Sivadam

Why would anybody even think of doing that if they have direct support from Capita?

I did say clone a Template that works!

Vic - if you contact Schoolcomms then you can change the priorities! And it seems that you are missing out on the Absence bit of it with the write back facility to Attendance!

.... same .... ? .... better .... ? One does wonder about that ....................................

Or from a 3 foot snow drift high on Kinder Moor via your Mobile phone. (Now don't all go rushing to see where that is!) Assuming you have got reception that is .......

I reckon Bossman is correct. It certainly appears to be the issue described in KB66529. Maybe the Template needs re-creating from scratch (or cloning from one that worked previously). I do remember way back in AM6 and Profiles6 days when Tags did not delete properly from cells in tables if the whole contents of the cell were not highlighted and then deleted. Simply clicking on the tag and then hitting 'Delete' appeared to work but actually did not remove all the cell contents. It may be a related issue. ...... but then again ................ I assume you were also given KB89447 by your local support? The following also refer to a similar error messgae with AM7. They may be worth looking at - just in case:- KB65961, KB71964, KB72969.

It's gotta happen sometime ................

You can come and work at our place for a couple of years and glean the knowledge that you require! You might even learn enough to take my place so that I could retire .........

Pity it doesn't write to SIMS Attendance like Schoolcomms does! (Or does it now, since the time when we rejected it!?)

We have been using Schoolcomms for quite a while now - Just one comment to make - 'Brilliant'. I cannot comment on Truancy Call - never used it as we wanted to get away from contacting Parents via Phone (if you see what I mean! )

One Person's extreme Timetable could well be somebody else's simple Timetable. Nobody can help without knowing further details!

One wonders why I don't get those problems Vic! Maybe it's 'cos Capita Support know that I know what I am talking about! When I used to go thro' LA Support I had exactly the same issues. Thankfully, now I don't!

And we went the other way a couple of years ago on my instigation. I cannot praise Capita Support highly enough. No longer do I get back 'solutions' that I have already tried before logging the Case or 'solutions' that bear no resemblance to my initial case due to the corruption of info caused by it passing backwards and forwards between School, LA & Capita Support.

Everybody knows what I think of SIMS. Having not used Serco I cannot comment on it - except to say that many staff in our school (who have experienced SERCO in a previous school) prefer our system - but that could be that the MIS is set up better due to myself having a complete overview of the entire system. One major plus of SIMS however is the date-stamping of data. This enables you to report on the data for any given time/date.

That is is exactly what Solution Search is for. I would never dream of logging a case if there is already a solution available for a problem. If more people actually looked at Solution Search first then I am sure that Support Desks would become even more efficient when more complex issues are logged, that do need real support. We are supported directly via the Capita rather than the LA and virtually every Case I log is a genuine software issue. I suspect that many support desks spend time pursuing issues that are not really problems - just a user who does not know how to do something! As for the Forums on SupportNet - well that is where some of the real SIMS 'experts' are. Some of these experts are within schools, because they are working with live data and not with a pre-prepared dataset that Support Desks may be using. I am one that offers real help on the Forums but many users that post there could actually find the solution themselves from Solution Search!

................ and about time too ................ !!!!!!

Whatever MIS you use (we use SIMS) it is vital that you have an MIS Manager who understands all aspects of the system. I am the Curriculum and Administration Services Manager at our School (wot's in a title eh!?). I tried Teaching for a while (29 Years actually) and eventually found myself in the position of holding several key roles - Timetabler, Exams Officer, Cover Manager - and teaching science very badly as a result of never being in the classroom in the Summer Term. I was given the opportunity of taking early retirement from teaching and moving into admin full time. I became the SIMS Manager - with just a couple of staff including the Finance Officer to help me run SIMS! In the twelve years since I have the chance to develop SIMS to virtually it's full capacity having introduced LM6, AM6 and Profiles6 into the school - all of which are now running successfully in Version 7. I also introduced the Behaviour and Achievement Monitoring, when it first became available, and this has since been developed greatly as the functionality has increased. Our most recent innovation has obviously been the introduction of both SLG and Schoolcomms, in Autumn 2008. I thus have an overall knowledge of all aspects of SIMS. I am still the Timetabler, System Manager, and am responsible for the Pupil Curriculum and SLG, but we now have a Team of people running most of the rest of the different sections of SIMS and for most of whom I am the Line Manager. We have dedicated roles such as Attendance Officer, Pupil Data Manager, Assessment Data Manager, Exams Officer, Cover Manager, Personnel Officer, Finance Manager, etc. Staff i/c of these roles can also fill in for one or more of the other positions in emergencies and I can drop into any of the roles if needed (I am currently standing in for Exams Officer and Cover Manager due to illness to staff). The one thing I do not do is handle the technical side of the system in terms of networks etc. (though I do normally run the Upgrades/Patches and liaise with Capita Support if there are SIMS software issuess). I spend a significant period of time in attending Capita Software Development Meetings, UAT Sessions and other SIMS related meetings, to keep up-to-date with new innovations in SIMS. Unless there is somebody within the school that has this sort of overall knowledge and has a dedicated team to handle the day to day working of the system then there is a great danger that the school will not make the best use of it's management system. When I started contributing to these forums it was obvious that a few of the contributors did not really understand the full working of SIMS. A good many posts did blame the SIMS Software when it was obvious to me that it was a lack of knowledge of the systems on the part of the users that was the real issue. I like to think I have done a little to re-dress that issue.

Yes! Me! Me! And I ain't the technical bod before you ask. We use SIMS! And very good it is too!

Just as I intimated above then. And the statement you have copied was on SupportNet a while ago!

They have been tweeting and using LinkedIn for quite a time now!

But did you ask if they were considering updating IEP Writer etc etc ?

Capita are surrently looking at updating this particular part of SIMS i.e. a replacement for IEP Writer to be incorporated (I believe) into the new reporting procedures.

I assume that it is not the simple problem of 2 members of staff trying to access report at the same time? If Person A runs a report and does not close it down after they have finished with it then that report may not be available to Person B until Person B does close it.

Maybe they should provide a link to everything that people in schools want ................ Methinks there would be a very, very, very long list of links........ Most things are easy to find on SupportNet anyway!

Good job we opted out for Single Site status then ........