kxv2020

@RoyG... it would all depend on your User Requirements!!! ...What system are you currently using at present?

I'm not sure but you may be better off reading the Performance PDF manual which might get you started - it can be found in Program Files Directory - usually C:\Program Files\Sims\Sims.net\Performance.PDF Alternatively you could export the Assessment Manager aspect for the whole cohort to Excel and add columns with you % calculations and then import back in again!

Isn't that illegal and goes against the whole inspection regime! ...Can't wait until the No Notice inspections come!!

Shorter Notice, Sharper Focused OfSTED inspections are now common place with the emphasis being on Self Evaluation. Soon we will have no notice inspections being the norm according to HMI Christine Gilbert! Good Luck you should be fine!

Deviating slightly from the original question ... many schools who have jumped ship from SIMS.net are moving back... Main problems I have heard various issues but key staff such as those doing cover/timetable and assessment find the interface awful and simply can't do what it a MIS should! It might have been good to move to another company initially because the old version of Sims DOS modules and the Windows Launcher based modules were quite bad. I know that Sims.net isn't perfect however the .net version is slowly but surely bringing everything back together and I believe it is very good! It does depends on your school and your requirements. Many academies do seem to be choosing CMIS, but in my opinion the User Interface is poor especially for admin staff I am not a fan of the e-Portal look either. Again its personal preference.

I just use External DVD-RW Roms

We are using Lesson Monitor 7 - which is the new Lesson Register - we have tried to use this rather than v6 for a long time and staff do find it easier. The way we promote is with the use of the timeline!!! They only need to double click on their lesson which is on their timeline on the homepage. I don't like v6 but Version 7 is fantastic and would recommend it - and it does look like Pars ! We are in the process of moving everything to Sims - therefore another application like Pars would go against the idea.

What is the font that SIMS.net uses? Its not Arial is it?

As long as data isn't accessible easily ... eg. staff have to logon locally to access the material on the laptop ... then it should be ok... it is protected. As for data on memory sticks... well the only thing we can do is password protect and encrypt them but who does that! I guess the server backup is probably password protected!?

From the initial post, I thought you were using the Green Abbey dataset as the training database. That's what I thought you were restoring on to your standalone system :? Oh... that is what I am doing! But what I did was attach it using DB Attach. Was that the wrong thing to do? ... Should I do the restore instead... May be I should uninstall everything and then start again?! :?

Its a clean install as I don't touch the settings or anything related to Live Sims.net... I am installing on the other network as a trial for certain staff to familarise them with functions.... Its fails to forward with "Sims.net Configuration" ... and when I run it manually it asks for SQL Login details ... you need 'Permission to configure database' I enter my SQL username and password which is the 'SA' login which I was prompted to do at install and fails with 'Invalid Login Details'. Trusted also fail ... even though it should work!! I don't have anything to restore... :?

@m2d2... Do you have any ideas how to get started then?

http://support.capitaes.co.uk/user/datasets.asp .... It was in my favorites!!

Capita Support Website ...

Getting ready for the new year... I have downloaded the new Datasets for SIMS December. Now... the LA deal with the Live data in SIMS.net - I am not going to touch that... but would like on our the other network to install a training dataset SIMS. Can anybody give / tell me a step by step way to do it... I have so far managed to do so but just can't logon ... SIMS.net Configuration Fails!!! But can get in to the SQL tables.

@grassisgrenner - got lots of documents that I could PM to you if you want them!!

We report to parent at 3 points during the school year - 1 at start of Autumn Term; 1 at start of Spring; and 1 at the start of Summer Term. Assessment Manager is used for these reporting intervals as well as Sixth Form requirements - who report 6 times a year [half termly]. In addition Statutory requirements by the DCSF are also reporting using AM. Personally I feel Assessment for Learning is an integral part of teaching and learning - where used appropriately. It is no good just collecting the data from teachers. Students need to know what 'grade' they are working at and a conversion needs to take place in order to determine how the student intends to do this. Teachers also need to integrate Assessment Strategies into lesson - and provide adequate opportunities for formative and informative assessment and opportunities for Progression. Sorry for the long post - but its a topic that I love!!

Teachers do have access to Names, Address, Telephone of Numbers of students - they would be given access to paper based information so they should be allowed it electronically.

If you have Sims.net you could use the Behaviour System in there ... we used sleuth previously but wanted everything to be integrated into Sims.net so Behaviour .net was used. Works well as it is linked directly to the Lesson Monitor 7.

Its important that before you take the plunge that you assess why your moving - personally I know of schools who take the plunge with 2 systems run in parallel and decide to stay with SIMS.net - due to various issues but key staff such as those doing cover/timetable and assessment finding the interface awful and it not doing what Sims does is some cases. Think wisely - Sims.net isn't perfect - but it is evolving all the time and personally I prefer it and so do most staff!!!

SIMS.net is good choice - and we too awaiting the webparts!! The webparts do follow the same routines and functions as the Sims.net Client and ultimately staff should use both as it may be better off if staff are on site to the use the client and when their off site use the webparts.

AIM High is an excellent system which we did use!! However our gradual plan has been to put everything centrally on Sims.net so that we don't have data on separate systems which is why we converted to Profiles and are quite happy.

Thanks for these Phil.... greatly appreciated - and it looks good too!!! Would hope that cover lessons appear on the homepage timeline too!

SIMS.net is far better now then SIMS v6 - you should certainly not rule it out - which includes an very good accounts system FMS.

Phil surely has some prototyping designs or system requirements he could share with us