KeyData

Thanks again @psydii. I really appreciate that.

Thanks psydii. How often would you advise doing a test restore?

Hello, We use REDSTOR to backup our SIMS and SIMS Discover databases along with our Document Management Server. Is it possible to do a test restore without overwriting our production data and then to check this restored data is working by logging into these restored databases? I thought we might be able to use DBAttach to attach the restored data with a different name such as SIMSRestoreTest and then log in and check all is well? Does anyone have any experience of doing this or similar and would be happy to share their method or guidance? Thanks.

Hello, Our next academic year currently has a start date of 02/09/2024 and an end date of 01/09/2025. Most students have been setted for the next academic year. Can I now edit these dates to 01/09/2024 to 31/08/2025 without losing any data? Kind regards Mark

Thanks Bob. That's a good call. I see I can use admission number or UPN and I think admission number is the way to go.

Hello, Our head of maths has presented an Excel spreadsheet he wants KS3 teachers to use to enter termly test percentage scores. Then Excel using various formulas, including standard deviation formulas will calculate and average for the test for each year group. This will be used to split the group into 4 quintiles and be compared with their KS2 to highlight which students are below, on or above target. This is to get away form using GCSE predicted grades in KS3 in SIMS Marksheets. I think it might work a little like this school's KS3 system: https://www.philipshigh.co.uk/target-settings/ except the Working Towards/Working At/Working Above/Exceptional grade boundaries will be calculated from the year groups' percentage test scores at the point of data collection on a subject by subject basis. My worry is managing this prcess and importing the needed data into SIMS for the parent reports and termly analysis. I don't think it is possible for a column in a SIMS Marksheet to calculate the standard deviation for a given test and then use this to calculate which students are on, below or above. I'm thinking I will need to learn Excel VBA to streamline this wherever possible. SLT want teachers to just enter the data directly into year group Excel files, and then I will have to import into SIMS for the reports. Can anyone please give their thoughts on this and any advice would be much appreciated? Thanks Mark

Hello, After each termly SIMS upgrade, we have been applying the reindex Patch 22573 to hopefully improve SIMS' performance. Our IT manager says it is not showing in SOLUS 3 despite our Local Authority SIMS support team saying they have released it to our school. Does patch 22573 no longer show in SOLUS3? Must this patch now be applied manually and no longer via SOLUS3? Thanks in advance. Kind regards Mark

Thanks BKGarry. SIMS is saving again as normal, which for us is a little slowly. I think you are right about what happened yesterday. Feeling much better now and will remember what you suggested if it happens again. I really appreciated your replies.

Thanks BKGarry. I'm in panic mode now. I have just tried saving in different areas of SIMS. I made a small change to a student's middle name and that failed to save. We have just set up a new VM Window Server 2019 as a SIMS workstation with the intention of using it for Power BI. It used to be a SIMS test server. Could this be causing a problem? Or what else could be the problem. The SIMS drive has 128GB free.

Hello, I have completed the SIMS summer upgrade and now when I click the narrow columns button on a Marksheet and then click the Save button, SIMS hangs. I have tried a couple of different Marksheets and got the same not saving issue. I've logged a call with our SIMS support but wondered if anyone else is experience this problem? Edit SIMS fails to save any changes. This is scary as staff are preparing for the new year with all teachers back in on Friday. Can anyone please advise? I've updated the logged call with our SIMS support but would appreciate any help. Thanks

Thanks Seb1780. I will submit the census with a note and wait for our LSU to respond to my logged call.

Hello, I have a student with a permanent exclusion start date of 15/03/2023, a Governor Review Date of 18/04/2023 with a Review Result of Exclusion Stands and a Final Governor Review Outcome Date of 18/04/2023 and a Review Result of Exclusion upheld by initial governor review (confirmed). The student was taken off-roll on 16/05/2023. This permanent exclusion is not showing on our detailed Census exclusion report but the LA insists it should be included. When testing, our LSU found that if we edited both 18/04/2023 dates to 09/04/2023, it was included. Our LA checked with the DfE and was told "as the exclusion start date falls within the reporting period (01/08/2022 – 09/04/2023) and it was upheld prior to the census date (18/05/2023), it would be expected to be reported in the summer census." I am on Fileset 2402. Is this a bug with the SIMS Census or is the DfE advice incorrect? I have been unable to find a link to official clear guidance on this. I have logged a call with our LSU but wondered if anyone can shed some light on this for me. Thanks Mark

Thanks @pete and @Linfit. I'll recommend we don't import CTF contacts to my school.

Hello, We have unticked importing contacts when bringing in our primary schools' CTFs into SIMS since 2018 when a bug caused a lot issues. 2018 Edugeek Forum link - SIMS CTF issue Urgent Capita SIMS Data Issue - Issued by childrens services We are now getting ready to use Edulink with parents and want to quickly get their details and emails into SIMS and so we are considering re-ticking the import contacts option before importing our primary schools' CTFs. I am very wary of having to manually sort out any contact issues this may cause and hoped people could advise if ticking import contacts was advisable or have any suggestions to help it run smoothly. I'd really appreciate anyone's thoughts on this.

Thank you both. The Individual Reports started working again yesterday without any intervention. Perhaps server/network issues but hopefully all alright for now.