Spring 2024 Upgrade to SIMS (v7.216) and FMS (v6.216)
The Spring 2024 SIMS Upgrade (V7.216) & FMS (V6.216) is planned to be rolled out on the evening of Friday 15th March 2024 (Scomis Hosted users please log off by 5pm)
Non Hosted users: The new release will be authorised in Solus on Friday 15th March 2024
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 3.12.72.1 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.
Known Issue 18/03/2024
ESS have confirmed that there is a known issue with Quick Letters not merging student details following the upgrade to 7.216.
This is currently being investigated by their third line analysts. We will update this post with more information when it is available.
Please see the latest information on the Spring release below:
What’s New in SIMS
Admissions – Bulk Application Delete
Tools | Housekeeping | Delete Admission Applications
Admission Officers can Bulk Delete all Application data for an Applicant, including any linked Prospective Pupil record. Linked Enquirer records can also be deleted, only if one Prospective Pupil record exists.
NOTE: Bulk deletions cannot be undone. It is recommended that this is run outside of school hours.
Fees Billing – Generating letters: Communications Log
Reports | Fees Billing | Generate Letters
When generating letters there is an option to update the communication Log so that when the letter is sent the communication log is updated.
School Census Summer Returns – Key Dates
Census Date 16/05/2024
Attendance collected from 01/01/2024 to 31/03/2024
Exclusions collected from 01/08/2023 to 31/03/2024
Alternative Provision Placements collected from 18/01/2024 to 16/05/2024
Funding and Monitoring collected from 01/08/2023 to 16/05/2024
Learner Support collected from 01/08/2023 to 16/05/2024
Free School Meals collected from 19/01/2024 to 16/05/2024
Early Years – Expanded Funded hours
Routines | Statutory Returns Tools | Update Early Years
Routines | Statutory Returns | School Census
From April 2024, working parents of 2-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare per week (over 38 weeks a year) from the term after their child’s birthday. A new column has been added to the Census Returns for pupils aged 2 at 31/03/2024 and if they have an eligibility code. Expanded Funded Hours do not apply to 3 or 4-year-olds.
2 year old basis for funding
Routines | Statutory Returns | School Census
2 year old basis for funding information can now be recorded for the Summer School Census.
SEN Summary reports
Reports | School Report
A report option to generate a SEN Status Summary and SEN Needs Summary has been added to generate a report that will display the total SEN Status values for a selected reference date, this includes an option to include Leaver data in the report. These results are divided into Male and Female data which are displayed as a percentage.
Reporting Dictionary Permission Groups
Reports | Design Report | Permission Groups
To assist with the NextGen onboarding from SIMS7 we have added new data items for the Permission Groups. These new data items are as follows:
• Group Type
• Group Status
• Templates (this is a sub-report to accommodate multiple templates)
What’s New in FMS
General Ledger Audit Trail
Applicable to Academies
Tools | General Ledger | Audit | Journal Audit Trail
The following updates have been made to the Journal Audit Trail tool:
• Reports can be saved in the following formats:
o .xls
o .pdf
o .doc
o .tsv
o .xml
• A new option ‘Period 0’ has been added for selecting All Journals