NorthernSands

Fair enough. I just have some vague recollection of something said at a an early demo (some 14 months ago) by a Capita guy who said nothing would be stored in the Discover DB except a cache of the data, all the settings etc would be stored in SIMS.

Out of interest, do we really need to backup the Discover DB? After all, it's contents can be recreated from scratch just by syncing to a fresh DB....

@Oops_my_bad: Unless they've released the install version of Spring 2011, which they hadn't last time I looked (a couple of weeks ago), then the latest install version is Spring 2010. Use that, then the Spring 2011 Update, and you're good to go.

The 'Incompatible DB' error is indeed due to the mismatch of SIMS versions. Best thing would be to run the Spring 2011 Update ISO. This will use a version of SOLUS that points to the CD / ISO to 'download' the updates, thus not affecting the online SOLUS service. You can try running SOLUS and it might pick up the updates that you copied over and ask if you want to install those before checking online. I would prefer to use the update ISO, however. I run a couple of VMs on my workstation. It's got 4GB installed but is only using 3.5 (Windows 7 32 Bit). It's rather sluggish but does the job with Green Abbey. It's not so hot with our DB though. Good luck

What @MattMitchell says is indeed correct. All the permissions in the world won't allow you to edit a template / aspect / result set etc that was created on another SIMS DB and then imported into yours

Thanks once again, Vik. This truly is a huge time saver and I know longer dread having to clone a 170 column marksheet!!

Voted for (twice). I think it's excellent that Capita are providing more enhancements to SLG, but filtering should go hand-in-hand with the additions. We're not using it yet, but once CLG is rolled out, we will be getting SLG for the webparts to bolt in.

We too use SIMS. I can't add much to what @vikpaw has already said (he summed it up quite nicely). I will say that I've used SIMS for about 8/9 years, from the old Launcher days) and I've been involved with the system in approx 200 schools. I have a love / hate relationship with it. What it does it generally does very well, but you do have to work the way it wants you to work. The exception to that, I would say, is in recording assessment data. Assessment Manager is an extremely powerful tool to record assessment and allow tracking and analysis at the Student level (Performance Analysis and Discover allow Group level analysis). It does allow a great deal of flexibility, but that comes at a cost; it takes a long time to get it working 'just right', but when it does, it's great. I'll also vouch for Greg (SIMS International Schools' Account Manager); he's a nice guy and not a 'pushy salesman' and really does appear to have your best interests at heart. And I'm not just saying that 'cause he bought me a pint, or five! Capita are also focussing more on Independent and International schools. They're in the process of setting up a dedicated development team for us and that can only be a good thing. I can't really comment on any other system, but if you're looking at a web-based system, be mindful of where it's hosted. The internet link between Qatar and the UK (or where-ever the system might be hosted) is not always very good. The submarine fibre-optic cables keep getting severed by ships' anchors. Having said that, I've heard that both Qtel and Vodafone Qatar are both landing new cables in Doha. Not sure when they go live but it will mean we won't have to go via Dubai! My door is always open to any school in Qatar who wants to pop up and see SIMS in anger (warts'n'all).

Hehe! It's just generally annoying. This school haven't been very good up to my arrival with monitoring attendance and using all the wonderful reports and so on in SIMS. Now that I've shown them it's become quite a disappointment to them to find they don't work correctly. It obviously affects all 'Week' based attendance reports, Edit Marks, the Display Mark screen, School Diary etc... It strikes me as a feature they've removed, rather than something that's yet to be added, given that the drop down box is there and the help files tell you to use it. At the Independent Conference this year we were told that there is a new Independent school development team and that they will focus more on International schools. Let's hope that these things will mean we'll see this rather important feature added to SIMS. Directly delving into the database tables is not something I've done up to now. How does your xml report work for the Display Marks? Sound intriguing! And yes, it is really annoying that you can't bulk print them. I must have been asked by about 100 schools for that facility!

Our school week runs from Sunday through to Thursday. We have Friday and Saturday not ticked when creating the new academic year. Only SIMS see the working week as Monday through Thursday, then Sunday at the end of the week (which is next weeks Sunday, not this weeks, if that makes sense!). Sorry, should have been clearer in my original post.

Mornin' all. For those who's school day doesn't start on a Monday, how do you cope in SIMS? When creating a new academic year there is a drop down to change the first day, which the help files tell you to use, only you can't; it's greyed out. Capita have confirmed that this is the case, going as far as saying that it's illogical to even have it there! I've logged a change request (1105-892662) but I'd appreciate knowing how others deal with this. You may also count this as a shameless plug to have it voted on! Cheers! EDIT: Just to confirm what I mean... Our week runs thus: Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday SIMS sees the week thus: Monday (which is the 2nd day of the week) Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Sunday (which is the start of the following week)

It should be fine. Just make sure your have a backup and a contingency plan if it all goes Apex-over-Base.

I can't really see this being a problem. You can completely change the pastoral structure part way through the year. Some advice: Always do this in advance, ie do it before January and forward-date the 'Current Pastoral Structure' date to January 1st or whenever. If Reg Group names are changing DO NOT rename the existing ones; remove and add new ones (all on the forward date). Year group memberships will be unaffected, however always update both NC Year and Year Group for a student if they're being kept back / forward a year (even if they remain in the same reg group). Don't 'verticalise' two year groups together if there's just one or two students being kept back / forward a year, modify the year memberships instead. Don't make the whole school as one vertical structure unless every year group has students over-lapping with the year groups above and below; you can have several vertical structures (please ask if you want examples). HTH

@resin1: Sorry, yes, sarcastic. Indeed the Sexy SIMS release would be scheduled for April 1st, but as per Capita's usual adherence to deadlines, it would be delayed!

Well, it might be be mid to late April; we know what Capita are like with release deadlines...

I should imagine the 'Capita's gone sexy' press release will be made sometime next year, I'm thinking early April...

I'll be over the moon when the timetable can be split by tier. In order to make it work for next year we're looking at an 18 period day and a 6 week cycle!!! My understanding of SLG has always been that it's about enabling two way real-time [ish] communication of data between SIMS and 'the web'. It's only ever made SIMS data available, but this Homework thing is different. I, too, would like to know where it fits in SIMS. I think there's already too much overlap between SLG and a VLE and this just increases that. You have to have both in order to get the most out of the platform, so you end up paying twice for some aspects. We're getting CLG as our VLE, but a good part of it will be redundant as we're also looking at getting SLG for it's web-parts. I personally think Capita should take a step back with SLG, and just provide the web-parts to fit into a compatible VLE, and / or expose the communication method so that VLEs that don't run on Sharepoint have better two-way access to SIMS data. Maybe Capita are about to develop SLG into a fully fledged VLE...

Looking good! Seeing as we cater for Foundation Stage to Year 13, with Lower, Middle and Upper Schools, I'm liking the Tier enhancements. And maybe the Network Manager will re-install my workstation with 64Bit Windows 7 and Office 2010... This 'Homework' stuff in SLG; is it me or is that bordering on VLE territory? Something Capita have categorically said it isn't, and will not be? Curious...

Unless you meant the server!

Hello @UncleScar, and welcome. To aid diagnostics can you confirm the following: SIMS Version: 7.13? (Help > About SIMS .Net) Which reports: SIMS Reports (Reports > Run Report) or Individual Reports (Focus > Assessment > Individual Report) How widespread: Is this just happening on one machine, or many? Does it work on the Server? Is it every report or just one? How long: Has this just started happening? If so, any changes made to SIMS / Office / the workstation? Versions of SIMS earlier than Spring 2011 (7.138) have had issues with Office 2010. Strange one, never-the-less...

If you're moving to a new SIMS Server, the DB will be quite happy to DB[un]Attach[ed] from the SQL Express instance and DB[re]Attach[ed] to the new instance on the new server. There's no need to upgrade SQL Express to Full before migrating. It's often a good idea to leave the existing SIMS box as is when migrating to a new server; it becomes an absolute 'known good' in case things go apex-over-base. What @zag says is perfectly correct if you're staying on the same box.

Indeed!

Well, the Local Authority access level gives me access to more stuff than I had before when it was just a school level, such as training datasets, training manuals, etc... So for now I've left it as is.

Thanks vik. One of the problems with still having an LA SupportNet account is that I'm unable to browse or text search the school forums. However, searching on the ID number worked fine! Looks like I need to cross reference the double-cum-single periods and see if it is down to a room / teacher change.

Thanks Vik. I didn't think to leave the chevrons alone. I'll have another go. I can't really modify the template unless I roll it out to a number of other staff. The idea is for several people to be able to generate the report. At least I know it works, I just have to persevere.