help - new to sims

[erpfresh]

Hi all,

 

I am a newbie in SIMS. I am practising SIMS myself(self study), can I get some basic clarifications.

 

1. difference between sims.net and sims

2. difference between sims2 and sims

3. system administration responsibilities to name a few(plz tell me any other responsibilities)

upgrade

patch

Reporting services : what to do exactly, is it to design a report or what exactly for sims administrator

user management - what exactly should be done.

 

Please help me

[erpfresh]

Any replies plzzzz

[EduTech]

1) no difference between Sims.net and Sims they are the same thing (although SIMS is a game) - I stand corrected below - I didn't know that there was a version before sims.net

2) SIMS2 doesn't exist (unless again you mean the game)

3) System Admin Responsibilities (Upgrading SIMS Server / Backing up SIMS etc) unless you mean Data Manager Responsibilites which would probably be more like (Overall Creation of Reports / Setting up Reports for Staff etc)

Edited March 27, 2010 by EduTech

[Jamman960]

1. Sims.net is the newer .net version of sims, sims was previously made up of seperate programs or modules such as Attendance 6, Star 6, Personel 6 and more, these have all gradually been migrated into sims.net as version 7 of each module, the older modules are still availible but being slowly discontinued. System 6 is the only module that hasn't been updated as yet(I think)

 

2. As above there is no such thing as Sims 2.

 

3. System manager responsibilities would generallly include the following:

 

Upgrading/Patching

Ensuring backups are being done on a regular basis(both database and document server need to be backed up)

General user management - adding, removing, resetting passwords when needed etc

Managing permissions

 

Most of the management is done via the System module(accessible via the focus menu provided you have sufficient rights)

 

You may also end up helping staff to create reports etc so its probably worth getting to know how it works in general.

 

Capita or possibly your support provider do System Manager courses, I'd recommend going as they go through things like disaster recovery and general management bits, the courses at capita aren't too expensive provided you go to them - they charge about 1k to come out and provide training on site.

 

Edit: forgot to mention the Sims.net manuals and other documentation are generally well written and stored within the sims.net program folder, you should also be able to get a Capita SupportNet account setup, SupportNet contains some very good knowledgebase articles and other info.

Edited March 27, 2010 by Jamman960

[erpfresh]

thanks Jamman960 and edutech.

 

one more quick question:

 

I understood that file server is on the same server as the sqlserver db but what about documentation server and i'm getting confused with FMS

what is FMS

when I am going through any document on upgrade using solus, it says about sims upgrade and FMS upgrade , db upgrade ..,

 

any light on them please

[Edu-IT]

thanks Jamman960 and edutech.

 

one more quick question:

 

I understood that file server is on the same server as the sqlserver db but what about documentation server and i'm getting confused with FMS

what is FMS

when I am going through any document on upgrade using solus, it says about sims upgrade and FMS upgrade , db upgrade ..,

 

any light on them please

FMS is a finance management system, also from Capita. It's what the finance department in school will use to manage the budgets and ordering.

 

SIMS and FMS have two seperate database, and sometimes you'll update just SIMS and other times you'll update SIMS and FMS. The release documentation will explain what is being upgraded each time.

[Jamman960]

thanks Jamman960 and edutech.

 

one more quick question:

 

I understood that file server is on the same server as the sqlserver db but what about documentation server and i'm getting confused with FMS

what is FMS

when I am going through any document on upgrade using solus, it says about sims upgrade and FMS upgrade , db upgrade ..,

 

any light on them please

 

Sims.net consists of 3 components on the server side - Database(SQL2005, soon to be 2008), Document server and a setups folder which contains the client/server install files(clients pull their updates from here). In most cases they are all on the one server although larger schools may have seperate servers for each.

 

FMS is the accounts package provided by Capita. Its gradually becoming more and more like sims.net on the management side so it shouldn't be too much of an issue once your used to sims.net

 

Within solus you can upgrade both sims.net and fms, if you wish to upgrade one but not the other simply leave the username/password blank. During an upgrade solus will download the new files, copy the patches and new installation files into place then runs dbupgrade which backs up the database, locks it and then applies the patches, if this fails it will automatically restore the database and provide error messages etc - I'd recommend taking a backup yourself before doing an upgrade though just to be on the safe side.

 

I'm guessing you got the job - if so congratulations!

[erpfresh]

Thank you so much Jamman960 and Edu-IT

 

what administrative tasks can have to perform on Document server and also

user management activities

[vikpaw]

hi erpfresh,

 

no major user management required. from the system manager module, you can add users, usually they are put on via the personnel module by the personnel officer, you then just add them as existing users into your system. alter username if you wish to fit usual format and send them their password. you will also reset passwords for users.

 

there are a number of permissions groups, if you can use these then that's the best method, rather than creating your own custom groups, as you may have to modify them with each upgrade. all you do is add the users to the groups, kind of like Active Directory, except slower and more long winded (just enought to get really annoying).

 

the only maintenance on the document server is to back it up regularly. you may occasionally wish to do some housekeeping which is to remove unlinked documents, or to purge files from people that have left, but this is done via routines provided in SIMS.Net.

 

By the way, the documentation is available from a link on the HomePage once you log in, and can be downloaded from SupportNet, but you'll have to be employed at a SIMS school if you want access to that. I gather you just got a job...?

 

The reports that are created with templates in Word / Excel etc. are also stored in the document management server, i don't know if this will be the case with the new reporting system that is due out soon or the new reports that were released with the upgrade on Friday, but i imagine so. With the old reports, i strongly recommend exporting them somewhere with the box ticked to keep templates with the file, as a backup.

[erpfresh]

Thank you so much vikpaw