pupil emails

[browolf]

having recently started giving pupils email accounts, is there some way to bulk import their emails into sims?

[vikpaw]

this came up in a thread on SupportNet too i believe, as far as we know, no. i think someone checked and it wouldn't work from a CTF or other method either.

we set our usernames and emails to be the SIMS admission number, so it's already in there, and can be reported on. simples.

[browolf]

this came up in a thread on SupportNet too i believe, as far as we know, no. i think someone checked and it wouldn't work from a CTF or other method either.

we set our usernames and emails to be the SIMS admission number, so it's already in there, and can be reported on. simples.

 

hmmm. ours are generated from active directory usernames ie username@domain, which are unrelated to anything in sims and not wholly consistent thru the years . I wonder if there's a way to do it with AutoIt v3 - Automate and Script Windows Tasks - For Free!

[matt40k]

The problem would be marrying them up. What's the chances you have the UPN or admission number in your AD? Also not sure why you would want the school email address within SIMS?

[browolf]

The problem would be marrying them up. What's the chances you have the UPN or admission number in your AD? Also not sure why you would want the school email address within SIMS?

 

No chance.

 

Emails in sims would create possibilities for teachers to email the students reminders or other stuff, and I believe groupcall can utilize emails too.

[TimH]

hmmm. ours are generated from active directory usernames ie username@domain, which are unrelated to anything in sims and not wholly consistent thru the years . I wonder if there's a way to do it with AutoIt v3 - Automate and Script Windows Tasks - For Free!

 

I did this in stages using autoit, extract list of students from SIMS, extract list of emails address from network in the same order.

 

Get autoit to enter address and keep hitting next on the student entry page.

 

It wasn't completely reliable and SIMS does go bang when you enter too much data, i.e. after about 70 students the client crashes (same thing happened when entering by hand).

[TimH]

The problem would be marrying them up. What's the chances you have the UPN or admission number in your AD? Also not sure why you would want the school email address within SIMS?

 

Because SIMS is the centre of all things !

 

(We store admission number in AD "ExtensionAttribute1"/"Custom Attribute1" and as a double link, network logon name in SIMS udf.)

 

Hmmm, well... we did this so that staff can email groups of students using SIMS reporting, it's messy because they have to type/paste the group name but can be made to work.

 

e.g. choose

7Ma1, Your homework is...

Year8Choir, Remember be here on Friday at 3:30 for practise

 

etc.

 

Bit of a crossover with what you might do with a VLE.

 

(VBA in Excel report output creates pre-addressed email in Outlook.)

 

This can be expanded; email the teachers of "John Smith", parents of, supervisors of group etc., oh and with appropriate SMS service, text students in group, parent/carers, supervisors etc..

[matt40k]

Sorry if I'm missing what's going on here, but don't you want to run a SIMS report to export the students\staff and basic details (admission no etc) then also run another to add them into groups - such as lessons\reg\subjects? Then the staff and use the distribution groups

[vikpaw]

I'm thinking that when we get our sharepoint set up working, teachers, students and parents will all be represented and have data directly taken from SIMS, grouped into AD and sharepoint groups.

 

Sharepoint will provide a means to email groups, and so we wont need it in SIMS.

 

We're almost thinking that this system will make things like Schoolcomms (our system for email/texting parents about absence or other notices) redundant and only used for texting. The nice feature it retains is that when an email/text is replied to by a parent it can update attendance.

[TimH]

Sorry if I'm missing what's going on here, but don't you want to run a SIMS report to export the students\staff and basic details (admission no etc) then also run another to add them into groups - such as lessons\reg\subjects? Then the staff and use the distribution groups

 

Yes, have pondered doing that but we have over 1000 teaching classes, never mind other groups, so a lot of stuff to add to AD and never quite up to date.

 

Also, I'm just tweaking a version which a member of staff can use to email a chosen group some assessment results, e.g. for "here's your predicted grade" etc.

 

We do have some student voice groups which are supposedly synced (but I haven't finished it yet) from SIMS to network as students (not just staff) need to bulk email the groups.

 

One thing that annoys me though is the really awkward mechanism for choosing options at run time in SIMS reporting. Either long scrolly, unresposive checkbox lists or text entry for names of things.

 

tim

[matt40k]

SamanderSoft does a nice SIMS > AD solution, adds users and users to groups. Just a question of how often do you want it to check for changes.

 

It's easy enough to make something, so long as you think about it first. Really should a EduGeek SIMS to AD.

[vikpaw]

SamanderSoft does a nice SIMS > AD solution, adds users and users to groups. Just a question of how often do you want it to check for changes.

 

It's easy enough to make something, so long as you think about it first. Really should a EduGeek SIMS to AD.

 

SalamanderSoft* - Richard (MD) is on the forums, it does more than SIMS ADP and i spoke to him at BETT and he is also amenable to site specific bespoke requests for any extra functions you might want adding. (no doubt for a fee )