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We are considering Groupcall on Demand as an option for moving forwards and eliminating the headache associated with importing data from various sources. Just curious if anyone is using this and how you got along with it, particularly if you encountered any resistance / anxieties from the schools about how their data may be stored? thx

Hi, We are trailing Emerge (sims on mobiles and ipads), but the management isnt much good. You also need another password it wont use sims permissions etc. Does anyone know anything else thats out there. Thanks

I started writing this as a comment to the article linked below, but it got very painful really quickly, especially with no preview, so here it is in it's own thread: OK So initial feedback from showing the BETT video (EduGeek.net - BETT 2010 - Capita and Stone Computers Demo) of the SIMS app to staff and management has been very positive and i've been doing some digging, asking some questions of my account manager (who checked some things with Groupcall) and i thought i'd share the responses for anyone that is interested. Answers have been reworded slightly. I'd like a demo on my phone to test. I was hoping for this at BETT, but it was not offered. Is it possible to try it out? -> Demo link to follow Contact your account manager for info. If i install to my personal handset then decide to leave, can it be remote disabled? -> Each device has a unique installation and can be remotely locked/disabled. Follow up: I'd like for it to auto disable if not synched for x-days. It appears from the settings the different DBs have expiration times but i think that just controls when it next synchs. At secondary pricing I'd need 28 units minimum before it's worth getting a site licence, but i only want to try it out with 1/2/5 initially, how will that work if i later add many more? [secondary: £299 1st device, £99 after that. £2995 site. Primary: £195 1st device, £99 after that. £1995 site.] -> Once a number of individual school licences reach the equivalent of the site licence, the school’s licence will automatically be upgraded to a site licence. [therefore cost is capped.] Follow up: What affect if any is there for a dual Primary/Secondary site, where most of my students are Primary (2/3). Usually new modules require installation / training, at additional cost. What is the hit? -> Training is optional since Emerge is so intuitive. Remote training can be provided if desired. On-line training materials are available and will be sent to existing customers on receipt of payment. Groupcall is in the process of creating a range of training videos I'd like the nurses to have access too. When will medical / behaviour be available? -> A number of profiles are currently available, however we can add / create bespoke profiles as requested. The additional of medical information is available now. Groupcall intends to add the facility to write back behaviour information in the next release (due April 11) Assessment information is currently under review, and we’re hopeful that it’ll be added before the new academic year (Sept 11), however this is yet to be specified or confirmed. Can one device be used with multiple logins, i.e. I can have a shared iPad for Heads of Year to use? -> Yes it is possible to set this up using the Emerge management console which will be installed for the school to manage. Any idea on timeframe for other devices i.e. Android, Nokia, etc. -> Not defined yet - but hopefully an Android app will be available in the next few months, followed by WM& and then Java. ============================ Further queries and thoughts posed: iPod Touch 4 is currently around £150 here for an 8GB. I think 3rd gen is cheaper still. Will it work on that? Is the pricing annual? Or is there an on going cost? The demo, appeared to have a limit of around 50 students on a search, but i may be wrong. When searching it finds the character / combo in any part of the name, so 'al' returns 'sally' and 'wallis'. That could be a limitation for me! Can it access UDGs so when used for a school trip all info is in one list? Any recommendations on management software to lock down usage of the devices? On this i'm thinking one of the synch charge cases / racks seen at BETT2011 would do the job. They could all be restored from backup to prevent rubbish being downloaded. Any useful apps though could be added for all. I'll be looking at other threads regarding this, as i'm sure it'll be an issue when kids get given iPads; dont want them playing Angry Birds! (Unless it's in Physics!)

1. The instructions say "Once all the requirements are met, download the Xporter Client and follow our step by step guide to complete the installation." https://www.groupcall.co.uk/clients/emerge/xod/GroupcallXporter_Setup.exe The instructions then say https://support.communitybrands.uk/s/article/Xporter-How-to-install-Xporter-SIMS "Once all the requirements are met, download the Xporter Client and follow the instructions below to complete the installation. " That link is to a different installer https://www.groupcall.co.uk/clients/Emerge/XoD/XporterOnDemand_Setup.exe Which do I run? Both? Who knows. 2. Both installers are broken in different ways. One tries to download another update, then crashes They both complain that SIMS permissions are not correct when they are Both of them skipped the final screen where it asked for your web login credentials 3. The requirements do not specify SIMS has to be installed on the same machine 4. They require your web credentials instead of using an API key 5. Updates occur via http even though https is available 6. It fails to work with proxies 7. It installs an http web server without asking, that does not just listen on localhost, and has no authentication. And it's on port 80 8. Support insists on using logmein, which appears to not work with proxies either 9. Support has no clue and spends 4 hours blaming filtering, while not actually being on the phone for a conversation 10. Program fails to find the log4net dll it installed, and then why I copy it to the same folder fails to find more dlls, copy all of them and then it fails to find a dll that doesn't exist 11. SQL errors 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: Using Substitute file: C:\Program Files (x86)\Groupcall\Xporter\Emerge\Xod\Gcx\All\Sql\EmergeUpdate.sqlenc 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: Substitute: &EmergeUpdate = " &UpdateData -- 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: Warning! Undefined Substitution Var (&UpdateData) 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: Substitute: &UpdateData = "undefsub" 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: Warning! Undefined Substitution Var (&DatabaseName) 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: Substitute: &DatabaseName = "undefsub" 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: Sql Script, Syntax Errors Detected 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: Found: undefsub, Message: Error when tokenlize 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: In the following statement 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: -->undefsub 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: ---- 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: Found: undefsub, Message: Error when tokenlize 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: In the following statement 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: ---- 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: End of Errors 12-Jul-23 13:02:49: EmergeXod8917012-Update: Found OnFinalize 12-Jul-23 13:02:50: EmergeXod8917012-Update: Completed OnFinalize 12-Jul-23 13:02:50: EmergeXod8917012-Update: EGCSqlException: Sql Script, Syntax Errors detected 12-Jul-23 13:02:50: EmergeXod8917012-Update: Report Failed 12. It's decided to import students who've left the school. 13. It's installed 3 different things all with stupid names, xporter, emerge, xod

Does anyone have any experience with Canvas - particularly with regard to how well data is pulled through from SIMS? Would be interested to know whether there are issues with the amount of manual adjustment or maintenance within Canvas that may be required or how well GroupCall (or alternatives) work. Or alternative VLEs to Canvas...

Hi. I have an old 'job' in xporter that is surplus to requirements as we no longer subscribe to the linked service. Is it possible to delete it? If so, how? Thanks very much.

We currently have Schoolcomms for parent/student/staff communication - we also have Groupcall Emerge for taking registers on iPads & iPhones. We are considering movng from Schoolcomms to Groupcall Messenger - has anyone made this move ( or the other way ) and what if any are the fundamental pitfalls or gains. Messenger will work out a lot cheaper for us and we get a Emerge discount for using Messenger.

Currently we use Sims.NET. It is supported by our local LEA based team, the Westfield Centre. Apparently they are going to come in in the holidays and install some additional software called 'GroupCall'. Apparently this software is supposed to call parents when their child is truant automatically. Now does anyone currently use (or have used) GroupCall, or similar software to do this? If so, what were your experiences?

OK folks, I'm back in schools again and that means I am back in the MIS forum with the weird technical problems once more! No SIMS this time, I'm using Arbor! Also we need a topic tag for it... I am trying to get it to play nicely with FFT which keeps dumping students in the wrong year group. They have traced the problem to the NC Year in Groupcall Xporter not being the same as the Year group in Arbor. I've run a report in Arbor with Year Group and NC Year as columns but they both match. Has anyone come across this before and knows the cause? I'm completely new to Arbor! Nothing looks out of place but I am not 100% sure how to check and want to make sure it isn't our end before I ring Groupcall again.

We run moodle VLE 4.2 hosted in-house with OvernetData providing CMIS Integration for Moodle. We have a problem that user accounts have not been created in moodle as the StudentID field doesn't exist in Active Directory where moodle is expecting it. So when the MIS integrator on moodle looks at the data on CMIS it can't match that with any account in Active Directory because the link field in AD is missing. The students' set data can't then be brought across from CMIS into Moodle. When the accounts were created in Active Directory the studentID was not part of the data used to create those accounts. Please note the system has not changed and has worked fine in previous years. If seems that the StudentID field just appears in the correct place in Active Directory and no one seems to be able to explain how it gets there??? Is it the case that the Groupcall exporter running on CMIS writes the data to the field in AD? Does any of this make sense to anyone, any ideas? Hope I've given enough information....