gazskeltz

Hi all, I've just been ranting about this on Supportnet. If you're going to remove a functionality, for whatever reason, to be replaced by new, improved methods then users should be able to replicate the original behaviour. Teacher Key is too big and not changeable Selection Screen works badly Title always show as at date, not editable. Saving Default template is too easy and could undo another's hard work - Multiple Template Saves would be better.... Gaz

Phil Neal has just posted on supportnet that it's in Beta testing at the moment but won't go live till September in case it has problems during a busy period.

Hi All, Any news on this yet? Anyone been invited to the BETA which was supposed to start in May? An introduction to your new customer portal | capita-sims.co.uk Regards Gaz

Hi, Progress Grids? We're having a look at them at the moment - possibly to create a progress 'Ladder' with specific knowledge steps in a Progress Grid. The Grids themselves are quite clunky for the average user to use properly - you can't set them up for classes or subjects - you have o filter on the fly. You can, however, also transfer and create Marksheets with the data going across in a way we're all used to. It's just the verbose descriptions that get lost. Our Subject Leaders are currently working on creating Grids for their subjects. Regards Gary

I hear rumours that there will also be a Grade 9 (A*+ or A**)?? Also, U will be 0. This makes sense in a way. Calculating average Value Added when U was so many points away from G made some interesting numbers! Anyway, in answer to your question, ask me again this time next year after the election... Regards Gary

Hi, Another way (for students at least) is to set up a dynamic Group in Discover with ALL students in it. Set the group to send a message whenever anyone joins or leaves the group. You'll then get a message on your homepage when students join or leave... Regards Gaz

Hi there! I have (albeit with an earlier version) reverse engineered this. Because it is designed to work out VA from results vs KS4 PI, I reversed it to calculate Estimated Grades from PI... It was very tricky to do, but the first step is to unhide all the sheets in the spreadhseet. It can also be used to calculate VA based on Predictions rather than results. I don't pretend to know how it works (Have a look at the Coefficients page)! but it is possible to see the logic it uses as all the formulas are visible.... Good Luck! Regards Gary

What a rubbish web site. Gave up

Hi, I'm not sure either - but it's easier for testing purposes to still keep A*-G as proved above

Hi, Just came across this: SIMS & Data Manager, Qatar - ASAP Start jobs, Qatar, Tax Free salary, free accommodation, free return flights and more! | Guardian Jobs Works out to a max of approx £1800 per month tax free with accomodation & free flights included. Gaz

Bad news I'm afraid CAM... Steve Russel, the IT Director at Capita wrote a what's in/what's not blog at The new customer portal Regards Gaz

How long before I can't find a little old nugget that showed me how to do something...

Makes it a bit difficult to test then...

Hi, Got it and absorbed. Doeas anyone have any idea if the 'National Data' is available anywhere so we can calculate Progress 8? Regards Gary

Hi, Any ideas on Fine Grades? C =5 C+ = erm... 5.333333333333333 B- = 5.66666666666666 B = 6 regards Gaz

Cheers! I had found the latest technical guide. I'm having a look through the other thread now - hopefully something to get my teeth into! Regards Gary

Hi Jon, This is not your fault. I have found that this happens whenever you preview from a List Entry. I think it has something to do with multiple teachers, although I'm not sure. To put your mind at rest, generate a report from the Session Manager instead - it should look okay then. It's a bit of a pain as it means that teachers don't have any way to accurately preview their reports. You'll have to run the complete report for them or use the Batch Print Class Chesk Sheets from Tools/Performance/Profiles. Sorry to bear bad news... Perhaps if we shout loud enough, Capita will fix the issue? Regards Gary

Hi, I've been asked to look at our Year 9 student's curriculum to see how their subjects fall into the new Progress 8 Measures (We have a three year KS4). All I need to do is to place their subjects into the DFE buckets but I've been unable to find a definitive list of how to do this. I'd like to calculate it in SIMS but don't mind some excel jiggery-pokery. Can anyone advise if they have tried this out? Thanks in advance Regards Gary

Hi, This is as I understand it - happy to be contradicted! Residuals compare the result (or set of results) with another set of data. In the Subject Residual page (with the squiggly green line) residuals compare a student result with all their other results at your school. If the subject result is above the green line, they did better in this subject than their average across all other subjects, below the line they did worse. I believe the same goes for National. Hope this helps Regards Gary

Hi, My understanding is that Short courses will count for the student, but not for the school (the same with anything the student gets. Also, students can bank resit higher results whereas a school can only bank the first attempt. Gaz

Hi, My understanding is that Short courses will count for the student, but not for the school (the same with anything the student gets. Also, students can bank resit higher results whereas a school can only bank the first attempt.

Here's some more tips - probably the list mentioned earlier Regards Gary ISSUE 1 Merge Tags/Fields showing in generated reports:- Please could you make sure that the Word template for each Individual Report has the following settings: OFFICE 2010 1. File | Options | Trust Centre | Trust Centre Settings | Macro Settings | Check to make sure Enable all Macros is selected 2. File | Options | Trust Centre | Trust Centre Settings | Privacy Options | Under Document-specific settings make sure Store random number to improve Combine accuracy is unticked 3. File | Options | Proofing | Mark grammar errors as you type should be unticked 4. File | Options | Proofing | Under When correcting spelling and Grammar in Word make sure that Check spelling as you type is unticked 5. File | Options | Proofing | AutoCorrect Options | Actions Tab | Please make sure that Enable Additional actions in the right-click menu is unticked 6. Right click Table | Table Properties | Row - take the tick out of "allow rows to break across pages" for each row that crosses a page 7. Click View | Outline and change all the text to “Body Text” as some writing in there may be listed under “Level 1” which will not work 8. Any Images\Graphics present within the template will need the following modification - Click the image | Click Format | Wrap text | Select In Front of Text Please ensure you click on the Save button in Word before exiting the template. ISSUE 2 SIMS Closing when using Individual Reports We have also had reports from some schools with the following issue:- When previewing/printing an Individual Report, the following error occurs: "SIMS has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience" OFFICE 2010 1. Open the affected report | Click on "Word Template" | Go to Review Tab | Under "Tracking panel" check whether the "Track Changes" is "On" -- If it is 'On' please switch off the "Tracking Changes" 2. Under "Changes" Panel | Click on "Accept" drop down | Click on "Accept All Changes In Document" | Save & Exit from Word | Save the Report | Select any student and run the report. It will generate the report correctly. Microsoft has also created a Hotfix to help resolve the issue. The Hotfix is Microsoft KB2553912 and can be found at Description of the Word 2010 hotfix package (Word-x-none.msp): June 28, 2011

Hi, I actually add the Early Entry results to the template of my master marksheet rather than adding them after.... Regards Gaz

Hi, I actually add the Early Entry results to the template of my master marksheet rather than adding them after....

Yes, It's a shame you can't make your marksheet headings the same as the headings in 4matrix - most of them are too long...