winng

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Every time we register a sickness absence the working days lost entry in Personnel is set to zero. Should it not register it as 1 working day lost? We are unsure as to what we have set up incorrectly that is causing this problem. Any thoughts?

Sorry to hijack this but have a similar issue here today. Just rebuilt a computer so it's had a clean sweep. Added to Solus but fails to install the agent as it's already installed... but it isn't anymore because it's been overwritten. There's nothing to be uninstalled! How do I get around this situation?

I use ParentPay and a third party cashless catering system (the latter for security access too). I frequently get notified that someone (staff or student) has loaded money for their lunch only to be disappointed when they reach the canteen till! It tends to be due to a mismatch between the Staff ID on ParentPay and the other system. By resolving this in the latter and re-running the transaction file, the funds usually appear. A similar situation occurs with students linked by their Admission Number on both systems but sometimes, I don't yet know why, the cashless system doesn't hold their Admission Number so the funds are left in limbo. Again, it takes some time to reconcile but I usually get there. I should say, I don't (can't) use the MisSync feature available from ParentPay as I am a MAT and the cashless system only allows one account. Therefore, I have to concoct a file containing all students (or all staff) and upload it to ParentPay, asking them to process it on my behalf. If I miss anyone out, their account disappears from view!

Is there a way we can run a report on SIMS that will pull of the off the Year 12 students that DON’T have a lesson during specific periods in the week???

And I'm just being asked to display the class code on the timetables... anyone know if this is possible?

The request: "Please can you add Emma and I to the Pastoral Tier group under SEN on Sims for both Key stages. These fields create the email personnel for In-touch messages for students, which potentially could offer useful information." The action taken: I’ve tried adding them as Supervisors and/or Pastoral Managers within the Pastoral Structure at both the Tier and Year level but they still don’t show up in the SEN contacts. The solution: Anyone have any knowledge with this area? Thanks

Thanks @matt40k, I've managed to successfully import a few email address changes to prove the process works. Now I just need some admin support to prepare the import file for all staff and thereafter to make it the main address, for InTouch, etc.

Hi, I think I already know the answer but I thought I'd ask just in case someone has done this.... Our school email address (the domain part) has changed so we would like to update the details held in each staff record, i.e. [email protected] becomes [email protected], for example.

I believe the customers (those of us working in schools and using these systems/supporting these systems) are more concerned about what an MIS can do for us and how easy it is to use and maintain. Consequently, I am not overly bothered about its efficiencies and technical achievements although I recognise they may impact on the pricing model.

I've worked in four different schools during the past ten years and when it comes to emergency evacuations they have struggled to account for every student (and staff) despite their efforts and recording they did (account for them all that is). Three schools used the "print all registers" at the time the evacuation bell sounded whether from SIMS or CMIS but although this identified who was registered AM/PM it didn't necessarily mean they were still onsite as they could have gone to the dentist, etc. (noted by the student reception or wherever, on paper). By the time it took to print all the registers, take them outside, Tutors endeavour to tick off the students before them, etc. anyone missing would have been burnt to a cinder or suffered with smoke inhalation (in the event of a real fire of course). Accounting for staff always felt a secondary concern and quite often no formal register of who was out of the building ever took place! The one school that appeared to do better than others was where they had prepared laminated copies of the Tutor group registers that were refreshed every Term (three times per year in their case) and kept by Reception. In the event of an evacuation they were taken out and handed to the respective Tutors who would mark off their students, obviously knowing who was in or out that day because they had personally taken the AM/PM registers hadn't they... This meant that no-one had to stay inside waiting for the printer to churn out paper registers, etc. and thus reduce further risk to staff. Okay, it might not be fool-proof but it was quicker and potentially safer for all concerned.

I think I'll just keep watching and waiting until the dust settles. No rush to install Solus 3.7xxx or Summer 2014 yet.

We have an end user who has flagged to us that when a report needs printing off, SIMS crashes and someone else has to perform this task. We want to be able (if possible) to prove this through logs stored as we believe that there is a pattern forming which relates to time driven event of printing reports. Can anyone here point me in the right direction?

Silence is golden LOL

I must admit I'd never seen those 'grey folders' before but I did buy Webfolder and MCAS for a large secondary school I worked in Essex and the teachers were so grateful that they could access the MIS anytime, anywhere! They hadn't been able to do that before. With MCAS we saw in increase in parental engagement as they were able to easily reset their passwords, something that was very problematic with the previous SLG system they had experienced.

Just interested in what MIS Free schools are using since they have a fresh start and are not reliant on any incumbent provider. Any Free schools on here want to comment? Thanks

Depends upon where you are and who is the strongest provider in your area. At my last school based in SW London, we opted for Virgin to provide us with 100Mb over a 1Gb bearer.

I used to have a batch file to run on each machine that would configure the ports, etc. in order to enable Solus3 to see the machines and allow the install of the agent. I got it from Trevor at Capita Chelmsford.

I think Chromebooks in a school is a great idea and a way to ween people off being tied to a domain to get access to what they want/need to do, etc. I would also promote them for KS4 and KS5 students but go with tablets for KS3 where they are exploring more whereas the former need to type reports, etc. I use a Chromebook myself as it's so quick to be ready to use.

Sorry @zag but I have to disagree. Despite me being instrumental in purchasing Emerge for my last two schools, there are limitations on what it can do and there were often delays in synchronising the data between lesson changes, for example. Having access to a MIS via a browser gives you full functionality :0

For the aforementioned reasons, I can see why some schools are moving towards using web-based MIS providers, such as Bromcom, where there is no longer a need to locally install anything whether that is via MSI or Solus 3.

Using a cloud-based solution like Bromcom's MIS will provide you with full functionality in a browser. Therefore, in addition to Registers, you can do everything else too.

I agree with @witch as I've used AVG Free for years on mine and friend/family machines without any issues.

And your latter statement is exactly what should have been decided BEFORE SLT or whoever instigated the decision to use tablets, etc.