Importing a report into SIMS (RptDef)

The following FAQ demonstrates how to import a Report Definition File (.RptDef) into SIMS.net. If the file is ‘zipped’, download the zip file to a location of your choice or copy the folder and put it somewhere you can find, i.e. your Desktop. Right click on the zip folder and choose ‘Extract all‘ and choose…

Changing The Font In An Individual Report Which Is Using PoS Information

When you pull through information from Programme of Study (PoS) you are not able to change the font to match the rest of the report just by selecting the information and then selecting the font or colour you would prefer. The steps to change the formatting in these columns is :- Change the style of…

Attendance reports for Vulnerable children – Pupil Premium, SEN, FSM or EAL.

The following Attendance/Lesson monitor reports can be run/created in order to show vulnerable groups of children and their attendance figures. This can include Pupil Premium, Special Educational Needs, Free School Meals, Ever6, English Additional Language and others. In order to get a ‘Whole group figure’ for these groups, go to: Reports > Attendance/Lesson Monitor >…

Testing Connection for Scomis Webtrain Service

Before subscribing to the Scomis Webtrain Service, you may want to test your connection to make sure that the software works with your network. You can follow this link – https://support.logmeininc.com/gotowebinar/help/join-a-test-session-g2w060001 – to join a test session.

Exporting a SIMS report as a CSV (comma separated) file

There are two ways to create a CSV file from a report, this is usually to import or send the file where it is imported into third party software. After creating the report, on the ‘Default output’ screen at the end of the report, select the Text option under Presentation, in the Format box selected…

CTF removes contact addresses in SIMS

A CTF has been imported into SIMS, however it has removed the address for the student’s contact(s). Generic patch 23690 is available to resolve the issue so that addresses are not removed upon importing CTFs. If you are a Hosted school, please request that this is applied to your data. Extract the zip and apply…

Subject Access Requests in Sims

Under data protection leglislation an individual has the right to ask to see a record of information an organisation holds about them, this is commonly referred to as a Subject Access Request. In order to assist schools with subject access requests Capita have made a Person Data Output report available in Sims. Student PDO’s were introduced in the Autumn 2017 release…

JC Gradesets Updated in the Spring 2018 upgrade

The Assessment Manager 7 Exam JC Gradesets have been updated in the Spring 2018 upgrade. Background Every time basedata is imported into Examinations Organiser (EO6), links are made with Assessment Manager (AM7). Specifically result aspects in AM7 are a container for the outcome of an exam assessment. These aspects are linked to Gradesets, which did not have…

Reporting on users SIMS permissions

It is not possible to report on users SIMS permissions groups in the normal reporting/design report area of SIMS, however there is a workaround as below: Go to Focus > System Manager > Manage Users. Click Search. The Print button will become live, click Print and choose the option to Export to a web browser….

Setting proxy server/settings in Microsoft Edge

Go to the … icon in the top right hand of the screen and go to Settings. Scroll down and choose View Advanced Settings Find the button as below under Proxy Setup called Open Proxy Settings Scroll down and find Manual proxy setup and turn Use a proxy server to On. Fill in the details for…

Adding a new/custom permission group to SIMS System Manager

When adding new users or controlling existing users access rights, you may find that you want the user to be able to access a specific area, but the pre-defined permission groups either give them too much or not enough permission to allow the user to do this. Within SIMS, go to Focus > System Manager…

Family Links not showing within sibling’s records

When you have entered students that are siblings into SIMS, they should all pull through to the corresponding Family Links panels as long as the parent’s records are the same and “Correspondence” and “Parental Responsibility” are ticked in both records. These pupils both have the same parents and both have the home symbols but are not…

Parent/Carer approval box not active within Options Online

Issue: When Parents/Carers are logged into Options Online they are unable to tick the approval box. Resolution: Within the Options Online plan definition you will need to make sure that the “School should approve student choices” tick box is completed. This will then make the Parent/Carer approval tick box live.

How are UCI numbers made up

The UCI consists of 13 characters: Centre number (5) Board Identifier (1) The academic year of registration (2) Candidate serial number (4) Check character (1) Centre Number The number of the centre where the Candidate took their first unit. Candidates moving to different centres part way through their course will retain their original UCI. Board…

Cloning an Existing Series of Basedata

After creating your Domestic Season you will need to open the Basedata window via Focus > Basedata. Right-click the DOM board, and then select “Clone a Previous Series” from the menu displayed Highlight the series that you want to clone and then enter a code & title. The code will need to start with the month…

Bulk update Correspondence tick box within a parental record

Within a student record, where the parental contacts are recorded there is an option for ‘Correspondence’. The Parental Correspondence on a contact should be set for those parents who do not live with the student and who wish to receive correspondence and/or a copy of the pupil report. “It is not currently possible to bulk update…

Nova-T6. SGDclash, SGDtable, SGDstaff error

Variations of error in Nova T sgdclash Tdraw celldata sgdtable TdrawCellData sgdstaff TdrawCellData sgdDays TdrawCellData sgdUnits TDrawCellData sgdAttributes TDrawCellData sgdPPATable TDrawCellData Explanation In some instances, the error can be avoided by not having the Year/Band timetable open in the background, or on another monitor (dual monitors), when making changes to the curriculum and timetable.   i.e. if…

Staff ethnicity in Catholic Census

When selecting ethnicity for staff as White British, it appears as Traveller of Irish/Gypsy/Roma Heritage in Census Return. Capita are aware of the problem and have confirmed that it can be ignored. When it is submitted to Collect it will not be submitted as part of the census return. The error is due to certain Lookups…

Configuring the Sims .net Homepage for Messages

This can be done in two ways:- The User may configure their own home page by using the spanner icon in the top right hand corner of the Home Page itself – via this option it is possible to add the panel ‘Messages’ There is a also multi user option which the individual user cannot…

Report for students who live with both parents/only live with one parent

A report to show students who live with both parents or either parent is becoming a common request due to a freedom of information request going around. There is no simple way to produce this report however there is a rptdef (Report Definition File) that can be imported into SIMS under Reports > Import and…

How do I delete a staff member in SIMS?

Sometimes it’s necessary to remove a member of staff in SIMS, if they have been added by accident or it’s a duplicate staff record. It is very important to only delete a staff record in the above circumstances, as when a member of staff is deleted from SIMS, this is permanent.  When the staff record…

Assessment Manager Import Activity Log

This log is available after importing new Assessment Manager resources via Focus>Assessment>Marksheet entry – usually following an upgrade Click Yes – this can take a long time, do not interrupt it, when finished it will show the activity log Click on Save and choose a location Unless this is manually saved at the time there…

Redstor Remote Backup – How to resolve skipped file errors

Even if an overnight automated backup is successful, you may receive notification that there were possible errors. On checking the log files, there could be some (or even several) files which don’t backup. You can find out which files these are by checking the log files in the console. It is the schools responsibility to ensure all…

Where can I locate my finance files? (Devon Schools)

Devon schools use Anycomms to download finance files which consist of the following file types: dt – Devon Transfer ii – Internal Invoices bm – Budget Management pi – Payroll Information To download these files, you need to log into Anycomms, ensure the download file path is set, (Hosted schools)  F:\public>anycomms>Inbox (Non hosted schools)  – C:\anycomms>Inbox  Once you have downloaded these files, you will then…

Reporting on open contracts in SIMS

Occasionally when reporting on Peronnel and Contracts within SIMS, it will display a closed contract for the member of staff. There is no specific option within the Reporting module to only make the open contracts show, you will need to filter the workaround as follows: Expand the ‘Employment Details‘ section and pick the blue ‘Contracts‘…

Student with mismatched years not showing in Options

Options does not recognise students whose Year and Year Taught in are mismatched. To workaround this issue we need to temporarily amend the Year Group to match Year Taught In. If this year’s Year 10 are to be included in next year’s Year 10 Options implementation, then you must open the History by clicking the…

SIMS and FMS Spring 2018 Upgrade

Documentation: Release notes containing detailed information on what is included in the upgrade can be downloaded here: Spring 2018 Release Notes Headlines: Statutory Returns School Census Summer 2018 files are included in this release. Examinations Organiser and SIMS Reports to identify QNs missing from the Manage Performance Indicator screen Ability to record Level 2 Technical Qualifications at…

Advice on using Construction and Maintenance Datasets

When a construction dataset is submitted to Sims it reads the curriculum from Sims .net and matches what is in the file with what is already in Sims and if it is the same doesn’t change anything.  Where there are differences in the submitted file to what is held in Sims, changes are made in Sims with effect from the start…