Tips and Techniques - SIMS In this edition of Tips and Techniques, we will cover the following topics: CTF Matching Screen Cover Impact Summaries Extending User Defined Group Membership CTF Matching in SIMS Please refer also to ICT Services document S1285 CTF Matching Screen for full guidance. A CTF Matching routine is available for use when importing CTFs into SIMS. The routine enables you to detect potential matching records giving you the opportunity to choose not to import them and thus avoiding duplicate records. Please note, that Date of Birth and Gender will always be mandatory in the CTF and match the SIMS record to be a positive match. If you do not have the CTF Matching functionality, please liaise with your Network Manager and contact the ICT Services Service Desk to request the activation patch for this. (Patch no. 16255) 1. Routines Data In CTF Import CTF 2. Select the Import Type from those presented: General: This provides the previous functionality Add Data for New Pupils Only: Information for any pupil that already exists in the school s SIMS system will be ignored Add Data for Existing Pupils Only: Information for any pupil that does not already exist in the school s SIMS system will be ignored Add ULNs for Existing Pupils Only: Information for any pupil that does not already exist in the school s SIMS system will be ignored and information other than ULN will be ignored When you import a CTF a message displays asking you whether you wish to change the matching scale. If you select Yes you will be presented with the 4 available scales to choose from. The CTF Matching Scale screen allows you to select the required scale, number 1 being the most rigid and 4 being the most flexible. We recommend that you change the Matching Scale to 4. When selecting the matching scales either click the heading or the number. A detailed explanation of each scale appears in the bottom half of the display. 1
PLEASE NOTE: If the pupil has an existing UPN then the CTF and SIMS record must match with that UPN otherwise the pupil will not be imported regardless of which scale you have chosen. If you have already added the pupils into your database prior to receiving the CTF you should remove ticks from areas such as Student Contacts and Student Address to avoid any details you have manually entered being overridden. If the pupils to be imported are to be put straight into the database, choose to Place new pupils in On-Roll, otherwise select Pre-Admission from the drop down and select an Admission Group from the list. 3. Once you have selected the Data to be Imported, CTF file, Place for New Pupils and Effective Date (date which new pupils imported will become on-roll ) for import click the Proceed For Match Import button to start the import. The Match and Import panel is displayed. The coloured indicator box in the first column below the word Indicator should be GREEN or BLUE. Please refer the next page for an explanation of the Indicator colours and their meaning. 2
Matching Screen Indicator Colours Click the Indicator button on the Match and Import Screen. The CTF Matching Indicators screen shows a detailed description of each indicator and helps you to identify whether the CTF record has any conflicts. In general, clicking on the cell in the CTF Pupil column will populate the CTF Pupil Details in the left hand box of the bottom panel. Clicking on a cell in either of the Pre-Admission or Admitted Pupil columns will populate the right hand box of the bottom panel with the details of the matched or potential match record in SIMS for comparison. You may wish to run the Pre CTF Import Report (found at the bottom of the Match and Import screen) to see details of the pupils to be imported. This report allows you to see exactly what the CTF will bring in before you decide to click on the Import CTF button. The report lists the pupils to be imported, pupils or pre-admissions to be updated, and any pupils which won t be imported. ICT Services document S1339 - CTF Matching Screen Guidance & Troubleshooting, available on our website gives more information on how to deal with each scenario. 3
If a positive or potential match is found, these will be displayed in the Match from Following panel on the right of the screen. Hovering over a Positive or Potential match here will display the student details. In the example above, Andrew Abbot shows a green indicator and the Positive Match with an Admitted Pupil. The bottom panels show CTF Pupil Details and Admitted Pupil Details. If the CTF Details differ slightly from the details held in SIMS, there is an Edit Pupil option which will allow the SIMS record to be edited to allow the import. Edit Pupil If a record has been edited, you would need to click the Refresh button at the top of the Match and Import screen to ensure a positive match is now displayed before proceeding. If Editing the SIMS record, please ensure that the data held in SIMS after import is correct if the Edit Pupil was a temporary measure to proceed with the import, you must ensure that the record in SIMS is subsequently updated accordingly. 4. Once you are happy to proceed, click the Import CTF button at the bottom of the screen. 5. Click Yes to the warning message. A CTF Import Report will be produced again this is the same as the Pre CTF Import report. 6. Close this report. Once the CTF file has been imported the Exception Log panel is displayed. 4
Obtaining Cover Impact Summaries from SIMS Some useful Cover Impact Summaries can be obtained from SIMS. In terms of cover statistics there are three common questions that require an answer: 1) Who has been absent, for how long and for what reason(s)? 2) Who has provided cover, how much and when? 3) What has been the impact of staff absence on particular classes and individual students? Step by Step Obtaining Cover Statistics 1. We will look at point 3) above regarding cover - select Tools Cover Impact Summaries Classes Impacted by Absence (can also choose Students Impacted by Absence). 2. Enter the desired Search Parameters. In this example, we will leave the start date at 01/09/2016 and end date of today, all Year Groups, Staff Roles and Subjects selected. You can filter to a Year Group, a Staff Role or a Subject with the option to use CTRL key to multi select. 3. Click Search. 4. Classes within the search criteria will be displayed in the Classes section in the bottom half of the screen as shown overleaf. For each class highlighted in this panel, the class absence is displayed at the bottom of the screen under Class Absence List. You can change the order by clicking on the header row in each area. 5
5. You can Export to Excel with 2 options Normal Report or Detailed Report. Sample Normal Report: Sample Detailed Report: 6
The student impact analysis shows which students were impacted by classroom staff absences. You can generate the Student Impacted by Absence Report in Excel. The report includes the student name, year group, registration group, class, total absences, scheduled members of staff and cover members of staff. Below is a sample of Students Impacted by Absence with French as the chosen subject. When selecting to Export a Students Impacted by Absence Report, there is the option for Normal or Report Excluding 0s. 7
Extending Memberships for User Defined Groups SIMS holds many different groups of students like year groups, registration groups and houses. However, it is useful to group students together based on criteria that are not already held on the SIMS system such as students going on a school trip. The group can be allocated a supervisor and can contain other people that exist in SIMS including teachers and parents. Once defined and members have been allocated, reports can be produced and the group can be available to other software modules such as Examinations Organiser, Homepage, Attendance or Assessment. It can be particularly useful for monitoring particular categories such as frequently late. In addition, groups can be defined specifically for Profiles and Assessment. Any groups configured for analysis within Discover can also be searched for and current group membership viewed. The default date range when members are added to a UDG is the whole academic year but this can be customised at the point of creation. Memberships will terminate at the end of each academic year by default unless specified otherwise. Step by Step Extending Memberships for User Defined Groups 1. Select Focus Groups User Defined Groups. Click Search. The Maintain User Defined Groups now shows an overview of the number of current members in each group as well as the Latest Membership date including Unended. 2. Search for desired UDG, in this case Athletics Team double click to Open. 3. Click on the browse icon adjacent to Effective Date Range to select the required date range. You can select Today to End of Year, Whole Year or Custom dates. 8
4. Click on Action to reveal the options available. 5. In this example choose Select All then Extend selected membership(s) to effective end date. You will receive a message advising how many memberships in selection can be extended to the end date (end date is the end of the selected Effective Date). Note: There may be a need to use a user-defined group in other areas of SIMS Assessment and the group must have a supervisor allocated. 9