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SIMS.net

Up-to-date information for SIMS.net users.

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SIMS News

SIMS Year End Procedures 2012 - These notes are subject to change, check back for updates. 30/4/12

Personnel 7 Staff Service Terms - New files have been uploaded. 18/5/12

SIMS InTouch - The ability to text and email parents from within SIMS will soon become available. 9/3/12

Narrowing The Gap - A new SIMS.net report and notes have been created to report on Ethnicity, First Language and Service Children in Education. Click the link to read more. 17/2/12

Census Summer 2012 - New items added, click the link to read more. 12/4/12

Using the CTF Matching Screen - The SIMS 2011 Summer Release (SIMS 7.140) introduces the Match and Import panel on the Import CTF page, which enables you to examine the data stored in SIMS against the information in the CTF and decide which information should be imported. 16/1/12

School Workforce Census 2011 - Click the link to read the new notes. New items - SWC Course Powerpoint, SWC 2011 Errors & Resolutions, Staff Qualifications Sheet. 14/10/11

How to import an ATF file - Click the link to read more. 20/5/11

SIMS SQL 2008 Migration - New notes have been uploaded. Click the link to view the new panel. Version 5 of the migration notes have been added. 29/3/10

Producing Student List and Student Analysis Reports in SIMS - These new SIMS reports will replicate the reports previously available in Nova T4. 9/4/10

Archiving Attendance Marks - Click the link to read about this new option in SIMS.net. 6/10/09

Creating CTF Files - A new helpsheet has been created to guide SIMS.net users through the process of creating, exporting and importing CTF files. Click the link to read more. 30/7/09

SIMS How To... - A comprehensive list of helpsheets are available for your everyday SIMS.net issues. Updated helpsheets added. 3/4/09

Staff Absence Form - Click to view the new School Workforce Census section. More notes to follow. 11/2/09

SIMS.net Address Tidy & Merge - Version 2 of the notes have been uploaded. 23/2/09

How to record a School Closure - New notes have been created to show SIMS users how to use Attendance 7 to record an enforced closure. 27/11/07

First Language Codes - We have come across a number of schools where all the First Language codes have become deactivated. Click on the link to read more. 24/10/08

Recording Parental Responsibility - Notes have been uploaded to guide schools through the definition of parental responsibility. Click on the link to be guided to the panel below. 8/10/08

SIMS.net Emergency Contact List - A new SIMS.net report file has been created for Centrally Hosted schools as a contingency in case the CH system becomes unavailable. See the panel below for more information. 10/4/08

Creating User Defined Groups in AM7 and Attendance - Learn how to create specific groups for recording assessment and attendance data. 23/1/08

Updating SEN Lookups in SIMS.net - New notes have posted to guide SIMS users and SENCOs to use the correct SEN need types. 22/1/08

How to create labels in SIMS.net using Office 2003 - New notes have been created to show SIMS users how to create address labels and more using Reports. 27/11/07

Problems with Address Validator - If you have been experiencing problems with validating addresses in SIMS.net, then click on the link to access the helpsheet. 5/9/07

Do you want to become a SIMS Partner? - Capita and the Education ICT service are looking for schools that are making good use of most aspects of SIMS and who would like to become a SIMS Partnership school. Click the link to find out more...

Managed ICT Service News - As the Managed ICT Service has generated a lot of interest recently, a webpage has been created in the Portal which holds the most current information about the service. The page includes the following information: Who's currently using this service, User Guides and Frequently Asked Questions. Click on the link above to find out more. Alternatively, go to the Portal homepage and search for "Managed ICT Service".

Other SIMS Matters

SIMS How To...

Admission Form - Word Doc

Resolving Family Links and Addresses

B2B Transfer of Attendance Data

Password Protocols for MIS Software

Web Address Validator Guide

Attendance Code Conversion

Profiles 7 Presentation

SIMS SQL 2008 Migration

Click the links below to read the notes:

Updated 15th July - Version 5 of the migration notes

SIMS SQL 2008 Migration Notes for Primaries - NEW VERSION 5

SQL 2008 Prerequisites

SQL 2008 Minimum Requirements

Notes for Secondary Schools can be found here.

InTouch

SIMS InTouch - The ability to text and email parents from within SIMS will shortly be available to schools. Click on the links below to read more. Further documents to follow:

InTouch Specifications - PDF Format

InTouch Licence and Maintenance - PDF Format

Creating CTF Files

Creating CTF Files - New notes have been created to guide SIMS.net users through the process of creating, importing and exporting CTFs, complete with a FAQs section. The notes are available in two formats:

Creating CTF Files - Word Format

Creating CTF Files - PDF Format

Narrowing The Gap

Ethnicity, First Language and Service Children Report - Click on the link below to download the report, and read the following documentation:

Ethnicity, First Language and Service Children Report Report

Click on the above file to download the Report Definition file that can be imported into SIMS.net.

Please note that when you click on the above link and choose Save, it will save the file as a ZIP file. You will need to right-click on the file, and choose Rename. Delete thr ".zip" part of the filename and replace it with ".rptdef". It will then be ready to import into SIMS via Reports | Import.

Using SIMS to analyse your school by ethnicity, first language & service children

The government tracks the progress of various vulnerable groups of pupils:

Minority Ethnic (particularly Pakistani, Black and Gypsy, Roma, Traveller pupils. Cambridgeshire also tracks the progress of Bangladeshi pupils), EAL, SEN, FSM and Service children.

Results are published in Raise Online (with the exception of Service children).

This report and guidance is a first step in analysing your school population. Numbers of pupils may be statistically small but for these families, who often have additional barriers to overcome, it is important that school leadership are pro-active about identifying gaps and putting strategies in place to narrow them.

Additional Information for the Ethnicity Report

SIMS Guide - Excel Spreadsheet

Once the report has been run in SIMS.net, you can input the information into this spreadsheet where it will calculate the results.

SIMS Guide - Example

An example of how the final spreadsheet will appear when the data from the SIMS.net report has been input.

Census Summer - Thursday 17th May 2012

Helpline Census Summer 2012 Guidance Notes:

Word Version

PDF Version

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Census 2012 Prep Notes:

Primary - Secondary - Middle - Special - Nursery

CAPITA Preparing the Census Summer 2012 Notes:

Primary/Special/Nursery - Word PDF

Secondary - Word PDF

CAPITA Producing the Census Summer 2012 Notes:

Primary - Word PDF

Secondary - Word PDF

Special - Word PDF

Nursery - Word PDF

Errors & Resolutions

Errors & Resolutions - Summer 2012 v2

COLLECT website

Read the notes below, then click on the link to access the COLLECT website.

PLEASE NOTE: The link for the COLLECT site has changed. It is now https://collectdata.education.gov.uk/CollectPortalLive/login.aspx

COLLECT Website Notes - Link to COLLECT website

School Workforce Census 2011

School Workforce Census Main Page

NEW! Producing the School Workforce Census - PDF

Personnel Handbook - Click the link to read the processes behind staff details in SIMS.net.

NEW! SWC Course Powerpoint - Click the link to view the powerpoint presentation shown at the School Workforce Census training course.

NEW! SWC COLLECT User Guide - Notes on how to upload your completed School Workforce Census to the COLLECT website.

NEW! Qualifications Sheet - For collecting qualifications information from the school staff. Print off the sheet, pass copies to the staff members to complete and hand back to the SIMS personnel officer.

DfE School Workforce Census 2011 Guidance Notes - Click on the link below to read the document:

DfE School Workforce Census 2011 - PDF

NEW! SWC 2011 Errors & Resolutions - The latest errors and resolutions can be found in the document below:

Errors & Resolutions - PDF

Staff Qualifications - The School Workforce Census requires qualification information for certain members of staff. Click on the links below to read how to add this information, available in two formats:

Staff Qualifications - Word Format

Staff Qualifications - PDF Format

Staff Absence Form - This is a handy form for school administrators to collect staff absence information for inputting into SIMS Personnel. This form is available in Word or Adobe Acrobat PDF format, click the files below to download:

Staff Absence Form - Word Format

Staff Absence Form - PDF Format

Staff Data Collection Sheet - To make sure your personnel information is up-to-date, you can use the report file:

Staff Data Collection Sheet - RPTDEF file

To import this report file into SIMS.net, right-click on the icon above and select "Save Target As...", and choose where to save the file".

Once you have saved the zip file, locate this and right-click on it to select "Extract All" (Central Hosting Version 1 users will need to single-click to select the file, then click on File and Extract All)

The extracted rptdef file can then be imported into SIMS.net via Reports | Import.

PLEASE NOTE that once the report is populated with staff information, this document will then become STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL and in the interests of data protection this document should not be disseminated to other parties in either paper or electronic format.

COLLECT Familiarisation Site - Click the link to be redirected to the test upload site for the School Workforce Census.

Year End Procedures 2012

Please note the Year End 2012 notes are subject to change, please check back regularly for updates.

Year End Procedures in SIMS 2012 - Version 1 - uploaded 30th April 2012. Click the links below to download the notes:

Year End 2012 - Word Format

Year End 2012 - PDF Format

Capita Year End Procedures 2012 - Capita Notes. Please click on the links below to read these notes:

Primary
Summary

Primary
Detailed

Secondary
Summary

Secondary
Detailed

Importing an ATF file - Click to read this helpsheet. If you are unsure about the procedure, please contact the helpline.

First Langauge Codes

First Language Lookups

Please check that the extended list of First Language Lookups is still active in SIMS. We have come across a number of schools where all the First Language Codes have become deactivated. If when you click on the drop down next to First Language in a Student's Details, or if you look at the actual First Language lookup list (Tools | Lookups | Maintain | First Language) only the very limited list including Other than English, Believed to be English appears, then the complete list needs to be reactivated. This can be achieved quite easily.

Download the First Language Lookup zip file appropriate to your school from the link below. This file does not require unzipping. In SIMS use the route Tools | Lookups | Import Lookups. Browse for the saved file, highlight the file and click open.. Click on the Import button at the top left of the screen.

Primary.zip

Secondary.zip

Special.zip

Parental Responsibility - Guidance

Click on the links below to read the notes:

Parentline Guidance

Teachernet Guidance

DCSF Guidance

Link to Parentline website

SIMS.net Emergency Contact List

Click here to download the zip file

NOTE: This is a SIMS.net Rptdef (Report Definition) file that should be imported into SIMS.net - when you download this it will be saved as a .zip (compressed) file. For further guidance on how to unzip files, click on the video links included below.

In order to download and import this file:

1. Click the link above to start the download.

2. Click on Save.

3. Choose a location to save it to (i.e. C:\Program Files\SIMS\SIMS.net)

4. Locate the zip file and double-click it to initiate the download.

5. Unpack the rptdef file to the same SIMS.net folder. (See below if you need help with this step)

6. Start SIMS.net, click on Reports and then Import to upload the report.

Never used WinZip before? Click below to find out how:

For Centrally Hosted Schools

For Non-Centrally Hosted Schools

Personnel 7 Staff Service Terms

New file uploaded - 18.5.12. The latest Service Terms/Pay Awards are now available for importing into Personnel. They are specific for school type so please ensure you select the correct file. These files will import into SIMS version 7.144.

There are no pay awards this year but the files do contain the latest NI table. There are two files for each sector - Primary, Secondary and Special and schools must download BOTH the xml and the xml signature. Both files are contained in a ZIP file - notes on how to extract files from ZIP can be found below.

Both Central Hosting and Non-Central Hosting schools will need to apply this file.

The files need to be copied down to somewhere on your system so that they can be found when working in SIMS. Users will then need to sign into SIMS and click on Tools | Staff | Pay Related Import and then locate the file - they should see only one although both will be combined by the import.

The only way to test if the import has worked is to view the National Insurance table - Tools | Staff | National Insurance Rates. If you click on Search you should see that the current table has a start date of 06/04/12.

How to import the new Service Terms - click on the link to read the notes, then download the relevant zip file below.

Primary

Secondary

Special

How to use WinZip - Camtasia Video - Click on the link and watch the video. The zip file above will need to be extracted before use, and this will show you how.

How to unpack files inside Centrally Hosted MIS - Camtasia Video - Click on the link and watch the video. This applies to CH MIS Schools, and those PCs that don't have WinZip installed.

SIMS How To...

Click here to access the helpsheets

In order to improve the speed of this webpage, the SIMS Helpsheets and Quick Reference Guides have been given their own dedicated page. Click to display the popup menu. These helpsheets are updated regularly.