RootsSchImp

Am I right to assume we're talking about options blocks that are unaffected by the bamd changes? Otherwise theyd vhange anyway. Ifso you should be fine. When you send through the new timetable use that orange matchy screen to tell sims that 10a/fr etc is now 10ab/fr. It's beem a while since ive used options but dpes it let you export class lists? If so you can do that as a back up, importing the memberships as .slk files if sims does spit the dummy aboug theh new model.

Sounds to me like the server is having a hard time doing all the number crunching, with such a big school I guess you have plenty of SIMS users all going at once. I would recommend cloning the template and deleting the formula columns. Get the staff to enter data on a leaner, data entry only template, then use the more complicated one to calculate the formulas once all the data is in.

Do you need to send it through to SIMS before it's finished? If you've sent through a partial version that you want removed from SIMS you can make a copy of the TT so far, then save a dummy version with a different name, unschedule all the classes and send it through blank. Then send the real one through when it's finished and you're ready to show it to everyone.

Have you tried basing your report on Staff and filtering 'where classes exist'...'where students exist'...in year x An alternative would be to call up a selection timetable of everybody in NovaT, copy it to excel. Then use =if(countif(,"7*")>0,"Y","N") to highlight all teachers of year 7, repeat in separate columns for other years, then filter the excel list for teachers of a given year.

I think if you export a new timetable cycle to the current academic year you'll get a message pop up saying words to the effect of 'this will screw up lesson monitor'. I've never wanted an extra period enough to find out exactly what the nature of this screw up is or whether it happens at all. You would think that if in your new cycle existing periods are unchanged and the new period takes place afterwards then it wouldn't mess with LM at all - but then this is SIMS so who knows? Good luck and let us know if you decide to take the plunge.

Hi Chris, It's a while since I've done this but I'm pretty sure that there's a lesson monitor set up where you can tell it which periods are AM/PM and therefore that this period is not part of the 'real' school day. I'm going to say it's in Tools... but like I say I can't remember exactly. That's potentially one of your problems sorted but there's another. Changing the cycle mid-year used to give LM a real problem - I don't know if this has been resolved but if you decide to go ahead I recommend doing it with a back up of sims.net on hand in case things get buggy. If you do and it works could you post here please? I'm curious to know if it's workable. Ed

I would cast your net wider than Sims if I were you cos their initial cost is so high.

The advantage of the dummy study period would be in knowing where students are - so for example if all private study happens in the library you put students in a private study 'class' so that you know at this time students will be in the library. If that's not the case - students could be in private in a number of locations then I wouldn't create class for it, the effect of that will be a blank in the students' timetables which means private study. Definitely don't create a lesson in Nova without a room or a teacher because if you send the timetable through with classes like that, the next time you try SIMS will spit the dummy. Seeing as we're talking about set enrichment periods and students can choose say Community service monday, tuesday, nothing wednesday, general studies on friday, my approach would be create a block for each day of the cycle with a one period class for each of the activities happening on that day. That way students can be allocated to the classes they want without any locks/clashes.

There's two ways round this, either you have a linear block say: grp 1 - Fh, Gs, Cs grp 2 - Fh, Gs, Cs Then in curriculum assignment in SIMS when you allocate students to grp 1 it will put them in all three classes and you have to take them out of the ones they don't do. Or Create separate blocks for each subject (this might entail putting some blocks on top of each other in Nova which have to be locked in place) Or Create blocks per subject in multiple bands to allow you to schedule simultaneous classes, then in curriculum assignments you might have to put students into 2 or 3 bands. Whichever way you cut it, it ends up being a bit messy somewhere. My approach would probably be separate blocks in one band as that's messy in Nova but only you see Nova and I think it will be the easiest in SIMS as you have to relax the rules to put them in one extra band then put them only in classes which they will attend.

Hi Graham, I think you're right that bands are your friend here. Create a separate band for the optional block and put the classes in it, schedule them whenever they happen. The real magic happens in Sims. When allocating students to classes there's a relax button that let's you put students into two bands, then they can made members of the optional groups. If there's a clash, say some of the community classes clash with their academic subject but they go to others, on the timetable below their student memberships in Sims it says so and there's an option to resolve it by saying which of the simultaneous lessons they attend.

Let's say you wanted to allocated BD to staff free after break up to a max of 2 per staff member and 5 staff per break. If you have staff in rows the use countif to give a count per staff in column C and a count of BDs per break in row 101. Then in your first break column (say that's F) use: =if(and(g2="",$c2<2,f$101<5),"BD","") This won't guarantee you'll get 5 staff per break but it'll give you a basis to work from.

Good suggestion @petem46. Another thing to be aware of about 2015 P8 estimates is that P8 will change the behaviour of schools so, for example, lots of students who currently do BTEC Science will be entered for GCSEs instead. The result of this is likely to be strong Attainment 8 growth at the bottom end so reaching the 2015 expected level could translate to negative P8 scores when expectations are recalculated for 2016 and beyond.

Great suggestions for changes everyone. To summarise what we're requesting: On Focus| Assessment| Template: 1, Keyboard Shortcut for New Column for Data Entry 2, Keyboard Shortcut for New Column for Data Review 3, Keyboard Shortcut for New Column for Data Entry using Formula 4, Keyboard Shortcut for New Column for Data Review using Formula 5, Keyboard Shortcut for New Column for Additional Information 6, Keyboard Shortcut for Open Column 7, Keyboard Shortcut for Zoom 8, Keyboard Shortcut for Move Up 9, Keyboard Shortcut for Move Up 5 10, Keyboard Shortcut for Move Down 11, Keyboard Shortcut for Move Down 5 12, Keyboard Shortcut for Replace Resultset 13, In replace resultset: Resultset to be replaced list restricted to resultsets which exist on the template 14, In replace resultset: Resultset to replace defaults to the position in the list of all resultsets of the resultset to be replaced. 15, 'View Gradeset' button on the open column pop up for columns that have a grade aspect (this would be v handy for checking formula entries have the right syntax) 16, Keyboard shortcut for the 'View Gradeset' button. I think this is everything we've said - if anyone can think of more add them to the list, then when it's done, @Ecclesbury has kindly agreed to submit the request.

I think the problem is 1*LEFT($O3,1). That returns a value if the formula returns a number but if it's 1*B then it returns VALUE! ie is an error.

Thanks @PhilNeal, is there a way to submit change requests outside of supportnet? I'm an independent consultant so I don't have a support log in.

It's annoying to have to update lots of templates but as this is something I do a lot, here's my top tip for speeding up the process: KEYS! The keys are your friend, the mouse is your enemy, so after (inevitably) clicking to add a new column and select it's type, use N for the next screen, enter to open aspect/resultset screens and type-tab-space to select. The first letter of a formula to select formula type, multiple times if necessary (so pressing M once gives you MAX, twice MEAN etc). When editing formulas O for OK and U for update. If you've been editing a typeable field (like column heading) you need to use alt as well as the shortcut key. If you're adding lots of formulas columns for one type of aspect (say you're colour coding current grades) SIMS 'remembers' category associations so restrict the aspect list to the category you want, then if the aspects begin with subject code you can select them from the list with one or two keystrokes (typing takes you through aspects lists even when there's no search box). As with learning to touch type you might find it's a little slower at first but the pay off is massive when you internalise the commands. Phil, if you're still following could we have a keyboard shortcut for adding a new column from the template screen please? (or even better five shortcuts, one for each type of column entry). Thanks Ed

If your school has a sixth form then I might lean to CISRA - 4Matrix's KS5 package is pretty weak, no VA info for example, and they're working on a KS3 AwL upgrade at the moment. I asked them last month (jan 16) if there were plans to improve KS5 and they said 'in a few months' which I took to mean some time in ac year 2016-17.

Hi Iceman, You can't delete an aspect in Focus| Assessment if it has results or is used on templates. Best approach is to make a report for all students with fields name, dob, adno, aspect, resultset so you've got a back up of all the results in excel. (a number of subreports filtered for each resultset would reduce the amount of messing around in excel but more than three subreports might be too complex for sims to handle) After that, go to Tools| Performance| System Utilities| Results to delete all the results then same path ...aspects will let you delete the aspect.

This is such valuable information, thanks again for taking the time to share. I didn't know Bromcom gave you the option of self hosting. I think you're spot on about the time investment before and after migration to realise a full return on investment. One of the issues I see in schools is short horizons (this year's y11 results!!) so it's great to hear about a school with a five year plan to control costs and improve at the same time. Good luck finishing the job!

Thanks @scholarpack! That's great news. I'm hoping to move onto Primary after Secondary but it's a bigger undertaking as there are more players in the market. I'll be in touch.

Thanks so much for sharing this, it's really great to hear the experiences of people who've been through this process. It's one thing for me to play with Demo versions and give my opinion on what I think is a good piece of software but it's very hard to imagine all the practical difficulties of a switch, especially in such a large school. I'm pleased you resisted the herd pressure. While SIMS has improved a lot over the ten years I've been in the business I'm not convinced it's the best out there. I've been impressed with Bromcom too - i think it integrates different data types (eg beh and assessment) better than SIMS does. I wondered how user friendly it is though - did you have to provide a lot of training for Support Staff and Teachers?

You're right, it's incorrect to call Progresso a 'front end' as it's cloud based, although I think you still require Facility Scheduler to do the timetable. I'm waiting for confirmation from Advanced Learning about this.

Good suggestion - Progresso is actaully a new 'front end' for CMIS. They've been through a couple, I think it was called Facility Portal before. Are you a SIMS user?

I've been reminded by PM about RM Integris - I contacted them to ask for demo access when I started the project but they haven't got back to me. If they do then I'll add them to the mix.

Does SIMS give you other output options? ie is there a way to check that the data is coming out of the report OK and that this really is a chrome problem not a SIMS one?