PhilNeal

Please tell me who in Capita is recommending local admin rights. Thanks

You'd be better off asking this question on SupportNet because you are after specialist advice. What I am able to say is that we are currently working on providing academies with facilities to write VAT costs back to cost centres. I'm pretty sure that Sage can't do that and only a few charity based packages do.

It's not clever at all to have an either or. SIMS went for implementing BS766 standards (as opposed to free text) and there is a validate from a central database option. It's pretty easy to go from BS7666 to free text but the other way round is tricky to say the least. The pre-processor was developed to cope with the ambigous specification and was meant to be temporary because there were plans to move completely to BS7666.

From my perspective I am relieved to have something in the public domain from an independent source that largely supports the stance that we have taken since 2005. Ironically after this report was commissioned SIFA UK largely accepted the points that Capita has been making and many of the shortfalls are addressed in the latest specifications. The report is accurate in that propriety solutions are being implemented that address the issues. Equally although the new standards do provide a mechanism to ensure that data is only shared with those that have right to see it, it is not mandatory to use those standards. Even now SIF does not adequately address the most important data sharing requirement of all i.e. school – LA data transfer. SIF has no dialogue capacity built into it and as every LA knows there are lots of disputes between schools and LAs about where children live, who their parents are etc. Getting this wrong endangers children. Interoperability is crucial however and there is a real danger now that with the austerity measures there won’t be enough money around to do anything. SIF isn’t ideal and certainly we would not have started from there however it is available and it solves many problems today. I don’t think it has to be dead in the UK but it needs to step up to the plate and fast.

The DfE have now published their report on interoperability. You can read it at: - Online Publications: Product details.

I'm pretty sure that QRS are available in the document centre available within SIMS.

You've also got the home page which can be configured to show the group that you are interested in - live updates too so that instant action can be taken. Amazingly effective when the head can pass a student in the corridor and comment on what has just happened. Remember to record more positives than negatives though.

Superflecth - yes indeed!

Working on a copy of the DB would not invalidate our warranty. You would need to satisfy yourself that access to the data was secure as I think you will need to use a master password that could be used to view any data in SIMS.

If you haven't done so already I strongly advise you to seek help on SupportNet. There are many ways to exploit AM and its important to understand some key features such as record sets.

.. but I don't think the days of schools not requiring their own copy of exam results are numbered!

I've checked up on this and there is a project to move to a web service for all boards by 2011.

We're up for it!

We have been informed by OCR that revised basedata for series 6A10_01 is now available for download (revision x05). Result type for single award modular certifications has been amended to B, and maximum marks have been supplied. Early reports from users indicate that this modification allows successful import of grades below A*, along with the total UMS corresponding to the grade. This value appears in the Candidate Statement of Results in the 'Equivalent' column. Revised results files have also been generated and released to schools early this morning, with two corrections: 1. A* grades for single award modular certifications are now correctly returned; 2. Results for double award modular certifications are now returned using the same formulation as is normal for dual science, except that the two grades are not necessarily the same, e.g. 1D E. We believe this should resolve all known issues with OCR results.

Please see my posting from yesterday re OCR. We are working with OCR to ensure their files conform to the standards. SupportNet is being actively used to provide answers.

Please see below a notice that we have issued on SupportNet Most exams officers will by now be aware of problems with OCR's result files for Series 6A10_01. Three issues have been identified. Single award GCSE certifications for modular specifications are defined in the basedata as Result Type 1 (grade only) and gradeset F. Results however have been issued as Result Type B (grade plus total UMS). On import, EO6 reads the B, and interprets the next three characters as a UMS score, which it regards as an Equivalent, and looks for the appropriate aspect to store it against. Because of the mismatch, it fails, so reports 'Equivalent Aspect not found.' The next two characters it identifies as the grade, which it validates against gradeset F, and records, correctly, as the Result. OCR currently intend to issue revised basedata with Result Type B, and the maximum mark indicated, which will enable the existing result files to import as intended. Some, if not all, results which should have been returned as A* have in fact been returned as A. These can be corrected manually by users, but OCR intend to re-isse result files when they have identified the problem. Double award GCSE certifications for modular specifications are declared in the basedata as Result Type 1, with two distinct grades from gradeset F. This appears as 1F F. Again, however, OCR have returned results in the form, for example, B143DE. EO6 interprets this as an equivalent mark, but, as above, fails to find the approriate aspect, which it reports; it then interprets DE as the grade, which it validates against gradeset F, fails, and reports 'Result out of range for aspect.' Thus neither result is imported. In this case OCR do not have the option of reissuing basedata with Result Type B because Formats Version 12 specifies that only one grade may be issued in this context. They will have to leave the basedata as it is, and reissue this result in the form 1D E. OCR are currently considering their options for resolving these issues. Meanwhile we will do our best to keep users abreast of developments.

I agree with timzin but would encourage you to look at how you could get more benefit from SIMS by putting it in the classroom.

I recommend talking to our service desk as we have a briefing sheet on this. Below is an extract that should help: Creation of the Chart of Accounts Vat Input (VI) and Vat Output (VO) ledger codes will need to be defined with a rate of zero percent. These ledger codes will become the default Vat ledger codes for Expenditure (VI) and Income (VO) ledger codes. A possible solution that could be adopted to account for Non Recoverable VAT (NRV) is to create Expenditure (EX) ledger code(s) with the description of “Non Recoverable VAT” – one for standard rate at 17.5% and a reduced rate at 5.0% currently. These ledger codes could be linked to a specific Fund allowing the value of NRV to be indentified easily. These ledger codes will need to be linked to the cost centres appropriately. Allocation of budgets Budgets should be allocated allowing for NRV to be charged to the appropriate ledger code / cost centres. Accounting for Non Recoverable VAT (NRV) The following table provides guidance upon how existing functionality can be used in the following areas where the budgets have been allocated to include NRV:- a) The VAT Input (VI) and VAT Output (VO) ledger codes have been defined with zero percent. b) NRV is committed and recorded against ledger codes and cost centres at source c) An expenditure ledger code is used to record the NRV in the cost centre Functionality Guidance Purchase Orders Select the items as normal but add additional line(s) for each cost centre using the Expenditure ledger code defined for NRV entering an estimate for the NRV. Supplier Invoices and Credit Notes When the Invoice for the Purchase Order is entered, the actual value of the NRV can be recorded and posted on the expenditure ledger code defined on the Purchase Order for NRV. Cash Book Journals Select the appropriate ledger code / cost centre combination(s) entering the net value against each line. If NRV is applicable, enter journal lines using the expenditure ledger code defined for NRV for each cost centre. Reoccurring Payments Select the supplier and the appropriate ledger code / cost centre combination(s) entering the net value against each line. If NRV is applicable, enter journal lines using the expenditure ledger code defined for NRV for each cost centre. Normal Journal Select and the appropriate ledger code / cost centre combination(s) entering the appropriate net value against each line. The expenditure ledger code that has been defined for NRV could be included within a normal journal. Petty Cash Enter the value of the Petty Cash expenditure using the appropriate ledger code / cost centre combination(s). If NRV is applicable, enter a separate line for using the expenditure ledger code that has been defined for NRV for the appropriate cost centre. Income transactions These transactions should be entered as normal. In most circumstances, Academies are not allowed to charge VAT on their transactions.

I would have thought a 100MBit line would be OK to run the full client. SLG is great for parental access and working from home but the full client is richer.

I hate collective responsibility!

Jonjo - I've been checking up on this issue. Affected schools seem to be linked through the Synetrix firewall. They have rolled out a fix to allow HTTP 1.1 (what ever that is) and hopefully that will resolve the issue. More generally we've had a two instances of the service being down for a few hours due to the loss of the IP address.

From what people are saying this has to be a local issue. There are odd periods, normally at night, when the service has to be taken down but not working on a few machines is highly unlikely to be the service.

If you are recording something outside SIMS that will be read into AM later, it's best to use Excel. That way you can export from AM and then import in one go rather than cut and paste. VikPaw, I may regret saying this but SIMS should not be crashing out!

I don't think this is possible. A lot of schools use their photographer to supply pictures. We supply a programme that then reads these in in one go; I think the cost is £50.

Measuring condoned absences is a major reason for Indy schools to record lesson data.