[sims] SIMS - Academic Year 'Roll Back the year'

[emlewi]

Hi All,

 

I hope someone out there can help!

 

I know that there is a way with Sims where you can 'Roll back the academic year'. We are trying to find data that was for the previous year but only data from this academic year shows up.

 

Basically we just want to go 'Back in time' to view the previous years data.

 

!

 

Thank you!

[creese]

Which data? SIMS is pretty much a rolling data source.

[emlewi]

Which data? SIMS is pretty much a rolling data source.

Progress coaching grades?

[creese]

Do you mean Assessment?

 

If so, like all SIMS modules there are date filters.

[emlewi]

Yes, in assessment, mark sheet entry etc.

 

We are new in the role and are trying to find data from the last academic year. We have used the date to roll back the time but no data comes up. We are not sure if it is being stored somewhere or if there is a simple way to view this data?

 

Sorry im not making sense!

[creese]

Don't worry, we'll get there.

 

Are you sure the data is there? Last years shouldn't be hard to find.

 

SIMS is no longer a yearly database and most things can be found by using date filters.

[emlewi]

I hope so!

 

We are presuming the data is there, just need to find it!

 

The previous data manager talked about 'Rolling the clock back' to the previous academic year - is this possible?

 

How do i use Date filters?

 

Thank you!

[creese]

"Rolling back the clock" is old hat, certainly for last years data.

 

Can you tell me the route you are using to try to get the data.

[emlewi]

Focus - Assessment - Marksheet Entry - then searching for the data there?

 

there is an 'effective date' where you can change the date but when we do that nothing is coming up?

[creese]

Do any of the Marksheets have any data? I have followed that route on my test data and some Marksheets have data some do not.

 

Remember that the year groups are current year groups not as they were a year ago. Therefore if you search for 2009-10 and open a year 7 (in secondary) there will be no data as the pupils were not in the school.

[creese]

I'm assuming you have full access to see all Marksheets.

 

Here is an extract from the QR sheet:

Result Date

When entering results,

change the Result Date if

required, to the date that the

results were attained. The

results entered are saved with

that result date. Changing the

Result Date does not affect

existing results.

Group Membership

Date

Use this filter to display the

pupil/students belonging to

the group on a selected date.

Calculate All

Click the Calculate button to

calculate all formula columns

in the marksheet (indicated

by an ƒ symbol in the column

heading).

To calculate one column at a

time, right-click the required

column and select Calculate

Column, or press Alt+C.

Clicking the Save button also

calculates the marksheet data

(if this functionality has been

defined in the template).

Show Summary Rows

Click the Summary button to

toggle between showing and

hiding the summary rows.

[emlewi]

Hi,

 

Changing the result date does take us back to last years data so we have been able to use it - thank you very much.

 

I think they way our data has been set up initially is confusing us all everything is called something different or the same thing is called by 3 different names (very confusing).

 

Do you know that if we collect data as a whole year group we can sort this into inidvidual classes? or does it have to be set up by classes initially to collect data that way? the data we are referring to is progress coaching, target grades etc....

Sorry if i sound totally stupid!

[creese]

Hi,

 

Do you know that if we collect data as a whole year group we can sort this into inidvidual classes? or does it have to be set up by classes initially to collect data that way? the data we are referring to is progress coaching, target grades etc....

Sorry if i sound totally stupid!

 

Assessment is my week point when it comes to SIMS, hopefully someone else is watching this thread. I'll ask a colleague though.

 

You don't sound stupid, so don't be afraid to ask, that's why we are here... to help or be helped.

[creese]

Okay, I'll see if I can repeat what I was told Right click on the Students column and Select additional column. tick Class and OK. Their classes should then appear in that column, which can be ordered.

 

or Group Filter

 

I hope that helps.... and works

[emlewi]

I have tried that and when I add 'Class' the column doesnt populate with any data? I have tried clicking 'calculate' and refresh but that doesnt do anything either.....

[creese]

I have tried that and when I add 'Class' the column doesnt populate with any data? I have tried clicking 'calculate' and refresh but that doesnt do anything either.....

 

Are these pupils still on roll. This may be that they lose their class when they are made a user. If they are currently on roll... you've reached the limits of my Assessment knowledge I'm afraid.

[vikpaw]

In order for the class column to populate, you must associate the template with a course. There is a button for this near the top where you select a course, in the same way that you select a course to create the marksheets.

 

This means that the whole template will only show the classes for that student in that course e.g. maths / english etc. Next you create a marksheet for the course which is the section futher down after creating columns of data. Click on the top level part of the tree no on the individual classes.

 

If you do this for Keystage 3 courses for example, you will have all 3 sets of year groups in there y7,8,9. So further up it's helpful to add a group filter to shrink it down to only Y7.

 

This means that for practical purposes you need to create multiple copies of this template and change the course it's associated with and the group filter. It is however very useful for heads of department to look at.

 

It really depends on which columns you have in your template as to exactly how you need to do it.

 

In terms of collecting the data, you should be getting the teachers to input the data and therefore it makes sense to create marksheets per class anyway, so it can be input that way. The course overview / year overview would then merely collate all the entered data together as a view for HoDs or HoYs.

 

It would not be easily possible to add data in onto a whole year group marksheet because the only person that could do it would be the HoY who is the only person with permission to view, or for a course marksheet, the HoD. The only other party with permission is an assessment operator / manager who can view everything. This would only be an option if you have a data inputter whose task it is to specifically input data for all.

 

Lastly, in terms of seeing previous marksheets. The only person who will see the historic data easily will be the assessment operator or manager. They can roll back the result date and populate any marksheet. It's probably that if the name of a course / timetable group changes which they often do, especially the allocated teacher, that the teacher for this year, taught a different timetable class last year, so they will never see last years marksheets. If by fluke the group name is the same they may be able to roll back the date as suggested. It's a weird one this, because reg groups stay the same so marksheets for them just work year on year, but a while ago, the name of the class marksheets changed to have the academic year added. So "Ma1/1" became "Ma1/1 10/11" This further forces the difference between marksheets year on year.

 

I hope that makes sense, i'm in a rush to go share cake in the staffroom, but please ask any more questions.

vik

[emlewi]

Hi,

 

This is really helpful - thank you!

 

I think this is something we will use for the new academic year and set up the templates in this way. As all of our templates/marksheets are set up in a particular way there would be no point changing them all now.

 

can I ask is there a way that you can archive all the previous years assessment data in one folder? so it is easily accessed and we know where everything is?

 

Thank you!

[Brucy]

The easiest way would be to export the marksheets into excel (unformatted) and then you can save them all seperately.

 

There is an export button across the top of each marksheet.

[vikpaw]

As Brucy said export the data, using large cross curricular marksheets, if you need to keep hardcopies.

 

All the data is archived in the system anyway, based on the date, but ideally it should be tied to a resultset. Then you can just access it that way.

 

The next year you'll need new marksheets to be created for the majority of your templates and new data will go in. Same template mind.

 

What you can do is rename the templates with a z_ prefix or something to move them out of your way, so you can have quick access to them, and then use new ones for the present year if that's what you need. What you'll find though is that you'll reuse your templates year on year.

 

The next stage you'll be making comparative marksheets to compare grades from Y10 to Y11 for example then calculating the differences and storing them, or working out value added.