Report Assist

[ba9ag]

Ive been struggling with ReportPlus as well, went to a different school today who were sticking with Report Assist and had it all done in an hour. I must have spent 6 hours so far on ReportPlus and am far from done. I have also found it very hard to speak to anyone. Is anyone able to help with questions below:

 

Does the File Export Save Pupil Files to Memory Stick save all pupils or just the one you are currently on? Is this the best way for teachers to save reports to memory stick as a backup? Once saved onto a memory stick how do they then import it onto a different computer if they want to work at home and school?

 

How do you get rid of the half page acknowledgement slip and absentee details that appear at very end (before KS Results)- there for N, 3,4,5,6 not 1 and 2. I know you can edit pages under printing and can see the Keystage Results there but dont see this additional Absence/Ack Slip?

 

How do you set up classes for individual teachers logons when you do a bulk csv create - if I create a user wont it copy up info for all teachers classes instead of just that teachers class?

 

Can you use one machine for multiple teachers - how do they log out and back in as a different teacher?

 

Thanks

[ComputingData]

To answer your questions:

 

Save pupils file saves all pupils. This is the easiest way for people to save a file to a memory stick - as it is just a single click. They click 'load pupil file from memory stick' in order to load the file from memory stick when they go home (it's under the validate pulldown or the file > import menu).

 

To get rid of the half page acknlowledgement slip, just go to 'Options', select 'Printing' and you will see a 6 'pages' on the right. The first one is the front page layout, the second is the main text and the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th ones are the optional 'back' pages. Select the pages that you don't want - in this case it would be the 3rd one (top right), with the pulldown to it's right select the page that has the big red 'X'. Do this for all the profiles that you don't want this page to appear on (the profiles selection box is just above the 'pages').

 

If you want the program to 'know' which teacher is the form teacher for a particular set of children in the csv file, just add a 'teacher' column. If the teacher name is in this column of the list of children then it will be associated with that particular child. Or, if you want, just right click the child once imported and select the form teacher or a particular subject teacher there. You could also use the pupil/subject matric that is under the teacher menu to assign a teacher as a form teacher or a sepcialist teacher to any of the children just by ticking a box or selecting multiple boxes and then ticking 'set'.

 

If they are using a proper Windows Logon to login individually then they should login as themselves and validate, save the password, then save and load their own work individually - as with ANY windows program (windows provides each properly logged on user with his/her own documents and settings on login), they shouldn't unvalidate as windows keeps them all separate, only some of the user 'read only' areas (such as program files) are shared on a modern day system (unlike ReportAssist, NO user data is stored normally stored in Program Files - unless you are running the Alternative installation as described in the resources section of the website - as this is considered 'bad practice' and by default is not allowed on any modern window system, as is the sharing of user data unless in a specific shared folder). If they are all sharing the same computer and are not logging off - for example it is a very small school with a single computer in the staff room and they all take turns 'sharing' the same single user logon, then they just write their own bits to the reports using the teacher pulldown to select their children (if they have bothered to do that).

 

I'm sorry if you had trouble setting up, but to answer your initial comment about comparing RA and RP installing taking different amounts of time... Grrrr!

 

If you already had ReportAssist installed and the school was familiar with it then it would take only 30 mins to setup - it most probabily had been custom setup for that school before on the CD. If you are familiar with installing and setting up programs then I can't understand how it too so long to setup though:

 

*1) You install the program itself, takes all of 30 seconds - click - click - click and your done.

*2) You create your user accounts for your teachers.

*3) You import from ReportAssist your front page and subject order, edit these if you need to.

4) Export your CSV file from whatever program you're using, then import it into the program.

*5) Do a custom *ALL template if you need to, edit it a while, make changes.

6) Upload everything to our servers if you want (some LEAs block saving files to external systems, in this case you can save all the settings to memory sticks like RA) - typically a few moments for the online system if you have a few files, instant for the memory stick.

*7) Go to another users machine, install the program, validate as the user on that machine.

8) Either download the settings from the server or import from a memory stick. Click 'yes to default class, select the teacher if you have set them up. Done!

 

The * steps only ever need to be done once - you don't have to do these again next year.

 

You time delay could have been due to external factors. It could be that you have a strange 'buggy' network and have had problems and need to install the alternative network install instead, or you have an LEA that seems to think that schools should be 'locked down' like some episode of 24 - in which case use memory sticks to transport data/settings. Or you may have a proxy that hasn't been tested properly and the ftp settings have been entered in the same as the http settings when they shouldn't have been or ftp proxy hasn't been enabled at all. This may not be a problem next year as I've figured out ways of bypassing the file proxy lockdown issues and will be testing this out over the summer...

 

Edit: I've just re-read the last bit that I wrote and it sounds a bit mean. I'm sorry, it's been edited, and I userstand that you may have just been unfamiliar with how the program works, a lack of comprehensive instructions (being rectified) and somehow it took an extra long amount of time. If you were struggling though, you could have contacted me via a PM or via the RP support email and I would have helped as much and as soon as I could.

 

Further edit: I've sent you a PM.

Edited April 29, 2010 by ComputingData
I was mean!

[ba9ag]

Thanks for taking the time to reply in such detail, I will have a go editing as suggested. Regards the second to last page that shows an ack slip and details on absence, I tried the instructions below:

 

To get rid of the half page acknlowledgement slip, just go to 'Options', select 'Printing' and you will see a 6 'pages' on the right. The first one is the front page layout, the second is the main text and the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th ones are the optional 'back' pages. Select the pages that you don't want - in this case it would be the 3rd one (top right), with the pulldown to it's right select the page that has the big red 'X'. Do this for all the profiles that you don't want this page to appear on (the profiles selection box is just above the 'pages').

 

But the problem is I can delete it OK but would rather have added it to KS1 who currently dont have it. I dont seem to have the option to add it. I can add the KS1 and KS2 Results pages but the template for the ack slip/ absence details doesnt appear. When I look at the KS2 profiles, the page that has this slip is showing as a blank page in the printing details but again when I click to edit this to possibly cut and paste into KS1 the page is showing as having no text in it so its a bit confusing.

 

Is there an option to log out once you have validated, only I have been testing the product on my laptop so was logged in as administrator. Once setup I then added a test teacher to log in and see what it looked like but would now like to log out again and relogin as administrator to make these changes but cant seem to log out?

 

I didnt get a PM come through if you can resend? Thanks again for answering my questions so promptly.

[ba9ag]

Sorry should also have made it clearer I added all the pupils with the correct teachers fine from the CSV import but was asking if when the teachers log in they could only have access to their class from the drop down list instead of all - but this isnt really a problem just a thought. Also regards the default profile that can apply to all, I remember seeing this at the top of the pupil management screen at the begining but cant see it anymore, do I need to recreate it or is there a way of showing it again ? Thanks

[ComputingData]

The pupil list teacher pulldown is just a way of saving the admin having to cut up the csv file (that can take some time). Teachers don't see other teachers work. It is useful for teacher who teach multiple classes like a French teacher, as they can go form by form just adding the bits to French - then the merge takes care of it all later. Some very small schools like it if they only have 1 pc in a staffroom that everyone shares with 1 logon. If a two teachers add to the same subject then the merge will bring both in, but separate them with a blank line.

 

To select 3rd page in KS2, select the KS2 profile on 'options > printing', then on the third 'page' pulldown to the page you want - rather than the big 'X'. If you're sure things aren't woring quite right, 'export the settings to a file' (see the top help menu) then email it me - I've PM'ed you with my email address - explaining what should be there and I'll have a look at it. It could be a conflict somewhere in the settings or possibly some kind of error, either way it shouldn't take too long to fix and I'll either send you back a corrected settngs file or update the program.

 

The best way to test things out is not to unvalidate then validate as a different program user on the same windows logon. It would be much better to export the settings (either to the server or to a stick), logoff, then login as a different user, install the program, validate as that user then import the settings. This is because Windows normally keeps different users documents and settings seperate - only user read-only areas such as Program Files are usually shared.

 

The template file was a *ALL template, any pupil who's reference number starts with a * is considered a template and not a real pupil.

 

There are a few special templates: *ALL, *EYFS, *KS! thru *KS4, *FE and *NURSERY (I can see Secondary teachers starting to get curious if they read this!)

 

These are all (if they exist) applied to all 'empty' pupils, with *ALL taking the lowest priority on a subject by subject basis (that is they all override *ALL per subject).

 

To apply the templates once you have created the pupils, just do a 'file > empty pupil file', this will clear any text from all pupils and re-apply the templates.

[kaphc]

Report writing on Report plus going great guns at our school at the momnet. Just wondering what other people are doing (or what ComputingData thinks?? ) about getting the reports ready for the head to review and comment on. Last year, with Report Assist, all the teachers saved their reports onto memory sticks and then sent them to the head.

 

In Report Plus, doing File ...Save As comes up with an interesting message about how this will change the default location. Have also looked at exporting the pupil file to a (non-U3) memory stick, but that seems to imply formatting the stick. We don't nevessarily want a backup fo the files, more saving a second copy to go to the head .... or is there a better way of doing this? We are not on a networked version on Report Plus, each computer/laptop has the software installed on the hard drive.

[ComputingData]

In windows, if you use 'Save as' in a program, a program is supposed to change the default name and location for that file to where you 'pick', some teachers are un-aware of this, so we give them the warning (as it's not something teachers would normally really want to do). Soln. B below is prob. what you want to use (it should be most familiar to you), but I personally like soln. A best...

 

There are two main methods to give the head the reports for them to write their section:

 

A) If you're using our servers, get the teachers to 'upload the pupil file to our servers', then once they are all uploaded, the admin can bring up the administration window and click 'select all', the 'download' will then change to a 'merge' or similar (I'm going from memory). Click 'merge' and it will download them all in sequence and merge them into one file for the head to do their bit, then printing.

 

B) If you're not using our servers, you can use the pulldown next to the pink save icon to 'save pupil file to memory stick'. It does NOT need to be a U3 stick (a U3 stick can be used to install a special version of the program, so it actually runs from the stick, not the computers hard drive). You will have to prepare the stick first, this does NOT delete anything already on the stick - it just renames the stick so the program can identify it when you want to load from the stick in future (memory sticks have an annoying habit of changing drive letters and this gets past this problem). Then the head loads this file ('load from memory stick', see the validate pull down menu). The reason why we use two different pulldown menus for save/load from memory stick and server is to prevent people clicking the wrong one by accident. Some teachers are 'click happy' and just click 'yes' or 'ok' to everythng without reading first! After the head has done their bit, they can save to memory stick and give it back to the teacher or print out.

 

There should have been a message in the 'prepare memory stick' that lets you know it doesn;t delete anything - did it not show that message? If not, let me know and I'll get it sorted asap.

Edited May 4, 2010 by ComputingData

[SneakyBeaky]

I have just got to grips with ReportPlus and have installed it on Teacher Laptops for them to try. The first problem I had was that I entered a teacher name incorrectly and there is no option to delete. I read your reply earlier in this thread ComputingData, so I now realise that I will need to get you to delete the unwanted name from the server. Next problem is that I need to log in to each teacher laptop (because of the way the County have set up our security) as an administrator in order to install the software. Teachers do not have permission to install and I cannot log in as the teacher. I therefore need to stand over each teacher as they log in and load the necessary files from the memory stick I have prepared just to check that all is in place. Can I just copy across the files to their My documents folder?

 

I have also been asked to set up ReportAssist 2009 again for this year (the County have not yet got round to adopting Windows Vista or Windows 7. We are still using XP!) and I will be interested to see which one the teachers use. Not my decision.

[ComputingData]

Users and Teachers are treated differently by the program - you create users in the Admin window and currently you can't delete them once created (we can do this for you). Teachers are created either by importing them along with pupils, or by clicking 'add teacher' in the 'Teacher' menu at the top of the screen. To delete one, just select him/her in the dropdown above the pupil list then click 'Delete teacher' from the 'Teacher' menu.

 

Counties around the Country have setup stricter security settings for teachers that MI5 do it seems! lol.

 

If you have saved the settings to memory stick (using the option within the program), you can load them in from memory stick too (using an option within the program). If you wanted you can manually copy them to documents and settings/ReportPlus, but don't copy settings/options.ini ...

 

So the teacher has both RA and RP on the computer at the same time? If so, they may find it useful to know they can paste from ReportAssist to ReportPlus by copying the text in ReportAssist, then positioning the cursor where they want it to go in ReportPlus and pressing Alt-V (normally paste is Ctrl-V), or by clicking the 'Edit' menu and selecting Paste (Not AI).

[SneakyBeaky]

Now thats what I call a quick response! Yes it is a User that I have entered incorrectly. It doesn't matter because I have not used up the available spaces. I added the correct name as well.

 

I assumed that the files were saved in each teacher's Documents/ReportPlus/ as that is where I can see the reports.rp file. Its certainly in a folder called Documents/ReportPlus on the memory stick. If they are in Documents and Settings then I can't get at them without logging in to each laptop.

 

Thanks for the tip with pasting between the RA and RP progams. Once the county upgrade our computers to Windows7 we will have to abandon RA anyway.

[ComputingData]

I've PM'ed you with my email address.

 

If you PM or email me with the school licence name, the first and last digits/letters of the licence password and the user that you want to delete I can sort it out for you asap.

[ComputingData]

If you have any ideas on how to help you copy the settings across faster then I'll try help as much as possible. There is a silent install option already, if you need more options then that could be a solution?

 

(To silent install use 'installplus.exe -silent' in your script).

[SneakyBeaky]

Thanks. I will do that.

Here is another problem.

I have installed on my home computer (as I wanted to anticipate any problems for teachers doing their own install on home computers).

It tells me to update and then gives the following error.

 

Copying install/update/uninstall to program folder.

*** failed ***

'C:\Program Files (x86)\ReportPlus\InstallPlus.exe'

 

I an running on a Windows 7 x64 as Administrator.

[ComputingData]

I have that same setup. It may be that windows has locked that folder for some reason? (the executable is being denied access to write to the folder)

 

Try deleting the folder manually, then download the program from the Internet and re-running it. Only the program is stored there, so there will be no harm done.

[SneakyBeaky]

O.K. Thats fixed it. It does not indicate that it needs an update anymore; But I will not know if the same problem occurs until I try installing a new update.

I checked the security on the ReportPlus folder and it was set to Full Control. Another Windows mystery!

Edited May 4, 2010 by SneakyBeaky

[ComputingData]

lol. I don't think it will happen again, if it does though please let me know.

[SneakyBeaky]

Should there be any folders within the ReportPlus folder?

 

O.K. I have just checked on a laptop. The only difference is that the laptop has a file called updateplus.exe.

Presumably this is the file that Windows would not allow to be installed.

Edited May 4, 2010 by SneakyBeaky

[ComputingData]

No folders, unless you are running in the alternative network mode (see the website resources section).

 

It looks like it was Windows denying admin access within an executable (updateplus.exe) that can only run in admin mode! This happens sometimes with Windows - I've even had it happen on an update to the 'Google pack', after it starts then the only way to replace certain files is the manually delete the files and replace rather than copy over.

 

If it happens again then I'll put in a 'delete and retry' routine for you in the Install.

[kaphc]

In windows, if you use 'Save as' in a program, a program is supposed to change the default name and location for that file to where you 'pick', some teachers are un-aware of this, so we give them the warning (as it's not something teachers would normally really want to do).

 

Ah I see, it sounded such a serious warning message when I looked at it, it never occured to me it was stating the obvious lol!

 

Soln. B below is prob. what you want to use (it should be most familiar to you), but I personally like soln. A best...

 

I like Soln A best too, and as all the data is being uploaded to your servers then that sounds like a good way to proceed. Quick, clean and efficient - will have a look at that on Friday when I am back at the school. BTW, am not sure about the message saying that it doesn't delete anything. I can't remember seeing anything but that's not to say that it wasn't there ... will check this again. Can I just confirm - if we are doing an export of the pupil file, does that include the pupils reports as well?

[ComputingData]

The pupil file contains the pupil text for all the pupils. The settings and data files are virtually everything else (custom pages, logos, custom subjects, default pupil list, subject order, etc...) except things that may be unique to that user - such as editor preferences, favourites, custom spellings, etc...

 

This means that the admin can still change most of the settings even AFTER users have started writing reports. They just re-upload the settings and the users re-download them. However, they should be careful removing subjects after people have started work, as the pupil text for that subject will 'disappear' - the user can get it back though by re-enabling the subject. If the Admin changes templates AFTER a user has started work then they won't change - but I'm currently coding something that will allow them to do this (if the actual template line/paragraph hasn't changed). Any editor specific settings or preferences that the user has changed to make life easier for themselves can't be messed with by the admin.

Edited May 4, 2010 by ComputingData

[laserblazer]

Because a lot of classes are set, the way I intially set up RA is to allocate all pupils from a year to one teacher. The other teachers use that to log in and they have access to all the pupils, regardless of their class. I dished out the memory sticks to the year heads and said make sure you explain this to the teachers when you give them out. I reinforced this with an email to all teachers. I've just got my 5th email from a teacher to say their name isn't there! All I can say is at least I know RA pretty well and can answer queries without having to look in manuals.

[ComputingData]

If you're using ReportPlus then you could do something similar.

 

1) Give each of the teachers different usernames and passwords

2) Input all the pupils for the school in one go, optionally allocate them to class/form teachers (have a teacher column in the csv file)

3) Give the same files out to all teachers, them import them into their computer at home or whatever

4) They write the reports for their children, if you have allocated the teachers then they can select themselves and the list gets cut up.

5) At the end, they give you back the sticks with the reports saved to them

6) You use the merge to load them all back as a single file

7) Printout

 

The problem you may have in the future is that ReportAssist has 'issues' with Vista (you have to run it out of program files, or give write access to users in program files), even more issues with Windows 7 (dll incompatibility from what I can gather) and doesn't seem to like x64 systems at all <- all of which are becoming increasing common. They could run it on VirtualPC though (running XP).

 

Also don't forget that the NPC is law from next year, virtually all the statement banks will have to be updated in ReportAssist.

Edited May 8, 2010 by ComputingData

[SneakyBeaky]

I am still getting a error when trying to update on Windows 7 x 64.

Copying install/update/uninstall to program folder.

*** failed ***

'C:\Program Files (x86)\ReportPlus\InstallPlus.exe'

The Reportplus folder contains a file, downloaded today, called updateplus.exe so at least the file has been written to the folder this time.

Running that file installs the update correctly but there is obviously a permissions problem somewhere that might case my teachers a headache when they try the update on a home computer. (I don't yet know if any of them are running Windows7 on their home computers)

[laserblazer]

The problem you may have in the future is that ReportAssist has 'issues' with Vista, even more issues with Windows 7 and doesn't seem to like x64 systems at all <- all of which are becoming increasing common. They could run it on VirtualPC though (running XP).

 

I'm sure ReportPlus does all it's supposed to do, the problem I had was getting it into a state where I could pass it over to the staff and they could get on with it. The learning curve was just too steep and I didn't have the time available. It could well be that we will use it next year unless SIMS becomes a viable option and I'll give myself plenty of time to get to grips.

[ComputingData]

SneakyBeaky: That is the InstallPlus.exe program actually running, updating other items in the folder. It should be executred in admin mode as it has admin properties. If you try the fix that I mentioned before, I'll put a 'delete and retry' routine in the installer code - this may fix it for you.