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,…

Downloading and Importing of Exams Basedata – The Basics.

Details of examinations are supplied by examination boards as basedata files. The exam boards distribute a complete set of basedata appropriate to a particular time of year that they refer to as a Series. The basedata files contain most of the required information including syllabuses, options, components, dates and duration of examinations, maximum marks for…

Sims.net – Minimum System Requirements.

Capita make strong recommendations about the hardware specification of the hardware to run SIMS Workstations of Minimum System Requirements specification would be recommended for occasional use and are likely to be less able to deal with multiple open applications. Staff who spend significant amounts of time using SIMS are strongly recommended to use equipment bought…

What qualifications count towards the English Baccalaureate Qualification?

  What is the English Baccalaureate? The English Baccalaureate was introduced as a performance measure in the 2010 performance tables. It is not a qualification in itself. The measure recognises where pupils have secured a C grade or better across a core of academic subjects – English, mathematics, history or geography, the sciences and a…

Year 11 Leavers – DfE Advice

The official school leaving date is the last Friday in June in the school year in which a student reaches age 16. Where a Year 11 student has applied and been accepted into the school 6th form, they must remain on roll until the end of term. Code X can be used for the period…

Student total by key pastoral factors is not showing in Discover

If you cannot see the ‘Student Totals By Key Pastoral Factors’ graph within Discover, then it is likely that the user who is currently logged into Discover does not have the required permissions. In order to be able to view this graph within Discover, the affected user must at least be able to view the…

School has changed the Dfe Number, do we need a new Secure Access account?

If the school has changed the Dfe Number in Sims.net you will also need to request a new Secure Access Account (S2S,Collect & Teachernet). The old Dfe number and username/password will remain available for 6 months so that the school can still download files for that account. Please complete the form on the Secure Access…

Database Diagnostics – Table of Checks and Fixes

Table of Checks and Fixes DATABASE DIAGNOSTICS To Run Database Diagnostics from SIMS click Tools – System Diagnostics – Database Diagnostics. [NOTE: Do not run this during a busy work period as it may slow SIMS down for other users.] Reviewed on 24/10/2016