Esteban_Child_of_the_Sun

This error is in the SQL database, SIMS has the logins stored in 2 places, 1 in the system databases and the other in the SIMS database. When we get this we used to have to ask Capita to dial in and fix it, but a while ago they gave us instructions to do it ourselves. Log a call with your SIMS support and they (or Capita) will be able to solve it. The fix only takes about 2 minutes.

Rooms only really exists because of timetabling, if you don't timetable your registration periods then you probably won't be able to pick up the data in a single report.

Create a report for the Data area School | Group, then pick the data fields Group Name and Supervisor, then add a filter of Group Type = House

Not with SIMS 7.

I have done something similar with Doddle for one of our schools. I decided to use an Excel Macro to do all the logic of the conversion and spit out an Assessment Manager results file to be imported to SIMS with the desired results already generated. The logic was far easier to code in VBA than it would have been in a SIMS template.

Try using the Discover backup utility. Here is a line from my batch script "%SQLINSTALLPATH%\Binn\Discover.Backup.Console.exe" /Operation=Backup /database=Discover /Server=%SERVERNAME%\%SQLINSTANCE% /Username=SA /Password=%SAPASSWORD% /Backupfilename=c:\backup\Discover.dbk

SIMS permissions are very much tied in to the way users are created in SIMS. E.g. you could create a login for J Bloggs but if they are a class teacher then you would also need to create them in Personnel (which they may already be there, in which case you need to link their login to that record). Because of these links within SIMS it is not realistic to have a utility that can make all the links needed without it being as complex (if not more) than SIMS to configure. Once you've taken in to account permissions related to teachers, TA, agency staff, the timetable, the pastoral structure, heads of department, etc you may as well sit down with the manuals for the different areas of SIMS used in school and work through giving what are probably already existing people in the SIMS database the setup needed for permissions you desire and then generate that record a login to SIMS manually. Your SIMS support unit should be able to assist you with all the bits that need configuring.

In this context what Capita mean by 'release a patch' is that they have initiated the process where by it is uploaded to their distribution server. That doesn't mean they have necessarily authroised it for any customers. Exactly what get authorised to whom and when, is more unclear.

titch, you can bulk delete assessment results through Routines | Performance | Assessment | System Utilities | Results, though a word of warning, make a backup first as it is possible to delete large amounts of unintended data if you aren't careful. Capita have built it so you have to specify a lot of detail to target just the results you intend and it is all needed, so don't try and skip any of the steps unless you are sure they are not relevant to your situation.

Briefly, you need to open the the assessment manager template that you want to import the data in to and make a note of the aspects and result sets it uses (or just have 2 copies of SIMS open and refer to the other one as you are doing the import). Then go through Routines | Import | Assessment | Import from Spreadsheet, select your file then specify the identifiers for each column in the file that you want to import.

Yes you can download the ISO and do a manual upgrade like self hosting LSUs do.

In the past with these sort of issues I have asked the user if they minded me installing a screen and keyboard/mouse recorder on their computer, saying it will allow for a more detailed analysis of the situation when a particular record doesn't save as we can look back and see if the software was giving any warnings they didn't pick up on at the time. It also allows us to spot user error and can be handy when proving that to the user if they are particularly defensive/dismissive about the issue in the most tactful way possible.

Is there a pattern to the missing marks? i.e. all girls are missing marks, or all PM sessions, or all of 2 classes, etc. Do they use anything like the SIMS Teacher App or any other program that has the capability to record attendance?

Are you changing your version of SQL server at the same time (i.e. upgrading to SQL 2014 or 2016)? If not, then from a SIMS perspective it'll be just the same (though if you are going form 32 to 64 bit OS then there are various considerations). If anything it will make your life easier as I find it simpler to manage SIMS on Server 2012 R2 especially with PowerShell, etc.

We got round the issue by making a directory junction in the base image for 64 bit workstations cd "C:\Program Files" mklink /J SIMS "C:\Program Files (x86)\SIMS"

According tot he DfE regulations, a student's previous school is only required to send 1 CTF to the new school a student starts at within 15 academic days of them starting at the new educational establishment after the have left the last one. Any other CTFs requested by the new school are on a purely voluntary basis. “shall transfer the pupil’s common transfer file and educational record to the responsible person of the new school no later than fifteen school days after the day on which the pupil ceases to be registered at the old school.” (source The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005, 9. (3))

In which system?

You can also extract the NovaSateliteSetup.exe from the latest SIMS release package on SOLUS3

Hi RichP, we use the Capita Hosted SIMS 3rd Party VPN connector. In short is is a software VPN connection to the Azure Cloud that is firewalled to only let some traffic through. There is a local copy of SIMS installed on the machine the VPN is running on which works just like a conventional non-hosted SIMS would and has it's own automated upgrade as part of the VPN connector software Capita install. Only processes using the unmodified Capita provided files in the SIMS.net folder will be allowed through the firewall, thus if you 3rd party product uses the dll files in the SIMS.net folder they will be fine, if however they just make a direct connection to the SQL server they probably won't work. Having said that it can be hard to distinguish between them as you usually have to enter the SIMSServer\Instance name for either method to work.

If you want Discover to be more easily restored on anything other than an exact duplicate of the system it came from you may find this a bit more useful. (Plus it lets you correct some errors that can occur in Discover by editing the backup file and restoring back to your system) $discoBackupExe = $SQLInstPath+'\Binn\Discover.Backup.Console.exe' # Backup Discover, writes to a config file $discoFile = "{0}\Discover\{1}-{2}-Disco.dbk" -f $backupDir, $site, $DoTW &$discoBackupExe /operation=backup /server=$instance /database=Discover /backupfilename=$discoFile /overwrite=true | Out-Null

When a template get modified by anyone/anything in SIMS the old version of the template is stored as an orphaned document. I'd recommend exporting a copy of your Assessment Manager Individual report as it is at the moment, then going to 'SIMS.net | Tools | Housekeeping | Document Management Server | Maintain Orphaned Documents' and look for the last copy of your template in there. You're SIMS support unit should be able to provide you with documentation and guidance about the best way to go about this if needed.

We had a situation a couple of years ago where nursery staff were trying to create CTF files for leavers but the "leavers current academic year" filter on the CTF export screen was bringing up pupils from many years ago. Capita told us to change the academic year but back then you couldn't get to the academic year menu route in a nursery. In the end someone from Capita remoted in and went to a table in the DB and just changed the "Current academic year" for all staff to the current one. It looked like quite a simple change (which is why I asked Capita for a patch to do the same thing again next year) but in the end they just made the academic management menu route available to nurseries to solved the problem.

Patch 13433 will force the prompt to re-appear after logging back in to SIMS after it's run.

The scheduled tasks just processes any scheduled report any user has set, if no-one has sent any scheduled reports up then there won't be anything for it to process and thus nothing for you to see. I can't remember off hand if you can see all scheduled tasks or only your own in that menu route.

I asked Capita about this a couple of years ago. They said they could develop a patch to do that for £600 (ish). Unsurprisingly we declined.