SIMS register inserting 'N's

[sparkeh]

Ok bit of an odd one but when taking the register in SIMS on one machine in the school, it keeps inserting 'N's when saving.

 

This is a primary so SIMS has two sessions per class AM and PM. Yesterday this manifested by replacing both morning and afternoon sessions completely with 'N's when 'Save' was clicked after the PM session.

 

Today, when the AM register was taken the PM register was filled with 'N's when 'Save' was clicked.

 

Any ideas?

[Mcshammer_dj]

what method are you using for entering data?

 

ie omr, manual of direct access

[sparkeh]

what method are you using for entering data?

 

ie omr, manual of direct access

 

Sorry that would have been helpful info

 

The teacher is entering the marks directly into SIMS via the register page. Then Ns appear when he clicks save.

[vikpaw]

When saving Ns are supposed to appear if no other mark has been entered, but this shouldn't fill all boxes with Ns.

So if you go in and mark one student then try to save it will force you to fill in the other boxes as absent. but i think what you are doing is saying that despite what is entered Ns are filling the boxes...?

does the user have any elevated privileges for attendance? are they using a custom code that maps to an N?

[vikpaw]

if its just one machine and doesn't affect user elsewhere, i would just reinstall sims and hope it goes away.

[sparkeh]

When saving Ns are supposed to appear if no other mark has been entered, but this shouldn't fill all boxes with Ns.

So if you go in and mark one student then try to save it will force you to fill in the other boxes as absent. but i think what you are doing is saying that despite what is entered Ns are filling the boxes...?

 

So two different things have happened.

1) Yesterday the AM register was taken and everything was fine. The PM register was taken and appeared to be normal but when the teacher clicked save all the marks from AM and PM turned to N.

 

2)Today the AM register was taken and again seemed normal but when save was clicked the AM marks were saved OK but all the PM marks turned from blank to N.

 

if its just one machine and doesn't affect user elsewhere, i would just reinstall sims and hope it goes away.

Yeah I am going to try this after school. Just wondered if anyone had an idea why this was happening.

[Sivadam]

Looks like you need to register a new Case with Support!

I have not seen this reported in SupportNet Forums and it most likely would have been if it was a general fault!

Edited January 12, 2010 by Sivadam

[Chunky]

I've seen this happen before. It happened listerally 2-3 times on 2-3 PCs.

I think we eventually worked out it was a user error.

(they clicked on save, went back in to do the reg, and as it was v quick, N's didn't populate until the / were saved, so, it saved N over the top).

 

Try working through it with a nice cup of coffee - worked for me

[bossman]

@sparkeh:

 

What version of Sims are you using at the moment?

 

I had this problem and if I am not mistaken there was a patch but for the life of me cannot remember what it was Doh.

 

Also I seem to remember that it was part of the criteria for the next update which was the last one which took Sims to version 7.124 build 28.

 

Will have a look through the Capita site.

[sparkeh]

@sparkeh:

 

What version of Sims are you using at the moment?

 

I had this problem and if I am not mistaken there was a patch but for the life of me cannot remember what it was Doh.

 

Also I seem to remember that it was part of the criteria for the next update which was the last one which took Sims to version 7.124 build 28.

 

Will have a look through the Capita site.

 

Thanks bossman.

We are Version 7.124 Build 28

 

We are supported by LA so if this is a known problem with a patch I will have to go through them...

[bossman]

@sparkeh:

 

There is also reference to lesson marks being overwritten by N : KB75984 on ther capita website if you have registered to use.

 

Basically this is what it says:

KB75984.doc

[mikeruddell2]

The office staff at my school have been asking if it's possible for SIMS to enter an N when no mark has been entered (When we hit save it just saves with a -) Capita advised that this only happens with lesson monitor...but they rarely actually give me solutions to queries! Any other ideas?

 

Cheers

Mike.

[sparkeh]

Oh I'd forgotten about this. The issue just went away after those incidents.

[mikeruddell2]

I'd like to turn this feature on, any idea where the setting for it is?

[sparkeh]

I'd like to turn this feature on, any idea where the setting for it is?

 

Not sure if its a feature, it was a bug for us.

[Dancer]

The office staff at my school have been asking if it's possible for SIMS to enter an N when no mark has been entered (When we hit save it just saves with a -) Capita advised that this only happens with lesson monitor...but they rarely actually give me solutions to queries! Any other ideas?

 

Cheers

Mike.

 

There is a deal with missing marks in attendance/lesson monitor.

I'm pretty sure you can click on the top of the column and assign them all to N

[vikpaw]

I thought it forced you to enter a mark when saving if none was present. Otherwise with the '-'es in place they will appear as unmarked registers.

There are two different problems in this thread now. The original was a bug, and i think Mikeruddell2 you have a different issue.

I would check on SupportNet to see if it's known, no doubt is.

[GeeHubb]

In Attendance you can save a register with missing marks in it but it will still appear as a missing register. You can change the '-' to N's by highlighting the column, protecting the existing marks and clicking 'N', but I don't think that you can set it to change automatically to 'N' on saving a register.

[PhilNeal]

I think what you are asking for is not wise, possibly illegal. AM/PM registration is a legal requirement and marks taken in class can be used in court as proof of presence or absence. There has to be a definate action on the part of the register taker to say someone is absent rather than the computer filling in the blanks. For the same reason you can't just store exceptions in the database there has to be definate presence mark.

[GeeHubb]

I'd agree with what Phil says. It definitely isn't a good idea if you use a register print out for fire register purposes. The 'N' code would be taken to mean that the pupil is definitely not on site whereas the missing mark is not quite as definite. Here it would mean that a child was 'not present' at registration, but could be in the medical room / at the toilet / in the cloakroom etc. I always investigate missing marks as they happen until I am certain whether a child is in school or not. Easy for me to do as I'm only dealing with 320 children though.