How to handle rotations in the Timetable.

There are two ways to carry out Timetable rotations. The first is if the Students are rotating and the Teacher & Room are staying the same the other is if the students are staying within the same room and the teacher are rotating. If the students are rotating and the teacher is staying the same…

FMS Emailing Orders as PDFs

Since the FMS Autumn 2013 upgrade, it has been possible to automatically email suppliers with the purchase order instead of printing it out and faxing it through.  Below are the steps necessary to enable and set up this functionality within the Hosted Environment. If using a school domain as the “from” address for the email…

Backup Control Update

A fault was identified with the Scomis Backup Control utility which results in a SIMS .net database backup not functioning as expected.  The fault has been tracked to a database version name change as a result of the Capita SIMS upgrade. A update to Backup Control has been issued and is available for download using…

Nova T6 Documentation

Click here to download the Maintaining Nova document which supports training on Day 3 and Day 4 of the Nova T6 for New Users Course. Reviewed on 01/08/2019

FMS Managing Users

When you need to create new user accounts or amend/reset passwords within FMS, you use the Managing Users function.  We have put together a short video that demonstrates this functionality. It is beneficial to set your window zoom to allow you to see the whole of the screen without having scroll bars.  Amend the zoom…

Trial Balance Report – Option to hide FC and FD Codes

From the Spring 2014 upgrade Capita has changed the way schools can choose to use or hide FC and FD codes from the Trial Balance Report.  The following is included in their documentation for the upgrade. Enhancements to the Summary Trial Balance By Ledger Code Report This report has been enhanced to enable you to decide whether to…

Service Children and Pupil Premium

Back to Pupil Premium FAQ   These notes are designed to clarify the difference between who you record in census as a Service Child and the Service Children you will receive Pupil Premium for.   Who to record as a Service Child The Service Children indicator recorded on the School Census indicates if a child…

Reference Start Date for Cover Totals

If you get the following error message, these are the steps you need to perform, in order to reinstate the Reference Start Date for Cover Totals. To reinstate this date, please close down Cover and navigate to Tools – Cover – Global Settings. You will then be able to put the date back into the Reference…

Customising the Corero/Outlook Settings

If you use Corero for sending orders or remittance advice Emails, you may wish to further configure Outlook to allow replies to automatically be returned to the schools email address. Please ensure that you have completed the Using Outlook with Corero instructions – Setting up for the first time from http://faq.scomis.org/kb10764 Open Outlook   Specify an…

Swap between timetable reports within SIMS

Within Reports – Timetables it is now possible to switch between timetable reports from a report output by clicking a component on the timetable. For example, from the Staff Timetable(s) report, clicking the room name on the output displays in a separate window that room’s timetable for the timetable cycle.  This functionality was previously available…

Cover and Absences on Teacher’s timelines

Routines | Home Page | Home Page Timeline Configuration Using the Home Page Timeline Configuration functionality, it is now possible to enable the display of additional information on the My Timeline widget on the SIMS Home Page, including absence details (who is covering your lesson, reason for absence, etc.), room names and lessons for which…

Attendance Code F

Due to changes in the Education Regulations, Headteachers can now only grant leave of absence during term time in exceptional circumstances and are responsible for determining the number of days permitted to be taken. Therefore, the Headteacher no longer needs to grant extended leave. This has resulted in the use of attendance code F (extended…

Protecting your computer(s) against Viruses and Malware

Protecting your computer(s) against Viruses and Malware Anti-Virus Software • Install a quality Anti-Virus package that includes Malware protection*. • Regularly check to make sure that the virus definition file is being updated daily. • Regularly check for patches or newer versions of the software which require manually installing. • Schedule regular full system virus…

CryptoLocker/Wannacry Malware

What is CryptoLocker/Wannacry? CryptoLocker/Wannacry is a malicious program that when installed will encrypt important files and documents on your computer making them unusable, and then demand payment to restore access to them. Once your files have been encrypted by CryptoLocker/Wannacry they are not recoverable by any means other than paying the money demanded. Even if…

Splitvhdx WSB System State backup error – Server 2012

There is a known bug with the following updates for Windows 2012 and system state backup – KB2871777 – KB2876315 – KB2871389 It causes the error “SplitVHDX.exe has an error (exit code = 2). See backupservice.log for more detail.” within the log files. If you are receiving that error and have those updates installed on…

Base Pay in the SWC

Base Pay is being collected Base Pay is calculated from the information in SIMS.   If your information in SIMS is update to date and you have included the latest pay award the SWC should calculate it correctly. To check the information print out the Payment Details detailed report after you have created and validated…

How to enter a Pay Award in Sims .net

At various times pay awards are negotiated for different types of staff and the resulting agreed amounts published.  These figures will then need to be entered into Sims .net for both the School Workforce Census and budgeting purposes. The latest pay award information for those schools who are following the nationally agreed pay scales (LA…

SIMS Personnel – Pay Related

Due to the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions changes effective from September 2013 which removes a mandatory pay structure for teachers, Local Authorities and SCOMIS are unable to provide automatic updates in the future.  This decision has been taken because schools now have the option of setting their own pay scales (within defined minimum and maximum points)….

Troubleshooting System State backups (using wsb plugin)

This FAQ can be updated each time new errors with known fixes or better troubleshooting techniques are developed. Troubleshooting system state backup on server 2008 can be time consuming and there are various factors which can cause wsb system state backup to fail within the Scomis remote backup service . First of all, check that…

Updating the backup Email List – Process

Open Remote Backup 13-14.xlsm – Read Only is fine. Path to spreadsheet is – \\ds\docs\Exeter, Great Moor House\EALData\Traded\ScoMIS\Admin\ScoMIS Unit Finance\2013-14*\Remote Backup 13-14.xlsm *when we enter the 2014-15 financial year, use the subsequent \2014-15\ folder and so on Go to Summary tab Click Export Latest Data (for Service Desk) and wait for the process to complete…

Parent Missing House Icon

If an address for a parent is missing the House icon you will need to do the following: Modify the Parents Address within the Pupils details to have a significant difference. (i.e. House name written in capitals) so when you browse you can see the incorrect address. Next look up the parent in Focus – Persons…

Batch Photo Import Licence

 Schools can be supplied with a Photo Import Licence from an accredited school photographer for which there is an annual charge. A list of the accredited photographers can be found at Accredited photographers | ESS SIMS (ess-sims.co.uk) Schools should contact these photographers directly for a new licence. The Exception To The Rule Schools who have…

SEN Provision in the School Census

The school census summary shows Pupils on Roll with SEN Provision and includes Number of SEN Pupils in a mainstream school who are members of a Special Provision (SEN Unit), and Number of SEN Pupils in a mainstream school who are members of a Special Provision (Resourced Provision) If a school has added SEN Provisions…

School Workforce Census & Pay Performance

Latest advice from Capita: Changes to teachers pay from September 2013 The updated STPCD 2013 explicitly states: From September 2013 schools may find that they are initially operating more than one pay system within each pay range to accommodate existing teachers and new entrants. This is acceptable and it will be for schools to determine…

SIMS Staff Performance Enhancements

Capita have provided Appraisal and CPD Functionality into their SIMS Personnel records, in order to aid schools with their new Performance Pay legislation requirements.  This will be released as a separate upgrade entitled SIMS Summer Release 2 and will incur a one-off charge per school. Scomis have put together a powerpoint guide, previewing the new functionality,…