Number 1 most important aspect of your MIS

[AngryTechnician]

I don't want to go into specifics, but it exposes parts of staff personnel records to every other member of staff, which in my opinion is something a member of staff could rightly complain about.

[GREED]

In that case I think I know exactly what you mean.

[matt40k]

If we're being honest @GREED - it's to meet the legal requirements - such as census. For highs it's followed up closely by timetabling.

 

SouthCoastSaint - from spring you will be able to txt/email staff that haven't completed their marksheets.

 

...assuming you buy InTouch...

Which in the Autumn 11 release required a patch to stop SIMS crashing every 5-20 mins and losing all your work regardless of what module you were in. At least SOLUS3 your not paying anymore for buggy software

 

Also narked that your locked into a SMS provider. Especially as JANET have started offering a SMS service. Here Capita have some money for some buggy software oh and here's some more because I actually use it.

 

(Sorry, been a long cruddy day. At least I'm off tomorrow)

[LisaJMarks]

I know no timetablers that timetable on paper, they rely heavily on a system to keep the school running.

[Sivadam]

I know no timetablers that timetable on paper, they rely heavily on a system to keep the school running.

 

I used to!

There were no PCs in those days.

(..and SIMS did not exist either!)

[matt40k]

Did you cope well with the alternative curriculum all these new requirements, or did you turn a blind eye to these heathen ideas?

[LisaJMarks]

I used to!

There were no PCs in those days.

(..and SIMS did not exist either!)

 

I know and have witnessed the pin boards, but today in large secondaries, I do no know of any timetabler that uses paper, rather than system.

[Sivadam]

Did you cope well with the alternative curriculum all these new requirements, or did you turn a blind eye to these heathen ideas?

Funnily enough we did do this!

It was dead simple! A note was written and posted on the Staffroom Noticeboard! Job done!

Remember - all Registers were in the old 'Official' Register Books or, for classes, in a teachers notebook!

Happy Dayz ..........

 

 

I know and have witnessed the pin boards, but today in large secondaries, I do no know of any timetabler that uses paper, rather than system.

No Pinboard for me!

I had a foolscap steel sheet and thin cut out magnetic strips on which I used to paste paper strips containing the blocks. I could then move them around using a pair of forceps! I had this duplicated for Staff and triplicated for Rooms! Doing it that way meant that I could photocopy (yes we did have 'em back then!) the changes at any time so that I could revert back very easily! Once complete I hand wrote the whole lot onto to three Timetables - Pupil, Staff, Rooms

 

Am I glad when Clive Stott arrived with his Nova Timetable (Pre-SIMS!)?

Edited February 28, 2012 by Sivadam

[GNewnham]

For us as an Independent school, I would say that the biggest benefit has come from targetted communication with the parent base.

 

We are able to direct communication (by email or sms) at individual pupils, sets, forms etc which we were not able to do on our previous MIS.

 

Also the parent portal is a huge benefit to keeping parents informed of detentions, reports etc. We no longer produce any paper reports, letters etc so this makes our administration less onerous, too.

[GREED]

@GNewnham id the SMS/Email built directly into your MIS or does it use a third party?

[creese]

@GNewnham id the SMS/Email built directly into your MIS or does it use a third party?

 

As far as SIMS goes, only Schoolcomms is built into the system and needs no interactive syncing.

[GREED]

As far as SIMS goes, only Schoolcomms is built into the system and needs no interactive syncing.

 

InTouch is built directly into the system. Schoolcomms has a button but still needs the app to handle the emailing

[GNewnham]

@GNewnham id the SMS/Email built directly into your MIS or does it use a third party?

Yes, is iSAMS. Is all built in - very easy to use. We use SMS mainly for late changes eg bus late back from a sports fixture, snow warnings, info to 6th form about work etc. Stops parents waiting around for kids to come back late from trips etc - they know any deviations from planned times.

[vikpaw]

As far as SIMS goes, only Schoolcomms is built into the system and needs no interactive syncing.

 

InTouch is built directly into the system. Schoolcomms has a button but still needs the app to handle the emailing

 

Yep, schoolcomms still needs manual syncing, but it does warn you at each start up when it was last synched and if it needs doing again, will run a countdown on the popup prompt.

 

InTouch is built-in, but it's still an add-on (read 'paid for') module.

[creese]

Sorry, didn't explain myself properly. I meant no syncing as in CTF exports and imports are needed.

[vikpaw]

Sorry, didn't explain myself properly. I meant no syncing as in CTF exports and imports are needed.

Got you now. So what about the other products that talk to SIMS, do they need manual import output routines to update data? That sucks!

I know the Groupcall product wont, at least it has it's own method to run a report against SIMS and then grab the output.

[matt40k]

You can use the SIMS API to read\write straight from SIMS, still you can't expand the SIMS db structure. You could make use of stuff like UDFs however.

[creese]

Got you now. So what about the other products that talk to SIMS, do they need manual import output routines to update data? That sucks!

I know the Groupcall product wont, at least it has it's own method to run a report against SIMS and then grab the output.

 

Sorry, rushing around today and new to Schoolcomms support. We are just talking about SMS/emails systems???

[creese]

Okay... so Schoolcomms will synch, if you tick the box, without intervention.

 

It will send SMS or email direct from a student's details within SIMS. The separate client is used to send to user defined groups or to create certificates.

[vikpaw]

Okay... so Schoolcomms will synch, if you tick the box, without intervention.

 

It will send SMS or email direct from a student's details within SIMS. The separate client is used to send to user defined groups or to create certificates.

 

EDIT: sorry misunderstood the post. Yes i was asking with reference to the SMS/email systems and how they update themselves.

 

Schoolcomms will sync if you have trustedauto authentication enabled for SIMS after you open the schoolcomms client and log in. On my workstation, i have SIMS set with Trusted only enabled, so it prompts me to use auto or login, so i just hit OK and it syncs.

 

When you click from within SIMS, it is the same as opening the client, if it's the first time in a session, it asks you to login, but subsequently you're remembered. It saves you having to look up the kid/ tick boxes for parents etc, so is good for one off use. Much like running a report against a student by clicking the reports link on the right hand links panel.

 

The client opens up so you can add whatever else you want. The client can be used for whole year groups, UDGs, teachers etc.

 

You can also use the web interface so you don't need a client, you can just go to the website or even the mobile site, which lets you text direct. That's where the real benefit is, because you don't need to have sims with you or mobile, to access the email / sms facility, it's independent.

Edited February 28, 2012 by vikpaw
misunderstood question. + clarity