Sivadam

Tried teaching for a while. Twenty-nine Years actually. Ex-Head of Science/Senior Teacher. In that 29th Year I was Timetabler, Cover Manager, Exams Manager and teaching Science very badly, especially in the Summer Term when I was hardly ever in the classroom! Been Timetabler for over a quarter of Century - orginally with Paper and Pencil. Then with Nova Dos, followed by Nova Windows and then into NT4 and NT6. Capita bought out Clive Stott and his Nova suite and hence I (and Sheffield LA and the School) followed. Took early retirement from Teaching aged 50 after that 29th Year and remained in the school as MIS Manager, Finance Operator, Timetabler, Cover Manager, Exams Manager, System Manager - in a School Support Role. I quickly had to pick up Assessment (AM6) and Reporting (Profiles6) and introduced Lesson Monitor6 - originally with OMRs. As SIMS grew it became obvious that others needed to be added to the Team and my role became more of a Management one and introduction of new Software from SIMS as and when it arrived (initially Version 7 Modules and more recently projects such as Cover7{Field Trial} and introduction of SLG in Sep/Oct 2008). I have still always maintained a working hands on knowledge of all procedures. Still in Post after a considerable number of years (No! I decline to say how many but I bet there ain't many older than me on here) and still Timetabling! Latest projects - SIMS Discover Field Trial, SOLUS3 Field Trial, Hopefully CHQ Trial school. Associate UAT School with Capita SIMS, a SIMS Partnership School and a regular attender at SIMS Software meetings. I think my opinions are also well received by Senior Capita Staff (well at least they still talk to me!) No doubt there is something I have left out which is glaringly obvious but I am sure it will manifest itself shortly! Is it any wonder I praise SIMS and what it can do? I have a hands on experience and working knowledge of virtually every facet of SIMS with one glaring exception, which is for you to guess at! I will be very interested to read of others experiences when I return from Rome in a just over a week's time. In the meantime have a good half term holiday for those that will be off! (We finish today!)

Somebody is scheduled to attend!

I hate people who hate SIMS! As I continually say here, when somebody comes up with something new and I manage to resolve it easily through SIMS:- 'Ain't SIMS Wonderful?' It is a standing joke here but most actually agree! I am sure that other MISs in other schools will do the same!

Your rep is still intact with me Graham! Pity I won't see you at the Partnership Conference in a couple of weeks!

It looks ok to me! My fingers must be getting even more uncoordinated in old age. And my red squares normally come as a result of stating the truth - which many don't seem to like. It's a habit I have had for many decades!

Support by Bedford is what I meant by 'direct support' in my earlier post! Oh No! I have just noticed that I have gone green again! My reputation is in tatters! I was quite proud of those red squares! Roll on the next mischievous post!

My second post was a direct response to the response I received from my first post on this topic. As such it is very relevant as I was responding to two reasons why this poster 'hates SIMS'! And one was rather a nebulous reason too!

Here we go again! Maybe I can get my Red Squares back up again! My reputation was disintegrating! I am suspicious of every new user who attacks SIMS for no good reason. History has pointed to the fact that are are 'mischievous' posters on here. There has to be a reason why one 'hates' software! Apologies to the OP if this does not apply to him/her!

There are very many teachers in our school who have experienced other MIS packages in previous schools who are delighted with SIMS and what it can do for teaching staff in terms of T&L. That is not knocking those other systems - maybe they were not set up to efficiently deliver what our SIMS system is set up to deliver. Inflexible is the last word to use re. SIMS - flexibility is one of it's strengths. It is far more configurable than some other systems! What do you want it to do that it can't do that others can? And Moodle ain't an MIS!

If you post a few reasons why you 'hate SIMS quite a lot' then maybe some of the more discerning SIMS users can help you out with your issues. Perhaps doing the same on SupportNet would help too as there are obviously many experienced users contributing to the Forums there. Also, I have no doubt that most of the SIMS Partnerships Schools/Academies would also welcome you to visit and view how they have SIMS setup successfully within their schools. Most of the major MIS software companies no doubt have very complex systems and understanding the whole of any MIS can be difficult without that overall knowledge. Apologies if this is not true with your school though I would suspect that this is the case!

If you know that what you are reporting to Support is a bug then you should always pursue it further if the reponse you get is not, in your opinion, the correct one. I have done this on a number of occasions with positive results.

For various reasons we opted out of LA Support for SIMS and moved to direct support by Capita. The support I have received since has been nothing short of excellent!

The Timetable 'Cycle' is shown in each pupil's 'Student Curriculum' via Tab 2 Timetable. It shows at bottom left when you click on any lesson. If you have changed the cycle part way through a year then all the cycles will show.

The point is that the well supported CRs should be analysed and discussed at the yearly Software Meetings. This request had quite a bit of support and appears to have been a relatively quick fix. So one wonders what happened to this CR that year ...... And, as GREED says, the issue has been raised at other times as well.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.... I wonder why the change requests such as CR No. 0810-412626 posted on 10/10/2008 never surfaced on the radar. That was one I supported and I am sure there were others over the years.

NovaT4 should no longer be used for timetable construction. There is no link to send the timetable to SQL. The Timetable needs to be built/edited in NT6 and sent to SQL from there. You can then, should you so wish, export it to NT4 for Reporting purposes.

Is the toolkit like my daughter's - Pink handles etc? She can wield the tools quite well though! And wellcome GeeHub!

Additionally you are in an ideal situation to work with the MIS provider in helping to test and improve the software. This in turn helps you become even more proficient in using the software! It also enables one to, hopefully, help and enlighten a few others that may not be so well informed.

If you are not a member of SupportNet then I suggest you register there. That is where the vast majority of experienced SIMS users are to give advice re. use of SIMS. (When it is working correctly!) See:- http://support.capitaes.co.uk/newlogin/login.asp

All the CL Permissions need to be addressed. They do not even appear in the Permissions spreadsheet!

If there are issues here with SIMS then it's me who sorts it. We don't have many issues that are due to data problems as I ensure that staff 'do the right thing'! It is my opinion that every school should have a MIS guru, who can oversee every procedure within the MIS. In my humble opinion, the lack of somebody with an overall and detailed working knowledge of all aspects is extremely dangerous because of the interdependence of all areas of any MIS! My colleague is the Technical guru and he is involved only when there is a technical/network issue - currently SOLUS3b Field Trial.

The Permissions to use it were not correct when it was released. As the result of me (and others!) registering a Case, this should be sorted in the Autumn Release. See:- Permissions for Communication Log (28747) on SupportNet

UDGs do pre-date me. Remember I have been a Nova user since it's DOS days. I was dragged kicking and screaming into SIMS when they aquired Nova and Clive Stott!

Apologies! The orignal post refers to sorting UDGs by name and not UDG Memberships by name. It is UDG names that I thought the thread was about! I cannot sort the memberships of individual UDGs and I too have contributed to CRs for this over the years! Maybe one will bring this up when we go to the first Discover Workshop in a couple of weeks time!

We currently have 67 UDGs on the system. Some are Active and some are not. Although not strictly alphabetical you can click the Title Heading (description) to sort them alphabetically. Why all this hassle just for a less than a one-second mouse click?