Sivadam

Just to emphasis that this is my LAST post in this thread!

I have had my wrists slapped for some of my recent posts on the Forums. If I have offended anybody with any of my posts then I apologise for this. That has never been my intention. I started contributing to these Forums as, at the time, there was so much unfounded negativity re. SIMS, Schoolcomms and SLG, which needed addressing. At the time, there appeared to be few that were actually refuting some of the statements that were being made. As a very experienced and knowledgable SIMS User I felt that I had to correct some of these very disturbing messages, that I believe were not conveying an accurate picture of an excellent system. I make no apologies for this. As long as I am contributing to these Forums I will continue to emphasis the good points of SIMS etc. and to correct any misconceptions that I come across. None of this is personal and I would hope that anybody who has issues with anything I say will have the courage to contact me directly. I have been ruffling feathers in education for over 40 years and I doubt I can stop now. In any case it is needed at times. As I have said in other Threads, SIMS is far from perfect - and nor can it ever be as Capita strive to adapt to the many new innovations and to the varying demands of DCSF. I am one of their biggest critics - the difference being that I direct most of my comments directly to Capita, in a constructive manner. I also spend a fair proportion of my time in helping, in my own small way, with testing etc etc. This direct contact helps to ensure that my school is fully proficient in many, many different aspects of Capita's SIMS system! Those of you who recognise me from SupporNet will no doubt concur with this view.

You also need to look at the Performance Analysis module in SIMS. It is extremely difficult to help you with something like this online though SupportNet definitely would be the place to ask! I think that your best policy would be to find a school in your area that successfully uses AM7 and PA to do this sort of routine.

I suppose it depends on the slant you take and the environment that you are operating in .........

The Project Manager confirms what I thought. If there had been problems then a good few people would have been shouting about it before now! He is unaware of any reported issues. As far as he is concerned this concern is unfounded.

Even more curious! We are a Capita SLG Hosted School! And I haven't heard any information on this - despite being a UAT and Partnership School! Maybe I should contact the Project Manager for confirmation or otherwise. Looks like a job for tomorrow!

Sometimes it is more telling what is not said than what is. From your post re. Sheffield, it would have been easy for a reader to think that your system held sway in Sheffield rather than holding a minority position!

Can you please explain the source of that information teejay? I have heard nothing about this at all! There is nothing on SupportNet and I believe some of our fellow SLG users have migrated to 2008. It should have SQL Server 2008 compatibility - as per the Release notes!

As a Capita Hosted school for SLG we ALWAYS get an email from Capita advising us when the Hosted Service will be upgraded and hence when we can run the SIMS Upgrade - which should be done after the SLG one. If you upgarde SIMS in advance of the SLG Upgrade then the SLG may not work. The reverse is not true. The SLG Upgrade should support the previous two (or three) SIMS Upgrades. This is all also made quite clear on SupportNet and in the SLG Release notes.

If you read other threads re. Capita SIMS you find people complaining because Capita charge 'extra' for some products. This, as far as I aware, is precisely to avoid the monopolies problems and allows others to feed of efforts that Capita have made to make their products interoperable. Yet more threads on here are from companies/individuals that are advertising products that can work with SIMS and are being sold as alternatives to the Capita products. Some even 'claim' to be better - not sure how they can be if Capita are supposed to be ring-fencing their products! These include Timetabling and Financial packages as well as Pupil Database, On-line reporting etc etc. One wonders if all the critics could get together in one room and argue the ins and outs of this one. It should make interesting viwing/listening!

Serco Rob, Just to set the record straight for others not in the area - there are now schools also within Sheffield LA that are also providing Online Reporting via SLG. At least one has been doing so since since last year.

And a massive Plus with Schoolcomms is it's direct link into First Day Absence!

Goodness knows where you got that astronomical amount from Alice. It is absolute nonsense! I repeat what I said above - get quotes and then compare!

And we are approx. the same size. SIMS is much cheaper than that for us!

We moved away from LA Support to Direct Support with Capita. The differences in our case were negligible. So my post above is still valid.

We pay a LOT less than that for virtually ALL of SIMS packages (except Dinner Money - mainly Junior and Admissions - mainly for Independents). This includes Capita Hosted SLG! You may be a bigger school but it is easy enough for any school to get a quote from any MIS Software provider.

Iain, Have you checked out SupportNet as I indicated earlier? The Analysis Reports I uploaded, for showing NetPoints across a date range for Reg Groups, can very easily be adapted to report for House Rather than a Reg Group. They are on User Posts, File Sharing and are Posts 663 (Achievement) and 664 (Behaviour). You cannot do NetPoints as you cannot use both parameters at once across a date range. That is why Nick says that they are looking at enhancements in the future.

No probs. Sounds like a tough school if you have to resort to bondage!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm! Could have sworn I explained that in my post above ...................

Check out Dan Clark's Exam Photo Label Report on SupportNet, User Posts, File Sharing. It has been there a very long time now so finding it may be an issue. However, it is well worth the effort. Once you have downloaded the Template you can then edit the fields it contains to get what you want. You can re-size the Photos to the size you want, edit the Text Fields on the label and you can also change the number of Photos etc per page by using different Avery type Labels. Update:- Found it - it is Post 137.

That sounds more like the scenario that we all experience!

I don't think SQL Server 2003 is supported anymore. SQL Server 2005 will not be supported after October 2010. Not sure about Microsoft Windows 2003 Server. This does not automatically mean they will not work - though they ought to be updated asap.

I may well be at this as well, Iain. Hope to see you there! I'd be interested in knowing who you actually spoke to - please don't post the name here tho'! I have have found every member of Capita Staff to be coureous, polite, pleasant etc etc

Sounds to be like somebody has screwed up their dates when sending a new timetable to SQL from NT6. Apply Timetable for the relevant date range ought to sort it. Beware you do not backdate this 'Apply Timetable' or you will lose Attendance/Lesson Marks and Cover in Cover7 for the historical dates. When run mid year (usually as a result of a Cycle Change) it is preferable to do it for a date in the future! (say next week!)

You can check my school as I have now included it in my profile. You may also like to visit SupportNet and see what I have to contribute there! I am nobodies puppet either! If I think that something is wrong with SIMS or that certain enhancements are needed then I say my piece - often quite forcibly. The difference is that I tell Capita Staff directly and don't make spurious and inaccurate comments in a public forum! I started to post on these Forums to try and enlighten some people who were obviously making invalid observations about an excellent MIS. Some of the statements showed a complete misunderstanding of SIMS by the contributors. I thought it was time to challenge these statements.