Welcome to the EDIT Team Secondary Schools SIMS Seminar 2005

1. Welcome to the EDIT Team Secondary Schools SIMS Seminar 2005 Dave Cattlin, Richard Metcalfe, Christine Snape, Lisa Holt and Lynn Warrington helpdesk@edit.org.uk www.edit.org.uk

2. Domestics Fire procedure Facilities Finish time If Dave starts to gibber

3. Introductions Graham Cooper Head of SIMS Product Management Simon Smith Product Manager SIMS Core Chris Sherwood Product Manager SIMS Assessment Pete Brown Head of Product Implementation

4. Capita ES Representatives Aware of Rochdale schools� willingness to consider alternatives Here at the invitation of EDIT to listen to your concerns and to feed them back in to development and support processes

5. Seminar Agenda EDIT Team Profile Service Level Agreement 2005/6 Backup Strategies SOLUS Statutory Returns End of Key Stages PLASC / School Census End of Year Processes Teacher�s Desktop SIMS Panel Software Release Update

6. The EDIT Team Team of 17 offering MIS and technical support services and working in partnership with schools and under the direction of the ICT Steering Group Access to Capita ES, corporate and other resources Supports all Rochdale schools and underpins LEA strategies for Information Management and the use of ICT in schools

7. The EDIT Team Achievements over the last 12 months Full SIMS.net in read/write mode rolled out to all schools Achieved recognition as SIMS Approved support team Achieved recognition as a 5* support service by the Education Brokerage Developed the use of the Rochdale Schools Network � all primary, special and nursery schools now connected Maintained levels of buy back

8. The EDIT Team Areas of high priority Meeting statutory obligations and school expectations Supporting the expanding use of MIS in schools and at LEA level Develop the use of SIMS.net software in all Rochdale schools The management and development of Rochdale Schools Network systems

9. The EDIT Team New Appointments Schools ICT Manager appointed December 2004 � Phil Gornall Schools Training Officer appointed December 2004 � Christine Snape Additional technical staff in post RSN Administrators Peripatetic technical staff for Primaries

10. Service Level Agreement No major changes for 2005/2006 SLA developed and offered for subscription in consultation with schools

11. Service Level Agreement 2005/6 SLA SIMS Licensing Liaison with Capita Helpline Support On-Site support Training and consultancy

12. Backup Strategies All secondary schools have now developed and implemented their own backup strategies For information, RSN systems are backed up by simply stopping the MSDE and copying out the relevant files with a batch file and on a scheduled basis � for further information contact Steve Frost at the EDIT Team

13. Backup Strategies Schools are reminded that the s:\sims folder, the sims SQL database, Snova folder and the docstorage folder must be restored as a set Schools are also reminded that the FMS sims.db and sims.log should also be restored as a pair

14. Backup Strategies Schools must ensure that they have a complete and reliable backup of SIMS data at all times Schools are invited to submit their backups to EDIT who will attempt to restore them to a clean system

15. SOLUS Update SIMS On Line Update Service Rochdale, like almost 1/3 LEAs, operates in a WAN environment Significant barriers to FTP systems CES met with 17 LEAs in March to discuss ways to deliver SOLUS to these schools SOLUS Management system under development EDIT currently evaluating mechanisms for the delivery of upgrades, enhancements and patches via SOLUS Further information will be made available soon

16. In the meantime Enhancement releases made available as a setups folder Copy into the s:\sims\setups folder on network Run dBUpgrade.exe on the server Workstations will then trigger remaining upgrades as they run SimsLoad.exe Site specific patches will be delivered by existing mechanisms All schools to be on ER6 to complete EOKS processes

17. Statutory Returns

18. Statutory Returns End of Key Stages PLASC Workforce Census

19. End of Key Stage 2 Basic pupil details transfer files already supplied for import to Pre-Admission Groups for pupils transferring in September TAs will be submitted by primary schools and made available by the end of term Further information (test scores and levels) will be aggregated and relayed electronically as soon as it is available

20. End of Key Stage 3 End of Key Stage 3 process managed within an Assessment Manager Wizard (exactly as was the case last year) Wizards already available for use and training scheduled for early May allowing for data validation and aggregation and for the production of reports to parents and the LEA Enhancement Release 5 & Spring CD required

21. End of Key Stage 4 Enhancements to Examinations Organiser reporting in Spring Update CD Training to be delivered 8th July for exams officers EDIT support hotline available on download dates as usual

22. Statutory Returns PLASC 2005 review PLASC 2006 requirements School Census Developments

23. PLASC 2005 Schools will have their own view on the PLASC 2005 process Some pains arising from the migration to SIMS.net Largely down to data issues and the introduction of date stamping on a range of data

24. PLASC 2005 Schools will have their own view on the PLASC process Some pains arising from the migration to SIMS.net All Secondary and Special schools completed the PLASC return using SIMS.net with no errors and within the prescribed timescale

25. PLASC 2006 There will be no PLASC 2006!

26. School Census You knew that there would be a catch!

27. Schools Census 2006 For January 2006 Limited changes to pupil level data to be collected Home Address information Attendance data for Autumn 2005 term

28. Schools Census 2006 For May 2006 Another census return Attendance data for Spring 2006 term Exclusion data for Autumn 2005 term

29. Schools Census 2006 For September 2006 Another census return Attendance data for Summer 2006 term Exclusion data for Spring 2006 term And so on���..

30. Census Developments September pupil count to be dropped and the following data items collected via the census Additional School Level Data G&T indicator Exclusion Type, Reason and Start Date # sessions excluded Attendance Sessions Possible Unauthorised and Authorised Absences Full Address Date of Leaving Access to SEN Resource Full information available at www.teachernet.gov.uk

31. Workforce Census It will happen�

32. Workforce Census It will happen� but it may be a little early to get too alarmed

33. Overview School Census: School Workforce Level View is for one record for one member of the workforce Need to say something about snapshot versus longitudinal data Data collected at different times during the year flexible approach required ? View is for one record for one member of the workforce Need to say something about snapshot versus longitudinal data Data collected at different times during the year flexible approach required ?

34. Data from various sources It is recognised that schools will not necessarily hold all workforce data as LEAs often hold data on behalf of the schools and it will be for schools and LEAs to agree at local level which data they should respectively supply. Software will be developed to allow the LEAs to merge the workforce data they hold with the data supplied by the schools.

35. As a minimum, schools will need to hold and supply the following details Surname Forename Middle Names Former Surnames Date of birth NI Number Gender Absent on Census Day Service Role / Grade Start Date Post Identifier Teacher Number � required for all members of workforce who have QT Status, and to be supplied for others where available

36. Future Developments DfES currently consulting with schools, LEAs and software houses on mechanisms for the collection of adult data It may be a requirement that all schools start to use personnel software within their MIS Personnel 7 under trial this term with a full release scheduled for Spring 2006

38. Guidance issued by CES for Primary schools This guidance distributed to Secondary schools for information only Detailed guidance, specific to secondary schools, will be issued by CES in May EDIT Training already scheduled Secondary schools will need to apply the Spring Update CD prior to the completion of end of year procedures

40. Basically a stand alone SIMS.net installation with Class Teacher levels of Access to data Read only Student Details (although SEN details may be edited) Access to My Marksheets Profiles: List Entry

41. When logging in the user is prompted to select the online or offline database If connected to the school network, the user may choose to use the notebook as a normal workstation If the user selects to work offline, a local installation with a snapshot of the school data is accessed

42. Data may be worked on offline and then �synchronised� with data held in the online system on reconnection to the school network

45. It may arise that an online user has entered conflicting data to the main system at the same time as the teachers� desktop user has been working offline This will invoke a conflict resolution routine enabling the teachers� desktop user to select the data to be written to the main system

46. Errors and Conflict Resolution

48. Data on Teachers� Desktop installations are not supported by CES and should therefore be considered �expendable� EDIT seeking a partner school to evaluate and develop the use of Teachers� Desktop

49. Spring 2005 CD Spring CD 2005 Scheduled for release May 2005 Common Platform 4.05.10 Principally for EOKS registration and results End of year in primary schools FMS 6.78 (CFR 2004/5 functionality) STAR 7.40 (Grid editing and changes to contact details)

50. Software Release Schedule Spring Update CD Scheduled for release 10 June Academic Management 7.45 Required for end of year processes Nova T 4.85 Improved resilience Exams Organiser 6.45 Significant Enhancements to Exams Organiser outputs

51. Applying the CDs CDs will be transferred to all schools immediately upon receipt Standard install procedures EDIT will provide assistance where this is required

53. SIMS Panel