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I had previously achieved a solution using GRADE TALLY COUNTS but this needed over 30 columns! For instance, I had 3 columns counting DDD, 2 counting DDM and 1 counting DMM. I then SUMmed up the result of these 6 columns which gave me the number of individual Distinctions. When I had added all the necessary columns to cover all the possible grade combinations, I ended up with over 30!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I can achieve this easily in Excel but wanted something using a SIMS Marksheet. I have since discovered that the reason that my NESTED IF THEN didn't work- IF grade=DDD THEN 3 ELSE IF grade=DDM THEN 2 ELSE IF grade=DMM THEN 1 ELSE 0 was that the test was on the points value rather than the grade itself. I've now managed to get something working though it still needs lots of hidden columns to cover all subjects and all grades.

The problem is that all I can count are the 10 separate grades. They appear as DDD, DDM, DMM, MMM, MMP, MPP, PPP, PPU, PUU, UUU rather than separate Ds, Ms and Ps. There doesn't seem to be a way to count the Ds in, for instance, DDD or DDM. Counting DDD gives 1 not 3 so my solution at the moment is to have 3 separate identical columns counting the Ds in DDD so that I can SUM them to get an answer of 3 then 2 to count the Ds in DDM and so on. This requires 31 columns to cover every eventuality

We've got a sixth form Assessment Marksheet that counts grades. A level grades are easy- we just use GRADE TALLY COLUMNS to count each of the grades. The problem comes with BTEC National Diploma where the grades are DDD, DDM, DMM, MMM, MMP, MPP, PPP, PPU, PUU, UUU. We want to count each of the individual Distinctions. Merits and Passes eg DDM counted as 2 Distinctions and 1 Merit. I had thought that I could use a separate NESTED IF THEN ELSE for each of the vocational subjects to count each of the Ds, Ms and Ps with something like this- IF grade=DDD THEN 3 ELSE IF grade=DDM THEN 2 ELSE IF grade=1 THEN 1 ELSE 0 but the function doesn't seem to work with marksheet grades. Currently, I've had to use a number of GRADE TALLY COLUMNS to count the combinations of grades but this involves using 31 hidden columns to achieve the count!! Anyone got any better ideas?

I'm relatively new to NovaT6 myself, but my understanding would be that you couldn't have mixed Y12/13 classes if Y12 students have a different number of lessons to the Y13 students. You would effectively have to have 2 separate groups and then stick them in the same room.

It is true that you get used to Scheduler after a while. I've been using it for 10 years so I've got to know my way around and, when things don't seem to work, there's always another route. Mind you, the fact that I've spent a lot of those 10 years supporting CMIS schools with timetabling probably proves that you're not the only to find difficulties with it. Prior to that, I actually used NovaT (- it must have been NovaT version 2 and half or something!) and I quite liked that but it's changed quite a bit since as you'd expect. The world has also changed with complex school days and extended school hours. That's another area that I think Scheduler wins as it allows proper time based scheduling rather than doing things in a contrived, period based way. In the end, we all have to get on with what we've got and, as with all aspects of MIS, you make it work, as best you can, for you. Good luck and have fun!

I'm also currently timetabling in NovaT after a number of years with Scheduler. I'm not sure that I would agree with the statement that NovaT is more intuitive. I agree that getting the initial curriculum plan on was much quicker but I've found some of the other processes far less intuitive. I would hardly describe processes such as building linear blocks as intuitive. I'm also finding the process of making changes to an existing timetable rather clunky compared to the ability to work directly on one of any number of Scheduler timetable views. Scheduler is not without it's problems and NovaT is doing the job but I would describe NovaT as different rather than better. In the end, it rather depends on what you like and how you prefer to work.

Should I have added "tongue in cheek"! The website has been accessible for a number of years. The problem only seems to have occurred this week.

I'm not sure how many of you use the Advanced Firstline site (formerly Serco Firstline) with it's CMIS and Progresso knowledgebases and forums, but you can't access it now from a BGfL school- it's blocked by the Link2ICT filtering! Could this be a Capita plot to disrupt the MIS competition?

Unlike list reports where you can filter out lines of data in a number of ways, form reports work differently. Basically, when you run the report you select a bunch of kids eg year group or class group by selecting the type of group in the scope of report window and you get a report page for each student in that group. You can multi select the kids you need by holding ctrl and clicking from the list that comes up but you would need to have a separate paper list with the 100% attendances details on. Better still, you can set up a report filter that just gives you the kids that satisfy the criteria that you need. You would then select this filter from the list in the scope of report window (together with other groupings if you wish) and then only those kids satisfying the criteria would come up. I don't seem to be able to attach an example filter file but if you contact me, I'll email it to you. I can also send you the documentation that you actually asked for! John

The CMIS data transfer routine will do this and also avoid possible disasters if the SQL were to go wrong. It's fiddy but relatively straightforward as long as your have the student id in the spreadsheet for the routine to use for matching. You will need to make sure that the id is set as a text field in Excel if your ids having leading zeros. If you need the manual, there should be links in previous threads.

Your planned assessment structure looks pretty standard and is in line what many schools do using versions of the standard KS3 and KS4 models. Typically, the model can use a baseline to generate annual targets based on whatever rules you want. The government expectation is 2 levels during KS3 which would equate to 4 points or 2 sublevels a year. For KS2 to KS4 the minimum expectation is 3 levels which can also be built into the KS4 Model. I haven't come across anyone that has attempted to use graphical reports in CMIS but it is possible. In a form report, instead of adding an embedded list, you can add a 'list report graph'. Whether this would serve your purpose would depend very much on what you actually wanted to display on the report. If a barchart is what you want, an alternate stragegy would be to use the 'inclusion condition' to display bars of various sizes as appropriate. This might give you what you want but, again, it would depend on what you needed. It is always best to try to achieve everything within the MIS if you can. Using additional software and needing to export data to another system always causes hassle of some sort.

The issue is more to do with the complexity of the data rather than an problem with Facility. The reporting items that you seem to be using will pull through the email address of the first member of staff for each subject that it comes to. If that member of staff hasn't got an email address then you'll get a blank. What you need is to produce a list of staff for each individual subject. You should then have access to the email addresses. The problem is that this may not give you a table in the format that you were looking for. Once you've got lists, there are various methods of dealing with them using something called 'inline' filtering or possibly a range of inbuilt functions. If you post what you've got so far, I might be able to suggest something. As far as things like concatenating are concerned, Facility has it's own syntax which you'll need to get to know.

SQL backups are essential for dealing with major disasters but bdb backups from Facility itself are more flexible when minor things go wrong. For instance, if something happens during an assessment round, you can restore individual tables which means that you can roll back the assessment side without losing data from other areas such as attendance or behaviour.

It's quite straightforward to add external results as assessments so that any analysis reports that pull data from the assessment area will include them. Once the assessments are set up, the results are just entered in the usaul way using Entry templates. If you enter additional external results in this way, they will not appear in the 'exam' area and reports that pull data from here (ie those with a 'candidate' object type) will not show them but, generally, apart from the candidate results for a season report, you can't get much of use from here anyway. Serco produced guidance for doing all this in 2010 together with a set of reports that do most of what you would need in terms of communicating results and doing analysis. Link2ICT enhanced this guidance for Birmingham schools. Do be aware that the whole exam analysis field has a number of pitfalls because of the complexity of things these days with, for instance, early entries, multiple entries, discounting rules and so on. I work with a number of schools and can let you have some more detailed notes if that helps.