]

TimH, that sounds great - please could we have a copy?

 

Hopefully attached is a bare version of this. The report will export email addresses of teachers who have lessons with a given student into Excel, which then creates a blank email in Outlook with the To: field appropriately populated. Note this has no error checking so may well not work in a situation different from ours, also staff need to be able to see other staff email addresses (ours can't so I had to create a Mk11 version and email forename.surname@ourschool).

 

(We have several variants on this (e.g. email students in class xyz etc.) but the sending mechanism is the same.)

 

tim

 

(PS it looks as if there might be a problem downloading the attachment with IE - seems OK with Chrome/Firefox.)

Email Teachers of.zip

Edited December 9, 2009 by TimH

[Sivadam]

I also whole-heartedly endorse this product.

It's link into SIMS First Day Absence is a joy to behold!

[marshharrier]

And a massive Plus with Schoolcomms is it's direct link into First Day Absence!

 

I also whole-heartedly endorse this product.

It's link into SIMS First Day Absence is a joy to behold!

 

 

In the interests of balance for the readers out there (rather than the Schoolcomms appreciation society of which some members here seem 'platinum members'!), there are quite a few 'comms' products with direct links to SIMS.net (including 1st day absence in some cases) and they all pull year groups, classes, houses etc from SIMS without any fuss.

 

In no particular order of merit;

 

1. TruancyCall

2. GroupCall

3. ParentMail

4. Keepkidssafe

5. Schoolcomms

6. Teacher2parents

 

plus a few more that I cannot recall right now.

Edited December 17, 2009 by marshharrier

[Damian]

Truancy Call works well for us and links nicely with SIMS - updating codes and inserting comments that come in from parents by text. I'm not aware that it can be used to send out messages generated within SIMS.

[PhilNeal]

---- Removed by Phil Neal on wise counsel from Greed. Edited December 17, 2009 by PhilNeal

[GREED]

careful Phil... I foresee this thread becoming a battleground soon!

[PhilNeal]

I know - I should have resisted. Sometimes it is very hard to stay silient!

[Sivadam]

And I was responding to a query about Schoolcomms because we use it. I could not endorse the other products because we do not use them. Though we did visit a number of schools running different products before we made a decision to opt for Schoolcomms. That included the one that the LA were recommending and which I resisted adopting, because I knew that Schoolcomms was better than this particular product!

A number of schools have since visited us to see how Schoolcomms is used here and also visited other schools to look at other products. As far as I can remember, all those that have been to see Schoolcomms in action here have actually purchased it.

[GREED]

We are the same here Mike, we have had several schools look at SC, as well as javing sales people from the other companies and still have opted for SC.