Sivadam

C'est la vie! This looked too good not to share it with as many SIMS Users as possible! I hope that you did not mind me taking this liberty! I posted it into two forums on SupportNet as well! And thank you Craig for making it freely available. I hope you manage to get it to work john

Yes you can do that Phil but it then gives an problem when analysing curriculum time, contact ratios etc. They same is true when planning Teacher Allocations in NT6. You would have to add on the extras for those staff working outside the normal Curriculum Time. You would also have to 'invent' subjects and courses so that you could set up 'classes' in order to produce Registers etc. for these sessions. Wouldn't these then be picked up by the School Census? So, it is perfectly feasible, but has a large knock on effect to those having to administer the system. It would also lead to some staff misunderstanding the reasons for staff having seemingly 'unequal' staffing allocations. I am expecting the CHQ Extra Curriculum software to deal with this scenario in a most satisfactory manner without having to 'tinker' with the school day and school curriculum - which is effectivey what you have to do using your suggestion.

I picked this info up from Phil Neal via Twitter. It looks very interesting! http://www.craig-tolley.co.uk/absence-cover-analysis/

And hence Graham will not have access to the new development work, unlike those that help Field Trial & UAT new developments. I believe Graham was actually at one of the first development meetings, nearly two years ago, when Capita hoped to deliver Alternative Curriculum, Extra Curriculum and Extended Curriculum as one package. The technicalities of trying to do this proved to be a step too far.

Sorry to disappoint Graham. What is coming out, in Spring Release actually, is the 'Alternative Curriculum'. This is aimed at curriculum time where students can be withdrawn from 'normal' lessons (without changing their academic curriculum assigment) and added to Alternative Groups for different activities. This will be linked to Attendance, AM7 etc. 'Extra Curricular' is to be provided for by Capita's new partner company - CHQ. We have recently installed this new software and will be trialling it in the near future. It would be unfair to try and comment on it at this stage though I can say that it does look very promising.

KB100597 - Does Capita support SQL Server 2008 R2? Confirmation of support for this from Spring 2011!

There has been at least one CR on SupportNet for this for some considerable time! It isn't such a major issue though. I just delete the reports as a integral part of my procedure for removing users from the system.

It's quite a long story if you have not been following my posts for the past months. Basically I have waged a campaign against some threads and posts that were attacking SIMS for no good reason and often doing so based on inaccurate facts or lack of knowledge. Indeed, some of the threads that used to appear from first time contributors, did look very 'suspicious'. There are relatively few of those appearing at the current time! Some Users do not like the way I do this and I get 'reported'. I refuse to report those that come back at me in an inappropriate way and I respond openly in the forums, not a very popular way of doing things apparantly. For over 4 decades of working in schools I have always criticised and praised people directly and never 'gone behind their backs'. I will not change now at such a 'mature' age! So my reputation is usually Red, unlike my rep in SupportNet which you are obviously aware of! My reputation here is based on just a few threads despite the fact that I have given help to many SIMS Users in the vast majority of threads I have ever contributed to (as anybody can verify if they do an advanced search on all my posts.) It seems that upsetting people counts far more here than helping people does! But my rep here simply does not bother me as long as people still respect me on SupportNet! By the way, I sent you a PM re the issue in this thread!

OMG! I have just noticed that I have a Green square again. I need a couple of new controversial SIMS quotes/threads so I can get back into the Red again! I have a reputation to maintain!

When somebody leaves I edit their Password, log in as them and then delete the unwanted reports! Care has to be taken though that other Staff are not using the Public ones! Invariably I have a copy of the original as they normally clone mine and then edit them just slightly and save as Private!

Maybe you need to contact your Support Desk. We have been informed that we should uninstall the Field Trial Version of SOLUS3.2 and install the new release. My Technical colleague does that bit!

That is probably a reference to SOLUS 3.2.74 which is now available!

If you post some of your 'obvious problems' here or (preferably) on SupportNet then maybe you would get some help in solving them from other SIMS Users. Or you might actually pursuade me that they are major issues! I assume that this thread is linked with the thread on SupportNet that I have also contributed to re. costs etc! Change to Academy Status - Databases (30015)

reasonably good ???? Now that is a description I definitely have to disagree with! Did you mean to type "very good"?

Not sure about that! Nothing about the cost on this thread as far as I can see! Angelica has asked users here, who have gone thro' the process, what the cost might be! I can see that the licences might have to be bought again though by the 'new' establishment, as well as the Maintenance costs having to be paid for, for the following year. It isn't the same as just moving Support from LA to Capita (relatively cheap!)

It isn't as bad as it sounds the way you put it, but of course they do, no matter what MIS they have - their establishment number will be different!

We did just that, on my recommendation, a few years ago and it is one of the best decisions we made! We are still an LA School apart from this!

The following is part of an extract from an email received to day re. UAT for Spring Release:- The spring release will include new functionality and changes within the following areas; ........ SQL Server 2008 R2 support. That doesn't mean it will definitely appear in Spring - it may get broken by the testers. Mind you - I know of one school, to remain nameless, that has used it since Feb 2009 with no problems! So it will hopefully be ok!

Has this question been answered then for your situation? Simply from your post, it looks like it has been posed and then a decison automatically made (without answering the question!) that you will move! I would resist any such move unless a thorough analysis has been made of any new system and a thorough comparison made against SIMS. Costs must be weighed against functionality! It's also a crazy time to move when new functionality such as SIMS Discover is just around the corner! And have you contacted Capitaes directly to find out any costs for conversion to Academy re. use of SIMS? If Phil reads your post then I am sure he will respond!

No good to me - I use WP7. Where is the App for the latest platform? Mind you - WP7 does connect to SLG extremly well! Received this today as part of an email - apparantly I was missed off the original mailing. We had already resolved the Autumn Upgrade issue by using SOLUS2:- SOLUS3 3.2.74 - now available: There is a known issue with SOLUS3 not being able to upgrade your SIMS system from the original SIMS Summer release straight to the SIMS Autumn release, this is due to SOLUS3 being unable to upgrade through interim releases (such as the from the Summer release, through the Summer Exams Update to the Autumn release). This has been resolved moving forward and SOLUS3.2.74 will correctly handle this from the Autumn release onwards.

This may have happened by accident if somebody did not know when to use the Edit Address routine or the Move House routine. Using the wrong one at the wrong time can result in other changes being made for anybody ever connected to the address that is being changed. See KB50243 - Modifying the address of one pupil changes another. Random address changes. on SupportNet

Ours didn't! We pre-populated it with all the AM6 Data! Though I suppose that, strictly speaking, this did mean it was empty to start with. Can't remember what the process was!

Thanks for all that info john. It's interesting to see how other systems work. As regards SIMS Upgrades - SOLUS3 makes it far easier and more user friendly!

I can't actually remember this happening here. Is it a long time ago?

Graham - I am surprised at you! Once should have been enough!