Sivadam

We have SLG tied into the MLE, Learn Sheffield, which is our Hosted Solution as a result of BSF. I would much have preferred running our own VLE which would have included SLG. Still, the Sheffield MLE is now operating efficiently in terms of SLG thanks to the input of Capita and myself, and some hard work via Civica - the Hosting company!

There are a number of threads on SupportNet re the adding of extra data to Group/Class Registers! One has to be very careful if extra data is shown! Health issues are personal to the pupils and Teachers etc should only have access to that data on a 'need to know' basis. This means that the data should not been seen by unauthorsied persons, and that includes the other pupils in the Group/Class. If there is any danger of the data being seen by another pupil (e.g. by completing the register on screen, or by being overlooked) then the data SHOULD NOT be displayed. Failure to comply is a breach of the DPA! I have had to ensure that data such as SEN, FSM etc is not displayed on our Registers as some staff choose to take the Regfister via the projection screen!

Maybe they have resolved the problems so that it works with my Exams Dataset! I guess that I will be at UAT to thoroughly test it sometime next year!

Our Heads of Year regularly need to print a Year Timetable because of changes that are made regularly! There is no such report in SIMS - even though it is a basic report! On the original build of NT4 Reporting there was such a report. Unfortunately I broke it at the first UAT Session because it could not handle my Bands, Sub-Bands and Sub-Sub-Bands! Therefore that is one section that was withdrawn, and there were others! That is the reason that my data is currently with Capita Development for testing purposes!

I am afraid that not all the NT4 Reports are not available in SIMS.net, which is why I have again provided my data to the Capita for the proposed new Polishing Project! I have been involved with discussion re. NT4 type Reporting ever since the very first development meeting a few years ago! The functionality in SIMS and in NT6 also does not match what it is in NT4 - something else that I raise at the Software and UAT meetings that I attend!

Sorry but we do not. Nobody should be using it now as it is no longer supported! We have used Cover7 since it's introduction - we were one of the Filed Trial schools and I actually did one of the presentations at the SIMS Annual Conference along with CHris Sherwood the year it went on General release. Your Cover Manager is missing out greatly on the increased functionality that is in Cover7!

I'll have to have a quiet word with Dave next time I see him. Unless he meant not cope with the full functionality! I have got my AC Groups showing on NT4 - admittedly with less detail because of the variable nature of AC Groups. e.g. they are obviously not tied to Year Groups and there is no link to the Pupils. But they do show on timetables (other than the pupil one.)! And we are only maintaining NT4 for it's reporting side anyway!

They have been there for a very, very long time! As Phil says, that is where a lot of the functionality comes from with SIMS Reporting. Maybe some others, who say SIMS Reporting is not very good, have not understood either!

NT4 will not be finally killed off before all the Reporting functionality is replicated in either NT6 or SIMS,net. It isn't yet. There will be a new Polishing project next year to move this forward. It is already being looked at!

I agree! With 6 school days left I am struggling to get the timetable finished, the groups for next year sorted, the Non-Edi quals input into EO, etc. etc. Just shows how highly, I for one, rate these development meetings!

Your contribution would possibly have been of value at the Capita SIMS SLG Software Consultation Meeting in Huddersfield, yesterday. The Southern meeting is next week! As usual there were not that many that volunteered to attend! Which is a pity as many on here, and in other Forums such as SupportNet, complain about the direction that SIMS/SLG software moves in. Others believe, and often publicly wrongly state, that CRs are not looked at! Yesterday's meeting was originally planned to be 2 half days - one for Schools and one for LAs. As it turned out we could all attend the same meeting, which we voluntarily extended to a full day because of all the discussion that took place!

My issue is not what other MIS systems can or do, but what people are saying that SIMS cannot do. Different systems will obviously have advantages and disadavantages over other systems. I cannot comment on Facility's abilities apart from addressing the issue where others say that Facility can do it it but SIMS cannot! As for the limits on Spreadsheet size - is it really an issue when you can link Marksheets via the Formuae and/or Aspects?

Sorry but I responded to your original post where you said that the calculation of the formua would only be done ONCE. You have now changed the criteria of your original 'problem'. Suffice it to say that we all have to deal with new entrants etc. etc. and there are ways in SIMS, and presumably most other MIS systems, that allow you to do this! I do not dispute what other MIS solutins will do but I do dispute those that say SIMS cannot do something when I know that it can! Unfortunately due personal reasons, which cropped up in the past week, I have a great deal of work to do in the next 8 days and so I will not be able to spend as much time on this theme as I would like. Hence, if a I do not respond again it is not because I do not have an answer. I will pick up this thread again after 22nd July, if one wants to post further examples!

The problem is that early in the thread are some statements that I, personally, refute. These statements need to be criticised (both +ve & -ve !!!) so that misunderstandings are cleared up. Moving these comments to different threads and/or closing that part of the discussion can still mean that any misconceptions about any MIS are not lreared up and can even be exacerbated! (Please note that I have tried to be diplomatic in this post - not one of my strong points!)

You could do that by producing a Marksheet from any Template that includes the formula. Then calculate the Marksheet. Then produce a new data entry column for the data required (it could actually be there from the start!), and copy the results of the formula column into into that data entry column. The Formula column could then be removed from the Template or could be hidden - just in case you changed your mind and wanted to do the calculation again 10 years later! This is quite a simple procedure really - as compared to some others that I could think of e.g. one Marksheet/Template picks up Formula calculations from one or more different Marksheet/Templates! In fact, this is a better way of doing it as the links to the different Marksheets will always be present and the Marksheet containing the formula could just be available to the owner!

The very flixibility of SIMS does make the setting up of the original Template time-consuming (but not difficult!). However, once they are done once they can be used for ever! Or until you need to edit them (maybe because DfE, or some other body, moves the goalposts!) And the fact that you can clone them, as well as edit them, also makes this easy to do. It is because of this flexibility, tied to the fact that you can easily invent your own criteria, that I keep asking why some people think that AM7 cannot do what other systems do, whatever MIS they use! It may be that somebody does come up with such an example, and prove me wrong, but it always seems to go quiet when I pose the question!

Summat ain't logical there! CMIS is tied to pre-defined Templates!?In SIMS AM7 you can set up what you want to do whatever you want to do!So isn't that MORE flexible and LESS tied-down???

'Fraid I ain't the technical expert - my forte is the software itself. All I know is that SOLUS3 has failed for us each time we have tried it, right from the first Field Trial attempt! Last time Capita had to remote in and even they could not find the problem! This time my colleague is, unfortunately, out of school for a while and so I ain't sure whether we will get SOLUS3 working this time or not! If not it will be a big job getting .NET 4.0 onto all the clients to use3 SOLUS2! My workstation will be ok though - it already has it for Schoolcomms! And that's all I'm bothered about for the hols!

Have the clients got .Net 4.0 installed? We would have gone with the Release if it had been on the original date but it'll be a holiday job now! Pity cos I wanted my hands on System7. It seems an absolute age since I was at the UATesting of this!

You go ahead and attack me Matt! You know how I hate those 'orrible green squares. Those shiny Red ones are far more appealing. And please stop telling people I can be helpful! I have got a reputation to maintain, ain't I?

Released on schedule! Apart from delay caused by DfE - as notified.

Sorry, Can't recommend anything that is better than Cover7 in SIMS! That is if you are a SIMS user obviously!

Or even SLG! Much more functionality than from EMerge. It delivers beautifully on WP7 and the phone is cheaper then the Groupcall App! Now where is that 'so called' Assessment Data that SIMS ain't capable of?

People keep stating this but without quoting any examples. I would like to see an example of what CMIS can do that SIMS cannot! And this is the second time that I have mentioned this in this thread!

The Release has been delayed because of the very late change of mind by the DfE re. their new requirements for the SWC - as stated on both the previous news items on SupportNet. We have known for a good while that there would be a delay! The Exams problem is a different issue and, in any case, there will be a patch for this. So that can be used if the changes to SIMS for the SWC cannot be implemented in time for next week, or you want to delay taking it!