Summer 2023 Upgrade to SIMS (v7.212) and FMS (v6.212) – UPDATED
The Summer 2023 SIMS Upgrade (V7.212) & FMS (V6.212) is planned to be rolled out on the evening of : Friday 4th of August
(Scomis Hosted users please log off by 5pm)
Please note the date for the upgrade has changed to the above date. Due to the release of the SIMS Consolidated Workstation Patch 1/2 for the Summer upgrade we need to do further testing to ensure full compatibility with the Scomis Hosted platform. Because of this we will now be performing the SIMS Summer Upgrade on the Hosted platform on Friday the 4th of August. We realise this is not ideal and it is important to get this upgrade applied as soon as possible and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Non Hosted users: The new release will be authorised in Solus on: Friday 4th of August
If a school is using an older version of SOLUS3 (lower than 3.12.59), they will no longer be able to download or deploy updates via SOLUS.
Schools are advised to update to version 3.12.59 or newer, with the latest version being recommended. At the time of publication of this article the latest SOLUS3 release is version 3.12.72 with support for 3.12.59 due to end following the Summer 2023 SIMS release. If the school are running a version older than 3.12.59 this will need to be carried out via the downloadable installers as it will not be possible to deploy the update from SOLUS if they are running 3.12.50 or prior. For more information please see this guide from ESS.
Please see the latest Information on the Summer release below:
UPDATE 10/7/23 – Summer Release CTF 23
ESS have released the following update regarding consolidated workstation patch 1:
‘We have been made aware of an error in the Summer 2023 release wherein when exporting a CTF, the new ‘Sex’ tag is being used prior to the introduction of CTF 23 which comes into effect as of the 1st August 2023. This is causing an error when attempting to then import at the destination school and is presenting the “Missing or invalid Core Data” error.
We will provide a workstation patch for the SIMS Summer Release 2023 that will solve the problem described above by ensuring that our CTF Export functionality includes the <Gender> tag rather than the <Sex> tag for CTF 22. We will not be changing any other part of our CTF application, as they are operating as expected.’
UPDATE 21/7/23 – CONSOLIDATED WORKSTATION PATCH 2
ESS have released consolidated workstation patch 2 to resolve the issue below:
‘We have been made aware of a small number of schools that are experiencing an error when they are attempting to access the Cover module in SIMS where the school also uses B2B. We are pleased to confirm that the SIMS Summer 2023 – Consolidated Workstation Patch 2 – Cover Crash for B2B has now been released’
ADMISSIONS
Prospective Pupils label changed from Gender to Sex NEW
Applicable to schools in England only
Routines | Admissions |Enquiry | Prospective Pupils
Updating the label as Sex instead of Gender in the Prospective Pupils area allows for consistency with the rest of SIMS7.
EXAMINATIONS ORGANISER
Manually adding QANs NEW
Applicable to schools in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland
Tools | Examinations | Add Qualification Data
The Discount Code and Qualification Type fields have been updated with smart search so you can enter a partial code to find the needed one. The Awarding body field has been sorted by description to improve searchability.
New Candidate Statement of Results report with Component results NEW
Applicable to schools in England and Wales only
Tools | Examinations | Candidate Statement of Results Report
Exam officers can generate a printable report with component results (combined exam and component results) which can be provided to students on the exam results day.
FEES BILLING
Generating Letters and Update of Communication Log NEW
Applicable to Independent schools
Fees Manager | Fees Clerk | Receipt Clerk
New Debtor letter templates have been made available to chase up outstanding debts with the registered Bill Payer/s.
SCHOOL CENSUS AUTUMN RETURNS
Key Dates for the School Census Autumn 2023 Return NEW
Applicable to schools in England only
Census Date: 05/10/2023
Attendance Collection from 10/04/2023 to 31/07/2023
Exclusions collected from 01/01/2023 to 31/07/2023
Alternative Provision Placements collected from 18/05/2023 to 05/10/2023
Funding and Monitoring collected from 01/08/2023 to 05/10/2023
Learning Aims and collected from 01/08/2022 to 05/10/2023
Free School Meals collected from 19/05/2023 to 05/10/2023
Reports to include Alternative Provision: Co House and Postcode NEW
Applicable to schools in England only
Routines | Statutory Returns | School Census
AP Companies House No and AP Postcode information is now included in all Census Returns to meet DfE information requirements.
SCHOOL WORKFORCE CENSUS
Key Dates for the School Workforce Census Autumn 2023 Return NEW
Applicable to schools in England only
Census Date: 02/11/2023
Absence Start Date – 01/09/2022
Absence End Date – 31/8/2023
Continuous Contract Start Date – 01/09/2022
Continuous Contract End Date – 02/11/2023
Personnel7/SWC 2023 Business Support Staff NEW
Applicable to schools in England only
Tools | Lookups | Maintain | Search Staff – Service Term – SWR Post
There is a new staff SWR Post of School Business Professional (SBP).
Personnel7/SWC 2023 Additional Subjects added for qualification NEW
Applicable to schools in England only
Tools | Lookups | Maintain | Subject Qualified
Users can include additional subjects for the staff qualification SWC Returns reports.
SWC 2023: New data item Senior Leadership Team NEW
Applicable to schools in England only
Focus | Person | Staff | Employment Details
A new Senior Leadership Team (SLT) grid option has been added.
SWC Return New detailed report for Senior Leadership Team NEW
Applicable to schools in England only
Routines | Statutory Returns| School Workforce Census
A new detailed report for the senior leadership team has been added to the SWC return.
Reporting Dictionary update NEW
Applicable to schools in England only
Reports | Design Report
Senior leadership team items have been added to the reporting dictionary.
PDO Report update NEW
Applicable to schools in England only
Routines | Data Out | Person data output
Senior leadership team items have been added to the Person Data Output report.
Pay details Panel update NEW
Applicable to schools in England only
Routines | Statutory returns | School workforce census | Pay details
Non-Leadership and Leadership (non-Teachers) section is now titled, Other Staff.
Sickness absences update NEW
Applicable to schools in England only
Routines | Statutory returns | School workforce census | Pay details
Error 4990 will be triggered when the sickness absence has 0 working days lost.
STUDENTS
Inclusion of Dietary Needs into Bulk Update NEW
Routines | Student | Bulk Update
Users and Data administrators can now use the Bulk update tool to perform bulk updates to the dietary needs of multiple students.
New Component Results panel added to Exams Quick Links NEW
Applicable to schools in England and Wales only
Routines | Student | Student Details | Quick Links | Exams
Exam officers and data managers can use the new quick links to review the component results of a student for easy cross-referencing and data validation.
SYSTEM MANAGER
Database backup utility
Focus | System Manager
Following a review of the legacy System Manager 6 (SysMan6) application with schools and support units, we have made the decision to retire the SysMan6 application in the Summer 2023 release of SIMS. During the review it was identified that some schools still utilize the capability to create a SIMS backup through SysMan6 and as such we have introduced the ability to perform such a task in System Manager 7 in the 7.212 release.
In order for a school to make use of this new function should they desire to, this can be introduced with the application of On Demand Patch 27976. Once applied, for users with the System Manager permissions the new menu route will appear under Focus | System Manager | Database Backup as below:
The On Demand Patch 27976 will be made available along with the Summer 2023 release of SIMS via SOLUS3. In the instance it is not available please request this from your usual SIMS support.