Autumn 2023 Upgrade to SIMS (v7.214) and FMS (v6.214)

The Autumn 2023 SIMS Upgrade (V7.214) & FMS (V6.214) is planned to be rolled out on the evening of : Friday 10th of November (Scomis Hosted users please log off by 5pm)   Non Hosted users: The new release will be authorised in Solus on: Friday 10th of November SIMS Release Notes FMS Release Notes SIMS…

Dealing with Internal Invoices/Payments via Central payments in FMS

Reconciliation items for income may be received into FMS Automatic Reconciliation on a ledger code that you do not wish to use. If this is the case do not process the reconciliation item as normal, instead carry out a central payment into FMS to record the income against the correct ledger code as follows:  …

SIMS – National Insurance Rates 2022/23

Capita have now issued a PDF file with the latest National Insurance Rates for 2022/23. There is now a Capita patch available, number 26960, which will insert the National Insurance table 2022-23 on your behalf. If you have already created the table for 2022-23, the patch will overwrite the existing table. The patch adds an…

FMS Full Invoice number not showing in central payment upload file

ESS have introduced in FMS from v6.202 a Full invoice number field following requests from schools – this field will only work for Local Payment (own Bank Account) Schools. It has been identified that the Full invoice number field does not transfer to the central payment file created by those schools sending invoices to their Local…

Cannot post or cancel a non-invoiced receipt – FMS

In the FMS Focus > Non-Invoiced Income > Receipts the cancel and post buttons are greyed out This occurs if this is a Cash or Cheque receipt. Focus > Non-invoiced income > Paying in slips.  To post a cash or cheque receipt a paying in slip must be created. The action of posting the paying…

Spring 2022 Upgrade to SIMS (v7.204) and FMS (v6.204)

The Spring 2022 SIMS Upgrade (V7.204) & FMS (V6.204) is planned to be rolled out on the evening of Wednesday 13th April 2022 from 5.30pm (Scomis Hosted users please log off by 5pm)   The upgrade contains a new SIMS & FMS Eligibility Check.  Please click here for further information  Release notes containing detailed information on…

Spring 2021 Upgrade to SIMS (v7.198) and FMS (v6.198)

The Spring 2021 SIMS Upgrade (V7.198) & FMS (V6.198) is planned to be rolled out over the weekend starting from 5pm on Friday 26th March, 2021. (Scomis Hosted users please log off by 5pm) Release notes containing detailed information on what is included in the upgrade can be downloaded below: Spring 2021 SIMS – Combined Release…

Prepare Authorised Payments – Error ‘Previously processed file found’

Prepare Authorised Payments – error ‘previously processed file found’ This error is caused by the previous processed file still showing in F:\public\SIMS\Transfer\OUT The processed file should have successfully moved to F:\public\SIMS\Transfer\SENT. Check that the file in Transfer\OUT is also showing in Transfer\SENT. If it is then the file in Transfer\OUT can be renamed ‘duplicate’  on…

FMS Salary Commitments for all Teachers – are showing incorrectly.

When all staff in a particular service term in FMS are showing incorrectly, this is usually due to a new pay award being entered into SIMS Personnel. Earlier in the year, for budgeting purposes, the known or anticipated % pay increase for September may have been added in FMS. Once the pay award is entered…

FMS Year End Procedures

The following guide will help you through the steps to take for  the FMS Year End Procedures Local Authority schools new financial year start in April Academy schools new financial year starts in September Please click the link below: FMS End of Year procedures    

DEVON SCHOOLS ONLY – Submitting Claims through iTrent

Please note that the claims prep system in SIMS is no longer in use; please submit all claims for payment into iTrent. The employee is able to do this through self-service and you can then approve the claim once the system is available, or your administrators can input the claim on behalf of the employee…

How Do I Spoil A cheque?

If you have a cheque that has e.g. been damaged by the printer you will need to spoil the cheque within FMS, in order to re-run the cheque processing for the suppliers associated with the cheque numbers of the spoilt cheques. 1) You can only spoil a cheque if you have not confirmed printing.  When…

Unable to Fix Budget: FMS Error: Budget cannot be fixed. Cost Centre expenditure limits must be equal to expenditure allocations at ledger code level

When trying to fix the budget in FMS you may receive the error above.  This is because the Expense Limit and Expense Allocated figures do not match. To match these figures go to; Focus | Budget Management | Cost Centre Allocation. Click the “Columns” icon and select “Expense Limit” and “Expense Allocated ” You will…

Salary Calculator

Please click the link below for notes on using the Salary Calculator : Salary Calculator NB. These notes include details on how to stop the Salary Calculator automatically incrementing the pay scale. KB23924    

Unable to delete fully invoiced order in Local Payments School

Order shows as fully invoiced, not reconciled, but there is no option to cancel or delete. This is due to the cheque processing area not being completed, to resolve use the following steps:- 1 – Cancel the cheque payment under Focus>Accounts Payable>Cheque Processing, 2 – Cancel the invoice under Focus>Accounts Payable>Invoice/Credit Note This should then…

Aged Creditor Report showing cancelled cheques

If a cheque is cancelled then the corresponding invoice should either be cancelled as well or a new cheque issued depending on the situation. Ensure that all outstanding invoices have been processed via the Cheque or BACS routines – try adding a new run to flag up any remaining. If the invoices need paying or…

How to cancel a cheque in FMS

1. Focus>Accounts Payable>Cheque Processing. 2. Highlight the cheque run that has the cheque that you wish to cancel and press Enter. 3. This will then take you into the cheque run and then in the top box you will be able to see all the cheques that have been issued. 4. Locate the cheque that…

FMS Invoice showing as “On Hold”

If you are authorising a batch of invoices in FMS and one shows as On Hold, you will not be able to tag and export it until it shows as authorised. In order to change the status from On Hold to Authorised, you need to go to Focus – Accounts Payable – Invoice/Credit Note and…

How to adjust a posted petty cash claim – central payment school

It is sometimes necessary to adjust a petty cash claim which is already posted, for instance when an incorrect VAT code has been used or if the amount has been mistyped.  This is possible but care must be taken not to cancel the whole claim in error. Go to Focus>General Ledger>Petty Cash and open the…

AnyComms error message

An error has occurred downloading files, error: The server was unable to process the request due to an internal error This was resolved by AVCO at their end.   kb19822  

Unable to run VAT report early

It is possible to edit the end date of the VAT period but not to produce the submittal until the date has gone. Therefore, in order to do the submittal today set the end date to yesterday.  This can be done via Tools>Define VAT Periods KB18973

FRS file does not match database

Unable to load a saved *.frs file back into Financial Reporting Suite due to the error:- “Selected file does not match the school database that is currently connected to FRS. Please log out of FRS and log back into the correct FMS database.” Check that an upgrade has not been applied since the file creation…

Missing invoice/supplier

This is often manifested with a mismatch of supplier details showing on an invoice and/or it missing from manual reconciliation. Check Focus>Accounts Payable>Supplier – change the view to All and page down for any suppliers with a tick in the on hold column.  Clues maybe a similar supplier name or if the school knows the supplier has changed…

Trial Balance shows fund as UNK

When using the Trial Balance software the fund shows as UNK in the File Header window. Please ensure that the ‘Choose Financial Year’ selector shows the current system year, not the year to which the data refers. If the correct financial year has been selected in the “Trial balance” software that matches the FMS file, please…