Sivadam

Tony, I think it's an 'All or Nowt' scenario. So the best advice would be 'Nowt!'

My Gawd, I would never allow any but a chosen handful to have these rights. Anarchy would reign! Do all your staff really know the dos and don'ts of what should and should not be included in the pupil details?

Many of us are still maintaining NT4 purely for it's reporting procedures. It is a relatively simple task to maintain the Teacher, Subject, Room details etc and Export from NT6 when changes are made. In this way you can still use NT4 for the Reporting side - which will still be supported by Capita until it can be replaced with the new Reporting Engine.

This issue has never arisen in our establishment. I assume that is the case in most schools else it would have been reported and solved long before now. Have you guys actually raised cases with Support?

The last three letters are the identifier for your school and so are a little bit vital!! Interestingly our address is 'hsgl2' and not 'hsgl5'. Obviously a different instance of SLG. And Matt - Yes they are in front. Capita usually are arn't they? The same is true re. SWR Census. We have been testing nearly 2 years now.

We have Capita Hosted service too. Like you, we had issues with the VPN dropping but that was sorted between the Broadband provider and with Capita. Now the service is excellent. Except for when Capita are carrying out maintenance on their servers. This happened for a couple of days in the holidays and did cause some issues to some staff who were hoping to do their AM7 Marksheets and Profiles Reports via SLG. We were aware of the issue in advance but disruption had been expected to be minimal. In fact it wasn't! Stick with it. Once your inital problems are sorted then you will find it well worth it. Especially when other webparts are delivered as per the SLG Roadmap.

Personally I would prefer to see things issued sooner rather than have to wait longer for all facets of every innovation to be ready. The 'requirement' is not until September 2010. So congratulations to Capita on what is available right now and what is also planned on the Roadmap. Carry on the good work!

One wonders why, when Capita introduce new feaures, that there always seems to be more moans about what is missing, rather than the deserved congratulations for the innovations being made. Especially as it is obvious that other things will be added in due course!

I managed to get it ok. It worked fine too. I just tried to re-download it as a test and stupidly overwrote the version I downloaded before. Now I have a corrupt version that won't open! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr..........

If every innovation is left until it is 'complete' then nothing would ever be released. And it is virtually only a month's delay anyway. Hopefully we will have it up and running for September. And I for one would not have wanted the Homepage and the Reg Panel delaying for yet another 4 months before we saw it in action, just so that full functionality could be included. There are always going to be requests for improvements. Yes we do want to be able to control this and that is why I have mentioned it directly to Capita Staff on a number of occasions and also registered the first CR on this.

The base release of Reporting Services 2008 and replacement for NT4 Reporting, both using SQL 2008, are due for release in March 2010.

I completely agree with the above. We do not use Groupcall or KKS but another system more closely aligned to and interactive with SIMS. The procedure is the same, however, and it needs Human interaction with the software to ensure that correct data is being sent to Parents.

It's been live via LinkedIn for a week or so now! There are currently 3 twitterers!

That's great news Phil. I have been eagerly awaiting the promised publication of the SLG Roadmap. Is it on the immediate horizon? And David, have no fears - SIMS (and SLG) does do what it says on the tin. We have a number of relatively new staff who are delighted that they are now working with SIMS and can at last get the data they want, when they want it, and with a minimum of fuss. Some of their experiences of other MISs is frightening!

Data, Transfer Curriculum. But make sure you get the correct Academic Years. Page 17-313 of the Manual!

Did you beat the announcement on Supportnet then?

And it was raised in the Software Consultation Group in Manchester yesterday with the Reporting Product Manager. The new Reporting Engine looks interesting but it will be a good while yet before it is developed and available for release.

I would strongly recommend that newcomers to NT6 go on the NT6 Course before attempting to use the program. Yes it is complicated but, then again, putting a timetable together successfully is a complicated procedure. The Manual is user-friendly, but only as a reference to consult for the odd technique you may have forgotten or have not used before. I would not recommend it as a substitute for the NT6 course. Good Luck Apprentice. I look forward to you joining the esteemed Guild of Timetabling.

I have pushed and pushed staff to use this but with little real effect. I have asked them to get used to the look and feel in readiness for the new Homepage. Some staff are going to have a real culture shock in the next few days, subject to the March Upgrade being released on time!

I think if he did then I for one would be pouncing. Having worked through Paper & Pencil, Nova Dos, Nova Windows, NT4, Modelling and Construction, and now NT6, I reckon I could dispute Chris's statement!

We have a number of staff here who are totally delighted that they have got away from schools that use other MIS's that you refer to. Now they get access to whatever they want, in the way they want it, virtually immediately they request it, thanks to a fully integrated SIMS System.

Good for them! A Leadership team that seems to know the correct way to go! I assume that there are better individual packages available but the benefits gained from a fully integrated system are a major plus. SIMS fulfills that criteria and is getting better and better as time passes (despite the pressure that DCSF changes impose, often at extremely short notice).

Sorry but that last statement is not strictly true. Yes, you should ensure everything is set up correctly in the first place. But there are one or two tweeks that you can do after a Session is active. Profiles 7 is a very good and powerful package and can be used to produce excellent reports. But without proper training I can see that you could have massive pronlems. You need to understand how it links to courses and how Groups and Classes are linked to those courses. It is no good complaing about a piece of software if you do not know how to use it correctly.

I now realise I have missed out a few words in my original post. These words are:- ..... as well as ..... (Now corrected) I did not mean to intimate that others have no connections to SIMS. Just that, in my experience, are not as well integrated. The Schoolcomms link is even sat on the SIMS Homepage (tho' all useful side links are due to be moved to Focus Menu later this month).

But does it have the ability to write the response text directly back to SIMS in terms of Absence Code (decided by Attendance Officer after reading the response text) and Reason for Absence without even being logged into SIMS via a separate SIMS LogIn? This is just one of the advantages Schoolcomms has over other systems.