number34

I assume you need it for the pupil reconcilation? Must admit that I assume that all of the class numbers are correct and then make sure that the number for the students attending college etc. is also correct and then I add the number on private study that makes it correct. If you do find a report I would be interested to see how it comapares ....

I thought that if they had access to the mark sheet they would have the same access as anyone else. Have you set up a special template for them and inadvertently made the columns 'data review'?

Neil, in the light of LosOjos post I should emphasise that by using a formatted spreadsheet you remove the problems associated with matching columns when importing as all of information required is already in the sheet.

Hi, not sure what the method in SIMs information is but this is what I do: 1 create a marksheet template containing all of the required aspects in the same order as the Excel sheet. 2 create mark sheet for relevant group of students 3 export the formatted marksheet 4 copy data from Excel to formatted marksheet making sure students are correct etc. 5 use Routines>Data In>Assessment>Import from Spreadsheet to import the formatted spreadsheet. It works with lots of columns but I would split the data up to make it manageable.

Bound to happen, just went back to check and noticed a typo !!! - it works just as well as it ever did - wonder what became of the change request? Also have found that using the developer>Design view makes no difference but do need the Show/Hide selected. Vik, thanks for the ultra fast reply!

I am trying this using Word 2013 and it is not working, anyone else had problems recently?

We have been running Insight on our own IIS server for over 2 years and this has never cropped up. I have asked our Network manager and he says that most of our protection comes from being behind the SEFGL RM firewalls. And I forgot to add it is https as well.

I am looking at the Records Mangement Toolkit guidelines and it gives plenty of information regarding retention and safe disposal but I can't find anythng stating that we have to remove the data after that time. Can someone point me in the right direction as it seems that some of the points being made are implying that we are in breach of the Data Protection Act by keeping it beyond a certain date.

We had a request last January from a pupil who left in the mid 90's for data on exactly what exams he studied whilst in years 11, 12 and 13. It was for some sort of background check for a new job and they wanted documentary proof from the school he went to. We were able to set a LANID on a work station, fire up Launcher and print the summary for him. Seems like a valid reason even if we don't have an obligation to keep it. On a more technical point I don't see how it can get broken. It may not work but that is not the same thing. (SIMS is very messy when it comes to deleting old files, we still have the STAR folders and lots of .DBF files)

I have found one problem. I had an RTF report set up that had macros in the templete to reformat tables, the macros have disappeared.

Has anyone had any problems with using it? Thinking inititially of working with individual report templates.

We don't allow any access at all.

Shadow, we use moodle with Zilink to pull class and course data from SIMS. Much, much better than our previous Uniservity VLE.

This is not as difficult as it sounds. As all of the Excel sheets I export from FFT are exactly the same size and format I just used the record macro when doing all the initial tidying before copying and pasting into the formatted mark sheet. Once I have completed the first, 'Art' say, I export the Biology data from FFt, copy it into the Art sheet and let the macro do its work. Nothing fancy or clever. Just remember to save the 'Art' one as macro ennabled and you can then use it again and again. It is just a transient sheet that is used to get the data in the correct format to be copied into the formatted mark sheet. It is worth trying as once it is sorted it saves a tremendous amount of time.

The procedure I use is as follows: Set up a marksheet template in SIMS containing the FFT aspects, eg EstD Maths GCSE etc. Add a mark sheet for the year group, eg year 10 Export the formatted mark sheet Export the data from FFT as an Excel sheet and tidy it up so that it contains the data I want. Match the data in the FFT sheet with the data in the formatted mark sheet and copy into the correct columns Import the formatted mark sheet using the Import from Spreadsheet. As I am using a formatted sheet the columns will match It seems a long winded process but I use macros to tidy the exported FFt data and it does not take too long once this has been done, perhaps 5 to 10 minutes per subject. The more complex part is making sure that the pupils have only got the FFT grades for subjects they study. What I do keep the FFT data in a different aspect to the GCSE target. Eg every pupil will have a grade for the Est D FFT Spanish aspect but this is only copied into the Spanish GCSE target aspect for those studying Spanish.

Shadow, we did use Uniservity VLE but have dropped that - I will find out what we do now and let you know. I have had a good look at SLG and did not like the look of it and thought it very expensive. A big selling point of it was that it gave teachers access to SIMS for reports and assessments but we do not allow that here. We run it on our own server and it costs around £1.5k per year for licence and support. We also looked at Bromcom, thought it was the nicest looking but went for Insight because it was easier to configure to show the SIMS data we had. Not sure how it works with other MIS.

We use INSIGHT from TASC and have found it to be excellent. You should be able to get a free trial.

Hi, looks to me you will get a different answer from everyone as all schools are different. Here we have an assistant head who creates the timetable in NT6. I am the SIMS and Data manager and I decide when it is transferred to SQL and supervise/control everything from then on. I do tidy(correct!!) the NT6 data, eg course levels, period times, synchronising staff data and rooms with SIMS etc and also tinker with the alternative curriculum. All major changes are made by the assistant head.

Vik - asked by governors to investigate. I think the main reason is to use the resevoir of experience that our ex-pupils have of work and higher education to advise and support our current sixth-form students. I therefore assume that they would want to collect data relating to that. In the independent sector I would assume that fund raising would also be a feature. Graham - thanks, I definitely do not want to add lots of UDFs to SIMS, the fewer the better in my opinion.

I have been asked if there is any way that we can use the SIMs data on leavers as an 'Alumni module'. Has anyone any experience of using it in this way? I would assume that those of you in the indepenent sector might make use of one.

Like Zag we also use TASC Insight and email the instructions to the parent who is priority 1 in SIMS. We use the email address for the parent as the logon id and there is a simple to use password reminder facility on the login page. In the three years we have been using it there have been no problems.

We've been using it for 2 years and it had been very reliable. Cost for 1000 pupils around £1500 for the app and around £1000 per year for support. The support is excellent. PM your email and I will get them to send you more details.

Have to agree with Vik, we gave all staff access to SIMS about 6 years ago and it got rid of the problem with different versions of the spreadsheets immediately. We are resigned to having at least 3 copies of the comments printed before the final version is produced for parents but it is difficult to read or proof read on screen. I set up various 'corrections' mark sheets to help with that side of things and it works well enough. I did investigate using profiles but as we use completely free text for our comments I decided that it was far too comples for staff to use.

Not sure if that is the correct answer, pupils who are returning to Y12 should not have a leaving date. Look for the thread 'EOY routines -leavers' in the support net forums for more details. I find that whatever I do there are data problems....

I would be happy to use your reports and excel sheets as examples to work from. Cut and paste would be fine, especially as we have data held in our aspects.